Community Forums

car54don · 03-23-2019, 10:53 AM

greetings, want to upgrade headlight bulbs hi/low. 2007 ford chassis V10 /Itasca Class A. want to have brighter headlights. halogen or led. any suggestions / links. thx

Massparanoia · 03-23-2019, 06:42 PM

Check and see which vehicle the headlight assemblies come from. Mine are from a 2005-2009 Tacoma. Then buy oem ones and ditch the crap aftermarket ones it comes with. Also check and make sure you have 12 bolts going to the headlights, might need to get a relay harness.

House Husband · 03-23-2019, 08:22 PM

I've went with LEDs in all my vehicles. Great improvement. But if you do, be a good neighbor and get those low beams adjusted so they shine on the road and not in my eyes.

car54don · 03-24-2019, 03:07 PM

hi, thank you for your input. Upon closer look, it appears I have LED bulbs. But these LED do not light up the roadway. will try and post a pic on my original

car54don · 03-24-2019, 03:43 PM

hi thank you for input. Upon closer look it appears I have LED headlights. I added pic to post. But these hardly light up the roadway. I can't even tell what brand it is, to see if there is a brighter upgrade. any thoughts would be appreciated. Don

Tetonchief · 03-24-2019, 03:54 PM

Most LED bulbs are a waste of your money especially in an older vehicle. Almost all are made in China and have inferior drivers (which are the part that creates all the heat) and design to shed the heat. Popping them into a car light fixture that was designed for a particular bulb will most likely result in failure. Also, LED for a head light have to be designed so all the light devices are facing forward (towards the road) to be most effective. Many car light fixtures has plastic reflective material and it is not as effective as a glass mirror to reflect the light. So you get a bright LED light when you are looking at it, but the light doesn't reflect down the road very well. You are better off buying the best after market bulbs designed for your fixture. Or go xenon but that requires a lot of changes and $$$$

429CV23 · 03-24-2019, 04:32 PM

The biggest problem with LED lamps is they're universal. The same lamp fits most/all the housings with different adapters. All fine and good as long as the focal length of the lamp is the same as the incandescent, but that's usually not the case. I tried 3 different sets of LEDs when I installed crystal clear headlight assemblies, and none worked very well. Installed a set of Silver Stars which work very well.

All 3 lamp sets I tried had LEDs on 4-sides for the best light coverage.

Massparanoia · 03-24-2019, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by car54don

hi, thank you for your input. Upon closer look, it appears I have LED bulbs. But these LED do not light up the roadway. will try and post a pic on my original

The bulb may be LED, but the housing is probably an aftermarket version of an OEM housing for another vehicle. And as others have mentioned, it's anyones guess as to the quality of that LED bulb that's in there now.

I would start by making sure they're properly aimed. And another thing to consider, sitting in a Class A is very different than sitting in your car. Your sitting on top of the headlights in your RV vs. sitting behind them in your car.

Stand in a dark room with a flashlight. Shine it while holding it at around chest level, and then set it on the ground and shine it in the same direction. See the difference?