It's because you're using LED bulbs in a stock halogen headlamp. The light scatter is everywhere with this combo.

 

Go shine them on a wall AT NIGHT. You won't see a sharp cutoff. A sharp cutoff is what your fellow ONCOMING drivers will appreciate most. Instead, you'll see a blob of scattered light that lacks focus.

Folks just keep on trying this LED bulb replacement......w/ the same dismal results. Insane.
~ Guessing the price-point has a LOT to do w/ this 'attempted' mod failure.

brighter ≠ better :surprise::serious:

 

The thing is you can search "LED headlight" here on these forums (as I did) and see nothing but praise. Even on other forums, and reviews on Youtube. Nothing but praise. But the moment there's a hiccup there'a a few people that come out of the woodwork to say "I TOLD YOU SO".

 

Nothing but praise? Look harder... Advertising is truth?
Shine lights on wall at night and see for yourself.
This is an inherent issue. Retrofit or forget it. $0.02

Will add that it is highly ego-centric to offend/blind one's fellow oncoming drivers while believing one did themselves a favor.

 

Will add that it is highly ego-centric to offend/blind one's fellow oncoming drivers while believing one did themselves a favor.

Which is why I'm here, asking. I'm trying to figure out if I'm blinding other people. I have shined the light on a wall, and even this morning I parked the truck in the street, walked to the other end of the street and walked towards the truck. Also pulled up the truck behind my car (maxima) and got in the maxima to see if I was blinding people from the rear. But everything is subjective, and they weren't too bright, at least to me.

As for praise...yep. These are what I was reading
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/led-headlight-bulbs-review-115353/

"First impressions - they are bright, beam pattern appears same as stock. Not much difference between LO and HI (only 400 lm). Will be able to compare better at night. Nice clean white light........ - Lights haven't dimmed any and are going strong. Still not getting any flashing from on coming drivers. These have been great in the rain, snow, sleet and ice thus far."

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/led-headlight-bulbs-review-115353/index19.html
There's 19 pages of LED discussion there and nothing but good things to say. Nobody mentions being flashed by oncoming traffic.

And another
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/.../f23/diy-led-9007-headlight-installation-lifetime-led-brand-116521/index24.html


I'm not here to start an argument. All I'm saying is people praised them more then they admit they suck. So now that I have some installed, I'm wondering if I am blinding people. As I said, my own self-test is subjective. There's multiple threads with 15+ pages of praise, and I don't see many people complaining. Maybe one or two.

 

Yeah, it's easy to read stuff here and attach a snarky tone to it. And will add this is a dead horse of sorts to those who do a lot of reading/perusing around here.
You may not be BLINDING someone, but it is pesky & bothersome. If the added light is not focused, well, you just have brighter scattered light as a result.

If it was me, I'd remove them and try another halogen bulb.
Better fog lights can/will help to a degree.

Retrofit projector HIDs for the cure. Not an easy task, imho. Others might disagree. One can buy these already retrofitted (expensive), but if you're in a state that performs detailed inspections, these might not pass.
This is a tough-y to say the least.

 

but it is pesky & bothersome.

All I needed to know. I'd rather not be THAT guy, so I'll put the stock bulbs in and shop for some new halogens. I'm not upset, they were cheap. $30 or so for a learning experience.

Damn, I just realized the truck is rolling on to 11 years now and is still on the stock bulbs.

 

There are driving lights &/or better fog lights you could opt for. Pretty cool thread about the Rigid fog lights going on lately. Something to consider.

Caring about oncoming traffic isn't for everyone it seems. Thus my semi-snarky ego-centric comment. I think it drives the point home nicely. It won't offend the truly ego-centric, though. lol

 

There are driving lights &/or better fog lights you could opt for. Pretty cool thread about the Rigid fog lights going on lately. Something to consider.

I'm 100% happy with mine. And I adjusted mine to the right angle/cutoff height so I don't get flashes from oncoming drivers.

i think it depends on both the lumen output and the design of the LED bulb, some work better in some headlight housings than others. reviews that say 'works awesome', without knowing what car it's going on, that review is 100% worthless. every day I see LEDs or HIDs in oem housings, most of them are tolerable but some aren't, i would imagine those are teh people who recently installed them and haven't been flashed enough yet to figure it out. about 10 years ago before I knew better I had a set of HIDs in a cheap aftermarket housing (which is much worse than factory as far as the light scatter goes), in a car my wife had and it was brutal, it was amusing driving down the freeway, it would light up the signs 20 feet above the road. got flashed daily until I took them out and went back to OEM. it's kind of a pain how so many products sell due to ignorance. if people knew what they were getting into they wouldn't touch 90% of the garbage sold out there. if someone does claim to have decent LED bulbs that work in our truck it would be interesting to see which style they are. I believe the DDs are supposedly ok? but they don't have high beam I think but they're working on a dual version.

Again - no matter what bulb you put in a halogen reflector housing, it won't magically add a cutoff, because you're not changing anything with the reflector. LED bulbs aren't garbage, they are brighter than halogen for sure and more efficient and less prone to failure - the problem here is never about the LEDs - the problem is people not using them correctly in the correct type of housing.

OEM unmodified D40 headlamps are not (and never will be) a correct type of housing. <----- This apparently is something people can't seem to register in their heads. LOL

 

I'd stick a halogen in one side, LED in the other, park the truck and walk out 100 feet in front of it and see how big the difference is.

Some folks swear their LEDs are fine, some don't. i think it depends on both the lumen output and the design of the LED bulb, some work better in some headlight housings than others. reviews that say 'works awesome', without knowing what car it's going on, that review is 100% worthless. every day I see LEDs or HIDs in oem housings, most of them are tolerable but some aren't, i would imagine those are teh people who recently installed them and haven't been flashed enough yet to figure it out. about 10 years ago before I knew better I had a set of HIDs in a cheap aftermarket housing (which is much worse than factory as far as the light scatter goes), in a car my wife had and it was brutal, it was amusing driving down the freeway, it would light up the signs 20 feet above the road. got flashed daily until I took them out and went back to OEM. it's kind of a pain how so many products sell due to ignorance. if people knew what they were getting into they wouldn't touch 90% of the garbage sold out there. if someone does claim to have decent LED bulbs that work in our truck it would be interesting to see which style they are. I believe the DDs are supposedly ok? but they don't have high beam I think but they're working on a dual version.

 

[QUOTE I live in Colorado and worry about deer and wildlife in the roads because i live in those areas, so I wanted something brighter. But I guess what I'll do is just get a brighter halogen for daily use and a lightbar for the bumper when i upgrade that.[/QUOTE]

You are better off with a set of individual spot beams and a set of fog lights rather than a light bar.
You can adjust each light individually where a light bar you can’t.
In Mexico it is common for horses and cows and occasionally deer to be on the highway. More than likely you will hit them before you can stop without good lighting.
I run led’s made by “Vision X”. The interchangeable lenses determine the light pattern.
I also run a Ridgid light bar on the roof.
My Dodge has just driving lights by PIAA and they work fine for Mexico.

 

[QUOTE I live in Colorado and worry about deer and wildlife in the roads because i live in those areas, so I wanted something brighter. But I guess what I'll do is just get a brighter halogen for daily use and a lightbar for the bumper when i upgrade that.

You are better off with a set of individual spot beams and a set of fog lights rather than a light bar.
You can adjust each light individually where a light bar you can’t.
In Mexico it is common for horses and cows and occasionally deer to be on the highway. More than likely you will hit them before you can stop without good lighting.
I run led’s made by “Vision X”. The interchangeable lenses determine the light pattern.
I also run a Ridgid light bar on the roof.
My Dodge has just driving lights by PIAA and they work fine for Mexico.[/QUOTE]

I was going to go with D) all the above. Light bar on the roof, and on the aluminum bumper I was going to get a few spot beams and fog lights. Aluminum bumper first, then the spot lights, then the light bar. Those are my priorities.

But for now, I switched back to the stock bulbs. I'm hoping with the new headlight assembly with the crystal clear lenses now I'll be able to see better. Then upgrade to a halogen if need be.

 

I think that will cover your lighting needs well.

 

I'd hope so. I'm afraid of the dark.

I was also going to get some setup for the rear for those sneak attack deer.

 

I run PIAA back up lights on the Dodge.
A lot of the roads have huge berms when they grade the roads.
The roads are narrow and when I back up on them, they are hard to see.

 

RNZL3R, is there anywhere you could park the truck in front of a wall like suggested and see how the light looks on the wall? I would be pretty interested.

More and more I see cars (mostly jeeps around here) with blinding LEDs in them. But, plenty of these LED brands say they work no problem with factory housings and offer great beam patterns. From what I can tell pretty much all of them are blinding to oncoming traffic.

 

I have done this a few times when trying to adjust them. Seems my headlight housing (aftermarket) is non-adjustable, or the bulbs are just so bright any minor adjustment isn't noticeable. For now I've gone back to my stock bulbs.

What I'm going to do is clean up my old OEM headlight assembly, re-install them, and then I'll see if I can get pictures of the LED bulbs. The aftermarket assembly is just....well, it's crap. The notches that hold the headlight retaining ring in place broke, so I had to JB weld it. Then last night when i was swapping the bulbs again the JB weld broke, so I super glued it. So I'm trying not to fuss with it anymore until I get my OEM headlight assembly back. (Yes, I had to remove the bumber, grill, and all that to take out the assembly. Twice in two weeks. Fuuuun.) On the bright side (ahh, see what I did there?) I got some pictures of the lower valence, bumper, and grill removal so I can throw those in a few of the write-up threads.

So it'll be a few weeks before i can get pictures, and at this point it'd best I went back to my old bulbs because I can get some stock Nissan before/after pictures of the bulbs vs LEDs

 

I have hid bulbs which are just as annoying to other drivers. I had to make sure to adjust them because the stock height was way to high for other drivers. so I lowered it and I have had no more issues.

 

I may go back to the LEDs, but definitely not right now with the aftermarket housing.

At this point I'm going to sand down and apply new clear coat to the OEM housing because they're all fogged up from UV damage, disassemble them and paint the inside black, and then see how the LED bulbs work. So I'll have a few projects for the summer. I'll try and document everything i'm doing so people who are considering LEDs in the future can come and get some more details.

 

If you are going to tear down the headlight you might as well add a projector kit. It will solve the issue your having and give you better light at night.

 

I was looking at the prices for the projector kits. $300. No thanks. I can put good halogen bulbs in these and just invest the $300 in the bumper I want.

 

Fair enough. Can't argue with that logic

 

I'd love to do the retrofit someday, but for now I'll clean up what i can for under $15, and dump that $300 into off road lights or that bumper. I already dropped $1200 on a new suspension system, so lights aren't that big of a priority right now.

 

I have always had a problem with LEDs. The light output is blinding when looking directly at them but only mediocre when seeing objects the LED is shining on. It must be an excess of blue light or something. Incadescents are still the best until limited power is taken into consideration.

Super Oscars,
Tt

 

I have always had a problem with LEDs. The light output is blinding when looking directly at them but only mediocre when seeing objects the LED is shining on. It must be an excess of blue light or something. Incadescents are still the best until limited power is taken into consideration.

LEDs are definitely better/brighter/longer lasting than halogen - but only when used properly... meaning (wait for it LOL) being used inside a housing that is designed to use LEDs (which our OEM headlamps are not)

I have to agree, this whole 6000k LED thing is all about style and less about functionality. people only go with that because it "looks cool" having lights that are almost blue, but it doesn't show colors accurately unless it's a GOOD quality light with a high CRI, which none of these cheap ebay LEDs are. From what I understand the halogens 4300k or whatever it is actually puts out the best color of light for visibility, that's why they are all that color. Hell in some countries the 'cool' thing are yellow lights. I used to have 5000k HIDs, my favorite. a little more white light but zero blue.

Yeah OEM HID/LED (European, projector-type etc.) these days is 4300-5000k which generally is the best range for usable light.

 

I have to agree, this whole 6000k LED thing is all about style and less about functionality. people only go with that because it "looks cool" having lights that are almost blue, but it doesn't show colors accurately unless it's a GOOD quality light with a high CRI, which none of these cheap ebay LEDs are. From what I understand the halogens 4300k or whatever it is actually puts out the best color of light for visibility, that's why they are all that color. Hell in some countries the 'cool' thing are yellow lights. I used to have 5000k HIDs, my favorite. a little more white light but zero blue.

 

5000K HID projector FTW.

 

Does anyone have a writeup on how to take apart the headlight housing? I have my stock headlights sitting on the floor and I've taken out the 4 screws, but it seems like the seem is melted together. I tried prying it apart, but any more force and it'll crack the plastic.

-edit-
nevermind

http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f10/how-blacked-out-headlights-36707/

Bake at 175 for 12 minutes.

 

I did it to mine. I was very skeptical as I closed the oven door but it really does work. I was very pleased with the end result on my headlights.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

Random question. While trying to restore my OEM headlights months ago, I overpainted some clear coat and it dripped. So I sanded it, and used acetone to strip it. I guess the acetone was a mistake because I'm reading on a BMW forum that this has caused what I now see as little spider web cracks in the lens. Not cracks, but just a spider web crackling look. I've sanded it down with 1000 grit and then 3000 grit and painted another layer of clear coat and I still see the webbing.

Did I permanently damage the lense with the acetone? Or can I sand deep enough to get past the webbing? (start back at 400 grit and go up)

And if I can't get rid of the webbing, I'll consider the retrofit. However, I don't see any good guides on how to do the installation. The threads here have the images deleted. I definitely don't want any more DIY stuff like headlights where I have to cut and grind and deal with cheap plastic. I've already broken enough. (Ruined my stock headlights by trying to restore them, broke the aftermarket headlights because the locking ring on the back wasn't fitted properly...I don't need to break ANOTHER headlight assembly by doing a retrofit.)

 

Acetone and plastic generally do not mix, especially if it's bare/raw untreated plastic. The "spiderweb cracks" are stress cracks as a result of the chemical reaction between the bare plastic (you sanded the protective layer off) and the acetone.

To remove overspray you should have used something else plastic-safe, like plastic polish.

You're not even outside of the garage haha but you're still slowly making me think of doing a conversion myself.

This is what people expect with halogen housings and super-marketing LED bulb "conversions". They don't realize you need a retrofitted projector (like you have) to get a cutoff like that, it's not the bulb.

 

I would even check craigslist. I frequently see Frontier headlights up for sale in my neck of the woods. That way you could at least go and do an inspection before you buy.

 

Good news everyone. Looks like I sanded out the spider cracks. They were in the clear coat, not the lense. For future reference, A+++++ would recommend rustoleum clear coat. Hard as plastic. Just had to rub it down in a circular motion, gently, treat it like swedish lady, with 400 grit sandpaper. Now on to 800, then 1000, then 3000.

 

Man I'm glad I started reading all these posts about LED mods before just running out and buying replacement LED bulbs....

So what I need to figure out is, .....is there a "fantastic halogen replacement".....that will be much more effective then the OEM halogens....matbe LED isn't the way to go afterall...

thanks!

 

If you read all the posts, then it's already figured out.

Either stay OEM housing and do Philips CrystalVision/UltraVision OR retrofit a projector and then use LED/HID correctly.

 

sticking with halogen, but which ones

OK, so the LED conversion is out for me based on all the reading I have done so far.

At this point I'm focused on the headlights....and when I drive at night i do use my high beams alot....that said.....I'm willing to sacrifice a little whiteness and a little brightness for dependibility....but looking for a BIG BOOST over the OEM bulbs.....

so far the opinions go anywhere from the;

PIAA's to the Sylvania's to the Wagners......

I'm looking for a couple of suggestions, to help me with my decision. I ran a set of Sylvania Silver Stars that lasted about ?? almost 4 years+ which is pretty dang reliable....

appreciate your thoughts?
-g-

 

OK, so the LED conversion is out for me based on all the reading I have done so far.

At this point I'm focused on the headlights....and when I drive at night i do use my high beams alot....that said.....I'm willing to sacrifice a little whiteness and a little brightness for dependibility....but looking for a BIG BOOST over the OEM bulbs.....

so far the opinions go anywhere from the;

PIAA's to the Sylvania's to the Wagners......

I'm looking for a couple of suggestions, to help me with my decision. I ran a set of Sylvania Silver Stars that lasted about ?? almost 4 years+ which is pretty dang reliable....

appreciate your thoughts?
-g-

Pick whichever of the above you like, they'll all give some improvement over OEM (I prefer the Philips CrystalVision). But if you're "looking for a BIG BOOST over the OEM bulbs" then you're not going to get it unless you retrofit. Don't overthink it, there isn't some magical drop-in bulb upgrade.

Another option to upgrade your front lighting without doing a retrofit is to keep the headlamps OEM and upgrade your fog lamps instead to LED lamps like Rigid Industries or Morimoto.

 

Like Raine said, really none of the halogen drop in bulbs offer substantial increase in brightness. I have been reading good things about the GE nighthawk bulbs. No experience with them though.

 

great stuff guys thanks so much.....will give the Phillips crystal vision ultras a go and hope they last as long as the Sylvania's did....and thanks for the tip on the fog lights as well....

 

that's pretty good to get 3 years out of those. i think the life span rating is only a few hundred hours on most "high performance" halogens, they're usually dead in around a year on average (depending on how much you use them of course)
i'm seeing some on ebay as cheap as $12.50 a pair, but the package is different than what amazon/higher priced shows. the cheap ones say 'designed in Germany' and the others 'Made in Germany' hmm interesting. fakes?

edit: read on amazon people state the package reads 150 hours average life... yikes. 45 minutes per day they'd be gone in under 6 months.
How often do you use your headlights raine? i don't think i would go for these if they die that fast.

 

I bought mine on Amazon. And I use my headlights pretty much every evening, maybe 1 hour or so total... so quick math comes out to over 1,000 hours so far since I've had them.

Watch - in 3 days they'll finally go out because I'm talking about them LOL