What are the facts around aftermarket LED bulb upgrades?

[Lmg80]

Ive abandoned the idea of LEDs now. I read that they didn't work well with projector headlamps, and the quality of the bulbs and heatsinks is not yet robust enough for me.

HIDs on the other hand, seem an easy and reliable retrofit into my existing projector lights and a decent kit with good reviews is available for about £60, so I'm going to go with that option I think.

You would be surprised how many OEM cars do not have projectors, rather reflectors with LEDs.
If anything I think the majority are reflector with LED

 

[danlightbulb]

We've focussed on dipped beam so far, but what's the rules around putting LEDs in place of sidelights, indicators, main beam, brake lights, reversing lights etc etc?

 

[jpaul]

Ive abandoned the idea of LEDs now. I read that they didn't work well with projector headlamps, and the quality of the bulbs and heatsinks is not yet robust enough for me.

HIDs on the other hand, seem an easy and reliable retrofit into my existing projector lights and a decent kit with good reviews is available for about £60, so I'm going to go with that option I think.

the osrams seem to have the heatsink out the back in the air (exposed to elements too) so that can be good - i took it as a design feature V

Lol did he really just leave the light housing open at the back?

osrams may be better in these respects from
Some led bulbs (cheap ones) have big LEDs on the tip which causes distortion when reflecting on the lamp reflectors, smaller LEDs tip has sharper pattern thus no distortion on pattern yet brighter.
comments on amazon.de osram said people were installing on passats/bmw ... some of which must have projectors - my older bm had them.

 

[AWPC]

I get what you're saying but if my standard headlights aren't as bright as someone else's standard headlights, and I upgrade mine to the same level as his without it being a worse beam pattern, then why should it be an issue?

The headlights on my car really are poor. Ive upgraded to Osram nightbreakers already, it helped but its still poor.

The car can come with xenons as standard, unfortunately Id be missing the auto leveling and headlight washers. But I keep my car clean and still have manual headlight level adjustment in the car itself.

So really, although I get the law is the law, its actually no less safe and probably more safe if I do the upgrade.

Knock yourself out pal but the law is the law you will get hammered if you get pulled and the police notice you are in DEEP trouble! You will struggle to hang onto your licence or get insurance again! We all know the current law around this is dumb but until someone changes it that is the way it is!

No insurance alone driving offence (if you get caught) will make it very hard to get insurance again they will charge you more than the cars actually worth as your lack of judgement & understanding means you become a very high risk insurance case IS it really worth it you have to ask yourself that.......!

 

[Clarkey]

Knock yourself out pal but the law is the law you will get hammered if you get pulled and the police notice you are in DEEP trouble! You will struggle to hang onto your licence or get insurance again! We all know the current law around this is dumb but until someone changes it that is the way it is!

No insurance alone driving offence (if you get caught) will make it very hard to get insurance again they will charge you more than the cars actually worth as your lack of judgement & understanding means you become a very high risk insurance case IS it really worth it you have to ask yourself that.......!

What an absolute load of tripe. You are never going to get in DEEP trouble over a light bulb. Have a word with yourself.
Frankly it's extremely unlikely you will get in even a hint of trouble.

 

[Nasher]

We've focussed on dipped beam so far, but what's the rules around putting LEDs in place of sidelights, indicators, main beam, brake lights, reversing lights etc etc?

If its just the 5w bulbs then its worth doing. The other types can be a problem. Indicators may end up flashing to quickly. Many modern cars will give canbus errors though.

 

[jpaul]

Not sure I understand the canbus issue , the video of the osram led install just shows a 2 pin connector(power n earth) for the bulb black box control module into the cars original bulb socket, which should be plug and play for most legacy cars,
if that style of (de certified) bulb becomes availible at £30/pair versus £80-90 - I'd take a gamble - I suspect colour has to be matched with main beam bulb so, that would nonetheless be 2*£30

 

[tom_e]

but what's the rules around putting LEDs in place of sidelights, indicators, main beam, brake lights, reversing lights etc etc?

There are none as long as they work and are the correct colour AFAIK.