chrispham

Chuck, you should get them. They are a real wow factor for under $20.

1koolfella

iTrader: (1)

Hey Chrispham,

Where did you purchase your 9005 led bulbs from? How well does the high beam work using these bulbs? Did your bulbs require adding a resister to avoid errors on the dash?

Raddy

Do you have a link for where you got the bulbs from?

joebruni

Yes please let us know! I have the kit from JDMtoy which is decent but I would love to try another rig.

Best,

Joe

chrispham

Hi guys, I wanted to make a quick comment before you guys go buying 80w LED bulbs. Although they look bright in the pictures, they ended up being very dissapointing in real life driving conditions that required the use of high beams. They just did not throw enough light distance wise. It almost looks like an LED flashlight that needed the batteries replaced. I ended up returning them.

I did however keep the DRL LED. They look good at night but not bright enough for my liking during the day. I will also be replacing those and provide pictures and feedback.

As far as the high beams go, I will most likely be purchasing these:



Now, some important information you need to know about these kits. You need to make sure you are buying the ---> 55w <--- kits and not the 35w kits. The 35w kits are ok but the 55w kits are much brighter and the way to go. You will also want to get a model that is very slim and not made out of plastic. As far as the color of the bulbs, I prefer 6000k. I've experimented with a few and the 6000k are the best looking in my opinion. At 5000k they are bright white, just a really bright halogen. At 8000k your looking too blue and visability goes down. At 6000k it is just perfect for me. You get that light hue of blue that looks cool and you know it is not a regular bulb but you still get the long range visability. Now, the downside to these kits. When first turned on, it will take a few seconds for them to heat up and throw maximum light. Not a problem if they are low beams but it will not be instant on for high beams. It will still throw light but you will see the difference the longer they remain on.

I'm waiting for LED backup lights that should hopefully be delivered this week. They are also not the average LED reverse lights. They are supposed to be more high powered and 16w. I am curious if it's 16 Chinese watts or 16 American watts :-) These are I purchase:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231207766458?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Pretty excited to try them out. Going to be looking for more options for the interior LED's. I would like to find brighter ones for the cabin if possible. I may also try to install these new reverse LED bulbs into the from DRL to see if they fit and how they look. I'll keep everyone posted.

By the way.... has anyone ever dipped their wheels? I purchased the kit and will be dipping my wheels in white with pearl spray on top. I've never done it before but my friend has done it on his Caddy and they look nice.

jakenbake

I want to make a few comments about chrispham's comments. I personally would go with the 35w system, not 55w. OEM HID ballasts are 35w and the reason for this is that the 35w systems are more reliable and last longer.

Also, at 6000k you already loose usable light. The reason that OEM HID bulbs are 4300K is that 4300K puts out the most lumens (usable light). I ordered Phillips 6000k bulbs for my headlights and noticed they weren't as bright and did not light the road as well, especially in the rain...so I put the OEM 4300k bulbs back in. 6000k bulbs are also illegal in most states including California. (It is even printed on the base of the bulb that they aren't for street use). If you want your lights to look more blue than OEM, buy 5000k bulbs. They will look blue to oncoming drivers but they will cast white light onto the road. 4300k output about 3200 lumens per bulb, 5000k output about 3000 lumens, and 6000k output about 2700 lumens.

I would use The Retrofit Source. It is a bit more expensive but they sell quality products and they warranty their merchandise.
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems.html

It all comes down to preference...But bigger (or a higher number in this case) is not always better.

chrispham

Jakenbake is correct. It all boils down to color preference. I've tried different kits and and different temperature bulbs and just prefer the 6000k. I'll be using this set for the high beams so I want them to be as bright as possible, even if 6000k is a little less bright compared to the 5000k, I still like the slight blue tint to them. I've used the 35w before and prefer the 55w. It may be different on this vehicle once I install them but on the Porsche that is what I used and it worked out the best for me. On the RX400h 2008, Lexus replaced the 2006-2007 headlights with the new blue tinted headlights.

As for the $150 kits above. They may be better made but they are also 3 times the cost. I've had my other kit in the Porsche for over a year with no issues, plus if I don't like the way they look on this car I can chuck them and I would only be wasting $50. I try to read as many reviews as possible. I always look on Amazon first before Ebay to read the reviews. The kit I posted above has really good reviews. I have not tried that particular brand yet but only time will tell after I get them installed. I'll post before and after pics.

Raddy

Hey Chrispham, thanks for letting us know.

Which DRL LED kit did you buy? And is the DRL different from the high beams?

Thank You, I'm a newb to this kind of stuff sorry.

Raddy

Where did you get these LED Bulbs from? Do you have a link?

chrispham

Apologies for such a delay in response.

I've been experimenting with various LED bulbs for my 2007 RX400h. Here is what I've experienced:

LED High beam - (I've experimented with cheap as well as expensive LED bulbs.) Looks very bright when on and also very cool looking. Saying that.... they are completely worthless for actual high beam operation. They just cannot throw enough light to come even close to the regular bulbs. I have yet to test a LED "high beam" or "low beam" bulb that is functional at night.

LED DRL - Yup, experimented with these as well. Here is the best bulb I found for brightness. BUT.... I will go into that below.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-1400-Lumens-T10-High-Power-3535-Chip-LED-White-Backup-Reverse-Light-Bulbs-/331317154872?hash=item4d240a9438&vxp=mtr
So...... These are in fact the brightest I have found for DRL LED's... BUT... don't buy them. They do not last running all the time as DRL. They maybe ok for backup lights but I do stress that they are not reliable. I've gone through testing with about 8 of them and 7 out of 8 have failed. I am expecting the only one working to fail soon at some point.

As far as the fog lights.... I absolutely hate the halogen bulbs. They are yellow and look crappy. I haven't had a chance to replace them yet because it looks like a huge ordeal to replace them and I am not a mechanic. I wish Lexus would have considered making them user friendly to replace the bulb. Very disappointed.

I may give these a try. Has anyone tried these yet? I just found them now on Ebay. It's interesting they do not require the ballast like kits I've seen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/D2S-55W-6000K-White-HID-Xenon-Replacement-High-Beam-Headlight-Bulbs-Pair-x2-NEW-/171443982005?fits=Make%3ALexus%7CModel%3ARX400h&hash=item27eadb8eb5&vxp=mtr
This brings up what I've seen that works. I've used the HID Ballast kits on my Porsche and they work great! I used the 55w and not the 35w models. I've also chosen the 6000k. They look great with a light tint of blue. Some users will argue the best is the 5000k like the factory Xenon on the 2006 & 2007 RX models. What people fail to remember is after 2008, Lexus tinted the bulbs to give them a 6000k look. It boils down to user preference though. I really like the 6000k but no higher. Any higher makes them look too blue and degrades visibility.

robbyk

Color selection is a big part of HID selection. Almost all factory (OEM) HID kits are 4300K but some manufacturers use 6000K. The higher the Kelvin or K rating on a bulb, the lower the light output in lumens. Many aftermarket companies offer HID kits of 8000K, 10000K or 12000K. In my opinion, the only reason one would buy a kit with a Kelvin rating of over 6000K is that they are misinformed or uneducated in the area of lighting. Many people will try to tell you that bulbs with a high Kelvin rating (the bulbs that are very blue or purple) are brighter than those with a color of 4300-6000K. That is 100% false. For visibility purposes do not buy a kit with an extremely high color temperature. You can see below how quickly light brightness declines as color temperature increases.

Here is a chart of K vs. lu
3000K = 4000lu
4300K = 3200lu
6000K = 2900lu
8000K = 2450lu
10000K = 2200lu
12000K = 1800lu

The reason most HID bulbs appear blue

Aside from the natural color of the light at 4300-6000K, which generates a bluish hue, the projector lenses, their curvature, the reflector, etc generate the color. They work together to produce light as optically designed.