I’m looking for recommendations on brighter headlight bulbs.

I’ve tried different bulbs over the years and haven’t found anything that’s bright enough for night driving, especially in the rain. Do you guys have any I should try and would you recommend any LED type retrofits?

Here are the Philips and Sylvania bulbs that I’ve had in the past. The last Philips purchase lasted the longest at 4.5 years vs the other 2-3 years.

Surprisingly my fog light bulbs have not been replaced since I put them in 2011, even though they are always on with my headlights. Weird.








Did some quick research and it seems LED retrofits are not recommended for reflector lamps like mine. I also found this halogen bulb from OSRAM. Does anyone know anything about it?

 

What's your budget? You are not going to get much better lighting with a halogen. I personally have these two products


https://brisource.com/products/ddm-t...39279620817046

The DDM Tuning is amazing but pricey. If it lasts I consider it great value. The Auxbeam is great for the money. The caveat is I can't predict how an LED will work in your car.

 

Thank you. I think I’m gonna stick with the regular halogen. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep the car so investing in big upgrades is not in my budget. Also after some research it seems reflector lights are not ideal for LEDs and could actually be illegal for road use.

This is straight from the DDM website.

“APPLICATION NOTICE: For front facing vehicle lighting upgrades, LED bulbs are not legal in the USA for Headlight use (not compliant with DOT/FMVSS108). They are legal for off-road use in ATV, snowmobile, and racing applications for specialty vehicles only. International legality varies by country. Please check with your local authorities prior to purchase and use.”

I found this video to be helpful.


Ill give the OSRAM Night Breaker Laser a try this time.

 

They may be technically illegal but in my use I'm getting 2.5x better light output if I was running halogens night driving would be downright dangerous in comparison. I'm running them in a reflector housing, LEDs that have the emitters in the same physical location as the halogen filament generally are fine in a reflector.

The first one I linked to is $50 after applying the coupon, that's spending too much?

 

Okay I’m gonna give them a shot. Worst case scenario I can always return them with Amazon.

 

Yep, think a person has to at least try LED see if it works in a particular application.

 

That is a good link; I will try it, because my bluish-white halogens are very yellow and dull compared to my HID's.
Do you know how it compares to modern HID's from up to 10 years ago?

 

Getting close to the brightness of a good HID kit, light pattern not as uniform but as usual it depends on what the bulb is going in to. These are next on my try list
https://brisource.com/collections/le...eadlight-bulbs

Can't say for sure without trying them but I think they are a better design than the above pic.

 

Boy, these LED bulbs sure are expensive.

 

I consider it money well spent.

 

So I got the Auxbeam LED bulbs, they do not fit on the 98 ES300. Unless I'm missing something, I couldn't figure out how they would fit without modifying the gasket that seals the low beam bulbs from the elements. See pictures for reference.

I ended up ordering OSRAM H7 Night Breaker Laser bulbs.

 

Remove collar, put on the boot, put collar back and clip into the housing?

 

Tried that, the boot is very thick and it’s in the shape of a cylinder so there is a lot of pressure in the collar and it feels like you’re gonna tear the boot. Also clipping the bulb into housing would be extremely difficult with the boot in the way.

I wasn’t sure if you had these bulbs on a 97-01 ES or you simply suggested that I try them because they’re on your other vehicles. Have you run into the same installation issues?

 

I put them in an Avalon, and in two of my cars but none of them have a boot to worry about. Generally with LED bulbs you have to get creative for the ES I would grab some boots from a salvage yard or maybe from a different car. The effort is worth it you'll have way better light.

edit - the boot 90075-65002 is $5/each could grab some new ones and modify. Going by your picture if you cut some off the end of the small part it should work. Did you at least try them out to see what the output was like?

 

Gotcha. I’m gonna try fitting them one more time without the boot, I got stuck trying to figure out how they would fit on my car with the extra wire and module in the way so never got around to fitting them inside the lamp. I was only able to see if they turn on, which they did.

The OSRAM bulbs arrive tomorrow, so I can compare them side by side.