Aftermarket headlight beam pattern.

[EddieUA]

Hey guys so I’m looking to upgrade my headlights BUT, everywhere I look people only post pics of how the headlights look. Nobody seems to post any pictures of how they actually work at night. I drive a lot at night and want to have better than OEM reflector housing beam pattern but have no clue which projector housings out there actually give good results.

Tl;dr If you have aftermarket headlights can you post a picture of the light output at night?

Also, because why not, here’s my baby as it sits right now

 

[dark steed]

I don’t have aftermarket in my Mustang, but my Edge has projector lenses.
I put LED bulbs (and rotated them for optimal beam pattern). They made a world of difference in night driving. I have lots of deer around here and the sooner you see them, the better!


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[EddieUA]

Well I know that factory projectors are always good, especially with a good set of LED’s but for our cars they’re expensive and a pita to find. I have good LED in my headlights and fogs but the beam pattern is garbage, even after clocking the bulbs and adjusting the headlights. I have a massive dim spot right in the middle and all the light seems to go into the ditch/oncoming traffic ‍

 

[07gts197]

What about non oem projectors?


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[EddieUA]

That’s what I’m saying. If anyone on this forum is running non oem projector headlights, let’s see the output at night. I don’t know how many people actually care about being able to see at night but this might end up being helpful to a lot of us

 

[RED09GT]

It is hard to find aftermarket turn-key solutions that use decent quality projectors, most are offshore junk.

I would go over to retrofit resource or HID planet and either build a set yourself or find someone that does high quality retrofits.

 

[eighty6gt]

I've been liking my H13's

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

https://www.americanmuscle.com/mustang-black-sequential-projector-headlights-lhp-mst10bk-v2-tm.html

I had these for awhile and they were terrible at first, until adjustments were made. The quality was crap. They started having spiderweb cracks after a year so they went in the trash and i went back to stock lenses with led bulbs from Lasfit. They are adjustable so you can get the best beam pattern and cut down on the glare. I also adjusted my headlights down a bit. These are the bulbs i use in my 2012,

https://www.lasfit.com/products/h13...stang~yr_2012~zq_gt~dz_high-beam-and-low-beam

 

[Juice]

Well I know that factory projectors are always good, especially with a good set of LED’s but for our cars they’re expensive and a pita to find. I have good LED in my headlights and fogs but the beam pattern is garbage, even after clocking the bulbs and adjusting the headlights. I have a massive dim spot right in the middle and all the light seems to go into the ditch/oncoming traffic ‍

I have LED bulbs in aftermarket housings. But those housings are a copy of OEM with 2010 "style reflectors" that have no affect on beam pattern. That said, I have 3 other cars with LED bulbs. Of different style bulbs.
The best bulbs have a flat blade, with LEDs on each side. I like those the best, and both hi and low beams are very good.
I also have triangular bulbs with LEDs on 3 sides, and square bulbs with LEDs on 4 sides. They work, but not as well. Two sided is what I look for now w/lots of lumens.

 

[07gts197]

If someone would make an led that looked like an incandescent bulb with the chip in the stock spot, it would work better than stock.


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[06 T-RED S/C GT]

That’s what I’m saying. If anyone on this forum is running non oem projector headlights, let’s see the output at night. I don’t know how many people actually care about being able to see at night but this might end up being helpful to a lot of us

Just so your fully aware of the risk factors, unless your vehicle was originally equipped with OEM projector headlights? it is technically illegal to switch to any type of non OEM projector or LED headlight setup. In other words, if your vehicle was originally equipped with halogen bulbs in a reflector headlight housing? you are only permitted under law to upgrade to aftermarket halogen bulbs that are DOT approved. According to aftermarket vendors such as Diode Dynamics, they had to discontinue offering LED/HID conversion kits for headlight use due to the crackdown from the DOT. I had also considered looking into the Raxiom projector headlights from AM until discovering they only come included with halogen headlight bulbs which IMHO was a complete joke lol. Anyhow, after speaking with several reps from DD, they did in fact confirm they're only permitted to offer LED conversion kits/bulbs under DOT regulations for fog light use only. Therefore, if your vehicle's fog light housing includes an H10 socket? you can purchase either their SLF or SL1 LED fog light conversion kit. However, as mentioned they no longer offer LED/HID conversion kits for headlight use nor for reflector housing assemblies which have either a 9008 or H13 bulb socket. At any rate, I'll eventually be upgrading to the SL1 LED fog light kit from Diode Dynamics. Here's the links, if you happen to be interested or curious?

https://www.diodedynamics.com/h10-slf-led-bulbs-pair.html
https://www.diodedynamics.com/h10-sl1-led-bulbs-pair.html

 

[Juice]

I've been approached by a LEO and told me to turn off my fogs. Said they were too brigh (have had a few cars flash me) and said "we'll see what laws get passed". And drove off. Not a peep on the headlamps, also LED. lol. I think I need to aim my fogs......

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

Just so your fully aware of the risk factors, unless your vehicle was originally equipped with OEM projector headlights? it is technically illegal to switch to any type of non OEM projector or LED headlight setup. In other words, if your vehicle was originally equipped with halogen bulbs in a reflector headlight housing? you are only permitted under law to upgrade to aftermarket halogen bulbs that are DOT approved. According to aftermarket vendors such as Diode Dynamics, they had to discontinue offering LED/HID conversion kits for headlight use due to the crackdown from the DOT. I had also considered looking into the Raxiom projector headlights from AM until discovering they only come included with halogen headlight bulbs which IMHO was a complete joke lol. Anyhow, after speaking with several reps from DD, they did in fact confirm they're only permitted to offer LED conversion kits/bulbs under DOT regulations for fog light use only. Therefore, if your vehicle's fog light housing includes an H10 socket? you can purchase either their SLF or SL1 LED fog light conversion kit. However, as mentioned they no longer offer LED/HID conversion kits for headlight use nor for reflector housing assemblies which have either a 9008 or H13 bulb socket. At any rate, I'll eventually be upgrading to the SL1 LED fog light kit from Diode Dynamics. Here's the links, if you happen to be interested or curious?

https://www.diodedynamics.com/h10-slf-led-bulbs-pair.html
https://www.diodedynamics.com/h10-sl1-led-bulbs-pair.html

DD did not have to stop selling aftermarket bulbs for non halogen lenses. They themselves did a recall on a bulb because it did not meet the DOT standard for glare. That was all. I have the letter sitting here because i run those bulbs and am not replacing 300 dollars in bulbs for the 50 dollar halogens they wanted to send out. I will keep my leds because when adjusted properly they do not cause any unwanted glare.

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

Heck I sometimes still get flashed by oncoming traffic, as they think I have my high beams on rather than just low beams with fog lights lol. Note, that only my headlight lamps are running LED's while the fog lamps still have the OEM halogen bulbs. But then again, I was also getting flashed when the headlights bulbs were still OEM halogen whenever the fog lights were turned on

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

DD did not have to stop selling aftermarket bulbs for non halogen lenses. They themselves did a recall on a bulb because it did not meet the DOT standard for glare. That was all. I have the letter sitting here because i run those bulbs and am not replacing 300 dollars in bulbs for the 50 dollar halogens they wanted to send out. I will keep my leds because when adjusted properly they do not cause any unwanted glare.

First off, I didn't mention a fucking word about them having to stop selling aftermarket bulbs for non halogen lenses. I clearly stated they discontinued selling HID/LED conversion kits for halogen/reflective lenses with 9008/H13 bulb sockets under the DOT recall for headlight use. I also clearly stated that under the DOT regulations, they now only offer LED conversion kits for fog light use only that have either H10, H11 or H16 sockets for halogen/reflective lens housings. I also no longer see anything listed on their website for HID/LED conversion kits for halogen/reflective lens housings that are for headlight use!

https://www.diodedynamics.com/by-vehicle.html?find=2006-ford-mustang-gt-315186
https://www.diodedynamics.com/led-bulbs/foglight-drl.html

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

Your words.... According to aftermarket vendors such as Diode Dynamics, they had to discontinue offering LED/HID conversion kits for headlight use due to the crackdown from the DOT.


This is not true. They offer them for several vehicles. The ones recalled were, again for glare and ONLY a specific bulb size.

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

Okay, I'll clarify/break it down. They discontinued selling HID/LED conversion kits for headlight use which have halogen/reflector lens housings that use 9008/H13 bulb size sockets. Perhaps they still offer these for other vehicles, but once again, I didn't come across any HID or LED headlight conversion kits listed for the 2005-09 Mustang on the Diode Dynamics website. Also following my phone conversation with 2 different reps from DD, they also confirmed that only their SLF and SL1 LED conversion kits are available for the 2005-09 Mustang which have the OEM halogen/reflector lens housings with H10 bulb socket sizes for fog light use only.

 

[jlmotox]

06’ GT here... but I got the Raxiom projector headlights and put in some Amazon H13 LEDs with the little heat sink fans and they are awesome. As good if not better than my wife’s Audi.

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

06’ GT here... but I got the Raxiom projector headlights and put in some Amazon H13 LEDs with the little heat sink fans and they are awesome. As good if not better than my wife’s Audi.

Would you happen to know the type/brand of H13 LEDs you purchased from Amazon? I've been running the Putco H13 Silver Lux LEDs for nearly 5 years, but their just not quite bright enough for my liking. So perhaps, the Raxiom projector headlight setup with H13 LEDs your running just might be the right option to consider looking into

 

[EddieUA]

So I currently already have LED’s in my fogs and headlights, good quality bulbs and huge improvement over the halogens but the beam pattern is just meh. I have a huge dark spot right in the middle and a lot of light to the sides. I clocked the bulbs to sit exactly like the halogens and aimed them but it still doesn’t look right. This is why I want to switch to projectors for a cleaner pattern with a nice sharp cutoff.