Led light swap

I'm looking at replacing my stock halogen headlights with leds using a conversion bulb with built in resistor etc. There seems to be piles of options however I'm wondering if there is any special wiring harness needed or something on top of the bulb or if everything is simply "plug and play".

hate to rain on your parade but the light pattern is absolutely horrible and blinds oncoming drivers. Also very little difference between low and high beam.

I also dont see the need to use "conversion" bulbs anyway? Headlights dont care what the resistance is and the hyperflash can be turned off with FORScan for free for the turn signals....no need to make extra heat. Yes there are plug and play bulbs.

So simply put, any h13 led bulb should drop right in?

threegenpowerstroke98 said:

So simply put, any h13 led bulb should drop right in?

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yes

that crap part about leds is that they are directional light. so they dont refract properly with oem housings. Also, they have no way to modulate the amount of light that they put out so high beams is typically just more leds on at one time. increases brightness but not distance. kind of pointless imo.

sootie said:

yes

that crap part about leds is that they are directional light. so they dont refract properly with oem housings. Also, they have no way to modulate the amount of light that they put out so high beams is typically just more leds on at one time. increases brightness but not distance. kind of pointless imo.

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what sootie said is all true. i bought some LED's for like $60 and they don't do much better than the factory halogens as far as output goes other than the color is nicer. I used to have the nicer sylvannia silverstar light bulbs but they just aren't the most durable bulbs (they lasted maybe 8 months on the second set). it's unfortunate but yea...

side note thanks Sootie for the pump it arrived late Monday evening and the wife hasn't noticed yet haha

What about an HID swap?

threegenpowerstroke98 said:

What about an HID swap?

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HID's should only be used with projector retrofits. There are plug and play kits available but it involves mounting ballasts elsewhere and running a separate wire harness across the front of the truck.

So all in all it's kind of pointless "upgrading" the stock headlights then?

threegenpowerstroke98 said:

So all in all it's kind of pointless "upgrading" the stock headlights then?

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there are better than stock bulbs available, sylvania has some.

You can also bake and split your lights and do projector retrofits. That is the best option hands down.

I thought about doing that but I tend to mess that stuff up first go and I need headlights. will definitely be on the list of mods further down when I can afford a pair of stockers to mess with. for now I'll just toss in some cheap leds for the longevity as my bulbs are starting to burn out and go from there.

I’ve got led headlights, fog lights and switchbacks and seems to be brighter than stock for sure. I haven’t tried Sylvania bulbs but I’m happy with my led lights.

If you do leds, make sure there are leds on both sides. As sootie said, the cheaper ones are somewhat directional, and are clockable, but you still only have light dispersing to the oitside, inside ,or top or bottom. I found t out the hard way... Got a set that has leds on both sides of the bulb, and light output is 1000 times better than the original leds. It seems better than the stock bulbs as well, but 05 headlights seem to suck for light output.

I absolutely love the led headlights I have, have them in the fogs too.
Great light pattern
About $100 a pair but they aren't a vendor on here...

BigRed97 said:

I absolutely love the led headlights I have, have them in the fogs too.
Great light pattern
About $100 a pair but they aren't a vendor on here...

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Can you PM me the bulbs and vendor you went with, please?

PM'd

We sell and have had great success with Lifetime LED bulbs. I have the 35w in my stock housings for now, having a set of headlights built for my truck over the winter. Lights are $145 shipped for the 35w, or even brighter 70w for $225. PM me to if you're interested in ordering.

I did a fair amount of research. Diode Dynamics and vLEd seem to be a big player in the LED game. No resistors needed. Seem to have great reviews from people running them in all sorts of other brands. But I personally don't run them or have ever tried them.

I put a set of Lifetime LEDs in mine last year. They were terrible. The pattern was poop and almost no difference between highs and lows.

Also, I bought the bulbs, my house flooded and I got around to installing them 6 months later. When I installed the bulbs, one of the three LEDs on one bulb was not working. I did not try warranty due to time elapsed and it could have been my fault (moving them around and such), but still left a bad taste in my mouth. I threw them in the trash and happily went back to halogen.

You should have returned them for a new set. There is a lifetime warranty on all of their products. I've never used the high beams, don't see the point with the brightness of the low beam.

I could not pinpoint the failure on the company. However, the pattern was terrible.

One good light and one bad light threw a pattern that only Ray Charles could be proud of.