Why replacing the headlight bulb with an LED, or HID is a bad idea.

mbaskett said:

Just this morning I was watching a vid/spot posted by Today talking about headlights and blinding oncoming drivers. The first of two major points they emphasized was color of the LEDs being more blue. I think we all agree that 4300K is ideal (most usable white light), and anything above 5500K is ridiculous.. The other topic they spoke about was general headlight aiming.. I was surprised that very few states actually include headlight aiming in their state safety inspections. I know here in TX, it's not part of inspection... (I wish it was)

Here our #1 issue is poorly aimed headlights, followed up with ppl driving with brights on all the time.. Some are [administratively removed] to know they're doing it, others do it because their low beams are poorly aimed or so cloudy that total light output is very poor..

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In one of these threads, I don't know if it is this one or not, I posted that. 4300K is the best for the human eye to utilize. 4300k is about what the old original car lights looked like



I am running 5000K HID's in my truck. Now I am wondering what the Daymaker is? Huh, I'll have to look.

This is one of those topics, much like the famous 'which oil is best?' that get endlessly argued.

macxpert said:

I know of people who got defect notices for their headlights not being aimed correctly but that was back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Seems to have fallen off the radar these days. My wife and I avoid driving/riding at night because we find it harder to see at night due to our age and a lot of over the top LED headlights don't make it any easier for people over 50. It's not just us, our friends are all saying the same thing. I guess it will take a few bad crashes and coverage on the 6 O'clock news before anyone takes it seriously.

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I know that this shit bothers me more and more. One of the concepts that I like is the compound LED lighting. Each 'headlight' on a car would be comprised of multiple LEDs, and individually controlled and dimmed based on oncoming traffic. That way you can cut down on glare at a driver, but still throw light where it might be useful. It's early in the morning and I didn't find any info with a basic google, but I though some companies were working on this.

I'm with Goat on this, mfg either design led's on newer vehicles to just pass or the assembly line workers don't give a sh1t as most are blinding. Especially the DRL's on this F#_>:=< thing.

Ordinary Biker said:

In one of these threads, I don't know if it is this one or not, I posted that. 4300K is the best for the human eye to utilize. 4300k is about what the old original car lights looked like

I am running 5000K HID's in my truck. Now I am wondering what the Daymaker is? Huh, I'll have to look.

This is one of those topics, much like the famous 'which oil is best?' that get endlessly argued.



I know that this shit bothers me more and more. One of the concepts that I like is the compound LED lighting. Each 'headlight' on a car would be comprised of multiple LEDs, and individually controlled and dimmed based on oncoming traffic. That way you can cut down on glare at a driver, but still throw light where it might be useful. It's early in the morning and I didn't find any info with a basic google, but I though some companies were working on this.

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Yep, numerous studies have shown 4300K puts out the most usable white light for the human eye.. perhaps the argument could be made that our species is evolving, but I doubt it 5000K is about where I personally prefer the light spectrum of my headlights. Have owned vehicles that come with 5500K from the factory all the way down to sealed beam bulbs that might have graced 4300K on a good day... it's a small difference between 4300K and 5000K, but the 5000K is more of an all-rounder for my typical driving conditions. I've found that 5500K will highlight animal eyes at night significantly brighter than 5000K beams do, so in a state where the speed limits are 75mph (or higher) and there are huge stretches of straight road with wildlife on the shoulders ready to leap in front of you, I'd lean more towards the 5000K beams over 4300K. My own personal experience is that 5000K bulb light up a bit more of the road that I can see vs. a 4300K bulb in the typical environment I drive. Best of both worlds IMO... but that is strictly IMO and in the environment that I typically drive/ride.

I hear you on misalignment. #1 lighting infraction across all of the USA if you ask me. Probably twice as prevalent as voting incorrectly🤣. More WLF's out there that can't tell when they have incorrectly aimed beams or are running with their high beams on in town. As I get older, it pisses me off more and more. Next week I'll probably be sitting on the porch with a loaded Mossberg, hollering at kids to get off my lawn and turn their high beams off! I'm already pissed at the kid a few doors down with the crotch rocket that fires up @ 7am, and rides out of the neighborhood without shifting (1st gear to 10k RPM). Maybe Tuesday morning I'll be at his driveway on the Fury with a shotgun and teach the prat how to short shift...

aces and eights said:

Not disagreeing with you krash, just saying I encounter newer vehicles (mostly cuv/suv and trucks) that the factory lights are not setup correctly. Now the drl's on the f350 sd, they need to be banned. Those F%^&%$/_ things are brighter then high noon on a cloud less day in the middle of summer after 10 hr's in a dark room.

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Those are just poorly aimed.. and if they can't be aimed, then yes, they are terribly designed... Ford IMO has really effed themselves recently