LED hightlights
- Thread starter sootytorques
- Start date
Funny how the previous car sways the opinions. I had a 7 year old Golf with xenons and the LEDs don't hold a candle to them. I reckon the headlights on the Clio I had before the Golf were better still, especially on high beam.
My neighbour has the facelifted Audi A7 with LED headlights and they actually light up the road, but I find the Leon's don't do anything of the sort. Makes me wonder whether everyone here has the same components in their headlights and that they've been improved or that the emitters/drivers have a wide tolerance when it comes to quality? I've seen some mention a defined beam cut off, but mine are really diffused. I can't see any beam pattern, the road is just bathed in a weak white light with no defined edges. They look blindingly bright in the reflection if I park outside a glass fronted store, but are barely lighting up the road in front of the car. They're really terrible in rainy conditions, too!
My neighbour has the facelifted Audi A7 with LED headlights and they actually light up the road, but I find the Leon's don't do anything of the sort. Makes me wonder whether everyone here has the same components in their headlights and that they've been improved or that the emitters/drivers have a wide tolerance when it comes to quality? I've seen some mention a defined beam cut off, but mine are really diffused. I can't see any beam pattern, the road is just bathed in a weak white light with no defined edges. They look blindingly bright in the reflection if I park outside a glass fronted store, but are barely lighting up the road in front of the car. They're really terrible in rainy conditions, too!
I don't know what your prefences are but if Clio's headlights were better than LEDs then I start to think that something is wrong with your lights or you had some crazy aftermarket xenons with crazy bulbs.
I owned a couple of Bimmers with xenons, bixenons(2xE39,2xE46,E91), an Alfa 159 with Bixenons and the LEDs are more than comparable plus the light is more comfortable. The only thing that bothers me is that I can't raise the main beam just a little bit more up. The bixenon seemed to light up the road a little bit further, while the LEDs cut off the beam more. It's bright and then it's dark, there is no transition.
This video is a nice compare to what I'm trying to say. From 1:57 onward. You can see that the xenons lit up more road then the LEDs and the transition from light to dark is not as agressive as in the LEDs but the light is much nicer with LEDs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfW04kT5Ug
Other than that I'm satisfied and they just can't be compared to halogens, at least not mine. Mine is one month old. Maybe they get worse in time, maybe the lights got better, I don't know.
Another video, this has been posted somewhere already. From 8:35 onward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYv7uw0JWjQ
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You must have something wrong as my lights have a definite cut off to the beam and are lighting up all the road I need. For really poor lights, try riding a bike, even modern ones that can do 60 in 3 secs or less give no light as standard.
Yeah I have a good cut line either side of the road like the barrier, I just don't really see a line in front of the car unlike Xenons... but they do seem a tad higher level than my Golf so maybe that's why, and maybe because when I compare I'm going over 60mph and thus they level higher as per Motorway lights setting.
As I've surmised above, I suspect that quality control for the emitters is lax. They're probably using more than one supplier and I've got the cheap Chinese ones with a crappy output!
Ive had a quick look at those 2 videos above and they don't really prove much. The first one should use the Audi A6 as a 3 way comparison, as it is one of the few cars on the market that is available with all 3 types of headlight, not compare a brand new Audi to a 10 year old Alfa Romeo! As for the second review, my headlights don't appear to be as bright as the ones shown, but that video perfectly demonstrates how pathetically weak the main beam is...
Ive had a quick look at those 2 videos above and they don't really prove much. The first one should use the Audi A6 as a 3 way comparison, as it is one of the few cars on the market that is available with all 3 types of headlight, not compare a brand new Audi to a 10 year old Alfa Romeo! As for the second review, my headlights don't appear to be as bright as the ones shown, but that video perfectly demonstrates how pathetically weak the main beam is...
Yes I fitted these to my Golf as the original were poor
They made a big improvement buts that 2 year since and i think thee may be better ones now
But that does help the LED ones
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You must be the most unlucky guy I have ever heard of, going by the posts you have on here.
I wanted to show you a comparison LED vs Xenon with the first video, I wasn't trying to compare halogens, I didn't even notice that they used an Alfa 156.
I wanted to point out that the cut off is too obvious with the LEDs compared to xenon but the light itself is comparable, maybe even more natural. At the same time I wanted to show that the beam from the Audi is in my opinion the same or maybe similar to the one in Seat.
I do agree that the beam in the second video is weak, especially on the right side. Anyway, I wanted to point out the cut off.
Maybe you could make a video and post it, I am really interested now, how bad your LEDs lit the road.
What did they say? When I contacted them to say I wasn't happy with the headlights they just wrote back thanking me for my feedback and that they were closing my case regarding the gearbox.
I've done a lot of searching on the subject and the views are so mixed. Some love them and others think they're poor. I'm becoming convinced it's down to comparisons with other cars driven, as it generally seems that it's mostly people coming from halogens or modern xenons (probably 25W) that think they're great.
This is a quote I found on Audi-Sport discussing the A3 LEDs:
I drove down a tree-lined lane with the main beam on yesterday morning and the brightest point of light was up in the treetops. What the hell is it doing up there and not on the bleeding road?!
I've done a lot of searching on the subject and the views are so mixed. Some love them and others think they're poor. I'm becoming convinced it's down to comparisons with other cars driven, as it generally seems that it's mostly people coming from halogens or modern xenons (probably 25W) that think they're great.
I think you're spot on. I think they're awesome because I had an Evo, which was garbage for headlights. But I can see how people who have had mega HIDs think they're pants.
my merc (2005) had Bi-Xenons, and the LEDs on my 2013 Leon aren't too different....admittedly, I didn't drive them side by side, but I'm satisfied.
Had an Astra GTC with the bi-xenon which were great, but the difference isn't all that bad. Dipped beam is a little behind but main beam is much better.
A lot of comments here lead me to believe that for some they have not been adjusted correctly. Like all headlights they have two adjustment screw's per side, one vertical and one horizontal. I posted a diagram of these elsewhere.
My suspicion is that these are not checked at the dealer as they should be at the price (pre delivery inspection).
My suspicion is that these are not checked at the dealer as they should be at the price (pre delivery inspection).
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