gforc3

Anyone put led headlights in to replace the hids with lighting package? I'm worried if I swap the bulbs it will affect the auto brights or adaptive cornering. If anyone has done it what brand do you like?

gforc3

Anyone? lol

chrisridebike8

LEDs when swapped in without having a reflector to utilize the light output will be splotchy and not work well. Stick with HIDs.

gforc3

Hmm I did the swap on my Mazda cx3 and it works very well with just projectors if I'm not mistaken

INS1GNIA

lol.

Do the swap and take pics and let us know how it goes.

gforc3

Whys this forum such a pos? Any forum you'll get **** for not searching or whatever but literally anything asked here will get **** on immediately I don't really get it. Snooty Merc owners? Who knows. I had projectors in my g37 which I also put leds in and they worked just like hids just brighter. Same with cx3. I'm looking for same effect in this car. How's that retarded?

BLKROKT

You just answered you own question dude. Ok, so great, you like LEDs and it worked for you before. Even though two different people here gave you their opinion, because you asked for it by posting. So sensitive. So go be a big boy and find the right size bulb and have at it Edison. It's pretty simple. Watch out for deer. Because they won't see you.

BLKROKT

Seriously, if people don't want an opinion, why even bother posting. If you just want someone to agree with you, then this isn't the right medium for you. Part of the idea of a community, is that members are here to share their experience and hopefully prevent other members from doing stupid things.

If you searched the forum, and there are no reports, then it probably didn't work. It's not like LEDs or our car lighting systems are some sort of bleeding-edge technology. 100% for sure people have tried it, and if you don't see raving positive reviews, then you have your answer. Your post sat here for two days without any hits. On a weekend. There you go.

If you have two experienced members saying it won't work, there's your answer as well. It's not a matter of opinion, either it works or it doesn't.

All the new guys lately are so sensitive about critical opinions and debate here. If you don't want to hear it, just don't post. This isn't some sort of personalized information service to cater to little fragile egos.

gforc3

Lol this guy man. Like I said in my first post I'm not sure if they had to be hid to work with the lighting package. Do you have a life? I'm dead serious man. Every thread on this forum for years back you post on giving little to no help, just ranting like this. The mbworld thread police lmao. I do want an answer. I got one real answer and one guy banging his head like it was a dumbass question. I could just go buy a kit and throw it in but isn't that the point of forums?

jptaylor

I'll chime in here as I'm a bit of a headlight junkie....not sure if you are facelift or pre-facelift but with either that has factory projectors you will NOT want to use LED as your projector bulb...the focal point of the bowls are very specific to provide optimum output based not only the exact bulb position but also on the fact that the factory bulb produces 360° of light, whereas the BEST LEDs only produce light from 2 very specific points....yes I am aware you can buy LED kits that are 3 and 4 sided and also others which claim to produce the same 360° array by use of optics placed directly on the LED emitters but I can assure you they do not...you will LOVE the color but your new output will SUCK....I have tested all types and styles of LED replacement bulbs in multiple projectors and the result is the same, very poor output when compared to the HID bulb.....but on the OTHER hand, you CAN run the good LED kits in the supplemental hi-beam and you will LOVE both the color and output of those.....I run D1S CBI bulbs in my retro-ed in Evox-R V2 projectors and Opt7 H7 LEDs in my hi-beams and couldn't be more pleased... From all the ones I have tested the OPT7 units put out the most light, best color and also the widest output array(via the emitter mounted optics I mentioned above).....So in short, go high quality HID bulb in factory projectors(CBI,CBH,etc...) and high quality LEDs in supplemental hi-beam

jptaylor

Word of warning though....the OPT7 units, like most others, have an external fan which attached to overall length out the back of the socket which DOES hit the back of the headlight housing....wasn't an issue to me as I open my headlights up all the time and what they actually hit is not structural and you can Dremel it out in less than a minute per side....you COULD technically do it by removing the headlight from the car and dremeling the obstruction down through the access hole where you change the bulb , BUT, I would not do that as you will have black plastic shavings all inside the housing....I guess you could remove the HID bulb and hi-beam bulb and use compressed air to blow out all the shavings, but opening these housings up is REALLY easy so that's the route I'd take.....(PLUS if youre right there anyway you might as well throw in a pair of clear lenses on the projectors to REALLY wake those headlights up!!!!)

sakodik

If blkrokt is mbworld's thread police then I support him as a brother in blue.

Anyways, I, like jptaylor, run OPT7 H7 in my high beams but opted not to use them in the low beam. It wasn't recommended among other things already said above. Stuck with HID D2S, matched color, and good to go! Also my stock projector was burnt so I replaced with morimoto's on my w220. Ample room in the back so cooling fan wasn't a big deal.

Adi-Benz

jptaylor

I am at a business conference until tomorrow, but if you would like when I get back on Thursday I can post pics of exactly what you are asking about...I have my factory e46 projectors(not BMW, that is Bosch's code for our OEM HID projectors) in my office along with both D1S bulbs AND LED assemblies....I can fire them both up and get you some lo/hi-beam output shots on a wall.

wyneduke

Why use LED's? HID's are a lot better in terms of light output.

jptaylor

typically that is true, BUT, there are times when you DON'T want HIDs...as in fog lamps and supplemental hi-beams. Ballasts can be fickle as hell sometimes and having the fogs and hi-beams coming on and off everytime you go from from lo to hi or hi to low is a LOT of extra cycles on the ballasts....plus with the supplemental hi-beams an HID would have a light off/warm up delay when activated, not ideal when you need the light NOW.

Alex.currie44

I am confused.
You asked about LEDs for HID Xenon replacement and the CX3 sounds like you went to Projector HIDs from stock.
That swap was available on R170 SLKs but was not easy and not all that satisfactory in many cases. Fortunately my car had the Xenons as standard equipment being the SLK320.

jptaylor

I apologise that I forgot all about the comparo shots, I'll get them up on Monday....but there are ZERO circumstances where an LED in a standard projector(halogen or HID) will put out anywhere close to the amount of light that the original bulb will produce...LEDs just don't put out light in the same way that a bulb does so no matter how bright the LED is, even if the LED is 5x brighter, it will never outperform the bulb. Not only that but the beam pattern, cutoff will be horrible and your hot spot will be non-existent. Like I said earlier, LEDs do perform VERY well in an open reflector such as high beams, so long as you remove the internal deflector mounted on most supplemental hi-beam reflectors. Now if you really want LED there is an option, and a damn good option at that....they do now make LED bi-LED projectors and they are awesome....Google Koito and Optima LED projector or bi-LED projector and prepare to be amazed.....that will be my next retrofit