LED headlight bulbs, any good?
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,232
Likes: 168
From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
SL 350 R230 (3.7L with AMG Speedshift autobox)
LED headlight bulbs, any good?
Hi Guys,
I have just fitted some led sidelight bulbs (canbus error free) and I am really impressed with the clean white light they give and I also have LED day time running lights inplace of the fogs so they match well.
What I am wondering is what are the led headlight bulbs like for brightness as I may change these too now ! Does anyone have them, are they as bright or better to drive then normal filament bubs?
Thanks
I have just fitted some led sidelight bulbs (canbus error free) and I am really impressed with the clean white light they give and I also have LED day time running lights inplace of the fogs so they match well.
What I am wondering is what are the led headlight bulbs like for brightness as I may change these too now ! Does anyone have them, are they as bright or better to drive then normal filament bubs?
Thanks
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2012
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2000 Mercedes Benz Clk 320
I was actually researching this yesterday, I bought some city lights yesterday with only 3 lights becuase mine blew. Granted they're not bright because of the ones I bought, but if you have the stock headlights it really makes your car look updated and away from the ugly yellow (my opinion). There's a seller on here by the name of azn optics, he seems to have to have good stuff and good prices. But with the LEDs yesterday some of them got errors, we went through a couple of pairs before the error went away.
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Joined: Sep 2010
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clk 200k
Hi Guys,
I have just fitted some led sidelight bulbs (canbus error free) and I am really impressed with the clean white light they give and I also have LED day time running lights inplace of the fogs so they match well.
What I am wondering is what are the led headlight bulbs like for brightness as I may change these too now ! Does anyone have them, are they as bright or better to drive then normal filament bubs?
Thanks
I have just fitted some led sidelight bulbs (canbus error free) and I am really impressed with the clean white light they give and I also have LED day time running lights inplace of the fogs so they match well.
What I am wondering is what are the led headlight bulbs like for brightness as I may change these too now ! Does anyone have them, are they as bright or better to drive then normal filament bubs?
Thanks
Even if you find LED bulbs with the same output (in lumens) as the filament bulb, it will never iluminate your path the same way. The optics are made to project the light from a "point light source". The LED bulbs are very far from the "point model". Only with appropriate optics it would be possible to get the same output.
PS- You can have better light output just by having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) while keeping the power output (check the nightbreaker's from osram and other brands).
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,232
Likes: 168
From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
SL 350 R230 (3.7L with AMG Speedshift autobox)
Don't!
Even if you find LED bulbs with the same output (in lumens) as the filament bulb, it will never iluminate your path the same way. The optics are made to project the light from a "point light source". The LED bulbs are very far from the "point model". Only with appropriate optics it would be possible to get the same output.
PS- You can have better light output just by having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) while keeping the power output (check the nightbreaker's from osram and other brands).
Even if you find LED bulbs with the same output (in lumens) as the filament bulb, it will never iluminate your path the same way. The optics are made to project the light from a "point light source". The LED bulbs are very far from the "point model". Only with appropriate optics it would be possible to get the same output.
PS- You can have better light output just by having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) while keeping the power output (check the nightbreaker's from osram and other brands).
I will check out the lights you said from osram, also what did you mean by :
"having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) " ? Do you mean use a smaller bulb?
Thanks
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 13
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clk 200k
Thanks for the info. This is what I had suspected as the side light LED's I bought are just for a clean look and not driving, but the the headlights are important to be bright obviously.
I will check out the lights you said from osram, also what did you mean by :
"having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) " ? Do you mean use a smaller bulb?
Thanks
I will check out the lights you said from osram, also what did you mean by :
"having a smaller filament (closer to a point light source) " ? Do you mean use a smaller bulb?
Thanks
The "high performance" bulbs, like the nightbreakers from osram and Xtreme from Phillips have the same power (55W) but with a smaller filament. The bulbs are exactly the same. This means that the light is produced by a smaller volume, and as such, the optics can better direct the light. They do not produce more light, they just iluminate less where it doesn't matter and more where it does matter. The result is you have better lights in your car. But these bulbs will not last as much as the standard ones, as the smaller filament will take more heat.
