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LED Light option; worth it?

RubiSc0tt

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Absolutely. Someone will probably tell you no, and give you a fancier option with beam pattern examples from an aftermarket manufacturer and an explanation; but for me, coming from a 04 Rubi with tired ass halogens: It was like being able to see everything clearly from the first minute of switching them on. The simplicity of that alone is worth it for me.

Also: I live in the Northeast. I'm an essential, so I have to go to work regardless of the weather conditions. I also did a fair amount of driving the last 2 winters. I've had ZERO issues with the lights icing over- and we've seen record cold temps here, had several blizzards where i had to go to work, etc.
 

DaltonGang

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Halogen reflectors aren't meant for LED bulbs. The beam pattern won't really be optimal and the cutoff won't really be there either, even if you can adjust it so that it doesn't blind oncoming traffic. The factory LEDs won't (shouldn't) go out in any appreciable amount of time and if they do its covered under warranty.
If you read, I replaced my Halogen with better and brighter Halogen. I also felt the aftermarket LED systems were pricey, and full of glitches, including bad light dispersal. . I also think the factory LED package is overpriced, and I spent my money on something I could enjoy more, the Alpine Stereo System. Now, that was an upgrade well worth the money.
 

paffemt

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Absolutely. Someone will probably tell you no, and give you a fancier option with beam pattern examples from an aftermarket manufacturer and an explanation; but for me, coming from a 04 Rubi with tired ass halogens: It was like being able to see everything clearly from the first minute of switching them on. The simplicity of that alone is worth it for me.

Also: I live in the Northeast. I'm an essential, so I have to go to work regardless of the weather conditions. I also did a fair amount of driving the last 2 winters. I've had ZERO issues with the lights icing over- and we've seen record cold temps here, had several blizzards where i had to go to work, etc.
You're lucky. I've had the snow pack up in front of the headlights and fog lights a number of times. It really becomes an issue at night. That's why I added cheap insurance with the Hellas. If you look through the threads on LEDs, I'm not the only one that experienced this and the "Light speed effect". Our new trucks at the firehouse have LED headlights now, but they come with heaters built-in.
 

Equitasforall

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Have them. Love them. No regrets.
 

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Cutterone

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Replaced all exterior lights with LED bulbs from diode dynamics, check them out, very happy with results. Had to do the same with my JK. Factory halogens shouldn't even be legal they are so bad. Even did side marker lights on fenders with the clear drop ins...
 

N75

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You're lucky. I've had the snow pack up in front of the headlights and fog lights a number of times. It really becomes an issue at night. That's why I added cheap insurance with the Hellas. If you look through the threads on LEDs, I'm not the only one that experienced this and the "Light speed effect". Our new trucks at the firehouse have LED headlights now, but they come with heaters built-in.
I was driving through the Green Mountains in Vermont last winter, at night in a slushy snow storm. I thought the storm was getting bad because I could barely see. Made a pit stop and found about in inch of wet packed snow in my headlights. Only thought to check after reading about the issue here.

That said, I would still get the LEDs.
 

CarbonSteel

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I would say absolutely, with a caveat--the reverse lights on the LED taillights totally suck. In fact, they suck to the point of being dangerous, the red of the taillight outshines the white.

I (like many here) added additional lights to compensate.
 

Punjabi New Yorker

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first post, first question.

i'll be having a Diesel Wrangler built for on & off pavement use, and am pondering the LED Lighting option.

would be curious to hear the experienced opinions as to whether or not they're worth it, if there are any problems with them, etc.
They are a very good value add esp if you live in the rural areas as the factory LEDs brighten the road ahead much better versus Halogens without blinding opposite traffic. The LED DRLs also look very good IMHO.

However if your Jeep will never leave a big metropolitan area with well lighted roads at night time (NYC, LA, Miami, Chicago, Toronto, etc) or will never go off the beaten path at night time, the traditional Halogens are sufficient.
 

wrc777

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I had led lights on a 2018 Mustang. They were great on dry days. Just so so in rain and unsafe in fog. I would expect similar problems in snow plus the snow packing effect depending on snow type. They put out so much light that any weather conditions that cause light to reflect degrades my vision.

The jl halogens are a huge improvement over the jk, and we won’t even talk about the tj. In my opinion the latest halogens from several manufacturers are pretty good.
 

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aldo98229

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My JL had a sticker of $50,000 and at that price it didn’t even have LEDs. That is simply ridiculous.

For the kind of money FCA charges for these vehicles, it should make LEDs standard, and offer as an option a Winter Visibility package that reduces the brightness an/or the color of the light beam for foggy/poor visibility conditions, and adds a headlamp heater. All of the necessary technology already exists.
 

nostatic

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fwiw good LED bulbs work fine with the halogen headlight reflector - cutoff is sharp and the beam pattern is appropriate. At the end of the day they are photons and the reflector doesn't care if they come from an LED source or a halogen source. What does matter is the origination point of the light and a good LED bulb will mimic the halogen. A cheap one can be all over the place.

After having a car with LED headlights, halogen just doesn't cut the mustard. Or the ketchup. Or even the relish.
 

Cutterone

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I had led lights on a 2018 Mustang. They were great on dry days. Just so so in rain and unsafe in fog. I would expect similar problems in snow plus the snow packing effect depending on snow type. They put out so much light that any weather conditions that cause light to reflect degrades my vision.

The jl halogens are a huge improvement over the jk, and we won’t even talk about the tj. In my opinion the latest halogens from several manufacturers are pretty good.
I always install amber/yellow LED fogs. Went with the Diode Dynamics LED fogs this go a round, and they are great in rain fog snow, huge beam pattern lights up off sides of road...I have the full kit not just bulbs...
 

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Literally wouldn't buy a Wrangler without the LED option for the headlights. The base ones are JUNK. My $0.02, FCA should have included these by default and there should be no lighting option. I drove one without it and it literally feels like a safety issue. My $0.02.
 
 



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