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Are LED headlights worth $900?

Agent47

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The keyword is retrofit. What you're describing is when people just buy LED or HID bulbs and pop them into the stock halogen to "upgrade" their lighting. People see that they're brighter and attribute that to automatically being able to see better. This usually brings about a slew of problems that people either don't notice or just ignore, such as hotspots, bleeding, poor distance projection, blinding oncoming traffic, etc just to name a few.

But it's cheaper and easier compared to the proper alternatives which are buying an actual proper housing or retrofitting a stock halogen housing to safely project LED/HID lighting.

If you want to become educated on the matter I suggest taking a stroll over to The Retrofit Source. Pretty knowledgeable place on the matter.
I was going to write pretty much this, but I see that I was saved the effort.

The factory LEDs are well worth it and I wouldn’t buy any new car with just halogens. It’s not about defending a choice, factory halogens have poor lighting in comparison to modern technology and have absolutely no place on new vehicles in 2018, ESPECIALLY given the prices on JLs.

A bulb swap will just be annoying to everyone around you, and there aren’t any quality aftermarket housing replacements yet.
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jimmyzwheelz

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I can tell you going from the JK to the JL with LEDs is night & day. The light output of the original headlights was one of the weakest attributes of the JK, especially for my aging eyes. And yes, there are some good aftermarket options available, and many very poor ones. You may end up spending as much or more, plus many wasted hours experimenting! And aftermarket lights will only replace the headlights, not the others in the package. As for the headliner, I have no experience with it, but I’ve managed just fine without it. It seems a bit expensive for what it is. Good luck!
 

tyresmoker

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I hope so because I just ordered them. I didn't order LEDs on my BMW M4 to save money and always regretted it. As they say, regret is one of the most expensive emotions.
Same here when I ordered my my wifes X3...I have LEDs or HIDs or whatever an SRT comes with and notice a HUGE difference at night when compared with the BMW. It was a no-brainer option when we ordered the new Wrangler.
 

Gron86

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Not only are they worth $900.00 it’s a steal for the Price. Definitely a no brainer.

It will be a lot more expensive to upgrade when a quality headlight/taillight and fog combo become available.

On the jk’s A full set of JW speaker leds
Headlights: $799.95
Turn signals:$ 179.95
Fog lights: $399.95
Taillights: $329.59
+ tax and labor to install.
Add all that up, And suddenly the 900 dollar led light package seems very much worth it.
 

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person500

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First, I have the headliner and I would say it isn’t worth the $$. You can always buy the mopar kit later and install yourself (relatively easy to do) for half the price. But I’ve had a JL now both with and without the headliner (don’t ask!) and see no appreciable difference.

If the question is LEDs yes or no, that is an easy “yes”. If you are choosing between LEDs and the cold weather package, however, that is tougher. Hopefully skipping the headliner gets you enough back into your budget to get both. But as awesome as the LEDs are (I have them) I would go cold weather first if I had to make the trade off. Reason being that it will be much harder to retrofit in the cold weather package later. You can always save your money and in a year or two buy Mopar LEDs (well worth it vs cheaper knockoffs, for the reasons that others have said here) and have yourself or the dealer make the swap for you. Cold weather with the heated seats and steering wheel are just not something that you can retrofit later. IMHO cold weather is a must-have either for use or resale.
 

Gron86

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A bit off topic, but I have to agree that the headliner on the jl’s Do not make that much of a difference, compared to the jk.
Seems like the liner is thinner on the JL compared to jk.
 

Shots

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..... I’ll keep it in my build and loose the cold weather package instead. ....
I know you said you already ordered it, with the LED's. Did you opt for the cold weather package and/or headliner or no?

... My advice is to go to the biggest Jeep dealer near you that has both LED equipped JLs and standard ones. Go at night. Drive therm and make a decision .....
Absolutely the best way to make the decision. See here ↓↓↓

This is tricky question. There are two parts to it. Are the LEDs worth $900? I would say it’s fair price. Are LEDs worth to YOU? Is a different question.....
For some people it's a must have item. For them it's obviously worth $900 to them. That second question is the more important one. The easiest way to find out is to drive both and see if it's worth it to you.

I have the LED and no cold weather package, but I'm down in Texas where you don't need heated seats for 10 months of the year. You're up in PA, so you might want to think twice about keeping the cold weather over the LED. Are you doing cloth or leather? If you do leather, then my opinion is to take the cold weather over the LED.
Much like some people with the LED's, the cold weather package was a must have item for me. The dealership that got my Jeep for me had a Mojito Sahara on the lot with everything I wanted except the optional rims and the cold weather package. Even though I REALLY wanted Mojito and was willing to get the standard rims, I couldn't forgo the cold weather package. I did that once on a Ram and regretted it every winter.

As for LED's. They're nice, and I like them. Are the worth $900? Beats me, I haven't driven a JL without them, so it's hard to compare. I don't regret getting them, so I guess that means they were worth it to me.
As for the headliner. I didn't get that and had every intention to buy the Mopar kit after I bought the Jeep, since it can be done quite a bit cheaper than ordering with it. However, after reading a lot of reviews, most people didn't really seem to notice much of a difference. I like the more finished look it gives the interior, and any improvement on heat, cold and/or sound is a bonus. As long as it doesn't make it worse that's good enough for me. I'll probably still do it some day since it's a $200 mod, but it got bumped down the list a little after reading reviews.
 

Gron86

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$200 dollar mod? That must be for the 2 door.
A headliner for the 4 door is around 500 dollars.
 

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Shots

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Hmmm. I guess I was seeing liners for the JK and/or 2 door. Looks like they're closer to $400 - $500 for the JLU. Looks like it just slid further down the list. :D
 

traviswalker007

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Yes they are well worth the cost, and it is not just head lights, it is tail lights, turn, running, interior, break ect! you will be extremely happy you spent the extra money.
 

kirbyx

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Hi Everyone, long time reader first time poster. I’m in the process of ordering my 2019 Rubi (through Craig at Koons) and I’m wanted to get the collective opinion of the forum on two options. wondering if the LED headlights are really worth the extra $900. Won’t some kind of LED aftermarket lights be available forb1/5th the cost?

Also is the hardtop headliner worth it? I had a 97 Sahara back in the day and it didn’t seem that noisy with the hardtop.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks-mike

No-one's mentioned why LED lights are worth $900. I have them on another car, and I think brighter lights are nice, but I could have done far more useful things with the money. If you need bright lights (eye problems, drive many hours at night in low or no light areas, buy them. If your need for 'the look' is worth $900 (rather than steel bumpers or a great new suit), then you must buy.
 
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graniterubi2dr

graniterubi2dr

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Thanks everyone for all your opinions, I was on the fence about the LED lights but it seems that most people are happy with them. My biggest concern was that the LED lights were a gimmicky option that didn’t provide much benefit over halogen lights.

One other question for all of you. I got the invoice back from koons jeep in MD and it all looks good except that the destination fee is $1495. This seems a bit high is this a normal charge for destination fee?
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