What A Change In Technology

[OldBlue]

I still haven't seen LED bulbs that do not blind oncoming drivers, Wranglers appear to be the worst of the lot when it come to replacement LED bulbs.

The ones I put in the wife's give off no glare. None. This is by far the best vehicle I've ever owned to swap the bulbs in. My '15 Silverado was the worst - talk about a scattered beam pattern! Blinded everyone I drove towards. After a couple of days I replaced them w/ Silverstars. The Wrangler takes very well to a decent LED bulb, and gives a good pattern and no glare, at least in my experiences.

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[Wabujitsu]

I still haven't seen LED bulbs that do not blind oncoming drivers, Wranglers appear to be the worst of the lot when it come to replacement LED bulbs.

Three Jeep JLs now with the Beamtechs. We never get flashed by oncoming drivers. Furthermore, I run my LED fog lights concurrently. Also, both current Jeeps have a 2.5” lift - Sahara and Rubicon. My previous Jeep had a 3.5” lift.

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Your in Wisconsin so just get the heated Oculus ones and end it
They are awesome and melt the Wisconsin ice and snow too !
Plug and play as well, no tazer or dealer trip needed

 

[TheRaven]

I still haven't seen LED bulbs that do not blind oncoming drivers, Wranglers appear to be the worst of the lot when it come to replacement LED bulbs.

I guess it depends on your definition of "glare". There are many drop-in replacement bulbs that can create a proper beam pattern in halogen housings (because they are designed to emit light in the same pattern as halogen bulbs) and therefore create objectively "correct" lighting. That said, LED bulbs are way brighter than Halogen so if you are caught under the cutoff, glare will be pretty bad. But that's not a product of using a drop-in bulb in a halogen housing, that's just the way modern lighting works. OEM projection systems are the same way...the older members of my family complain pretty frequently about how "them newfangled fancy lights are too damn bright and should be illegal". They've spent the vast majority of their driving lives with halogen or even sealed-beam lights, so they have no idea how the new systems work.

 

[zrickety]

I totally agree on the LEDs being far superior. We have them on our 2020 Cherokee. Our Wrangler is our "fun" Jeep, mainly to be used during the day and more of a pavement princess. Just looking to bump up the headlight and fog lights for now and do LEDs in the future. Made a world of difference on my Dodge truck when I upgraded the headlight halogen bulbs.

Another vote for Beamtechs. They are LED bulbs and I've been really happy with them. There were a couple different versions to choose from when I bought mine.
I was blinding folks with the factory halogen bulbs, I just had to adjust the headlights. FWIW, the factory procedure aims them high, I matched mine up to the wife's car. No one flashes me now.
I'm not sure I'd bother with the fogs, their range is really limited.

 

[Wbino]

It amazes me that the literal light that guides you people cheap out on.

 

[Wabujitsu]

Another vote for Beamtechs. They are LED bulbs and I've been really happy with them. There were a couple different versions to choose from when I bought mine.
I was blinding folks with the factory halogen bulbs, I just had to adjust the headlights. FWIW, the factory procedure aims them high, I matched mine up to the wife's car. No one flashes me now.
I'm not sure I'd bother with the fogs, their range is really limited.

In our Jeeps I installed the Alla Lighting LED fog light bulbs, also on Amazon. They throw a good light to the sides on the road, into the ditches, giving me faster reaction time to critters trying to throw themselves under my Jeep. Most of my driving is country roads.

 

[failsafe306]

Just want to say that Ram you had is a classic. Love that generation. Also congrats on the new Jeep!

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I still haven't seen LED bulbs that do not blind oncoming drivers, Wranglers appear to be the worst of the lot when it come to replacement LED bulbs.

You're seeing the cheap ones with weird names that they sell on Amazon or eBay. Ones designed to replaced the halogen bulb that is in the vehicle, and that are properly installed will work very well.

Stick with a reputable brand. Headlight Revolution sells bulbs from multiple manufacturers. They test them in the headlight housings for each vehicle, so they know what bulb performs best in each application.

https://www.headlightrevolution.com...le/2020+Jeep+Wrangler_with_Halogen_Headlights

Good install tip at the end of the video.

 

[Wabujitsu]

You're seeing the cheap ones with weird names that they sell on Amazon or eBay. Ones designed to replaced the halogen bulb that is in the vehicle, and that are properly installed will work very well.

Stick with a reputable brand. Headlight Revolution sells bulbs from multiple manufacturers. They test them in the headlight housings for each vehicle, so they know what bulb performs best in each application.

https://www.headlightrevolution.com...bulb-upgrade-s-v-4-19JEEP.LED.V4_2?quantity=1

Beamtech, and Alla Lights, are extremely reputable and sold on Amazon.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Beamtech, and Alla Lights, are extremely reputable and sold on Amazon.

There are good bulbs on Amazon and, as many here know who have bough absolute crap before, there is a whole lot of crap there as well. Do your research first before you buy.

 

[20-Willys]

I went with the Beamtech upgrade to replace the halogen lamps as well. It was a huge improvement and didn't take much time at all. I did have to aim them down as they were blinding others on the test ride. They did cause static on some FM stations which some mentioned Beamtech had a fix for. Even with this it was still worthwhile.

I recently upgraded to some RC led headlights purchased from a member here that I am very pleased with.

 

[Heimkehr]

I still haven't seen LED bulbs that do not blind oncoming drivers

Absolutely, there was a time when this was true across any reasonable sampling of the available lighting tech. I was an early adopter of LED lighting technology, circa late 90s. In practical terms, many of us were unwilling beta testers as it concerned LED replacement headlight bulbs, most of which were still finding their sea legs...but for which we had limited online resources at the time to make practical comparisons.

Things are much improved today. Purchase a well-regarded brand of LED bulb and aim the halogen reflectors correctly (as I've done), and the frequency of flashes from oncoming drivers should be nil or very close to nil (as has been my experience.)

In our Jeeps I installed the Alla Lighting LED fog light bulbs, also on Amazon. They throw a good light to the sides on the road, into the ditches, giving me faster reaction time to critters trying to throw themselves under my Jeep. Most of my driving is country roads.

I was gifted the same Alla LED fog light bulbs, in yellow, last Christmas. They are brighter than the OEM incandescent bulbs -- admittedly, a low standard -- but I do wish the Alla's beam projection was equally improved. I too frequent rural-ish roads, with the risk of deer ever-present, but I've got to depend on my headlights to spot them.

I take the view (ha) that the Alla LEDs allow oncoming drivers to see me sooner in foggy driving conditions. That's good enough, I suppose.

 

[DHW]

I can sympathize with your 2001 headlights. I have a 2002 Corvette that might as well have two Victorian-era lanterns mounted out front.

My advice on the Jeep is the ol' "buy once, cry once", and just buy the OEM LED headlights. My Jeep did not come with the LED package, but my first mod was replacing the headlights, taillights, and DRL/blinkers with the OEM LEDs. It wasn't cheap, but I don't regret it at all. Just my opinion, but when I see a Jeep with weird obvious aftermarket LED headlights with a cross pattern, or in different colors, it just looks cheap to me.

Funny enough, everyone on the Vette forums complains about how bright the OEM LED JL headlights are.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I have always been critical about lighting and tend to improve poor lighting. I've been doing it since the 80s when I would use Hella housing and H4 bulbs. Back in '86, my 70 GMC pickup had incredible headlights for the time.

The cheap LEDs will impress some because the light output is whiter not necessarily brighter or better. If you live in a city, or hardly ever drive at night, it will seem like you got an improvement because your headlights aren't having to light up everything you need to see, with all of the street lights and brightly lit expressways.

The budget bulbs create glare. Some of those bulbs are made for as many applications as possible and require the installer to clock the bulb just right before installing it in the housing. Most don't do that, they just stick them in and go. The glare is bad from poorly designed bulbs, simialr to those generic HID kits that were all the rage 10-20 years ago. Those were the worst, as HID only worked well in projectors. And if you didn't have self leveling housings projectors didn't perform well, due to their narrow beams.

Quality LEDs that are made for specific fitments are they way to go, especially if you live away from metro areas, you drive in rural areas often or you do a lot of night driving.

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