Halogen & LED Headlight Bulb Upgrades

Jlm02a3094 · August 7, 2015

Ok, so I'm an idiot. I had the wedge at 3/9, not the actual LED's. Completely explains why they looked so terrible. When I got back to the garage, I rotated them 90 degrees from where I had them and it looks a lot better. Now there is a clear cutoff line, and very few hotspots. I'd say it's approximately twice as bright as stock. The coloring is very nice also; really close to matching the running LED strips on the headlight. I apologize for misleading anyone when I was bashing this product. It's most certainly better than stock.

I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with Mike1220 though. Switching the projector would make a world of difference. Maybe that'll be in my future.

Josh

justin.howell.315 · August 7, 2015

Nice so I will be picking up a led headlight set from xenon depot for my 2014 GMC Sierra all terrain slt So people said the kit needed a lot of work to make them fit but so far you guys look like everything's fine and it's a well worthy upgrade!!

jp1170 · August 7, 2015

Good to hear the positive reviews! After debating whether or not to go HID i decided to order a set of these tonight and try them out. The only reason i didn't order a HID kit is because these lights are completely plug n play and i don't have to drill any holes in the dust caps to install them. If i have problems i can simply take them out and put the stock bulbs back in in a short period of time. Does anyone have any experience with the 5202 LED Fog lights from xenon depot? I went ahead and ordered a set of them while i was at it because it would drive me nuts to have yellow color fogs with these new headlights and the DRL on my SLT. Hopefully processing and shipping will be quick!

Jlm02a3094 · August 7, 2015

They are plug n play as advertised. Just be careful to make sure the tabs are aligned correctly, and that the LED's are at the 3/9 position. You'll be happy with them.

I don't have experience with their fog light kit because I went the rigid route and am extremely happy with it.

Josh

kkmitchell5 · August 7, 2015

Ok, so I'm an idiot. I had the wedge at 3/9, not the actual LED's. Completely explains why they looked so terrible. When I got back to the garage, I rotated them 90 degrees from where I had them and it looks a lot better. Now there is a clear cutoff line, and very few hotspots. I'd say it's approximately twice as bright as stock. The coloring is very nice also; really close to matching the running LED strips on the headlight. I apologize for misleading anyone when I was bashing this product. It's most certainly better than stock.

I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with Mike1220 though. Switching the projector would make a world of difference. Maybe that'll be in my future.

Josh

Glad to hear everything worked out and that you like them!

Nice so I will be picking up a led headlight set from xenon depot for my 2014 GMC Sierra all terrain slt So people said the kit needed a lot of work to make them fit but so far you guys look like everything's fine and it's a well worthy upgrade!!

I have a 2015 Slt all terrain and it is legitamitly plug and play. No modifications to make them fit or anything just slide them in and enjoy.

Good to hear the positive reviews! After debating whether or not to go HID i decided to order a set of these tonight and try them out. The only reason i didn't order a HID kit is because these lights are completely plug n play and i don't have to drill any holes in the dust caps to install them. If i have problems i can simply take them out and put the stock bulbs back in in a short period of time. Does anyone have any experience with the 5202 LED Fog lights from xenon depot? I went ahead and ordered a set of them while i was at it because it would drive me nuts to have yellow color fogs with these new headlights and the DRL on my SLT. Hopefully processing and shipping will be quick!

You will like the led kit. I didn't get the xenon depot 5202 led fog lights but i did put in the opt7 5202 led fog light. It is the same exact thing though. They are bright and have great color especially to match all the other front end led. They do not provide the light throw as the stoke because the led is way larger so it doesn't use the reflector as much i don't think. They are still useable though and i like the 5202 led fogs

canucknnv · August 8, 2015

Good to hear the positive reviews! After debating whether or not to go HID i decided to order a set of these tonight and try them out. The only reason i didn't order a HID kit is because these lights are completely plug n play and i don't have to drill any holes in the dust caps to install them. If i have problems i can simply take them out and put the stock bulbs back in in a short period of time. Does anyone have any experience with the 5202 LED Fog lights from xenon depot? I went ahead and ordered a set of them while i was at it because it would drive me nuts to have yellow color fogs with these new headlights and the DRL on my SLT. Hopefully processing and shipping will be quick!

I did not order from xenondepot but I did order elsewhere and did get the 5202 led fog light kit from Putco Nite Lux which essentially look identical. The fogs are the easiest to access and installing them is a breeze with 1 caveat. You need to lubricate the O ring on the LED thoroughly to get the light to seat properly in the housing, plain dish soap is enough. If it's not lubricated only the bottom tab will catch and lock in place.

In my experience I was much happier with the led headlight performance than the fogs. Going with the rigid lights in that spot will produce much better results but at a significantly higher cost. So the better value is still the LED 5202. I'm waiting to find a mod so I can run my High,Low and fogs all at the same time.

canucknnv · August 8, 2015

A huge part is the projector. You can have the best lights and a terrible projector, the light will only be able to perform as well as the projector allows. Kinda like a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

I've used halogen, LED, and HID all in the stock projector and have compared the exact same LED bulb in an FXR and a HID made for the FXR, both far outperformed the similar test in Stock projector

I have the 2015 Silverado which only has the projector for the low beams which is fine because at least they are adjustable easily. The high beams with the LED are great but they seem to aim high naturally and I cannot find anything under the hood to adjust them lower and the leveling kit probably makes it worse. I think I'm going to add a bull bar with a couple of led light bars instead. My driving is a lot of Northern California skinny roads at night with plenty of creatures so besides looking good the lights need to be bright. I love my Silverado but the Sierra front end looks better and it much more user friendly for lights and accessories

jp1170 · August 10, 2015

Did any of you that have these installed have the check engine light come on after install. Do I need to buy a separate harness to hook these up with to eliminate the check engine light from coming on? They are working fine as of right now but I would hate for the system to shut them off while I'm driving thinking there is something wrong with the headlights!! Thanks for the help!

jp1170 · August 10, 2015

Never mind that previous post I think I know what happened...I turned the ignition on to check the lights and the MAF sensor was unplugged so I'm pretty sure that is what threw the code. Will have to see if I can get the auto parts store to clear it so I don't have to spend two hours at the dealer just to get a code cleared.

RobZ71LM7 · August 10, 2015

I have the 2015 Silverado which only has the projector for the low beams which is fine because at least they are adjustable easily. The high beams with the LED are great but they seem to aim high naturally and I cannot find anything under the hood to adjust them lower and the leveling kit probably makes it worse. I think I'm going to add a bull bar with a couple of led light bars instead. My driving is a lot of Northern California skinny roads at night with plenty of creatures so besides looking good the lights need to be bright. I love my Silverado but the Sierra front end looks better and it much more user friendly for lights and accessories

The gigh beam reflector is part of the low beam mounting plate. It all moves together as one piece when aiming.

canucknnv · August 11, 2015

The gigh beam reflector is part of the low beam mounting plate. It all moves together as one piece when aiming.

I was unaware of that as I only had my low beams on when I did the initial aiming. I'll redo it and aim the low beams a little lower. Now to figure out how to get all of them on at the same time. Thanks

kkmitchell5 · August 11, 2015

Never mind that previous post I think I know what happened...I turned the ignition on to check the lights and the MAF sensor was unplugged so I'm pretty sure that is what threw the code. Will have to see if I can get the auto parts store to clear it so I don't have to spend two hours at the dealer just to get a code cleared.

If you did unplug it the engine light will come on. But no need to take it in it goes off in about 3 starts. It just goes on because it doesn't recognize it since it got unplugged. So don't worry about it! just remember to plug it back together and enjoy the nice bright lights!

rogah · August 11, 2015

Okay so I think I have quoted everyone in this thread that has talked about either purchasing, currently owning, or just general interest in the performance of the LMZ bulbs. I don't have my full side by side by side OEM halogen vs 55W HID vs LMZ LED comparison and write up yet and won't have it till next weekend at the earliest, possibly the following weekend if I can clear a night in my schedule to do it. But I do want to share my thoughts on these bulbs.

First impression: DAMN!

Explanation of first impression:

These bulbs are EXTREMELY BRIGHT! Blinding? No, because I never got flashed tonight when I drove around town. I personally do not have these bulbs in the absolute best orientation (probably) but I will say that they still perform extremely well and are certainly extremely strong contenders for knocking out HIDs as being the best option for improved lighting. Granted with these you'll have to adjust them until you find the best orientation, but still, I think that the output of these bulbs is well worth that easy work of finding the best orientation.

I have the 5000K LMZs and the output is MUCH cleaner with these than the 55W 5000K HIDs I had. And they match the DRLs beautifully. To give you an idea of what they look like, they look just like an OEM HID, IMO. They also add a lot of light on the sides when you hit the high beams. The HIDs seemed to have just faded quickly as you went to the sides but these stayed strong until they hit a certain cutoff, but that's the projector's limits.

Comments I have towards some of yall that I quoted that made specific comments

JON A:

Like I said in my quick review above, I really think that these lights are as good, if not maybe even better than 55W HIDs. Or at least better than the ones I had. You did a great job making these new dust covers but I have some news for ya, I don't think you'll need to put a hole in the back of them anymore. Everything will fit inside the headlight under your custom dust cover. Just connect everything, slide the ballast in under the projector, and then put in the bulb. Bam, no need to exit the housing.

If you or anyone else feels that this could cause issues, please correct me and let me know. I'm not 110% sure on whether or not leaving the ballasts inside the housing will cause any issues with anything. After 35 minutes the hottest item in the housing was the projector which was 170.1*F (compared to a 55W halogen which was 185.4*F)

NEWM:

Add the DOT pods to the equation and you are set![emoji106] more light than you'll know what to do with.

CORWEST:

The output of these bulbs in the OEM projector is really impressive. It's got me really looking forward to testing them in the FXR projectors that I have sitting in a box in my closet. If they work this well in a bad projector, just imagine a good projector! These LED bulbs may even outdo the OEM grade HIDs. I know that they seemed brighter to me when I compared them to the HIDs on my mom's Lexus with OEM HIDs

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

did you go with 9006?

also how do they compare to the Rigid DOT fogs and the LED headlight strips? I am thinking the xenondepot 9012 LEDs might be too blue. I want the best color matched lights. Currently deciding between LMZ vs xenondepot based on your response.

Edited August 11, 2015 by rogah

jp1170 · August 17, 2015

Factory Headlight and Fog Lights

XenonDepot 6000K LED Headlights and 5000K LED Fog Lights

Low Beam with Fog Lights

High Beam

These are a few pictures of the night that i installed them. I didn't have a lot of time to do adjusting that night but since the pictures where taken i have adjusted the light up and down and also the orientation of the bulbs so that the LED's are at the 3/9 position. So far i really like them!

JimmyVal · August 20, 2015

I just completed the install of the XenonDepot 9012 LED headlight kit and the 5202 led fog lights on my 2014 SLT. I should have paid more attention to what you guys said about the color temp for the fog lights. I ordered the 6000k and they are too white. Oh well.

Anyway, the install is like everyone has said, Plug And Play. The damn air box was the only hassle. Not really obvious how to remove it. in order to get to the passenger headlight.

On my truck, in order to get the LED's positioned at 3 and 9 I had to mount the light with the power connector pointing down. Lot's of room in the lamp housing for the power pack for the LED's and the cooling mesh. I did one side, then checked headlight alignment to see if it caused any shift, and it was exactly where it should be. I'm very happy with the results. Haven't had it out at night yet so I can't say how well they work. Just looking at the light in my darkened garage, they look quite bright.

So far I'm happy with them.