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LEDs in reflector housings

tabasco122 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 28, 2025 2:48 am LEDs in reflector housings

Yeah I havnt done my 2500 in LED’s because of this. But im tempted too as no one else does.

How do you do it correctly?

Coop

Projector retrofit into the housings, i did it to my wrx back in the day. and my miata

WRX i painted the reflector bowls black, looked much better


This is what the cutoff should look like



And the miata

The issue comes when you put bulbs designed for projector lights into reflector housings. It's not just LED bulbs in general. LED is just what creates the source of light, instead of a wire inside a vacuum tube like a haolgen bulb.

aaronatstate wrote: ↑Thu Aug 28, 2025 2:54 pm The issue comes when you put bulbs designed for projector lights into reflector housings. It's not just LED bulbs in general. LED is just what creates the source of light, instead of a wire inside a vacuum tube like a haolgen bulb.

this.

LED can mimic halogens as they can layout the chips in the same way as a filament. then you can usually rotate the "bulb" to get the cutoff and light throw correct.

granted nobody does. they just throw the bulbs in and enjoy their newfound glare.

Interesting. I purchased these off Amazon:

https://amzn.to/3VmHsfr

I checked fitment on the site and even read the FAQ section. Not that that is any guarantee.

Will the bulbs cause glare for oncoming drivers?

Absolutely not. Termitor LED bulbs are designed with a 1:1 beam pattern to mimic halogen bulbs. The beam is focused with a clear cutoff line, illuminating the front without causing glare for oncoming drivers.

I'm no lighting geek, but i thought that this stuff was remedied by now. I mean they minimize the number of LED's and place them at the correct depth. Or am i missing something?

Yeah exactly, those bulbs are designed to replace halogens, not just a bunch of LEDs on a stick.

aaronatstate wrote: ↑Thu Aug 28, 2025 4:00 pm Yeah exactly, those bulbs are designed to replace halogens, not just a bunch of LEDs on a stick.

Ok, that's what i thought. I haven't seen the LED's on a stick for some time now. I feel most have adapted the 1:1 technology.

Post a picture of the light pattern on a wall or garage door ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tabasco122 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 28, 2025 5:18 pm Post a picture of the light pattern on a wall or garage door ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ill see what i can do. Heading out of town for the Holiday weekend.

tabasco122 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 28, 2025 5:18 pm Post a picture of the light pattern on a wall or garage door ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If he does, he needs to compare it to the halogen bulbs that he had in originally.

Again LEDs are just a light source. It's the design of the bulb and housing together that creates the cutoff. The issue comes in when you put LEDs and HIDs designed for projector style housings in non projector housing, or projector housings that were designed for halogen bulbs (like a 3/S).

Finally back from vacation. For those interested...

not terrible but still a ton of glare above the beams

Yeah no, that's perfectly acceptable. A reflector housing headlight is never going to have the sharp cutoff that a projector has, even using a standard halogen bulb. Quit being so nit picky.

Glare is likely how close i was parked to the garage. It looks clean driving at night.

Did you post which ones you got?


Coop

DCIV wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 3:57 pm Did you post which ones you got?


Coop

Yup, its these. They have a lot of good reviews and occasionally go on a great sale. Actually now is a solid 20% off sale.

https://amzn.to/4mOTRFa

That’s not horrible. They want 119 for my truck.

https://amzn.to/3I7WVgi


Coop

DCIV wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 4:20 pm That’s not horrible. They want 119 for my truck.

https://amzn.to/3I7WVgi


Coop

Coop they're $99. Got to clip the coupon.

Not bad. Very tempting. I like how this truck and low and high beams. When I did this to my crv it was just one bulb so it basically got rid of my high beams. The led was so much better it didn’t matter though.


Coop