Bulvot

I've always been very pleased with how well the headlights on my 928 light up the road with Halogen bulbs. However, with brighter headlights in cars becoming ubiquitous, it has become challenging to see what's in front of me with oncoming traffic on unlit two lane roads. Even new cars with properly aimed HIDs are just too bright in my personal opinion. Add into the mix the cars that people drop extra-legally bright bulbs into without aiming them and it's become very problematic. It's forced me to upgrade the headlights in all of my vehicles just so I can have a chance of seeing the fog lines on the road when being passed by these super bright cars.

I try hard to never take my 928 out when there will be precipitation or after dark. But, sometimes it happens. So, I replaced my halogen bulbs with these:


They are 9004 LED bulbs that claim a maximum output of 4,800 lumens per bulb on high beam. Which is a theoretical maximum based on the CREE LED chip used, not an actual measured light output. Supposedly, standard Halogens put out an actual 2,350 lumens on high beam. Lumens is not a linear scale in terms of perceived brightness. My personal opinion is that the LEDs are about 15% brighter on low beam. Just about right for my needs. And, the color temperature is much better for me. They are much whiter than halogen so they make things a lot easier to see.

Installation of the bulbs was very easy and took about 5 minutes for both of them. They come with a removable mounting ring so there is no problem getting them to fit through the stock bulb retaining ring. They have a pig-tail for the power, instead of an integrated connector. I zip-tied the pig-tail to the top of the bulb's base, which keeps it secure and out of the way.

After installing the bulbs, I did need to adjust the headlight aim. They needed to be aimed downward a significant amount compared to when the Halogen bulbs were installed. The light source on the LED bulbs probably isn't in the same place as the Halogens. The top screw to adjust aim height, and the bottom screw to adjust left to right aim. Very easy to do. I set up a laser level and had the car at 26' from a wall to make sure that I had it aimed properly. The cut off was at least as good as with the Halogens. Which is to say very good. Mine seem to have a little bit of the european style upward slash to the beam pattern. I don't know if all 928's have that, or if it's just mine. But it is even more distinct with the LED bulbs.

I got caught out around dusk last night and the bulbs were great. I could clearly see when cars passed in front of us at intersections that the beam pattern was nowhere near shining in people's eyes. And on an unlit road the light was outstanding on both low and high beam.

If your headlights are like mine and have a well defined cut off, I highly recommend these bulbs. Just make sure that you aim them properly afterward.

The photo below has a Halogen bulb in the passenger side and the LED on the driver's side. This isn't even close to a controlled environment or a proper angle for the photo, and they haven't been aimed yet. So don't mistake the seemingly brighter LED to be indicative of how much brighter it is in person. It's not that much brighter, it just hasn't been aimed yet. The color difference in the light is accurate, though.

NickTucker

I live "in the woods" and have very little to mostly no street lights. Huge deer population to say the least. Always thought the lights were a bit dim compared to my other vehicles. I have watched over the years various other attempts at better light, HID, LED and so on.

Let us know how you get on with these and how the react to our lenses..

These seem to be reasonable and at $40 put it well in the "try it out" range".

Bulvot

Same challenge with wild life near me. I described my impressions above.

Kongmiami

Thanks for the great review on these LED’s! You mentioned that the low beans are about 15% brighter, how about the high beams??

Safety in night driving is getting more and more important as I age, I’m looking for the high posible light output on the high beams.

Bulvot

It is hard to say, but I would estimate 20% ish. Noticable, but not lighting the road up like daylight. There are other options for that level. Like, replacing the fog lights with led arrays.

I have another vehicle with north of 70k forward facing lumens. That is way beyond what I want for the 928.

Red Flash

Hmmm.... Very interesting. What is the current draw on these? Actually, I know very little about LEDs, except that on an energy scale incandescent lights take lots of energy, halogens take somewhat less and LEDs should take dramatically less. And, how much heat do they generate?

Bulvot

2.5 amps on low beam for both headlights (1.25 amps each).
3.8 amps on high beam for both headlights (1.9 amps each).
102 degrees shooting through the fins of the heat sync to the core. 80 degrees on the outside surface of the base. Ambient temperature was 70 degrees. That's after 10 minutes of being on.

For comparison, a Halogen 9004 bulb is 55 watts low and 65 watts high. Which should translate into about 4.6 amps on low per bulb (9.2 amps for both) and 5.4 amps on high per bulb (10.8 amps total). I don't know what their temperature is, but surely a lot more than 100 degrees.

Red Flash

Yup, thanks for the answer. That looks like a pretty attractive approach.