When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The tired sealed beam units on the front of the car make for some scary night time fun, so I'm planning to upgrade to LED units.
I believe it is recommended to use the Rennbay headlight relay harness to avoid cooking the original light switch and wiring, so first question is this the correct choice or are there other options for the wiring side of things?
Now, what about the lights themselves? I was looking on the CARiD website and it seems there are any number of 7" LED units that claim to be a fit for a 951... but being skeptical, it would be good to hear from anyone that has done such an update.
But I just bought a set of "Retrobright" LEDs from Holley. Expensive at $390 for the set, but...
They "look" right - in that they don't have a bunch of weird lenses. They look absolutely stock.
They are _completely_ plug and play. The fit was perfect. No wiring adapters, no harness, nada...
Good beam pattern and really bright.
Available in "bright white" and "warm" color temperatures. Pictures below are "bright white."
I don't have them fully adjusted... but so far I'm happy. I was leaning towards getting the set from Kyle at Only944... but they are out of stock until the summer and it's dark _now_.
The only (for some people) downside is that they have plastic lenses. I would have (I think) preferred glass.
The pictures are from Holley's site (the car and setting they used are prettier than mine - but the pictures of the product are accurate).
No affiliation... just a customer.
From the Holley website From the Holley website.
Last edited by Millermatic; 12-22-2021 at 10:18 AM.
Oh, those look GREAT! Sure, the glass vs plastic lens thing might bug some, but let's be honest - when the lamps are on, who really cares? And when they're not on, well you can't see them... Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure I know how to have the lights popped up and not on? Ah, just tried it, ignition on, lights on and popped up, turn off ignition... which leaves the parking/side lights on. Not something I think I've ever done. And, yes, the fact they aren't some kind of science fiction-looking contraption is great. Thanks!
Some of the arguments I've heard for glass is that the plastic can "fog" with age.
That said... that's because of UV exposure and the pop-ups should presumably cut way down on that. These are also "treated" to resist UV. And they can always be buffed/polished...
I don't really expect that to be an issue. And every new car has plastic lenses these days.
You can't tell they are plastic from looking at them. It's a bit hard to tell holding them.
Last edited by Millermatic; 12-22-2021 at 12:36 PM.
Those are the best looking LEDs that I’ve seen on our cars
What is the cut-off like?
All the others I’ve seen have a poor cut-off and the beam patterns were poor, they have all been brighter though but sometimes that isn’t everything.
The cutoff on images on their site is great. On _my car_ it’s “pretty good”... but I haven’t had a chance to go find a wall and adjust them. I’ll post some pictures when I do... but I suspect it will be early January as I’ll be out of town for a bit.
There’s also a review on YouTube that compared them to a bunch of other options. Not sure of their affiliation... I’ll try to post a link.
The aftermarket Jeep Wrangler lights fit our pop up buckets. There is a myriad of 7" Wrangler lights online. It can be as easy as swapping out the sealed unit and plugging the new ones in, or it can be a bumper off job if you want to hook up switchbacks, halos, RGB, etc. Any route you choose is more than likely far better than stock lights. It's also quite easy to swap out all the other exterior lights to LED. The ONLY extra thing you have to do to get everything to work as it should is you'll need an LED signal flasher. You can get one specifically for the 944 from superbrightleds.com. You can also just go to a parts store and grab a trailer flasher that fits into the 944's relay slot. I went the first route with my 951, and the second with my 300zx. Both seem to work the same. If you don't get the flasher, your signals will still work, but they'll 'hyperflash'. Everything else works as normal when converted to LED. You can even convert your foglights to LED. The interior can also be completely converted to LED too. The dash is probably the most time consuming conversion of all. It's still not that bad though.
Converting to LED on the 951 is IMO one of few things that is really quite simple and inexpensive on these cars. Someone started a thread about this a few years back, and there were a few folks that were looking into LEDs for their 951's, myself included.
Yeah, the stock system at this age is in need of some help. The most important part of this, and the place to start is the wiring upgrade. It takes the load off the old wires to prevent a worse situation at night… the one where your car catches on fire. It also helps with brightness.
I installed the rennbay kit and it made enough of a difference for me at night. Havent bothered upgraded the actual headlights after doing the wiring.
12-21-2021, 11:13 PM
Headlight upgrade: LEDs anyone?
