I know that there are already a bunch of threads on recommendations for replacement headlights for our cars, but as I am currently wading through all of it I can find in search of a quality LED replacement that isn't just 'brighter' than stock, but also emits an effective and safe light beam pattern, I thought I'd share where I'm at so far.

One of the other threads I found here suggested contacting lighting expert Daniel Stern of https://www.danielsternlighting.com/ for a recommendation. I contacted him and he recommended the Philips H6024 LEDs. These looked great on the car, but unfortunately the lens stuck out farther than stock and the headlight buckets wouldn't close without rubbing against the 'eyebrows'.

I circled back with Daniel and he then recommended the JW Speaker 0554941 lights instead.
Not cheap, and definitely further away from the stock look. I'm still considering options, but wanted to share all of this, plus an interview that Jalopnik did with Daniel Stern that provides some good information on LED headlights for others that might be interested in some expert info on this topic.

Hi Robert - I went through this too. I ended up going with Vintage Car LED's and I love them. I have never been "flashed" and the light is great. I opted for the flat lens look; it is a little bit more. Great product, plug 'n play.
https://vintagecarleds.com/shop/7-inch/vc50...ate-7-inch-kit/

I've been looking at those, too. The article I linked to above made me question if 'they look brighter and no one flashes me' is really a good indicator of a quality headlight.
Still keeping those on my list of possibilities, though. Thanks!

I too went with the vintage LED
We parked my car next to a friends with the vintage LED
Much brighter

Plus my car was running The Bosch 100w bulbs
Still the LED was brighter

As a benefit they also draw much less power and the charging system now can keep up. But with the 100W I was loosing the charging battle and had to limit how far I could drive at night before the battery would run down

That’s what I went with; looks like stock and great pattern. Fine customer support, too.

I went with a pair of Truck-Lites 27270C. They received a good rating on you tube. There is a good you tube video showing the different LED headlights and patterns.

Daniel mentions the Truck-Lite headlights as one of the few worth buying.

I highly encourage people to read the article I linked to in my original post. In my email conversation with Daniel, he relayed pretty strongly that there were very few worthy options out there.

In the end I went with the JW Speaker 0554941 headlight based on his recommendation even though they don't come close to looking stock. Since my car is black, they still might look decent despite not looking stock. Besides, who's going to see them at night anyway?
I'll follow up with info on how they fit after they arrive.

Vintage LEDs are awesome. Just get them

If folks are brave enough to try a low cost alternative, I tried more than one and ended up with these. They fit okay and put out an amazing amount of light. They have been on the car for about 2 years now and have confirmed with other P-car friends driving with me at night they don't blind them.

https://www.amazon.com/Headlights-Compatibl...c0-4513d670b6bc

I have the Trucklites in now.

Very bright, especially high beams.

Low beam has a sharp top cutoff, and they have to be aimed slightly up to see any distance. Maybe on a Jeep or motorcycle where the light is mounted higher off the road this would not be necessary.
Not on high beams though. They light up everything.

There is also a weird pattern in the middle of the lighted area. Think of the Star Trek emblem, kind of like that.

Not really a negative, just different.

I will be soon installing the Vintage LEDs.

I think the lens on the Vintage lights may diffuse the light better than the clear lens of the Trucklites.

Maybe I will take pictures against the garage door or something.

I had to add a 6ohm 50w led resistor when I installed the Truck -Lites.

What BillJ said. Got ‘em, Classic look, great light. All good

Has anyone ever used the VintageCarLED H4 bulbs only in their old Cibie 7" headlamps....they have three types of just led bulbs.
like these https://vintagecarleds.com/shop/bulbs-only/vcm3-bulbs-only/

Everything I've read so far says that LEDs should only be used in housings that were specifically designed for them.

Thanks Bob...

From what I got from the Vintage site is that their LEDs are designed to fit into standard H4 housings. The housings they offer are readily available from many sources.

Their bulbs not so much.

Now, after doing a bunch of internet surfing the LED bulbs (even the Vintage ones) are not DOT legal in the United States.

All of the H4 housings have DOT certification on them so the head light assemblies appear to be DOT legal upon inspection...

All of the decent LED bulbs that are designed as replacements for H4 halogen bulbs are more than $200 per pair.

I like these housings and will be buying a pair.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FKIUR...RGRON&psc=1

Hellas with glass lenses.

I'm leaning towards the Vintage VC5000 bulbs right now but saw enough differences that I want to do a bit more research before pulling the trigger.

Why mix and match instead of a tested and delivered solution? Just curious.

The article I linked to in my original post talks specifically about this.

For the guys running vintage car LEDs, which version did you install VC3500 vs VC5000?

I went with the VC5000 i believe. They are great lights.

Any thoughts on the 914Rubber kit? Less than 1/2 the cost of the vintage car kit. My preference is to get the things I need from them when I can. Anybody have experience with this kit?

https://914rubber.com/h4-lens-and-led-bundle-1

Porsche is now selling a plug in h4 led bulb.

Thanks

Looking at he "Porsche" bulb, I'd be interested how it fits in the 914? We found a few of these fan style bulbs that didn't fit well in our application. I would suspect it would fit given it's the mother ship, but ????

I've had the 914Rubber kit installed since 2019 and couldn't be happier.

More light, more better

Bob B
Click to view attachment

Because I believe their kit has the exact same housings I found on Amazon.

The H4 replacement LED bulbs are the thing that is being upgraded to match the housings, not the other way round.
If your housing has a DOT designator on it, it was designed for halogen bulbs (at the current date).
If you have a H4 housing, even an old one, the LED bulbs should fit.
The biggest problem I see with housings is the reflective surfaces dull or disintegrate over time. I hate plastic housings.

I've used Daniel Stern for my lighting solutions since the early 90s.

I still have a bunch of the 3 prong pigtails he supplied years ago.

They have heavier gauge wiring in them than you could get from anyone else.

This was well before HID or LED were even available. 

Initially I'll probably just use the Osram Nightbreaker H4s with the normal Bosch relay upgrade to be 100% legal.
I will upgrade the 50-year-old charging system anyway.
I will have 2+ times the available power over stock.

Down the road I'll change to LEDs.

LEDs are still in their "debug" phase and improving with each generation hence even Vintage LEDs has three options.

This cycle is most pronounced in vehicles. I advise my customers to buy the last year in a series. First year will have over 1000 TSBs and the last year (after getting fully debugged) will have less than 50. After a model change that last year version will be "the best bang for the buck" as it will be substantially less expensive because it is not "the new hotness".

In defense of the VC5000 bulbs...
Right now, they look like the best option with the limited research I've done.
Low power consumption, extremely low heat generation, excellent light production.
Should last 5x longer than a halogen, especially a hot halogen like the Nightbreakers.
They have a lifetime warrantee.
They're here in Texas.

Negatives- not DOT compliant. This is not currently an issue in Texas, but it might be in other states.

I do not intentionally piss off the Police.
In a worst-case scenario, your car will end up getting towed as the Police will not allow you to drive it off with illegal lights.
If you're visiting and are 1000k away from your home this might end badly...
It all depends on the individual officer.

The Hella housings and the Nightbreakers should cost appox $130 and the $300 savings will buy my 160-amp alternator.

If money was not a factor, I'd probably just buy the full kit from VintageCar.
I'd do the alternator upgrade anyways and keep a pair of Nightbreakers in the glove box for that worst case scenario.

Due to the legality issues, I would not use a dedicated LED housing that looked like something from Star Wars. Those a dead giveaway to LEOs.

I have a bunch of LEOs as customers. Most are pretty sharp.

I believe the only way you are getting your car towed for having nice LED lighting is if you fail the "attitude test".

Attitude is everything.

It was a valiant attempt. In my opinion, you get an A+ for effort @rjames

My (and Cairo Mikes) experience with Vintage LEDs

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=332796&hl=

Maybe I’m a scoff law but these bulbs in an H4 lense are very unlikely to piss off LEO’s. In the grand scheme of what is out there on the road ways these are basically not offensive. I personally feel much safer driving at night with this dramatically improved illumination and have never been flashed while on low beams by an oncoming driver. I drive regularly on two lane roads.

I’m running this kit from VintageCar LEDs, an excellent solution.

VCm3 – 7 INCH LED HEADLIGHT KIT

Many LED "bulbs" from specialty suppliers look very similar to units you can buy on Amazon for much less, and one pair I bought appeared to be exactly the same as a pair of $35~ LED units I bought from Amazon just to see.

Agree with the comments about buying a housing with a reflector and lens engineered for LED, and have been waiting for one that looks period correct. This is probably the way I will go:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hly-lfrb...ASABEgLsDPD_BwE

Saw the Holley LED headlights at an American car show recently, and the "Holley" in the glass is very subtle in person. Maybe not as nice as seeing "H4," but well worth the performance upgrade IMO. Also love the idea of reducing the load on my 914's old switches, wiring, and electrical system.

@Superhawk996 Thank you at least for noticing!
This may go down as my least successful topic post ever.

To add to the mix. I have the LED bulbs from 914Rubber, H4 housings. Aimed properly.

Never had anyone flash their highs at me, never had issues with LEO's, get a LOT more light over stock. Had them on a couple cross country drives now and never had any issues.

Install of the JW Speaker 0554941 headlights complete.
I had to enlarge the opening of the back of the bucket that the headlight sits in a bit to all the headlight to sit flush, but other than that it fits great. Headlights are also made in the US.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Throwing in my 2 cents - I recently replaced my headlights with the LED kit from Only944. Comes with new lenses and bulbs. For $75 it was worth a shot and they're plug and play.

"Good HID and LED headlamps are terrific; they can offer excellent safety performance and driver comfort, but only if they're designed and built from the start as HID or LED headlamps. Installing an "HID kit" or "LED bulbs" in a halogen headlamp isn't an upgrade, it's a large and serious safety downgrade."

"It's tricky to judge headlamp beam performance without a lot of knowledge, a lot of training and a lot of special equipment, because subjective perceptions are very misleading. Having a lot of strong light in the foreground, that is on the road close to the car and out to the sides, is very comforting and reliably produces a strong impression of "good headlights". The problem is that not only is foreground lighting of decidedly secondary importance when travelling much above 30 mph, but having a very strong pool of light close to the car causes your pupils to close down, worsening your distance vision...all the while giving you this false sense of security. This is to say nothing of the massive amounts of glare to other road users and backdazzle to you, the driver, that results from these "retrofits"."

Daniel has said that that most of what is out there is junk that likely makes driving at night less safe for you and oncoming traffic, regardless of how bright one perceives the lights to be.

Ian has a video on YouTube about the 914Rubber LED kit, and its installation. I upgraded from H4s to their LEDs and haven’t looked back.

Here's all the Holley LED lighting

https://www.holley.com/products/electrical/led_lighting/

These work perfectly and you can buy from about the most honest guy I have ever met. Great company and $80 https://only944.com/partscatalog/only/ledheadlight/

Work perfectly for what? According to the web page you linked to:

These LED light bulbs are for racing use only. They are not DOT approved and are not for street use.

You answered your own question. They work "perfectly" for racing. One might imagine how they work for the street!
2 thumbs up for Only 944

QUOTE(rjames @ Nov 2 2023, 07:56 AM)

That doesn't make any sense. Just because it's good for racing doesn't make it good for the street. Admittedly, I don't race- so what exactly are racing headlights, and how do they differ from standard headlights?

Race only is a liability limiting disclaimer

The DOT markings are all that’s missing. They fit perfectly and work great. Racing only is disclaimer

It’s more of an admission that the product is not DOT compliant and otherwise not legal for on-road use.

DOT compliance is sort of like building code, it’s just a bare minimum - that keeps contractors from getting sued as long as they comply.

In this case of non-DOT it’s sort of the opposite. the supplier admits it is non-compliant for on-road use and supposedly shifts the “liability” to the end user knowing full well that the chance of the user getting pulled over for excessive light glare is non-existent. And in the event the end-user did get pulled over - the supplier is off the hook since they didn’t mark it as DOT compliant. Win - win for everyone except the other road users that are the oncoming traffic getting glared.

The problem with non-DOT lighting is you have no idea why it isn’t compliant. Poor beam pattern? Too much glare for oncoming traffic? Bad optics? Who knows. Could be that it isn’t capable of even meeting the bare minimums . . . Or it could be the manufacturer just didn’t want to pay to test and certify it. You’ll never know which it is. With something like a non-DOT muffler - you know . . . It’s too loud. Lighting isn’t that simple.

The bigger problem is NHTSA & US DOT is a clown show. There are far better lighting technologies that have been available in Europe like active matrix LED and adaptive shadowing for oncoming vehicles.

Problem is that the US is perpetually behind the 8 ball. Same as when H4 lighting was widely available in Europe but US was stuck with sealed beams thanks to DOT regulation.

Toyota petitioned NHTSA back in something like 2013 to allow active headlight technology. It was just approved in Feb 2022. Only a decade behind the rest of the world.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-...0new%20vehicles.