I know we have some people on the forum who keep their vehicles for a long time. I'm wondering if anyone has upgraded their original equipment headlights to the newer LEDs?
I was in a friend's new SUV a few months ago and really appreciated the brightness and range on her LED headlights as we drove for several hours after dark. It was far superior to the headlights on my vehicle.
I have a 2006 Toyota Highlander with 208,000 miles. If there's one thing that I would change, it would be the headlights. So I googled "LED headlights for a 2006 Highlander" and up popped this post on the ToyotaNation Forum https://www.toyotanation.com/threads/upgraded-the-headlights-on-wifes-2006-highlander.1637304/
The poster said he noticed degradation of the lenses (yellowing) of the plastic on his headlights. So he bought new headlight assemblies from Amazon and then installed new LED bulbs in them. His total cost in 2018 was about $280. Today's pricing for the same assemblies and LED bulbs with headlight load resistor kits is $328.36. (Several reviewers on Amazon mentioned proactively installing new turn signal bulbs at the same time (due to the difficulty of getting to them while installed in the vehicle), so that would add a few bucks.)
I notice very little yellowing of the plastic on my headlights as the vehicle is garaged most of the time. The plastic looks more like 'aging' (slightly oxidized) plastic, but if I'm going to go through with this exercise, it seems to make sense to replace the assemblies as well as the bulbs to get the best lighting possible.
FWIW, I see that there are Xenon bulbs available, too. https://www.xenonhids.com/toyota/2006/highlander.html Per their website, Xenon bulbs are supposedly brighter that LED or halogen bulbs. (And currently they look to be similarly priced to the LED bulbs above.)
My goal is to have improved lighting, with minimal installation issues and headaches.
So, back to my question, has anyone installed LED or Xenon headlights on their older vehicle? If so, was it difficult? Was it worth it? Were you pleased with the results?
omni
I was in a friend's new SUV a few months ago and really appreciated the brightness and range on her LED headlights as we drove for several hours after dark. It was far superior to the headlights on my vehicle.
I have a 2006 Toyota Highlander with 208,000 miles. If there's one thing that I would change, it would be the headlights. So I googled "LED headlights for a 2006 Highlander" and up popped this post on the ToyotaNation Forum https://www.toyotanation.com/threads/upgraded-the-headlights-on-wifes-2006-highlander.1637304/
The poster said he noticed degradation of the lenses (yellowing) of the plastic on his headlights. So he bought new headlight assemblies from Amazon and then installed new LED bulbs in them. His total cost in 2018 was about $280. Today's pricing for the same assemblies and LED bulbs with headlight load resistor kits is $328.36. (Several reviewers on Amazon mentioned proactively installing new turn signal bulbs at the same time (due to the difficulty of getting to them while installed in the vehicle), so that would add a few bucks.)
I notice very little yellowing of the plastic on my headlights as the vehicle is garaged most of the time. The plastic looks more like 'aging' (slightly oxidized) plastic, but if I'm going to go through with this exercise, it seems to make sense to replace the assemblies as well as the bulbs to get the best lighting possible.
FWIW, I see that there are Xenon bulbs available, too. https://www.xenonhids.com/toyota/2006/highlander.html Per their website, Xenon bulbs are supposedly brighter that LED or halogen bulbs. (And currently they look to be similarly priced to the LED bulbs above.)
My goal is to have improved lighting, with minimal installation issues and headaches.
So, back to my question, has anyone installed LED or Xenon headlights on their older vehicle? If so, was it difficult? Was it worth it? Were you pleased with the results?
omni