[thesnowgod]

Hello everyone! Amazing forum!

I have recently decided to upgrade the headlights on my wife's SRX. Based on an exhaustive research (google, forums, YouTube, etc....) I am certainly going to get a set of new replacement headlight assemblies and I've decided diodedynamics.com seems to have the most well respected kits.

However, I haven't seen much as far as WHICH kit to buy, their LED kit or the HID version?

Is there an advantage over one versus the other?

*disclaimer* While driving my wife's SRX, I hit a deer. Moderate front end damage. I own a paintshop and will be doing a tear down and fresh front end parts. While it's apart, I want her (previously HORRIBLE) night vision on low-beam to at least be on par with something made since 2000. I'm not worried about economics, I simply want a bright system in place and obviously I'd like it to last awhile.

Thought?

Thanks everyone! I appreciate it.

 

[eastmanrg]

Here is a youtube video that shows the difference between Halogen, LED and HID. I upgraded my 2010 SRX from Halogen to LED and I have been extremely happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KbZBgrEk_w

 

[thesnowgod]

Thanks for the reply and the video. Seems like the HID has much more output but I wonder if the results would differ based on the type of headlight housing it's going into. I guess I'll be doing a little more research into this before ordering.

 

[Backyard Bandit]

I had to replace the complete housings on our 2012. I upgraded to LED and am very happy with them. I had tried HID and like the brightness of the LED better.
I bought these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D2YSWV6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[robonymous]

I had to replace the complete housings on our 2012. I upgraded to LED and am very happy with them. I had tried HID and like the brightness of the LED better.
I bought these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D2YSWV6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Were these a plug and play installation? I'm planning to change my headlight housings this weekend with new halogens. If this is a simple bulb swap, seems like a good time to do it for me.

 

[maeng9981]

LED retrofit is easier since it's pretty much about as difficult as a bulb replacement. With HIDs you will need to look for a place to secure a ballast.

Most HID kits nowadays are pretty much bulletproof and a few companies carry lifetime warranty on parts. However, HIDs require warm-up before full brightness and this might require some additional wiring work if your car turns off the low beam when high beam is switched on. Also, if your low beam works as a DRL at half brightness (6v) then you cannot use the HID kit without disabling DRLs. Generally compared to the cheap LED retrofit kits, HIDs are brighter, if you stay close to around 4300k/factory color temp.

No LED retrofit bulbs have lifetime warranty, or everyone would buy that. Proper LED headlight assemblies incorporate a properly sized heatsink and often times it's way larger than the bulb itself. Usually on these retrofit LEDs since they cannot have such large heatsink they come with a tiny cooling fan on the back to cool down the lacking size heatsink. Sometimes this protruding heatsink causes clearance issues if your headlight assembly is right against some other component and/or body. Usually the fans are of very low quality and they die eventually, causing the bulb to overheat. Then the diode itself burns up, causing lower brightness, flickering, or no light at all. If you are in the hot region this gets worse because the cooling on the bulbs isn't sufficient at all to begin with. Go with something from a reputable source and with a respectable length of warranty, if you do choose LED retrofit bulbs.

 

[JPFresh]

Thanks for the reply and the video. Seems like the HID has much more output but I wonder if the results would differ based on the type of headlight housing it's going into. I guess I'll be doing a little more research into this before ordering.

hey, what did you end up installing? HID or LED?

 

[Srxdan]

hey, what did you end up installing? HID or LED?

Did you go LED or HID, and did you buy new assemblies/housings ?

 

[JPFresh]

Did you go LED or HID, and did you buy new assemblies/housings ?

LEd and new assemblies:

LED - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KYZU604/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Headlight assemblies - More Information for TYC 20914400SET

 

[Srxdan]

LEd and new assemblies:

LED - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KYZU604/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Headlight assemblies - More Information for TYC 20914400SET

 

[Srxdan]

Are you happy with choice, and how come not HID ? I just bought a 2013 SRX and it's ridiculous how poor the stock halogen lights are.

 

[JPFresh]

Are you happy with choice, and how come not HID ? I just bought a 2013 SRX and it's ridiculous how poor the stock halogen lights are.

I based my choice on seeing other people buying the same LEDs and being happy with the results. I think HIDs are more likely to burn out quicker and I wanted the most long-term solution. I also drilled some holes in the bulb covers to better ventilation and cooling considering the core issue here is heat. I hope it doesn't create condensation inside the assemblies.

 

[stevem5215]

I have HID's from Diode Dynamics on our 12' SRX. I put the first ones in around 5 or 6 years ago. They were warrantied for 3 years. They lasted 5. The first side started to not "light" up intermittently. Sometimes it would come on if you turned the car off and on. I eventually put a new "kit" (all the parts) in and it's working good again. (for at least the next 3 or so years)

HIDS are great in these. Light up the road well and the cutoff pattern is intact with the installation. Have not burned any mirrors out on ours. Still working good.

 

[Srxdan]

I based my choice on seeing other people buying the same LEDs and being happy with the results. I think HIDs are more likely to burn out quicker and I wanted the most long-term solution. I also drilled some holes in the bulb covers to better ventilation and cooling considering the core issue here is heat. I hope it doesn't create condensation inside the assemblies.

Thank you

I have HID's from Diode Dynamics on our 12' SRX. I put the first ones in around 5 or 6 years ago. They were warrantied for 3 years. They lasted 5. The first side started to not "light" up intermittently. Sometimes it would come on if you turned the car off and on. I eventually put a new "kit" (all the parts) in and it's working good again. (for at least the next 3 or so years)

HIDS are great in these. Light up the road well and the cutoff pattern is intact with the installation. Have not burned any mirrors out on ours. Still working good.

Are you using the original assemblies/housings or did you buy new aftermarkets ?

I based my choice on seeing other people buying the same LEDs and being happy with the results. I think HIDs are more likely to burn out quicker and I wanted the most long-term solution. I also drilled some holes in the bulb covers to better ventilation and cooling considering the core issue here is heat. I hope it doesn't create condensation inside the assemblies.

Thank you

Did you use the original housings/assemblies and were they originally halogen ?

I have HID's from Diode Dynamics on our 12' SRX. I put the first ones in around 5 or 6 years ago. They were warrantied for 3 years. They lasted 5. The first side started to not "light" up intermittently. Sometimes it would come on if you turned the car off and on. I eventually put a new "kit" (all the parts) in and it's working good again. (for at least the next 3 or so years)

HIDS are great in these. Light up the road well and the cutoff pattern is intact with the installation. Have not burned any mirrors out on ours. Still working good.

Did you use original assemblies/ housings ? And if you did were they halogen originally ? ( apologize if I sent already , not sure if I'm replying correctly)

 

[stevem5215]

My bulbs were originally halogen. I put HID's in from Diode Dynamics. Nice thing about these is the precise positioning they use for the HID bulb is correct for the cutoff pattern sent out of the projectors. It works well. Has a good cutoff and no blinding others like LED bulbs do.

 

[DavidH62]

and no blinding others like LED bulbs do.

? Gotta' point out bad information when I see it.

Care to share which LED bulbs blind other drivers. Surely you don't mean all LED bulbs.

I've never had HIDs but suspect a poorly adjusted housing with HID bulbs would blind oncoming drivers...no?

It doesn't take much research by someone interested in LEDs to find a quality product at a reasonable price.

 

[stevem5215]

There's a reason they have outlawed installing these bulbs into vehicles that don't have reflectors designed for that purpose. Don't believe me. Research it.

 

[DavidH62]

While true it does not change the fact that many LED products are designed to function properly in older halogen reflector/projector housings. And they do.
Agree many cheap as well as expensive LEDs are slapped together without consideration for matching the light patterns of the bulbs they are replacing but not all of them. Research is pretty easy today and will help the consumer make a better decision and testing after install is a must.
The low beam LED legislation was a kneejerk reaction to a real issue but simply threw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[cazazo]

I bough a 2012 SRX and the headlights are killing me! The passenger side I can notice some light coming out of it, but the driver's nothing! I have been in and out the dealer, but the feeling is that they are just procrastinating, stalling as long as they can to have the three month warranty over to cast me to the "deal with your problem land". I was very scary with a guy who posted a video over youtube saying that after he replaced his headlights with HID's messed with his electronics so badly that he had to revert back to the OEMs headlights. I'm considering to buy the Fahren LED from Amazon for their reputation, so many good reviews (even though not SRX), but honestly I don't want to hit into problems just because have change the lights on the car!

 

[WILLY92]

It sounds like you need to start with new headlight housings and then put in LED good bulbs.