Holley "Retrobright" LED headlight conversion

I was having real difficulties seeing at night when I was on my way home from late afternoon car shows. The highway leading to our house has no lighting, and neither do our local roads. I'm 61 and have glaucoma, and a cataract in one eye. The LED headlights on our 2020 Explorer have been amazing and I don't have any issue driving the Explorer at night.

I did some research on LED replacements for my '60 Dodge and Holley seemed to be the best light. The Holley light fits the original bucket with no modifications, and does not require an external ballast, they are plug and play.

Enough words, I'll let the photo do the talking.

Left is halogen, right is LED. This is lowbeam. High beam is unreal!

I can't wait to try them out on the road tonight.

 

[tdavis]

I changed the JK's lights from halogen to LED for the road trip. So glad I did.. HUGE freaking difference at night, and I also changed the fog lights from halogen to LED. Both where just nice when we hit the snow storm on the way back from Omaha..

 

[410Fortune]

I love my led headlights
But they just don’t melt the snow off like the old Halogens

We used some heated glass ones on my buddies 84 ranger, led headlight e heated glass but they were like $350 each! And he broke one a few month later… another $350 no thanks. I still have led headlights just have to clear them off more often

 

[Project91Jp]

Nice. I like led technology. I swapped them in my home 11 years ago and only had one blow out.

I wish I can find some for my 94 headlights though. All the ones I seen were too blue..

 

[allmyEXes]

@410Fortune When the headlight bulbs are dry, have you tried cooking spray, like PAM? We spray our satellite dish if it is going to ice or snow. Only about every four years here. With spray on the dish, you just barely touch it, and the snow will slide right off.

 

[410Fortune]

I have not! I should go spray my whole plow truck!!
My satellite dish is heated thank goodness because it’s on a 10’ pole mounted on top of our roof and we got 12” of snow yesterday in 6 hours
Kids were online for the big FORTNITE / Eminem event… thank you starlink! I was plowing

I will try some pam on my led bars see what happens!

Word of advice for led headlights and any kind of freezing temps… turn them on and leave them on… the little heat they do make will keep snow ice off better if you have them on early, even when the sun still out… so until about 345 pm here this time of year lol

A non issue for Most of Arizona lol

 

[tdavis]

Funny, one of the options for the JK/7" world is a heated lenses, exactly because of the snow/ice buildup issue.

 

[410Fortune]

Yes his 84 ranger is running the heated 5x7 jw speaker headlights we put 3m clear bra on the lenses… but he still managed to break one quickly

 

[Josh P]

I need a set of those LED headlights. My current lights are so dim I gotta get out and strike a match to see if they are on.

 

[RangerX]

Rick, those look like they have good cut off.
if anyone knows a good 9007 led bulb that cuts off like this, let me know. I have older leds that are like a floodlight pattern, they shine 360 and not very far distance.

 

[410Fortune]

The newer led bulbs are very good, many of the bulbs can also be rotated so you can “tune” the light pattern inside the housing

 

[Josh P]

Here's how weak my headlights are. Illuminates one white stripe ahead of the truck, so anything over 25 mph is overdriving the light. I'm seriously going to look into better bulbs for the truck and a set of these retrobright lights for my 68 cougar.

 

[tdavis]

Rick, is those lenses glass or plastic?

 

[Rick]

The newer led bulbs are very good, many of the bulbs can also be rotated so you can “tune” the light pattern inside the housing

Have you swapped to LEDs in an of your RBVs? If so do you have a brand that you recommend?

 

[Rick]

Rick, is those lenses glass or plastic?

They are plastic, but high strength. Holley took a hammer to one in a test and it didn't break.

 

[Josh P]

They are plastic, but high strength. Holley took a hammer to one in a test and it didn't break.

That's impressive, so a small rock probably won't damage it unless you're driving at the speed of light.

 

[410Fortune]

I would still cover them with 3m clear bra
Plastic just doesn’t hold up to gravel and sand over time . The clear bra will keep your lenses looking new for many years and a piece large enough to do both lenses is cheap


I have had led headlights in my bronco for many years, I run el cheapo Jeep headlights 7” round. They are bright and look super cool plus cheap to replace.

The expensive lights I used to run were 5x7 hella glass motorcycle headlights that took an h4 bulb. Those suckers were like $75 a lense back in the day and after breaking 2-3 of them I finally tried the clear bra. Never broke another and they always looked new

I have led bulbs in our sport trac they are pretty good! I spent some time aiming them and turning the bulbs in the housing for what I feel is a good light pattern
I still need to aim the passenger side it seems to be pointed off onto space now I think everything was fine during the test fit I think I missed a plastic doohickey when I did the final install

The led bulbs I’m using are

SEALIGHT 9007/HB5 LED Bulbs, 600%... Amazon product ASIN B07GGRHPPY

 

[Josh P]

That 3M clear bra would also work to protect windshields.

 

[410Fortune]

True I just have always wondered how it holds up to wipers