Consensus on quality headlight LED conversions?

[philie]

Hey, 

we love our new cmax, however, it would be great if we could improve the headlight situation with LED bulbs.

I figure I would need fitting LED bulbs and maybe resistors like these ones?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HB6EJ2A/?coliid=I1I6QP5X5HCL66&colid=3LMQV4CGO6G18&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

Are there any recommendations out there about quality value for money LEDs? the last posts I find are a couple of years old.

Thanks a lot!

philie

[fbov]

3 hours ago, philie said:

... it would be great if we could improve the headlight situation with LED bulbs.

How would you improve on the best headlight system out there? Ford got everything right with the C-Max. The new Escape, not so much... LED headlights suck.

Frank

[jzchen]

While we had our '13 I never had an issue seeing at night, and I have mild night blindness.  Get a higher performing bulb (although shorter lived) like Philips X-tremeVision.  If you have projector style it may be beneficial to substitute a modified H9, but best ask someone knowledgeable like the moderator on candlepowerforums transportation section...

 

 

[plus 3 golfer]

I know some don’t think much of CR.  Here is their take from testing headlights.

 

“Both LED and HID headlights can produce a brighter, whiter light than halogens, and they illuminate the sides of the road well. But how far a headlight illuminates straight ahead, in the direction a car is traveling, is what’s most important, Stockburger says. In that respect neither HIDs nor LEDs have proved to be superior over halogens in CR’s testing.“

[philie]

Yes, I should have been more precise. I am not complaining about the lighting situation in general, however, I would like to improve the color of the light.

the C-MAX lights seem very amber compared to other headlights I know and I would prefer a more white light.

thanks!

 

[fbov]

15 hours ago, philie said:

...lights seem very amber compared to other headlights ...

That's a big part of what makes them so good. They're not blue. Blue light has two problems....

 

1) we can't see any detail in blue light. I have a demo using red and blue LEDs... you can't read in blue light. Too few blue sensors to resolve letters. 

 

2) blue light doesn't play well with air. If you search "why is the sky blue" you'll find this from NASA:

"Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time."

 

When blue light hits air, it stops and goes sideways. It doesn't illuminate the road, it illuminates everything between you and the road. Add water in any phase, snow, rain or fog, and blue light will hide the road even better. I wear gradient, blue-blocker sunglasses. They sometimes help in rainstorms, allowing me to see many car lengths farther through the spray.

 

At night, sunglasses are a no-no; you need good lights. I plan for worst case. 

 

Have fun,

Frank

[jbird8675309]

I went with all Sylvania LEDs Zevo and I am happy with them and they weren't that pricey.  What a difference on the cargo area now I can see what's in the back before I never noticed them so faint and didn't light no area at all.  License plate LEDs are much more brighter.  I will eventually replace the fronts with LEDS but yeah I am satisfied with Sylvania Zevo.