nsnqst

I have a 2014 Base that came with factory installed HID lamps.

Having upgraded to HID bulbs from XenonDepot, the factory bulb color looks a bit yellow to me so I’m considering either 5K HID bulbs or LED. From what I’ve read, LED conversion would be complicated as the lamp housing has AFS so leaning towards 5K HIDs.

These are the LEDs I found https://www.xenondepot.com/9005-cmb-led?quantity=1

XenonDepot does not show LED bulb options.

Any suggestions on whether this LED upgrade makes sense?

Alternately what 5K HID bulbs would you suggest (non-Amazon)?

Thank you.

Clutchless

Stay with HID and get better bulbs. The lamp housing reflectors are not designed for LED. They will not work as well as HID for the designed use of seeing farther down the road at night. They may appear brighter when you photograph them in your driveway standing in front of your vehicle. This has been covered many times.

Select one of the better 5000K HID bulbs at XenonDepot. Philips is considered one of the best bulb manufacturers. Get these if you have the budget or shop around for price
https://www.xenondepot.com/philips-4...d4s?quantity=1
So is Osram. I have Osram Nightbreaker bulbs on my RX and think they are much better than the old OEM bulbs I replaced. They are 4200K.
https://www.xenondepot.com/osram-664...d4s?quantity=1
There is even a lighting forum on CL if you want to read more about options. See their sticky threads first.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lighting-128/

Non

Factory HID are brighter than any LED conversion kit. The cheap LED kit you linked too may be worse than halogen, so stick with HID.

Factory HID's are 4300k, because this color range actually puts out the most lumens, but they are yellowish. If you want whiter color headlights, get the 5000k bulbs for sure, just remember to match the ballast and bulb wattage.

HID bulb color is affected by the ballast wattage, so if your factory HID's are 35 watts, make sure to get 35 Watt 5000k bulbs.

iolmaster

iTrader: (1)

I work in the optics industry and I have no idea where you get most of this.

Non

Various YouTube channels of course
I want to keep learning, so please point out any false information.

Kansas

Everything Non said is 100% accurate.

nsnqst

Thank you, Clutchless & Non; very helpful information.

I would love to go with the Philip but they are outside my budget right now.

I’m only looking at 5,000K, 6,000K is too blue for my linking. Don’t want to purchase on Amazon unless it is a brand-name bulb.

Found these Marimoto 5K HID on XD, can’t believe the price (but that is not my primary qualifier); XD has always sold me good products that last.

https://www.xenondepot.com/morimoto-...een?quantity=1

Would these be a decent compromise but better than the HID that fame factory installed?
Thoughts?

Kansas

The original 4300K bulbs provide the most light that is visible to the human eye. That's why 4300K is the universal OEM choice by car makers. 5000K may appear to be a little whiter/bluer but it provides less usable light than 4300K and doesn't light up the road quite as well. 5000K isn't terrible - just not the best. 6000K-up gets really bad if you want to actually see where you are going.

nsnqst

Thank you, Kansas. One question, do you know what the temperature of the newer LEDs that come factory installed is? They are a lot whiter than the HIDs.

I’m still leaning towards the Marimoto 5,000K and will wait to hear if what members think of those bulbs.

Kansas

I don't remember seeing any data about that. There is probably a standard that auto makers have to follow which could be in SAE literature. I no longer have access to SAE literature since I retired so I've been trying to find it in the UN-ECE regulations for Europe which are on the Internet. Toyota uses the same LED headlight units on some models in both North America and Europe so the color on U.S. market vehicles should be the same as in Europe. If anybody else wants to wade through the many documents/revisions in UNECE Regulation 48 to look for a color requirement go to https://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp2...regs41-60.html

I haven't noticed a color difference between the factory HID headlights and the factory LED headlights on our vehicles. I just now went to our garage and turned on the headlights of two vehicles sitting next to each other. One has factory HID headlights with the original bulbs. The other has factory LED headlights with non-replaceable bulbs. If there is a color difference, it's not enough for me to see by looking into the beams. I held up a large piece of cardboard in front of the two headlight versions to see if that showed a difference and the color also looked the same.