Headlamp bulb replacement question...

Hello!

I'm looking for a pair of headlamp bulbs to replace the stock bulbs in my '96 wagon... The stock bulbs are a 9004 halogen, right? I'm no expert but I suppose I'm looking for something that throws out more lumens. I'm in the country and it's dark as dark can be at night. I had some added LED driving lights on my '12 Jeep Wrangler and they really lit up the road much better than the halogen headlamps and foglamps did. I'd kinda like something extra from the stock headlamp assemblies than what is in there now...

While were at it, how about better bulbs for the reverse lamps as well?

Suggestions? Brands and/or retailer experiences?

Thanks!

Carl

I have some LED bulbs that I bought on eBay. They were directly from China. They cost about $10. At that price I bought a couple sets. Get the ones that have the electronics in the bulb module. You can search for the bulb type to get direct replacement units.

If you're old with bad eyes nothing makes a difference. I couldn't see well at all driving at night. I changed the headlight bulbs to brighter ones, still had troubles at night. I went to the eye doc and got cateract surgery, now I can see like a cat driving at night with no headlights on, who knew? It creeps up on you, I just thought the world just looked worse and worse as I got older.: )

Take a look at the Torchbeam brand on Amazon. I tried multiple cheaper ones in the Buick, with aftermarket faceted lamphousings and they had terrible patterns.  The Torchbeam T1 bulbs were plenty bright with a great pattern.   I then got both low and high beams in the same brand for our 07 Chevy Express 3500 camper van and had equally good results.  The other brands sprayed light all over the place and not where you want it so it didn't matter if they  had more lumens as they didn't put anywhere you needed it and blinded oncoming traffic.

Here is a discussion of headlights that was around a while ago.  You will find pics of our RMW (white with silver and bulge hood) part way down the page that show the lamps we used (ebay and inexpensive).  A few post down you will find some pics of the low and high beam patterns we got with the Torchbeam bulbs.  I wish everyone who posts headlight recommendations would post some pix like these so we can see the real pattern and if it will blind oncoming traffic, which I consider really important.

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t15953-shy-headlights

I have only had one person flash me for my low beams with the ebay LED lights. I can see at least 400 ft clearly, and they will light up reflective signs about 1/4 mile away. I have the stock headlight capsules on one car, but have aftermarket capsules on the other. I can not tell much difference between them, and that is even with the OEM capsules starting to get foggy.

Thanks for the input! Coincidentally I had come across the torchbeam lamps while surfing Amazon and was curious. Thank you! I'll also check out the other thread.

Using the LED lights will reduce the current draw on your headlight circuit. I have read that the circuit is borderline on handling the incandescent current draw. LEDs draw 1/6 of the current for the same light output. The Chinese LEDs are about 2 to 3 times as bright as the OEM bulbs, so should have half to a third of the current draw.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Using the LED lights will reduce the current draw on your headlight circuit. I have read that the circuit is borderline on handling the incandescent current draw. LEDs draw 1/6 of the current for the same light output. The Chinese LEDs are about 2 to 3 times as bright as the OEM bulbs, so should have half to a third of the current draw.

The Torchbeams I used are rated at 60 watts, but I am pretty sure that is for both bulbs together and is close to the original wattage. My stock wiring had no issue at all with them.

That's good to know since I was wondering about that, I just forgot to inquire. Thanks!

The LEDs are 60 watts for the pair, or 30 watts per side. A set of OEM lights are 45/65 watts each. Sometimes the LEDs are rated with a light equivalent wattage as opposed to actual wattage. The LED usually makes 6 times as much light for a given wattage.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

The LEDs are 60 watts for the pair, or 30 watts per side. A set of OEM lights are 45/65 watts each. Sometimes the LEDs are rated with a light equivalent wattage as opposed to actual wattage. The LED usually makes 6 times as much light for a given wattage.

That is only if you believe the lumer ratings they give from the manufacturers or sellers. I have compared lots of LED lights in general to their incandescent equivalents and the lumen ratings appear to be completely bogus IMO. They play games with taking a single "peak" rating somewhere in the pattern or the take the entire 360* of scatter light and total it up and compare it to a directional incendescent.

If you have a lamp that is scattering 40% or more of it's light into areas that don't do you any good, a focused, much lower total lumens lamp will do better in the real world. I saw this very plainly when I tested several brands that had "higher" rated lumens and watts than the Torchbeams, but lit the road much worse and had no real cutoff so would irritate drivers coming the other way.

If you get a chance, find a road with trees on each side and with a T intersection ahead and post us some pics of what you have for a good comparison similar to my pix in the other thread. When I did the same road with the other bulbs I tested, they lit up the trees all the way to the top of them, and I hope I never am headed up there in the Buick. The four sided ones were by far the worst of the bunch.

Dear Mr., ckamin

Good day Sir. I changed my 93 RMW headlamps over to LEDs. I went with ORACLE. I was not worried about the cost.... I am very pleased with the results.... I most definitely got my money worth as far as I am concerned....

I did my RMW a few years back with a Morimoto HID setup (no real LED aftermarket’’s then). More recently I did my ‘97 GMC Sierra with an LED setup. Both times i replaced the reflector lenses with clear aftermarket lenses so I would not be that A-hole that blinds everyone else just so they can see. However, i seem to remember recently seeing some LEDs that seemed to be made specifically to work with reflector lenses; if that is in fact true I’d much rather do a build using the factory lenses and housing - the quality is so much better.