H4 Headlights - LED Conversion Bulbs [not housings]?

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I have H4 7" headlights in my 'Cuda and am curious what options are out there for LED bulb conversions.

I do not want a new headlight housing, I had TruckLite LEDs in my Wrangler but the look of the housing doesn't fit a classic car. I also do not want something that is reminiscent of ~2005 HID conversions where the light is scattered everywhere and blinds people 2 miles ahead of you.


Any recommendations? This product may not exist, but maybe someone has something going out there.

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

That product does not exist... or at least one that works well. I can guarantee that drop in H4 style LED bulbs exist, but they won't project a decent beam. The generic 7" housings on the market pretty much have terrible beam patterns anyways, replacing them with an LED bulb with a few LED's arranged in a radial pattern in an optic designed for a full 360 degrees of light emitting from a halogen style bulb is going to be terrible. Unfortunately for LED 7" round bulbs, I only see 2 options. The JW Speaker headlight has the best beam, but looks too busy and bug-eyed for a muscle car. The Trucklite looks a lot cleaner IMO, and has a slightly less clean beam pattern than the JW Speaker. I'll be running Trucklites in my current projects.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

That product does not exist... or at least one that works well. I can guarantee that drop in H4 style LED bulbs exist, but they won't project a decent beam. The generic 7" housings on the market pretty much have terrible beam patterns anyways, replacing them with an LED bulb with a few LED's arranged in a radial pattern in an optic designed for a full 360 degrees of light emitting from a halogen style bulb is going to be terrible. Unfortunately for LED 7" round bulbs, I only see 2 options. The JW Speaker headlight has the best beam, but looks too busy and bug-eyed for a muscle car. The Trucklite looks a lot cleaner IMO, and has a slightly less clean beam pattern than the JW Speaker. I'll be running Trucklites in my current projects.

Thanks, you’ve confirmed what ‘I expected. The aftermarket led housings work well, but ‘I don’t care for the look on a classic car. Just too much of a dramatic shift for what ‘I am going for.

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

I hear ya on that. The Trucklite could look a little prettier, since it was developed for well, trucks.

I'm trying to get something better going. It's hard since the Trucklite is such a strong seller as is, convincing the company we need something to replace one of our top sellers is an uphill battle (I work for Rigid/Trucklite). But I encourage anyone to call Rigid and mention the above, and help my case for a prettier 7" light! Same for a 5-3/4" light. Our sales team takes note of customer requests!! :)

[Bigblue73]

I did a LED bulb conversion in may Challenger with H4 housing from Hella. I bought the LED bulbs from Eyourlife. The cut off line is okay and they are much brighter than a normal H4 conversion bulb. I'm happy with them

[DT69Cam]

Check out Octane Lighting. They have 7 inch headlights with H3 bulbs and also H4 bulbs. One of the guys over at TeamCamaro.net just installed the kit 79.95. He used the H3 led bulbs though. Trimming of the housing is required.

[TheJDMan]

I am totally happy with my Trucklite 27270C LED headlights. I don't think they look bad at all in a classic muscle car. I'm told by lighting experts that the light beam could be focused better but since they are orders of magnitude better than the old incandescent H4s they replaced, I'm not too concerned.

146096

[Mr Nick]

Those don't look bad at all, too bad there isn't a 5.75" version available.

[ULTM8Z]

If you're on the ambitious side and like the high-tech look, you can do what I did... swap in some late model projector housings...

http://ultm8z.com/HID%20Projector%20Retrofit%20into%20a%202nd%20Gen% 20Camaro.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQOIVuzvBow&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAsQk4oLeMg&feature=youtu.be

Since the time I wrote that up, I've done a few mods, like change over to D2S style LED bulbs from the Retrofit Source. Between the LED performance and the well designed Acura TL projector housings, the system now literally blows away my wife's 2017 Infinity SUV (especially with the high-beams).

The video also shows the old xenon bulbs with their glacial warm-up time (which I always hated). The LED's are instantaneously at full brightness. But the physical look from the outside of the housing is the same, which is why I posted it... in addition to the fact that you can do all sorts of things with other LED accents once you make the change over.

The picture below was with the earlier xenon bulbs. But, it doesn't do the LED light quality any justice... the LED's make even the xenons look ancient (and that's saying something).

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/11/Exteri6-1.jpg