Howdy folks. My xenon bulbs are on the way out I think. Noticeably different colours than each other and not very bright.

I was thinking of upgrading to led ones to replace them and just wondering has anyone got any recommendations or links for what ones are good?

Don't fancy paying 200+ for osram his ones.

Also anyone that has fitted them did you have problems with condinsation building up in the lamps?

Thanks in advance

I'm aware of a few owners who have switched from Xenon to LED bulbs, including myself.

I made the switch 1.5 yrs ago - from Xenon D3S to LED D3S bulbs.

I have a MY17 pre-facelift.

I bought J.W. Speaker D3S LED bulbs - they're really good.

No errors, no issues and the lighting is much better than the previous Xenons I had, Phillips XtremeVision Gen2, which were an upgrade from the factory Xenons.

These LED bulbs have a built-in fan, which conveniently fits within the headlight cover at the back.

Highly recommended.

As for condensation build up - I hardly got that before.

I haven't got it since.

Edited 11 January11 Jan by JR RS

Im not sure where you are if you have restrictions on what bulbs you can use, there’s no E marked LED DS3 so illegal to use on cars in UK, will pass MOT though.

If you don’t care about that then I’d give these a go https://autobeam.co.uk/collections/led-full-beam/products/led-d3s-dipped-beam-unit

This came up not too long ago - the MOT guidance has been updated to check for led bulbs in halogen headlight units (in the same way Xenons in halogens are a no-no), but replacing existing Xenon setups with LED bulbs aren’t an issue. The headlight unit has the lens and directionality not to dazzle.

But…as Danoid said, they should also be E-marked and none are so unless they came from the factory, that’s not allowed in UK. However, the chances of an MOT tester pulling bulbs and checking is practically non-existent.

Out of curiosity.....wat r the chances of a MOT tester popping the bonnet open, reaching behind the Bi-Xenon headlight, removing the headlight cover and sticking his/her head inside to see if it's Xenon bulb or LED bulb?

I don't live in the UK, hence I have no idea how ruthless or to wat extent they would go to uncover stuff.

U can't tell the difference by "looking" at the headlight beam pattern as it will b the same between Xenon and LED bulbs.

Unlike reflector headlights, u can't see the bulb inside the projector headlights, hence not obvious.

Edited 12 January12 Jan by JR RS

18 minutes ago, JR RS said:

Out of curiosity.....wat r the chances of a MOT tester popping the bonnet open, reaching behind the Bi-Xenon headlight, removing the headlight cover and sticking his/her head inside to see if it's Xenon bulb or LED bulb?

I don't live in the UK, hence I have no idea how ruthless or to wat extent they would go to uncover stuff.

U can't tell the difference by "looking" at the headlight beam pattern as it will b the same between Xenon and LED bulbs.

Unlike reflector headlights, u can't see the bulb inside the projector headlights, hence not obvious.

The chances are low, especially in our cars where you can’t get to the back of the lights easily, but MOT testers are not allowed to remove anything during testing.

There are notes about if it’s xenon they’ll be a warming up period, whereas LED is instant so they could tell the difference straight away

If you were in an accident and other person said “I was dazzled” or something and it was a serious accident then they’d check but in all honesty it would only be a fatal accident they’d check everything.

Also as they’re not E marked and that is legislation you are breaking the law and obviously insurance is technically invalid

Osram in other European countries have a direct Halogen to LED replacement which is road legal but UK is slow to get with times

I have installed and used these for a year now and they have performed great, no error, E stamped so road legal and have the fan built in so no heat issues. Plus postage was quick and easy.

WagenLights.com

D3S LED Bulbs 6000K 35W CanBus E13 - WagenLights.com

D3S LED Bulbs 6000K CanBus E13 (2pcs). 100% road legal. High-quality and very powerful D3S LED bulbs. CanBus support. Plug & Play.

Edited 13 January13 Jan by dec76

Well that looks to be UK legal per se - it states E13. E meaning EU certification; 13 referring to the country it was certified in, in this case Luxembourg.

Unless they’re BSing, then they’re road legal bulbs for UK. But it still potentially falls down on the MOT replacement issue. I still maintain the MOT guidelines are weirdly interpreted by saying placing LED bulbs in Halogen (and by extension, HID) headlight units is not allowed.

Anyone with an ounce of sense would acknowledge the world of difference between Halogen and HID units. Unless I’m missing something, that bit is cretinous.

20 hours ago, dec76 said:

I have installed and used these for a year now and they have performed great, no error, E stamped so road legal and have the fan built in so no heat issues. Plus postage was quick and easy.

WagenLights.com

D3S LED Bulbs 6000K 35W CanBus E13 - WagenLights.com

D3S LED Bulbs 6000K CanBus E13 (2pcs). 100% road legal. High-quality and very powerful D3S LED bulbs. CanBus support. Plug & Play.

Oh I’m intrigued, how much better do they perform compared to the Xenon’s?

Looking at the spec of these they are 4500lm, whereas Osram NBL is 3200lm so on paper it’s better already

13 minutes ago, AMD87 said:

I saw that, didn’t realise it was yours.

It’s quite difficult to judge but are the LEDS better?

Only problem with AN is it clearly states off-road only so harder to act dumb if bad things happen

1 hour ago, Danoid said:

I saw that, didn’t realise it was yours.

It’s quite difficult to judge but are the LEDS better?

Only problem with AN is it clearly states off-road only so harder to act dumb if bad things happen

I prefer the xenon’s

13 hours ago, AMD87 said:

I prefer the xenon’s

Any particular reason? Tbh your xenon’s look good, still think mine are too low despite being checked hmm

6 hours ago, Danoid said:

Any particular reason? Tbh your xenon’s look good, still think mine are too low despite being checked hmm

Leds beam seems to get absorbed when it’s wet so it makes it harder to define things on the road compared to xenon’s

4 minutes ago, AMD87 said:

Leds beam seems to get absorbed when it’s wet so it makes it harder to define things on the road compared to xenon’s

At a guess that's probably due to the colour temperature of the LEDs that means the light doesn't reflect back off the wet road