Please keep us posted if you go with the superbrightleds. I'm going through the same thing deciding what is the best way to go with my projector lights as well. Just when you thought you have read everything, there seems to be a new "twist".

 

I have found the Amazon vehicle fitment guide isn't very accurate. Probably 3/4 of the stuff I order for my truck says it won't fit but does.

 

A buddy is trying to get me to try a set of the Cougar Motor LED's before I commit to the HID. I don't like the placement of the LED but it appears to cast a pretty decent beam regardless. How much of the performance can you attribute to the bulb vs the housing itself? His car is a Subaru so it may just have a housing design that lends well to LED.?.?.?

https://www.amazon.com/Cougar-Motor...1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546949319&sr=8-3&keywords=cougar+motor+led+headlights+h11&th=1

A few of us tried different things all at the same time about a year ago and he is the clear winner at this point as far as satisfaction goes. Both lamps still work great after a full year and he has zero dark spots. He does get some people flashing him from time to time so he does need to better adjust his cut-off's.

Another buddy went with cheaper units, (SunPie?). One burnt out at the 9 month mark and both had a split beam pattern that landed right where you'd want the light so he's ordered a set of the Cougar Motors and will provide a back to back comparison once he gets them in.

They do report a flicker and recommend an anti-flicker harness when used on the RAMs and Jeeps so I would need to source a kit before I could try them in my truck.

 

The housing is pretty significant. Imagine that a well designed one has an efficiency of around 90% and a poorly designed one might be down around 30%. The difference being perhaps the choice of reflective material, clarity of the plastic lens, and the design of the actual housing.

Projector housings in general have a higher efficiency than other types. In my opinion, Subaru uses some pretty high quality optics in their vehicles. The RAM is also not too bad and lends its self well to a PNP HID setup. IMO, trying that LED chipset is a waste of your money.

The Mini D2S 5.0 will blow away whatever your buddy in the subaru has and he'll be dropping money on a set the week following.

Even the 4.0 vs. 5.0 was a surprising difference, around 80 lux difference and the only change was a coating applied to the glass.

 

I agree with every point you made. I had the LED's in my Amazon cart a couple times over the past week and could never pull the trigger.

I made a significant investment buying this truck and did so with the intent of driving it for at least a decade so if $450 and an afternoon in the garage is the cost for the HID lighting it deserves, then that's the right choice.

The last decision to make is going to be 35W or 50W? 35W should provide all the Lumens I would ever need and 50W will likely be overkill and just piss off other drivers.

 

35W is plenty of power with those D2S 5.0's. If you don't feel like it is you can always upgrade later. Or you can get the profile 35/50W ballasts and switch whenever ya want

I went with the 50W on my commuter because I'm doing long drives in the dark on a rural road. If I lived in a major city again I'd be inclined to go with 35W. I do feel bad when I crest hills and I can see the opposing driver taking the brunt of it. For my little commuter car it's not as bad but being as tall as the RAM is I wouldn't want to go with 50W's without auto leveling.

 

I found a video that I think could be helpful in this discussion.

 

Great informational video, thanks NevadaMike.

 

Has anyone tried any of the LED conversion lights? I see Morimoto, Cougar and Hikari on a number of threads from other forums. Just curious how they are in a non-projector headlight.

 

I’ve got some Hikari leds in my trucks quads. They seem to be working pretty good so far.

 

I just did the H9 conversion, damn what a difference!! I used Hella Extreme Whites and they're great!!

 

has anyone done the h9 conversion on a 5th gen with the quads? I want some better lights but don’t want to mess with leds or pay for hid’s.

 

Great work gentlemen I can't believe I got through all 18 pages
Just ordered my H9 s and 9011 s 🤟