Many of you may wonder about some of the eye-catching elements in my headlights over the years. The LED passion obsession started in 2009 for me, and took three years and six pairs of headlamps for me to realize: stop wasting time and money.
But I was convinced! The tech to build DIY LED headlights was out there, I would say to myself over and over. For context, this was after I had already spent much time in 2007-2008 upgrading to HID low-beams and stripping the middle element of the headlights (the chrome shroud) out completely.
But what style to pursue? Here are some of the 10-plus iterations of my custom headlights. Do I recommend it for anyone else? No!!! Save yourself the time, burned hands, fogged lamps and wasted money. DIY LEDs are fun, but only for a few weeks. Then the inevitable burn-outs come.
And when you hard-plant the LEDs into the headlamp, there is no bulb switch possible. That means another full removal, dis-assembly, baking process, re-build, re-bake, re-install. Nightmare.
Electrical faults and gremlins start appearing all over the car’s system, and the silicone sealant needed to stick them back together is — I am quite sure of this — the nastiest, stickiest and hardest-to-remove element on the periodic table.
I do not recommend any of these. Most of them never made it onto the car. But for info’s sake:
— Custom quad projectors used a few donor Infiniti J30 lighting elements.
— Light boards used super-bright interior light boards as the headlight accent.
Looks terrible, like a bad n*SYNC music video set.
You’re All I ever wanted…. Baby
You’re All I ever needed… Yea-ahhh
So tell me what to do, now — cause
I. Want. A….
Black-Panamera-Turbo!
— All terrible. Do not bake your headlights and start attempting a glamorous DIY soolution. It is a constant battle then to keep them even functional — let alone stylish. You will be scoffed-at my Saturn Ion drivers, and receive more tickets than a Caprice Classic on Donk’s.
In this case, both aftermarket and DIY lighting attempts will almost never make us think that clattering old F-150 or Ram is a BMW 335i or a Cayenne Turbo.
The quad-points of 3W LEDs making a box around projector are still my favorite, but are a major PITA to wire and keep functional.
Once one of the quad points on each side had blown, the car looks ridiculous and power to all had to be snipped.
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Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.