Hello again everyone ! Good evening.
As you know I'm making big changes to my jag.
I'm passionate about my jag and will be upgrading tint, wheels, exhaust and lights, gril etc and air bags lasts. I'm also mechanically inclined.
I have read most info on forums here about HID ..

Questions left unanswered....

1. I picked this complete HID set, is this correct ?
2. I need all 3 separate sets correct? Hi/low /fog.
3. Do I need to pay extra for anti flicker since I'm only going 35w?
4. I'm also replacing brake lights and turn signal bulbs with LED .. do I just buy led bulbs and put them in ? Or do I need a special kit for that too. ?
5. Do I need to upgrade my alternator for all this lighting?

Can I just save a bunch of money and put LED lights instead, in hi/low/fog/ brake and back ups would they be brighter then stock ?

Thanks JAG enthusiasts.
Jayson, CA

 

LED in all, yes with the understanding that unless you buy the turn light extra module, your flashing signal on the dash will blink and sound like having a bulb out (like a blinker on crack, lol). A lot of LED are now as bright as HID, use less power and with other bulb changes (all my interior and exterior w/turn exception are LED, my fronts are HID), the electrical load is reduced even adding additional mod lighting like I have done.

LED were on average higher cost a while ago but, the price has come down a lot the past few years and if you search the internet there are some good buys now.

Here's a good explanation and comparison =

https://bestheadlightbulbs.com/hid-vs-led-headlights/

Here's a couple of pics of standard vs LED brightness on my car. Also an f.y.I. on brake lights putting red colored ones in actually allow more light out the lens as the red lens filters out all the spectrum colors from clear bulbs to only allow the red spectrum through. Weird but true.

 

Jayson, when it comes to HID bulbs, you wlil get what you pay for. From my experience of helping other members put HIDs into their cars and doing this conversion on a lot of my vehicles, going with a company called MaxLux is the only way to go. They seem to last forever where the others that I have used seem to last about a year and then the ballast for the bulb goes out.

As for whether to go LED or HID, that is going to be dependent on the bulb you are looking at. Big thing is to compare apples to apples. Newer bulbs come in many different light colors (ie, 3300K, 5000K, 6000K, etc). Each one is going to be a little bit different than the others. If you don't get the color spectrum bit, let me know. I can explain it to you.

In short, HIDs I think are going to last longer (getting the kit that I said), but is going to be more involved in getting set up. LEDs are going to be a PITA to make fit inside the headlight housing from what I hear.

 

Hey thermo, and Dell.

Dell I saw your setup in another post and I was very impressed.. I love your interior lighting and agree with you on LED might be the way to go. I did noticed the jaguar light symbol on the door. Toyota has the same concept built into there doors in higher models.
I think you did great on your lighting and when I begin to order and assemble I might bug you for questions.

Thermo , I noticed there are so many, and I mean many companies out there that sell HID.. it's crazy you can find packages as low as 29$ and some in the 300$ range.
Thanks for the suggestion.. I will be looking into that company's products today. It seems Hid fits perfectly ..
Where I read LED can be a challenge in some installing instances.. I like the simple Plug and play aspect LED.

I went to school a long time ago as a toyota mechanic. Even graduated. But never did it as a career. Just wanted to work on my truck, cars, friends cars. For fun.

I will look into this more thanks guys.
I think Hid for headlight hi/low and LED yellow for Fog.
As for the rest I might go LED.
Thanks for the input. It's been a blessing having knowledgable people on these forums.

Jayson

 

As Thermo mentioned, fitting LED in the existing housings is hard because good LED bulbs have 1 or 2 stage cooling fans which increase the back bulb size. I understand this causes a lot of problems with the clips, etc.

 

Jayson, if you happen to live in the Washington DC area, let me know. I will have you come over and we can get you done in an afternoon. Not a hard job, but the HID kit will require you to remove the front bumper cover as you will need space to mount the HID ballast (which fits really nicely under the headlight housing). If you are familiar with Toyotas, then you will like to hear this, MaxLux was the OEM for Toyota's cars with HIDs.

 

Thank you. But unfortunately I live across the states in California. Haha Moved up to big bear last year.. beautiful up here, check it out.. my view. From big bear.


You know I never knew Maxlux was Toyota's Hid brand
I guess when we install parts OEM comes is brown little boxes ahaha. From service department.

So I decided what I'm doing.......
I'm going to do LED for everything ..
I will start with the front lights. .. this is what I'm ordering ..

I hope this works, but its also generic.
Let me know?
Thxs
Jayson

 

I installed LED in the headlights and fogs on my '07 last month.. They look great compared to the stock halogens in my '08.

I went the path of removing the front bumper cover and headlight assemblies.. a bit time consuming but a lot easier than trying to get everything into place with finger tips.. and don't forget to change the small bulb (194/T10) in the high-beam units . As soon as the weather cools off I'll do the same to the '08.

I used these https://www.ebay.com/itm/2500W-37500...72.m2749.l2649

these https://www.ebay.com/itm/H1-LED-Head...72.m2749.l2649

and
a bit of a budget (cheap) conversion.. we'll see how they hold up. and I had no issues fitting the covers back on.

 

jayson, I live in California too. I just live in California, MD. Thought you might find it interesting. I love the part of CA that you are in. Traveled through that area a few times many, many years back when I was living in Seattle.

Like was mentioned, while pulling the bumper cover off is going to seem to take more time, it is going to most likely save you time and also prevent you from trashing your headlight internals (they get brittle from the heat of the halogens over the years).

 

blownkitty. Let me know how they look, maybe snap me a picture or two ?
The links you sent me for for our models.. ?

Also thermo, that ls awesome and thanks I will take off the bumper. If I had a problem making any type of LEDs fit.. I'm prepared to Mod it. A few questions I was asked about my car is..
Do I have Hids stock ? Or just regular lights.
My jag is an 04. November, 03 make date.

 

The usual check ( in the UK) is immediately under the light switch. If it has two small adjusters , the one on the right for beam height then it is not HIDS
If it has just one adjuster on the left for the illumination level of the instruments then it has HIDs. HIDs are self leveling.

 

Jayson/Henry k, you can tell if your car has HID by doing 1 of 2 things. The first is simply opening up the driver's door and looking between the hinges. If you have a sticker there that says something to the effect of "this vehicle is equipped with HIgh Intensity Discharge lighting .....", then you have HIDs. The other check is to pull your car up to a wall and shine the headlights on to the wall. What you want to watch for is as you turn on your headlights. If you turn them on that they "snap" on to full brightness, you have halogen bulbs. If you see the bulbs give a quick flash, then dim down, then come back up in brightness over a few seconds, then you have HIDs. I want to say also that the HID have the self leveling circuit. So, what you will also see with HID's is the lights will come on, then they will move down, then back up.

 

Thanks for that thermo ... when I open my drivers door. I found toast to go with my door jam. Hahaha.

Nothing but the vin sticker.
My left light just went out so maybe it was the right time to upgrade to led.

I was only asking the question because when you order lights some company's ask that question, in there drop down menu right before you place the order.

Thanks
Jayson