Poor headlight output - Options?

[CincyTypeR]

The light output for night driving is terrible on my Type R. Don't light up the road or signs at all and they seem to be aimed properly as far as I can tell. Just for reference my previous car an 2003 Acura CL had great HID lights. My current daily driver a 2014 Accord has good lights. The Type R seems inferior compared to those two.

There something wrong with my headlights? Any suggestions on options to try to have better lighting?

For fogs do you think the Morimoto LED fogs will fit and be brighter than stock? https://www.theretrofitsource.com/honda-round-morimoto-xb-led.html

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[Snoopyslr]

Honda's OEM LED headlights are garbage... I was sad to see them on the CTR.

Potmilkz is right, you're only option is to swap to a base model projector lamp and do a retrofit. However, I wouldn't say changing out the fogs will do nothing. The XB fogs have a pretty decent throw. Fog upgrade won't be like a retrofit, but it's an easy to do upgrade.

 

[fk8jon]

I actually like them, they illuminate almost all three lanes of the highway I travel on including overhead signs.

 

[Donuyen18]

The civic led headlights look amazing but definitely form over function

 

[Spartacus]

I’m baffled right now... luv mine

 

[CincyTypeR]

I’m baffled right now... luv mine

Can you take some photos of your output? Or course we would need the camera to have a set ISO settings to do a somewhat of a comparison.

Came across this video on youtube. Mine look nothing like this.

 

[8409_CW]

I think the high beams look really cool on small country roads in the dark. The way the lights hit the tops of the trees is really cool to me.

 

[Snoopyslr]

Can you take some photos of your output? Or course we would need the camera to have a set ISO settings to do a somewhat of a comparison.

Came across this video on youtube. Mine look nothing like this.

Dry roads and camera is auto-adjusting ISO. Cameras can make any headlight look good.

This is what my retrofit looks like on wet/foggy roads. Nothing tops a proper HID lamp/bulb combo.

 

[tuxmonkey]

I don't know what people are on about. I like the LED headlights.

 

[Snoopyslr]

The thing about headlight discussions is: Most people don't have a wide enough frame of reference.

Are the LED lights better than the halogen H11 lamps in the non-LED versions? Yes, absolutely.
Are the LEDs good when compared to top quality lamps? Not even close.

This side-by-side of my H11 lamps vs FX-R lamps really shows the difference. This is a 5500k 35w HID in the OEM lamp vs a 5500k 55w in my FX-R. The OEM lamp is still on in the FX-R picture, but the FX-R output is completely covering it. Also, my FX-R + Morimoto HIDs isn't the best you can get. I could get more output and coverage with some Osram bulbs and different ballast.

(I need to redo this test with my DSLR one of these days)

 

[bobafettm]

I wonder if there would be much improvement going to the OPT7 bulbs in the Type R versus the stock lights. http://www.opt-7.com/fluxbeam-x-led-headlights/

Swapping out the Lotus' HID light bulbs to the Fluxbeam Xs made a massive difference! I can shine light onto other mountain sides when down in Tennessee Love those bulbs! 4000+ Lumens of a crisp 6000K

Does anyone know the bulb sizing for the Type R headlights?

 

[Snoopyslr]

I wonder if there would be much improvement going to the OPT7 bulbs in the Type R versus the stock lights. http://www.opt-7.com/fluxbeam-x-led-headlights/

Swapping out the Lotus' HID light bulbs to the Fluxbeam Xs made a massive difference! I can shine light onto other mountain sides when down in Tennessee Love those bulbs! 4000+ Lumens of a crisp 6000K

Does anyone know the bulb sizing for the Type R headlights?

No bulbs, these aren't projectors. They are LED arrays.

 

[boosted180sx]

They're reflector based LED headlamps so the performance will be subpar compared to projectors.
The headlamps on my ILX aren't so bad because they're projector based led headlamps but they're nothing compared to my S2000 in terms of output.

There's really nothing you can do in order to obtain more output on the led headlamps. You can try aiming it a little bit higher and see if that maybe helps.

 

[bobafettm]

Ahhhh... Weird wild stuff. I had no idea vehicles even did array lighting like this... I'm still in the old school days of got a bulb aiming at your projector or inside a housing... Replace it!

Thanks for the info all!

 

[Snoopyslr]

They're reflector based LED headlamps so the performance will be subpar compared to projectors.
The headlamps on my ILX aren't so bad because they're projector based led headlamps but they're nothing compared to my S2000 in terms of output.

There's really nothing you can do in order to obtain more output on the led headlamps. You can try aiming it a little bit higher and see if that maybe helps.

Your S2K has one of the top 5 best OEM projectors ever created. The lights on that thing are incredible. S2K was a very common retrofit for a long time. I think people do Acura TL more now tho.

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