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9005/9006 to 9011/9012 in 2004 Avalon XL

13K views 32 replies 8 participants last post by  05Moose 
#1 · (Edited)
I recently put these same bulbs in my 2013 Armada and was impressed with the results. I decided to do the same with my 04 Avalon. My Avalon has 30k and change on it and the 9005/9006 bulbs were changed less than a month ago with new Philips bulbs, so the comparison is fresh bulbs vs fresh bulbs. 9006 is 55w as is 9012. 9005 is 65w as is 9011. This is a DIY as part of one tab on each 9011 and 9012 bulb must be trimmed to fit in a 9005/9006 housing. I bought all 4 bulbs from Rockauto for around $53.

Instructions for trimming:

http://store.candlepower.com/mohirbuba.html

Here are the pics:

Color difference


9006 low


9012 low


9005 high


9011 high
 
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#8 ·
This can be accomplished 100x better and 100x easier with LED headlight bulbs 9006. Replacement is simple plug and play and super easy:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/391258766273
Yes Phillips also makes the LEDs for 9006 and has other manufacturers incorporate them into their 9006 housing. Here you will see the Phillips brand logo on these:
https://www.amazon.com/Xprite-Philips-Luxeon-Headlight-Temperature/dp/B0183E9YW4

LEDs are no comparison to halogen bulbs. Day and night difference lol.
LED bulbs are taking over the world and have been perfected for quite some time.
It's the same technology as all other bulbs you can pickup at Home Depot and Lowes today.
Most of the store shelves there are stocked with LED versions.
They use very similar technology to automotive LED bulbs.
No. Philips did not make the LED headlight bulbs. A Chinese manufacturer made them using possibly Philips LED's or copies of Philips LEDs. Look at how LED's emit light and look at how a halogen filament emits light and you'll see that a lamp designed for a filament CAN NOT POSSIBLY AND CORRECTLY USE A LED LIGHT SOURCE. What you end up with is tons of glare and scatter into the foreground and above the 'cutoff' where it's useless for lighting the road surface ahead of your car. Even in a projector LED's pale in comparison to a correct light source.


Here's a video that gives a good introduction to projector headlights, not really ontopic but a good video anyway.
 
#4 ·
Lol. 100x100.

LED was not out when I installed the HIR. I didn't think they were that difficult to install. Plus they are Philips, they're somewhat brighter than 9006, and should last a long time.

What do we know about these new LED headlight "bulbs". Are they reliable? Is the technology still improving? When will a company like Phillips offer 9006 LED?
 
#5 ·
Yes Phillips also makes the LEDs for 9006 and has other manufacturers incorporate them into their 9006 housing. Here you will see the Phillips brand logo on these:
https://www.amazon.com/Xprite-Philips-Luxeon-Headlight-Temperature/dp/B0183E9YW4

LEDs are no comparison to halogen bulbs. Day and night difference lol.
LED bulbs are taking over the world and have been perfected for quite some time.
It's the same technology as all other bulbs you can pickup at Home Depot and Lowes today.
Most of the store shelves there are stocked with LED versions.
They use very similar technology to automotive LED bulbs.
 
#7 ·
So I did some research. I think aftermarket LED automotive headlight technology is advancing. Yes, LED has been around plenty long, but not in every application, like aftermarket headlights. For instance, the link below lists lights by generation, indicating improvements made over time. These improvements seem to be chip technology, light dispersion pattern, brightness, heat generated, etc.

http://jdmastar.com/category/426/9006-HB4.html

LED or HID in reflector housings can produce an unfocused beam and therefore glare. Some manufacturers seem to be addressing this problem. Some have added the ability to rotate the LEDs inside the reflector. Some have changed the size and position of the LEDs.

There is a lot of information on this subject, but it's rather scattered and not very technical. But here's some worth a look,

http://honda-tech.com/forums/lighti...headlight-conversion-thread-**-3224660/page4/

https://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Ge...t_kywd?pageNumber=1&filterByKeyword=reflector
 
#10 ·
Actually there's tons of facts that support the truth which is that a lamp designed for a halogen or HID light source is incapable of correctly using a LED light source, save for a couple exceptions in which one particular Philips H4 lamp or Philips FOG LIGHT ONLY application works as well almost as well halogen but not better. Those are the only 2 exceptions, everything else performs more poorly.


A halogen filament emits light in a sphere, the bowl of a halogen lamp is designed to capture light from that focused coil on all surfaces and use all the light produced to shape it into a useable beam to light the road ahead of the car while meeting certain restrictions on glare and intensity so as not to blind other drivers. A LED emits light in a cone or partial sphere (half sphere at best), and will not and can not hit all of the reflector surface to properly form a beam. It's physics kid, things fall due to gravity, a LED (a point light source) can not emulate a filament.

Watch the lightwerkz video, it's an extreme example but it shows exactly what I'm saying. Brighter in raw lumen isn't brighter in a lamp if the light isn't going where it's supposed to go. Gun powder has more stored energy than gasoline, but it won't run an engine.
 
#12 ·
Another awesome/overwhelming benefit of LEDs in stock housing is the light bleed and glare for the oncoming driver. speedkar9 made hid and led videos. Also check the youtube Dial2fast video on LED install (b/c want better light) and removal (b/c not so great). I also put aftermarket xenon in mine and removed them in my van. Wasted only $55 luckily. In fact, when I removed the bulbs I just ziptied connection/ballast if I ever wanted to put back.

Now have these 9011/9012 in 3 of our vehicles. And I got genuine pairs for 15 each. Bright light, stock housing. Done.
 
#14 ·
Thanks Bitter. I will look into that, its worth the effort. I would like my (old) parents to have better lighting than my car. I need to probably find them some drive/fog light for the extra light output. Their camry is just plain.
 
#15 ·
LED headlights may have performance issues or challenges for oncoming drivers, but not the ones made for the Toyota Avalon 2000-2004 headlight type capsules. I haven't seen a test for these cars that is nothing other than incredible. The LED headlight bulbs I have work 100 times better with incredibly better visibility and last much longer as well.
 
#19 ·
Its never wrong to put any type, right or wrong, into a socket that fits/works. This is especially true when someone just "knows" that a particular bulb type wrong for other makes/models/brand, but is just right. It is definitely good for the user but kind of "too bad" in terms of safety of oncoming drivers. When there are many people (in thousands) that use the wrong type, nothing wrong with adding one more person into that pool. It might be good when the accident involves the person causing it also, directly or indirectly. It is most fun to use such lighting wrongly on a dangerous terrain, such as hills, mountains, etc.

Just kidding. Some people learn lessons after the fact.
 
#20 ·
My observations are my opinion.
Opinions are not fact based. I specifically stated it was my observation so please read carefully.
I do know that I observed significantly better results with LED headlights on my 2002 Avalon versus non-LED headlights.
We are all entitled to our opinion.
If you choose to take my opinion, you will be overwhelmingly satisfied!
My opinion is based on my observation.
Observations are not wrong or right.
That is included in my opinion overall.
 
#25 ·
1998 Mazda 626 FS-DE/CD4-E
2000 Celica GTS 'slowest GTS evar!'

It is my opinion again that it is extremely ironic that you (Bitter) don't own a 2000-2004 Avalon according to your tag line.
How can you provide opinion or facts based on the specific topic and forum?
I can say I do own one and have observed the headlight capsules integrated with LED bulbs.

For surgeon0 here are the LED headlights I have with full 30 day money back guarantee requested.
They appear to integrate well with the Avalon 2000-2004 capsules as I found them to be 100 times better!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/391258766273

I agree not all LED upgrades work well with all headlight capsules, but the ones above are absolutely fantastic!
Your observations won't be any different than mine!
It's guaranteed HA!
 
#22 · (Edited)
With all due respect to everyone, both arguments make sense. Mitchmench, yours have a good point that you obsrved the light being better though i think your argument is flawed by also the same: saying "X is better than Y" and saying that this is an observation not just an opinion--- because "better" in itself can be either opinion or fact.

If you say detergent X is better because it cleans your soiled clothes better, it may be because you 'observe' the visibility of the soiling goes away compared to your detergent Y. And you might be right! However, better can be other things which are scientifically measured, like grease left on the clothes, residue on the washing machine, microscopic bacteria left, etc., which detergent X may or may not be "better" on.

Similarly, this goes for bulb comparison. Thats where bitter's argument is. Just my 2cents on the argument, not on whether the bulbs are better or worse (i honestly dont have a clue and i havent googled yet).

Sorry for the off topic post.

Sent from my G9208SS using Tapatalk
 
#24 · (Edited)
Such opinion discussions should be treated as opinion as many come here for advise etc. Info based on facts goes a long way.

In fact EricTheCarGuy did a video recently that measures the light output. I think it was halogens vs hid vs led. As we ALL know LED has good lumen ouput. It is the focus and where the light shines in the foreground that is the concern for the bulb housing. Other than that, nothing else. HID and LED are better than stock halogen. Correct way to change from halogen is to use the housings or specialty products from suppliers such as theretrofitsource. There are threads on that here. In fact in this 2nd gen forum with pics.

I too have bought (ie jumped the bandwagon) HID, LED, etc and then removed them. Maybe a post with some pics of the products might be good. I still have that crap so I will put them in a bunch and take a pic. I have tried them = wasted money. When I put HIDs in the van for example, I too said "better light" including "these stock projectors are great, I can just swap the halogen with hid". I was wrong and did admit that in several posts here as well as in the honda forum.

Nothing wrong with saying either hid or led is awesome. It is awesome when it is used correctly. Hope someone looking for "plug-n-play" also learns some facts and then use it either correctly or wrongly (nobody will stop anyone).

Edit: If there is a plug-n-play LED that works correctly with the stock housing, please put a link and I would like to use it. If the product guarantees it for long period than 30-90 days then at least if not good, I can return and get money back. It gives time to test properly under different conditions.
 
#26 ·
No thanks on that. Already tried in my honda and removed. Maybe if I tried beam aim re-alignment... The spread and focus is different. The led's seemed brighter than halogens but were about the same as xenon one. I left the hid ballast still glued on frame with wires ziptied as backup if ever needed.

Because you might have used the amber/yellow vs white I tried. The amber is less glare which only lessens the effect. There are also 2 spiced up honda's (teens) in our area with the yellow leds also. Oh well, I guess I will wait for something better. I am sure something will come out in the future. I keep looking mostly to help my elderly parents more than something for my car. Their car lighting is more important to me. I can get by.
 
#28 ·
Yes I removed the optional amber/yellow lens from the bulbs. That would have made big difference as well.
The Avalon 2000-2004 headlight capsules are different than your Honda capsules.
If you used these in the Avalon then it would be apples to apples comparison.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain...it's money back guaranteed.
 
#29 ·
I usually swap my bulbs between cars of same fitment. I usually first try them in my honda as it our newest and all other cars we have are very old in the bunch. My honda has a projector and others are just usual halogen housings. When something is not great with better housings, it is only worse with stock halogen housings. No point in wasting any money without a proper upgrade. All those bulbs thrown in the box that I have, are ones tried on avalon, camry, and accord old style. HIR2 9012/9011 are doing well in those as well as the van. Best 15/pair I have ever spent.
 
#30 ·
It appears this wasn't tested in a 2000-2004 Avalon capsule in any case.
I'll make you and everyone else on this thread a bet then!
I will purchase a pair of these LED bulbs for anyone that will give their honest opinion including you.
If you don't love them, I'll send free prepaid return label.
Now how's that for putting my money where my mouth is HA!
 
#33 ·
Let's drop the LED discussion from this thread since it's off topic here. Post up a new thread if you want to have a discussion about LEDs in halogen housings, but you better be prepared to bring pics or proof/facts to the discussion otherwise it's just an opinion thread that won't be useful to anyone reading it (like an oil discussion thread).
 
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