RL911

Hated driving my 86 911 at night as the lights were so dim. Now with an 04 Boxster, while not quite as bad as that 911, it’s still crappy halogens. Anyone replace their halogens with leds that can recommend a set? Quite a few choices on Amazon. Watched a view videos and seems you can now do a direct swap, no fans or anything else needed, just remove old bulb, pop in the new one. just looking to hear from the experience of others, if there were any issues, and how you like the result (e.g., brightness, pattern). Not really a lot of recent threads on this topic for the 986 that I could find.thx

Bush Pilot

I was considering the LED replacement but couldn’t find an LED bulb that was DOT compliant and didn’t say, “off-road use only”. Installing a non DOT approved bulb opens up a can of worms in a collision. A smart attorney is going to point out that your car was running such lights. It’s not worth the risk in my opinion.

Hasdrubal

I can't say you're wrong, but I've never been in a collision yet that involved attorneys. Results will vary by location, but I work for a medium sized police department half an hour south of Seattle, and the chances of getting stopped for modified but not awful headlights are close to zero. The chances that anyone taking a crash report will take any notice of your headlight bulbs are about the same- I would think especially for a Boxster since the lights are so low compared to your average SUV that even if they were aimed poorly it would be less glaring than half the factory lights out there.

I have these in my car, and they have a decent beam pattern, on par with the halogen bulbs and no terrible glare. They're definitely brighter, not overpowering, but I wish they were a bit warmer in color. Overall satisfied and don't intend to switch back.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/h7-hlv7-h7-hlv7

If you're looking at LED bulbs in general, look at the placement of the actual emitters- older bulbs packed as many as possible without regard to how the light reached the reflector, and the result was terrible patterns. The light from half the emitters would come out at the wrong angle. Many newer bulbs take care to place the emitters in the same spot as the conventional filament would be, so the angle of reflection and pattern are consistent with the original design.

RL911

All the aftermarket led lights seem to be on the cooler side. I’d much prefer a daylight bulb around 4500. Thanks for providing that link.

elgy

I see that the supplier sells a load resistor kit.
Headlight Load Resistor Kit - H7 LED Headlight Bulbs - H7 CONNECTION Kit
Is this necessary? Do you use the resistor kit?
Thanks

Hasdrubal

I did not use those, I think they're meant for newer cars that can give you a warning on the dash for a burnt out bulb. At least, that's my assumption, I've never had a car that tells me about bulbs, but I have seen no issues running without the resistor.

flyau98

A guy in my mom’s neighborhood has a 986 - with heat damage in the headlight lenses from aftermarket brighter bulbs. I don’t know what type.

Do these LEDs get hotter than a normal halogen bulb? I’d love better light, but not at the expense of burning my glass/plastic headlight housing/lens.

Hasdrubal

Good LED lights make way less heat than traditional bulbs. There are news stories about how LED replacements for traffic signal bulbs can get covered with snow, which wasn't a problem with the old style lights that melted the snow off by normal operation. Look at the ratings on house fixture LED bulbs, a 100w incandescent equivalent LED uses something like 13w, the savings is by only emitting light in the desired wavelength and not losing so much to heat.