LED Headlights - mini-review / fitment guide of Trucklites

Well, Trucklite copies...

(Cross-posted on Nutz also!)


After much(!!) procrastination, I finally settled on a pair of the Trucklite-style copies. I had two reasons for this - I was concerned the outer plastic protective part of the LED projector-style units was too 'dished' and would stick out too far compared to the OEM fitment units, and I did read a review somewhere that said the separate dipped and main beam projectors were not aligned in the pair someone had received, which meant that either the dipped or the main beams of the two units could be aligned together, but not both. At least with the Trucklite-style versions the lens should always be aligned (or one would hope!).

Fitment was a bit of a faff, but more on that later.

To do this you will need a Philips-head screwdriver, a flat-head screwdriver (because all the screws are supposed to be Philips-head but several have mine had been changed over the years), a dremel multi-tool with sturdy grinding attachment (or similar metal-cutting/removing tool), a box to store the loose screws and parts in (because I always lose things if I don't), a wall and some darkness (to align the beams when you're finished).


First of all, here's a picture of my standard OEM sealed unit lights on dipped beam:



Pretty poor - yellow, very narrow beam, no definition to the pattern (no flat-top to the beam, for example), and I was constantly getting flashed because of their poor alignment, despite their 1-candlepower output. Main beam was pretty much the same TBH.


Removal of the candles was a fairly simple process - raise the lights using the button on the dash, remove the two screws on each side of the plastic protector thing around the lamp unit and then pull it free, loosen (but don't remove) the three screws holding the metal fitment ring to the lamp bowl, rotate and remove the ring (holding the lamp so it doesn't drop out), then pull the lamp forward and remove the three-pronged connector. Take care to squeeze the tabs ringed below or you won't be able to remove it!




You will see the three locating indents in the lamp bowls - these will become an issue shortly, in particular the one ringed...




Once it is out, we can see the difference in profiles of the lamps. Notice the relative heights of the bottom locating 'tab' and the surrounding 'dimples' on the OEM sealed unit and then look at them on the LED Trucklite copy - as you can see, the tab on the Trucklite copy is much taller relative to the dimples:



This is a problem, because as I discovered, the tab is too tall / sticks out too far to fit into the locating indent in the lamp bowl. (The other tabs seem to fit perfectly fine, it is just this bottom tab that is an issue, which I had seen mentioned elsewhere on the internet while researching my options so was not a complete surprise.)


To get over this, I broke out the Dremel multi-tool thing and got grinding away at the tab in question. Because I am a wimp and don't 'do' DIY, it took me about 15 minutes per unit to Dremel the tabs down to a height that fitted into the lamp bowl indents. I basically just ground off the end 'bar' of the tab until it was level with the surrounding 'dimples', leaving the two 'struts' in place - this means the lamp unit shouldn't rotate but is held snugly against the lamp bowl. This picture shows how much I took off:




and this picture show how it will now be able to fit into the locating indent in the lamp bowl when I push it all the way in (instead of holding it out slightly to take this picture ):




Once you have confirmed they fit snugly into the lamp bowl, you can pull them out again and connect the three-prong connector to the existing wiring. It is literally plug'n'play - but... BE CAREFUL and do not do what I did... The wiring from the lamp to the three-prong connector is much longer than the OEM sealed units (which didn't have any wire, just plugged straight in, as per the pics above) and has to go somewhere out of the way. The first one I did I didn't pay attention to where the connectors were sitting, and they ended up being on top of the support bars visible in this picture, ringed in red:



When I then dropped the headlights using the button, the connector was trapped between the bar and the cover - this meant it bent the headlamp cover up...

So, MAKE SURE that the connectors are safely behind the lamp unit, underneath the headlamp cover, and that only the thin existing wiring is leading out of the back of the unit in the groove designed for that purpose, as ringed in green in the picture above.


Once in, you can see the slight difference in profiles - I'm not sure if the lamps will be 'self cleaning' on the rubber strip below the headlights seemingly designed to wipe the lamps as they rise and fall, but we will see.




And so, the end outcome? Pretty impressive - considerably wider dipped beam pattern that lights up the sides of the road far, far better - perhaps too much IMO, as passing reflective cones is almost blinding, although I appreciate that personal preference plays a big part here. They do exhibit the darker 'X' within the centre of the beam pattern that I had read about during my research and are perhaps a little 'messy' in the middle, rather than being a dead-straight cut-off line, though.

Personally speaking, I would prefer a little extra reach and a sharper cut-off in the middle on dipped beam, but they are night and day better than the OEM sealed units, and after adjusting them using the up/down screw at the bottom of the lamps (not the retaining ring screw, the one next to it) I haven't got flashed yet, despite their slightly 'messy' centre pattern.

Main beam is quite impressive - not quite the laser-beam, retina-searing output I would really like, but then I think I am asking too much unless I buy one of the new Audi R8s with the laser main beam setup


This two pics illustrate the differences between the OEM sealed units and the LED Trucklite-copies on dipped beam:

OEM vs Trucklite Copies


And these two pics illustrate the Trucklite-copies' dipped and main beams:

Dipped vs Main Beam

You will note that in each pair of pictures the exposures are the same so there is no trickery going on, although it's always hard to capture headlights exactly how they look to the eye. The main beam looks to have a very tight cut off at the top here but it does provide a very wide (yet focused) pattern that lights up everything you could want it to.

I need to do some more driving to ascertain if the lack of a 'kick-up' on the nearside is an issue or not, but I think it should be fine as signs nowadays are so ridiculously over-reflective as to be blinding when light hits them directly.

I also noticed when driving that I had some vibration from the left hand unit - I think I've snapped the spring that is attached to the lamp bowl so will get the plastic cover off and check.


Anyway, hope that's of some use!