[sat24]

I am looking to do this. Been looking around for an installer who can do this, but havent found one yet.

In the meanwhile, I am looking at this kit on Ebay.

LowBeam
http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Yello...3?fits=Model:QX60&vxp=mtr&hash=item43cdd83971

HighBeam
Headlight High Beam 9005 HB3 2000 LM High Power LED White 2 CREE XML2 Projector | eBay

Seems like a plug and play operation according to the seller (no ballast upgrade needed, apparently). Anyone here have experience with this?

I promise to post howto step by step pictures in return for sound advice from fellow DIY-ers. Scouts honor.

Thanks!

 

[sat24]

I went for a 250 mile trip yesterday. It was pitch dark in some parts of the highway (I-5 closer to the Vancouver/Seattle border) and I found the QX60 headlights to be plenty bright on the highway. Low beam was filling the view (yellow light). Combining with the high beam, the entire highway was lit up with no visibility issues. I was travelling at 60-70 mph and had plenty of time to see what was in front of me.

One thing: the fog lamps do make a big difference in improving the light (duh).

I do wish the light falloff was a little further down than the stock settings. I was able to adjust that a bit with the in-built projector level adjuster. But once the falloff is far off, light output there suffers (at low beam). So I have that setting at 1-2.

At this point, I am happy with the OEM lights. The only thing that would be nice with LEDs are the whiter light. I think I can get that with HID 6000K Sylvanias (at a fairly high cost).

Of course, the LEDs would likely provide higher light output (as I would pick a kit that ensures that ), as can any aftermarket HID but personally I think the current light output is adequate for a safe drive on the highway. I will keep researching but not with the same hurry as before

 

[bsnguy]

Thanks for your results. I agree that the dock lights are fine. I think a lot of complains arise from one of two classes:

1) people who had another brand of vehicle with "higher performance" lights or

2) people who want something whiter.

I wad in class 1 but have found while these are not as good as others, they are not unsafe. Just takes a bit of getting used to if coming from something higher performance.

I would also upgrade if there was something that was easy to do, but access to the lamps on this car is troublesome. One of my beefs, actually. Why manufacturers think I should have to disassemble the car to change a bulb baffles me.

 

[Paradox]

Aftermarket LED toss in bulbs still aren't up to enough lumens for safe driving, no matter what they 'claim'. Everyone can do as they will but for now HID is still the best way to go after halogen. Considering these cars already have HID, short of changing out the actual projector with one with better focusing and better bulbs, it is knid of a it is the way it is thing.

 

[Young04]

Thanks for your results. I agree that the dock lights are fine. I think a lot of complains arise from one of two classes:

1) people who had another brand of vehicle with "higher performance" lights or

2) people who want something whiter.

I wad in class 1 but have found while these are not as good as others, they are not unsafe. Just takes a bit of getting used to if coming from something higher performance.

I would also upgrade if there was something that was easy to do, but access to the lamps on this car is troublesome. One of my beefs, actually. Why manufacturers think I should have to disassemble the car to change a bulb baffles me.

I think the stock lights on the QX60 are awful. Not only compared to similarly priced vehicles (Q7 and Touareg - which I drive regularly), but even compared to my old 2011 G37x. Bulbs are the same as my old G so I think they really cheaped out on the QX60's projectors. While I agree with you that they are not unsafe, I find them to be barely better than a really good set of halogens (of course the xenons are whiter - I'm talking about perceived brightness).

 

[Paradox]

Agreed, the HIDs in this car suck but going LED for now still isn't the way to go, the drop in LED bulbs aren't ready for prime time. So unless one gets into changing out the physical projectors in the housing, there isn't a whole lot that can be one. LED is something that if it doesn't come with the car OEM, you really cant get em'. Talking headlights here...

I but better Phillips HID bulbs in mine and even though they are better than stock, they still suck IMO because of the sucky projectors in the housing and the bulbs still cost me something like ~$125 back when I did it after buying the car. I got them off the retrofit source.

 

[sat24]

Agreed, the HIDs in this car suck but going LED for now still isn't the way to go, the drop in LED bulbs aren't ready for prime time. So unless one gets into changing out the physical projectors in the housing, there isn't a whole lot that can be one. LED is something that if it doesn't come with the car OEM, you really cant get em'. Talking headlights here...

I but better Phillips HID bulbs in mine and even though they are better than stock, they still suck IMO because of the sucky projectors in the housing and the bulbs still cost me something like ~$125 back when I did it after buying the car. I got them off the retrofit source.

Are the Philips HIDs brighter than stock? How much % would you say? thanks!

 

[Paradox]

They are brighter and IMO a bit whiter but they are still poorly focused because of the stock projectors. Because of this, I'd say if one isn't willing to spend the money and have a place modify the whole assembly and put in better projectors, live with it the way it is. Again, just my opinion. Maybe when they do a refresh on the vehicle they'll put in better headlight assembly's with better projectors and if people want to they could just swap in the new assembly's (since headlights and taillights usually stay the same dimensions etc when refreshed) though they certainly won't be cheap.

My father has purchased my qx60 so new he has to deal with the headlights though, lol. I'm enjoying full high and low beam led's in my new 2016 xc90. Some of the best headlights I've ever experienced quite honestly.

 

[Young04]

They are brighter and IMO a bit whiter but they are still poorly focused because of the stock projectors. Because of this, I'd say if one isn't willing to spend the money and have a place modify the whole assembly and put in better projectors, live with it the way it is. Again, just my opinion. Maybe when they do a refresh on the vehicle they'll put in better headlight assembly's with better projectors and if people want to they could just swap in the new assembly's (since headlights and taillights usually stay the same dimensions etc when refreshed) though they certainly won't be cheap.

My father has purchased my qx60 so new he has to deal with the headlights though, lol. I'm enjoying full high and low beam led's in my new 2016 xc90. Some of the best headlights I've ever experienced quite honestly.

Good LEDs are a nice feature to have. Haven't experienced the XC90's headlights, but I've driven the new MDX which have very good lights. I recently rode in an Audi A6 with LEDs and they were great. Maybe it's an Infiniti thing, but I had a Q50 loaner once. Those LEDs were not so great.

 

[Paradox]

Good LEDs are a nice feature to have. Haven't experienced the XC90's headlights, but I've driven the new MDX which have very good lights. I recently rode in an Audi A6 with LEDs and they were great. Maybe it's an Infiniti thing, but I had a Q50 loaner once. Those LEDs were not so great.

I owned a 2010 Prius and a 2012 Prius Plug-in and both had LED headlights and even they were better than the HID headlights in the QX60. They did have halogen High Beams though, only the low beam was LED in them. In my new 2016 XC90 both high and low beam are LED and they are superb, even better than the LED headlights in the prior two I mentioned. I've never been in an Infiniti that had LED headlights so I can't comment there. Maybe Infiniti just focuses the beams differently than other manufacturers and it results in a less than pleasing light output onto the road? Shame you weren't pleased with the LED headlights in the Q50 though because if they were to carry them over to the QX60 mid cycle re-design.....

 

[FatBikeGuy]

You can't just throw any bulb in a light and have the light pattern come out as was designed. Note that an HID bulb disperses light 360 degrees around the plasma chamber. And it has to be right at the designed focal point of the reflector. Look at those LED bulbs, they shine two directions. And the probability that the generic spacing of the LEDs to the base is the same as the hid bulb is pretty slim. Thousandths of an inch matter.

I hate, hate, hate people's approaching cars with LEDs slapped in a halogen light housing. It's obvious, they blind you because they aren't hitting the reflector and lens right, so the light sprays out uncontrolled. AND, they are illegal.

That being said, I bought some LEDs like the ebay units shown for the dedicated daytime running lights in my Volvo XC70. They don't have to be perfect, as in the daytime, they are supposed to throw out a broad, noticeable light beam. I went through 3 sets of those junk LEDs in 5 months, each set a different model and brand. Junk, junk, and junk. I just gave up and put my halogen bulbs back in.

I would never, ever put a random globe in a precision housing that had to deliver an accurate light pattern at night.

Our new Ford truck has LED lights... with a lens designed for the LED light source. They are nice, but no nicer than the QX's HIDs.

 

[sat24]

I owned a 2010 Prius and a 2012 Prius Plug-in and both had LED headlights and even they were better than the HID headlights in the QX60. They did have halogen High Beams though, only the low beam was LED in them. In my new 2016 XC90 both high and low beam are LED and they are superb, even better than the LED headlights in the prior two I mentioned. I've never been in an Infiniti that had LED headlights so I can't comment there. Maybe Infiniti just focuses the beams differently than other manufacturers and it results in a less than pleasing light output onto the road? Shame you weren't pleased with the LED headlights in the Q50 though because if they were to carry them over to the QX60 mid cycle re-design.....

My other car is a 2015 Prius 5, and its headlights are pretty good. LED lowbeam and Halogen full beam.

(wrt XC90, I also looked at that car, but for $ to $, the QX60 was better value for money; but more importantly, the XC90 was ~$10k more than the QX60 given Volvo wasnt willing to negotiate as much as Infiniti did).

At this point, I am willing to spend upwards of $500-1000 to get my headlights switched over to LED. Any takers?

 

[sat24]

You can't just throw any bulb in a light and have the light pattern come out as was designed. Note that an HID bulb disperses light 360 degrees around the plasma chamber. And it has to be right at the designed focal point of the reflector. Look at those LED bulbs, they shine two directions. And the probability that the generic spacing of the LEDs to the base is the same as the hid bulb is pretty slim. Thousandths of an inch matter.

Perhaps then a higher wattage/lumens HID upgrade would help here? What would be your suggestion? I am willing to spend some bucks here to get a quality system upgrade (HID/LED doesnt matter - I want more light thrown on the road, safely; if my $25k prius can do it, a 50,000$ SUV should do one better or at the very least match it).

 

[Paradox]

Perhaps then a higher wattage/lumens HID upgrade would help here? What would be your suggestion? I am willing to spend some bucks here to get a quality system upgrade (HID/LED doesnt matter - I want more light thrown on the road, safely; if my $25k prius can do it, a 50,000$ SUV should do one better or at the very least match it).

I threw in better HID bulbs (name branded Phillips ones from theretrofitsource) that have more lumens than the stock ones and because the focusing of the projector is poor all that happens is you have more light coming out that is still poorly focused.

 

[Paradox]

(wrt XC90, I also looked at that car, but for $ to $, the QX60 was better value for money; but more importantly, the XC90 was ~$10k more than the QX60 given Volvo wasnt willing to negotiate as much as Infiniti did).

Yeah, they're not negotiating much on the XC90 right now because it is simply so new and they have more orders placed than they can fill. It's base price is more than the base price of the QX60 but even a base Momentum, to me, has a much more luxury feel to it than the QX60. My father likes the QX60 thogh and that's why he bought mine while in the market for a new vehicle, and thankfully so, as it allowed me to get a First Edition XC90.

I think my feelings about my QX60 would be a little different had I not had the hybrid version because I find its implementation so poor. I also couldn't get over, after a year of ownership, it was still a Pathfinder at its heart.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm getting ready to upgrade our kights to LED. The kits I use are he brightest on the market 3200 lumen.
And they come with a lifetime warranty.
They retail for $249 and aren't eBay junk.

I'll be doing it by Christmas for the wifey plus a few other upgrades.

 

[sat24]

I'm getting ready to upgrade our kights to LED. The kits I use are he brightest on the market 3200 lumen.
And they come with a lifetime warranty.
They retail for $249 and aren't eBay junk.

I'll be doing it by Christmas for the wifey plus a few other upgrades.

Can you share a link to the kit, please?

Also - Please, please, PLEASE - take some photos and post them here as you do the work. We would be SO GRATEFUL!!!:nerd:

 

[[email protected]]

http://www.gtrlighting.com/led-conversion-kit/

I'll take some pics for sure.
Going to do the fogs next week along with illuminated door sills and led interior conversion

 

[sat24]

Headlights - LED Conversion Kits - GTR Lighting

I'll take some pics for sure.
Going to do the fogs next week along with illuminated door sills and led interior conversion

Thanks [email protected] Which one specifically are you getting? That page a bunch of them (and I didnt see a "D2S" kit )

 

[[email protected]]

That's why i am doing fogs first, the d2r kit is coming after CES is what I am told.
I've used their HID and now LED kits for years so im sure they will be good once they are released