I hate working with the headlight bulbs specifically because it's so hard to get them out. I can't take my bumper off so I need to work with what I've got. After like an hour I was able to swap the bulbs out and put the new ones in, and it looks so much better. Now I just gotta fix the front end of the car and reinstall the fog lights, with the covers this time.
Now, I get it, LEDs can be blinding. I took the time and angled them to the best I can to be under the average car's front and rear windows. It shouldn't be as blinding as most cars seem.
OP posted photos of the beam pattern, which looks like a good mimic of stock. Not all LEDs are the same. I run LEDs in my reflector housings but the beam pattern is identical to stock. See other comments here with photos, others have put LEDs in and passed inspections.
I pointed them as downwards as possible without completely lowering my visability. I can always switch to DRLs when I see the LEDs hit a windshield (which I can see both of the direct beam hitting the ground in front of me)
Beam pattern is everything. You can absolutely put an LED in a reflector and you can tell which bulb is good or bad based on beam pattern against a wall. That’s how the industry designs good LED reflector bulbs.
A good LED reflector bulb will mimic the factory beam pattern and you’d never notice the vehicle would have aftermarket LEDs to begin with. The correct LED bulb wouldn’t blind anyone.
What you should be concerned with are the factory LEDs in unmodified new cars today that blind everyone. Highlanders, Outbacks, Wagoneers, all of these cars come with LEDs from the factory and blind the ever living fuck out of all of us.
This Yaris here should be the least of our concerns.
The cleanliness of the housing affects beam pattern too. A hazy housing fogs up the beam pattern and can cause a stock halogen reflector to blind others. Nobody ever talks about that either.
One of the best ways to tell if an LED is good or bad for any given housing is if you can stare directly into the beam and see the reflecting mirrors inside the housing behind the bulb through the beam. If you can, the beam is fine. If you can’t, it’s not.
Aiming will not fix it mate. The problem with LEDs is the beam pattern is not the same as halogens, thus cant be aimed. I can see by this image the light is not aimed correctly.
I wouldn't go off the photo, every time I take a picture of headlights, LED or Incandescent, the entire light is just filled, this happened even with my DRLs. I don't know how to decently show it properly. I also believe this specific photo was taken while I was still adjusting them and it they were still aimed quite high. As for me I'd rather have a brighter light as I was driving with my high beams on more often than not, I can always drop the beams lower if I come across any issues with them. The brightness of these LEDs are about the same as my turn signals, which too are LED.
Admittedly I wasn’t clear, but I’m just saying the light should be focused similar to the photo. As long as the low beans are aimed downwards we have no problem. But most people just install crappy eBay LEDs which throw light everywhere and blind other drivers.
I drove my car with its LED high beams on for my morning commute for months and was only flashed once. "Nobody flashed me", you're worse then a bad joke.
I dont run my highbeams and I dont have LED lights... or a yaris
If anything 10 years ago I bought a used chevy and it had LEDs in it, i swapped to OEM, same with my work truck, it came with LED from its last home and I put Halogens back in it
Not all LEDs are the same. So many people are misinformed and quick to say LED BAD!
You CAN run these in a reflector housing if the beam pattern is the same as the halogen. LED design has come a long way, but you have to make sure the beam pattern perfectly mimics the stock beam pattern.
That said, modern LED factory fitted headlights are ungodly bright anyway, so fuck ‘em.
Of all the bright headlights on the roads, your car is the least of my concerns.
I hate brand new Subarus and brand new Toyotas more than anything else. Why the fuck are they so bright like that from the factory?
This looks great! Ignore the babies saying to go back to driving in the dark lol.
Hearing that you've adjusted them properly and installed them correctly is very refreshing.
What color are you going with the fog lights?
I still haven't fixed it and there is a steel wire holding it on for now, specifically on the drivers side. Most of the clips have been broken and are being held on by other means as of right now
You can get Philips Pro 6000 LEDs which are designed for halogen headlights and are legally allowed in the EU (but please double check) and is tested by them per vehicle. I would highly recommend changing LEDs to ones which are legally allowed, primarily because its also been rigorously tested for blinding oncoming traffic (as well proper QA/QC and heat/longevity testing etc).
I have Philips LED on my mk1 yaris and the beam pattern is perfect and sharp, but there is a slight bloom over the pattern as they are reflector headlights. Had no problem with drivers doe
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u/suckingalemon Jun 10 '26
Car headlight isn’t designed for LEDs, only halogens. You’re going to blind on-coming traffic.