Putco Silver-Lux LED head light and fog light - Install and mini Review
 

I’m self admittedly, LIGHT CRAZY. If my LED interior, exterior, and light bar didn’t give me away, surely my new Putco LED headlights and fog lights will.

For the sake of vanity, I wanted my yellow halogen bulbs gone! While the main reason for making this upgrade was for ‘looks’ the added lumen-boost was very welcome and appreciated. Now my car’s lights are all matchy-matchy and bright as hell!

The stock bulbs are 9003 (head light) and H11 (foglight). I ordered a set of Putco Silver-LuxLED H4 and H11 bulbs as a direct replacements from NAPA Auto Parts for ~$200 a kit.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...E8%20Boxes.jpg



Below is pic of my car with the stock bulbs and LED parking lights on:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...8%20Before.jpg



And below is a pic of my car with the stock bulbs with theLED light bar on. See how the light bar and the parking lights are ~6500k and the stocks bulbs are much warmer in color?
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...20lightbar.jpg



Below is a pic of the contents of the Putco Silver-Lux H4kit. Included in the kit is an anti-flickermodule but I was told that only Chryslers and Benzes tend to need thisinstalled. On our Hondas, you can forget about installing the anti-flicker module. My beam output is rock-solid without it.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...its%20edit.jpg


I used some dielectric grease to get the larger Putco Silver-Lux bulb base through the stock bulb gasket:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...0H4%20Seal.jpg



Here is a pic of the back end of the bulb sticking out with the heat sink spread out and the harness all connected up:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...20backside.jpg


This is a shot of the bulb from the front:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...%20housing.jpg



Here is where I mounted the harness for fog lights:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...%20install.jpg



Some AFTER shots... This shot is shows a shot between the Putco Silver-Lux (passenger side) vs Stock(driver side):
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...tco%20half.jpg


This shot shows the same shot as above, Putco Silver-Lux(passenger side) vs Stock (driver side) with the light bar on:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...ight%20bar.jpg



This shot is the complete install with light bar off (all head lights and fog lights are Putco Silver-Lux):
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...co%20After.jpg



This shot is the complete install with light bar on (all head lights and fog lights are Putco Silver-Lux) color match is perfect:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...20lightbar.jpg






Here are the wall shots. As you can see the glare from these LED Putco bulbs in minimal andfocused well for driving and avoids blinding oncoming drivers.I’ve yet to be high beamed for running thesebulbs though they are significantly brighter.


Wall Shot Low Beam only:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...Wall%20Low.jpg




Wall Shot Low Beam and Fogs:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...0Low%20Fog.jpg


Wall Shot High Beam Only:
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...all%20High.jpg


Wall Shot third person Low Beam Only:http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...Far%20Wall.jpg


Wall Shot third person Low Beam and Fogs:http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...0Low%20Fog.jpg



Wall Shot third person High Beam Only:http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...Far%20High.jpg


Conclusion:
LEDs are taking over… I can’t imagine ever wanting to mess aroundwith halogen or finicky HID set ups ever again! These Putco Silver-Lux bulbs thrown high powered, even light, and thetemperature is a perfect for me at around 6300K.All my LEDs match up and fulfills my vanity needs as well. Total install time was an hour and was very easy.If you are considering going with LED head lights and fog lights, the Putco offering is mpressive value and performance. I heard that Putco is also making a D1S HID replacement LED bulb – I plan on ordering a set to replace in my wife's car.


I’d be happy to answer any questions and take crap for being so ricey.

oh the glare.

A head on photo of light output is useless. Do a wall shot. I did.

Those bulbs are worth maybe $60 a set at most. Not $200. I'd get your money back.

The anti flicker? Its only an issue with the DRL circuit. Yes you need to do a wall photo. The OEM halogen reflector will not do well with LEDs. You m ay get more lumen output, but its everywhere except where it should be, straight down the road out of the oncoming drivers eyes.

Excellent! Would love to have those lights on my car especially the light bar.

How did you attach the light bar to the front grill?

Does having the light bar reduce the cooling effect for the engine since it is blocking most of the grill? Thats the only reason why I haven't done that mod. There is a license plate mounting bracket to make it look like it has rally lights. Great idea, if the front license plate was actually bolted to the frame and not just on the plastic bumper cover.

Any picture of the beam pattern? (on a wall) .Out of anything, this is by far the most important thing to look for.

I've been flamed for not having wall shots and some of you have made assumptions that the glare would be awful. I'd ask a mod to erase those comments because they are unfounded.


I added wall shots and you can see that the cut offs are remarkably clean and glare is minimal. Putco LEDs in our stock housings are a great combo; bright as hell, white as snow, and no glare.


They are pricey, but I consider it them some of the best LED bulbs I've ever used or seen.

I'm a mod and I'm not deleting my comment. If you look at your wall shot, the light above your "cutoff" is glare. It should be dark.

This is a cut off from a projector with HID.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...34f86e82f0.jpg


I'm sorry if you think we are flaming you. We are not.

You invited criticism in your first post. If you were in reality just seeking or expecting positive affirmation, you should probably avoid car forums.

The cutoff and beam pattern in your pics looks rather lousy. It might be seen better if you put more distance between your car and the wall. But, as xxryu139xx said, there's obvious glare.

You're comparing a focused projector with a reflected halogen housing Ryu. Though the Fit has a relatively flat cutoff for a reflector halogen, there will always be bleed without projectors (whether halogen or HID).

I just installed LED bulbs in the stock headlights and it's at least double improved. Drove home at rush hour, nobody high beamed me. The bulk of the light remains right where it should be and didn't creep up past the average license plate level.

great write up, thx!

i'm curious how does these LED kit work with DRL? would it kill off ur DRL completely and only when u turn on ur lights at night, you will then have low beam & high beam?

thanks!

In our halogen setup, there is a relative cutoff, but there is also some stray like above the cutoff to allow for the driver to see reflectorized signs. Too much (or unfocused) stray light and we have glare.


Attachment 85829


My Phillips LED bulbs do have shields to help focus the beam. There is also stray light above the "cutoff blob" to help light up signs (very, very nicely) but without lighting up the interior of the car ahead of me. This is a 65ft shot.

how does ur LED work when in DRL mode? flicker? no issue? have to pull fuse 25 (from what i read)? thx

There's a flicker at startup, but that's literally it. I believe it's part of the vehicles initial startup bulb check. (Idk if we have a bulb out indicator on these cars like I've had on all my old BMW's)

I pulled the DRL fuse under the dash just so that I wasn't using up operating hours on the LED bulbs. However, mine are rated to 30,000 hours which even if they were on 8 hours a day (unrealistic) they would still last over 10 years straight.

thx! i'm new to the fit, is it fuse 25 that i read about? if u pull it, then u will have no DRL at all right? and the fuse box is located under the wheel (near where ur knees would be?)

When I think of glare from bad bulbs, this is what I think of. I see this all the time from guys in 90's Civics, but half the time it's purple.

http://g35driver.com/forums/attachme..._in_haloge.jpg

Hasdrubal; that's exactly what I think of when people say glare! LOL. I didn't realize people were going to compare the stock reflector to HID cut-offs.


As for DRLs; I pulled the DRL fuse a long time before installing these LEDs. I don't have comment about these LEDs with DRL on.


As for heating and cooling with the lightbar: I live in hot and sunny Atlanta and drive mostly city and my heating/cooling system holds up fine.

Correct sir

Nobody should, it's like comparing the Fit to a Koenigsegg. They're two VERY obviously different things, though they are still both cars.