Kizashi Club

Im considering switching to LED headlights for my kizashi. Looked into HID and dont want to do that....so for anyone whose had experience with LED headlighta which brand is preferable? One that is preferably as plug n play as possible for a 2011 suzuki kizashi.

The thing with trying to find the "best" LEDs is that they are constantly in development so new products keep hitting the market. Another thing is that many brands actually use the same Chinese-made and designed bulbs. They are essentially branding and marketing the same generic bulbs as their own. Do some careful research and you'll find the same design and specs across a number of brands because of this. Even the ones I have in my Kizashi for the DRL/high beams aren't bespoke to Acme as they are branded. These bulbs are offered by a number of brands and have exactly the same specs and design. I just paid a fraction of the price due to the clearance sale.

As for what will work, it's more trial-and-error with LEDs than HIDs. This is why I favor HIDs. They are far more predictable in compatibility and often offer superior performance on the road. This is because bulbs specs is just part of the equation. How the light is reflected inside the headlight and then cast out is actually more important. This applies to everything from aftermarket LED kits for headlights to LED flashlights (another passion of mine). I have flashlights rated at 300 lumens that easily outperform others rated at 700 lumens. Why? Because the reflector is more what determines the focus, throw, and luminous intensity. It's the power source (battery) and emitter that affects the luminous flux (lumen rating) but the actual throw is more the work of the reflector. Hence, lower spec flashlights with larger reflectors can have a better throw (actual performance) than more technically powerful but smaller flashlights.
Basically put, you simply can't just rely on power specs and need to consider how they'd work in your application.

Also, there is no such thing as a simple "plug and play" with LED or HID kits. They are called kits because they contain more than just the bulbs and this is mandatory. HIDs need ballasts to ignite and control the xenon bulbs. LED bulbs have controllers which resemble ballasts in shape and control the output of the bulbs. Hence, you can't expect a LED upgrade to be as simple as changing a halogen bulb to another one. Whether LED or HID, they actually require about the same amount of work to install.

All that being said, some LED kits may work very well. Someone else has OPT7 H7 LEDs in their Kizashi's low beams and claims they worked very well. OPT7 kits are often praised so these may be your best bet. However, they have been on the market for a while so I truly doubt they are the "best" out there.

The LEDs i have had an extra box i had to zip tie somewhere and you had to pop the mounting piece off put that in the headlight and put the bulb in and twist. But other than that all I did was plug them in and turn them on.

Which brand do you use jadeng97?

dmitche wrote:Which brand do you use jadeng97?

Got them on amazon. Think they were called street cat. They had Phillips LED's in them and came with a 3 year warranty. Wanna say i paid around $60 for them.

jadeng97 wrote:

dmitche wrote:Which brand do you use jadeng97?

Got them on amazon. Think they were called street cat. They had Phillips LED's in them and came with a 3 year warranty. Wanna say i paid around $60 for them.

Damn that aint bad....for 2 bulbs?

Yep for both of them! and they work great!

jadeng97 wrote:Yep for both of them! and they work great!

When you have the time, upload some pictures especially of how they shine on the road. Thanks.

yea i keep meaning to do that. Just keep forgetting.

I like those street cat ones