New member, first post, first questions. Just recently bought a new 2018 Malibu Premier and love everything about the car so far - except, yep, those horrible headlights. My last 3 cars have either all been converted to HID or in the case of my last car, had factory HID.
With that said, it seems the selection of HID kits (at least the ones you can order through Amazon) is getting smaller with the upswing popularity of the LED conversion kits. I have searched the forum and have read the other LED posts but some of those date back to beginning to middle of last year. If possible, can I get some feedback on the LED kits that are available now from members who have them installed because it seems like these companies are constantly coming out with new versions and those aforementioned 2017 posts may or may not be outdated at this point.
Basically, I am looking for a LED kit that plays nice with our projectors, doesn't set off any warning lights, and hopefully no flickering. I have seen in the other posts the SNGL seems to be a good way to go, but I am not sure I am ready to set down $200 for those without any feedback of their actual lifespan. Maybe someone can suggest a 2018 lamp that is more cost friendly to a first-time LED headlight buyer and strikes the middle ground between brightness, beam pattern, reliability, and cost. Also, the dust cap must be able to close so these would need to be okay operating in the enclosed housing. I have seen some of the LED kits state to not reinstall dust covers.
Lastly, if that is too many conditions to reasonably satisfy, what is the best Amazon sourced HID kit for 2018? Do I need a canbus system for our cars? Bi-Xenon type 9005? I always get the relay and anti-flicker harness regardless. If I get a HID kit, I'll likely buy a couple extra dust covers for drilling the holes.
I have had the older version the bulb for than a year. So the bulb life span is very acceptable. They also have 2 year warranty. I already explained the pros and cons about HID and LED in my other posts. SNGL LED bulbs provides excellent beam pattern in our Malibu projectors. If you want to install HID, you will need both Relay and Canbus.
After market HIDs have shorter life span. They are always a hassle to deal with. Sometimes one bulb doesn't ignite without relay. Your high beam is very dim if you wanna use it to signal people because HIDs take more than 10 seconds to reach maximum brightness. I understand you are concerned about the cost, but the cheaper LEDs will not be the same as the expensive ones like SNGL. $40 HID kit are not simply the best options in terms of life span and brightness. SNGL Projector specific works very well in our malibues. They are very easy to install especially for Primers ( no anti flicker needed). You simply install them and close the dust caps. No need to drill holes on dust covers.
I have posted two very detailed posts about HID and LED headlights.
I have had the older version the bulb for than a year. So the bulb life span is very acceptable. They also have 2 year warranty. I already explained the pros and cons about HID and LED in my other posts. SNGL LED bulbs provides excellent beam pattern in our Malibu projectors. If you want to install HID, you will need both Relay and Canbus.
After market HIDs have shorter life span. They are always a hassle to deal with. Sometimes one bulb doesn't ignite without relay. Your high beam is very dim if you wanna use it to signal people because HIDs take more than 10 seconds to reach maximum brightness. I understand you are concerned about the cost, but the cheaper LEDs will not be the same as the expensive ones like SNGL. $40 HID kit are not simply the best options in terms of life span and brightness. SNGL Projector specific works very well in our malibues. They are very easy to install especially for Primers ( no anti flicker needed). You simply install them and close the dust caps. No need to drill holes on dust covers.
I appreciate the additional information. Your posts were the ones I had already read, perhaps it was a bit of information overload (lol) and I overlooked where you had stated the life span of those. Yeah I have no issues paying the money for dependable performance from a set of bulbs. My comment in my original post was meant more along the lines of I didn't want to drop that amount of money for a bulb known to not last more than several months, etc. I will definitely look into these.
One more question, do they need to be re-clocked out of the package for our projectors?
Newbie here also. I recently installed the SNGL projector specific 9005 LEDs with the antiflicker harness supplied by the vendor, but I'm still experiencing dimming/flickering when the car wakes up from autostop. Other than that, no flickering or issues. I have the 2018 LS 1.5L turbo engine. Are there any quick and easy fixes for this?
Im not sure because my car doesn't have auto start stop, but I know other members fixed it by using anti filciker harness. Just message them and see what they say. Maybe a defective anti flicker harness?
Ok, I went ahead and purchased the Odereo LED kit (the SNGL were showing temporarily out of stock) and I figured it would be a good starting point to get the feel of LED’s.
The good: Light output is way above the crappy halogens, I have zero buzzing or humming that others have mentioned, so far no issues with flickering, and to my eye, the color temp is a perfect match to the DRL strips.
The hmmmmm: While they are bright, they are providing a funky beam pattern. Basically, and I have attached photos, the hotspots seem very close to the front of the car (like the headlamps may need to be adjusted upward slightly, and the hotspots of the two beams never converge, reminds me of holding a mag light flashlight in each hand and pointing them outward. Between the two “runways” of light is a shadow, also on the outter sides.
I haven’t checked yet if these bulbs can be clocked, but since the hot spots are slowly trying to converge but not make it, wondering if aiming the lights slightly upward will improve that. On the other hand, it seems like the highs are already trying to signal in low flying aircraft.
I’ve had my SNGL bulbs for over a year as well. No anti flicker harness for me and I have auto stop. Never had an issue. Everything fit in the housing. Dust caps went on fine. They’re a snug fit, but it wasn’t bad at all.
Only thing I remember doing was swapping the o-rings from the stock halogens because the SNGL rings were too fat.
For you guys considering adjusting your lights, don’t. I installed my first set of LEDs wrong, adjusted them up, and I haven’t been able to find that sweet spot yet. I think I need to lower them a bit still as I get flashed often enough. You’ll end up blinding oncoming traffic with little to no gain to your vision. Should’ve just gotten the SNGL bulbs instead of the ordero or whatever they’re called. Amir provided tons of detailed info on those bulbs and I went with it and back his claims up myself having similar results. I’ve been very happy with my SNGL bulbs.
I just swapped to the SNGL bulbs yesterday, leaps and bounds better than the Oedro bulbs. Much brighter, even beam pattern on the road, projects nearly twice as far. They are very comparable to the factory HIDs on my previous car. Very happy with them. I have no flickering and no buzzing noise. The dust caps were challenging to get back on due to the wire placement on the back of the fan housing. I had no issues fitting the rather large driver into the housing.
I got a Question bc i just bought a 2017 premier basically brand new, will adding SNGL LED kit void out the warranty? I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet and just wondering from ppl who prob already did the research.
The anti-flicker harnesses sold with LEDs and HIDs are to overcome the PWM signal sent to the halogen headlights. Putting LEDs in place of the halogens could cause feedback issues. Also, there is at least one member who suffered some issues, but it was when he was using the anti-flicker harnesses, not without!
Otherwise, that statement could be construed as simply a CYA phrase. That way, they can't be sued.
The anti-flicker harnesses sold with LEDs and HIDs are to overcome the PWM signal sent to the halogen headlights. Putting LEDs in place of the halogens could cause feedback issues. Also, there is at least one member who suffered some issues, but it was when he was using the anti-flicker harnesses, not without!
Otherwise, that statement could be construed as simply a CYA phrase. That way, they can't be sued.
I don't have access to a Gen9 so my comments here can be taken only as theory, as I don't have a way to test them and either prove or disprove the theory.
If the halogen headlights are on and not the DRLs, they'll flicker briefly as a result of the heavy load requested of the battery to start the engine. In my opinion, this is normal.
As I understand it, the anti-flicker harness is to keep the DRLs from flickering when the halogens have been replaced with LEDs. What the harness does is smooth out the voltage going to the bulbs by using a large capacitor and possibly some other circuitry. A capacitor works very much like a battery in that it stores electricity.
The way I would do an anti-flicker harness would be to rewire the headlights slightly. The power being sent to the bulbs would go instead to the coil of a relay. If necessary it would include a small capacitor to help keep it from buzzing if that were to happen. Then the headlights would be provided power straight from the battery through the contacts. This way, so long as the relay is on, the headlights get full voltage with no flickering. (Not unless the engine is started while the headlights are on, anyhow!)
This is a very simple, basic circuit. 1 relay, 2 fuses, a few terminals, and some wire. There is no other action needed by the user as it just augments the existing circuit and does not add any switches or special conditions for it to work.
Anyone looking for an alternative to the SNGL, look into the Hikari Ultra LED's. They use the same Philips Lumileds chips as the SNGL, offer the same 2 year warranty, fit underneath the stock dust cap and all at almost a 50% discount. I installed a set in my Gen 8 with projectors, I questioned myself why I waited so long.
I have really enjoyed reading all your posts about the differnt LED bulbs available. I pulled the trigger on the SNGL projector specific bulbs for my 2018 and will hopefully be installing them this evening.
One quick question. Which way should the LED's be "clocked"? Pointing towards the bottom or towards the top?
I have really enjoyed reading all your posts about the differnt LED bulbs available. I pulled the trigger on the SNGL projector specific bulbs for my 2018 and will hopefully be installing them this evening.
One quick question. Which way should the LED's be "clocked"? Pointing towards the bottom or towards the top?
You are correct they came clocked from the factory, facing up which I thought was odd but the beam pattern looks pretty good. I can't wait to see what they look like at night.
The install was very straight forward and all the wiring and drivers including the anti flicker harness fit easily within the housing with the dust cover on.
I did notice that the driver seems to generate a lot of heat (uncomfortable to touch after a few minutes). Have you or anyone else noticed this and is it any cause for concern?