Anyone else upgrade their Jaguar XJ8/XJR to LED headlights?

 

Most LED's out there, esp those cheap china ones, actually have less light output than a decent halogen bulb. Also the light spread is screwed up since the emitter is several LED's arranged in a square opposed to the one tiny filament in halogens, for which the reflector optics are designed for. So the beam pattern onto the ground will be all wrong, and lots of light will be splashing up towards oncoming traffic, regardless of how well you tune the bulb position. Also the color temp makes them look "brighter" but actually reduces effective visibility (same with the higher temp HID's). You can get proper temp bulbs (think 4300K-5500K range) but most people don't want to, don't know to, or just do it to look cool.

You can get LED projector systems, which are pricey and still fairly new for the ones that are comparable to HID setups.

Like HID's in reflectors, just don't do it. Unless it's offroad only. Or you don't give a crap about other drivers. And it's often illegal too.

 

I'll pass lol.

 

I have 6000K HID's for more than 3 years now (no real LED's feasible that time), didn't just slammed them in, but instead spent a lot of time researching how to not bother other people.

It is correct that the position within the filament is important, but I found there are HID's with about the same design and length, just got to do some research and comparing of different brands.

It resulted in HID's with the same position in the reflector, thus a crisp cut-off (guaranteed no blinding for others), nicely distribution of the beams, and no more glare than with the OEM halogens.

Performance wise, these HID's light up the road much better, really much better than any of the super-halogens I used before I went HID.
I actually still have 6500K in the high beams (for flashing reasons), and you can simply see and feel the difference.

I still need to swap the HID's for the super-halogens every half year (inspection), and normally can't wait to swap them back in, such a huge difference it is.

I considered to use LED's for the high beams, but I am hold back due to the installation problems (as in the OP's video - I am not happy to tape things up ...).
HID can be installed by using a BMW retaining ring, OEM style.

I also fear the heat of LED's.
They can get really really hot, and Jaguar plastics are not really resistant to heat ... as we all know ..

Would like to know from the OP how hot it gets in there after an hour ride ...

 

I was probably one of the first to install Xenon lighting on an XJ apart from Brutal who did an amazing job of installing both bulb and reflector by splitting the glass, I didn't go to those lengths but found they work very well if you're prepared to fit them correctly. Far better performance compared to the standard bulb, but they run hot.

If you fit HID then be sure not to run them with the car stationary for any amount of time.

I'm on my second set of Xenon bulbs and ballasts after one ballast failure coming out of winter store, and just prior to my yearly MOT last year - the replacement kit has rubber ballast housings and very nice quality bulbs from Phillips, super easy to set up and sailed through the MOT because of the light pattern tuning I carried out - they didn't pull me up on it because it's very well installed - looks factory.

Some kits when your light setting is set to auto only fire one ballast, I've not experienced this....
For LED I can't see with even Cree top end tech being suitable at this time, It would need headlight lens development to work successfully as the focus would need trimming.

 

I find that well maintained halogen units with decent bulbs are fine on even the darkest of country roads. I hardly ever use the main beam because the dipped beams are so good. Sean B does have a decent set up though, as he says it looks factory.

I've seen these after market LED units in action, and unless you spend mega money they look naff.Normally fitted to Honda or Nissan or Ford modified cars.

 

The Jag headlights are the one sort-of exception to the "dont do it" when done right of course. Properly tuning the xenon bulb, like mentioned, can be pulled off. Duct-tape alignment won't do it. Part of that's due to the headlight optics themself, which are some of the best I've ever seen in terms of light pattern and output for a reflector headlight (thanks Hella!), and the glass lens cover instead of plastic.

Most reflector-HID setups you see are setup in 20 year old Corollas with fogged to hell lenses and poor optics from the factory, those you will almost never be able to set up correctly from the factory. Not that their owners would bother.

There are projectors with optics designed for proper output with LED's, but those are even more expensive than a full HID projector retrofit. Something like this https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...rojectors.html

 

I'll jump in here briefly. I've had HIDs installed in both the headlights and fog lights all of my X308s. When the installation is done properly using quality products, you shouldn't have an issue with them. Planning to step up to LEDs within the next year, but I've yet to regret my HID decision. 'Night and day' difference in light output compared to regular halogens, and we don't have that pesky yearly MOT inspection to worry about here in Canada

 

This thread still has the best option for headlight upgrades:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...mpleted-94563/

My kensun HID setup still works great. I've used LED bulbs in my other cars, but in the jaguar housing the HID is probably better. The key is to buy the BMW E39 bulb housing adapters.

 

I also have HID headlights on my 2002 XJR and there's absolutely no dispersion of light into unwanted directions whatsoever. I have tested the car at night with other people helping me driving towards me and also with me driving another car towards my XJR and nobody sees anything that we don't see in other approaching cars. It's all about aiming and adjusting the lights correctly and accurately against a wall. The illumination provided by these HID lights is, like you say, a "night and day" difference in light output and clearly not affected by a possible wrong pattern of the internal light source design. Also, here in CA we don't have that MOT inspection either, so everybody is happy and not with what sometimes sounds like animosity towards the issue.