Hi guys,
I changed my low beam lights to xenon / LED long ago. I recently decided to "upgrade" the high beams as well.

Wow, I expected an improvement but nothing like this. I'm thrilled with the results. I'll attach a photo of the brand (Sealight) model i bought for $39.00 at Amazon as an FYI.

Install: well if you're like me you've forgotten how small the space behind this bulb is! Don't laugh but 1st one took half hour of contortions:-). But! The 2nd one went in in about 3 minutes. One of those jobs that's easy once you've figured it out.

FYI to next guy doing the job: there's absolutely no advantage in pulling the parking bulb out (thinking it'll give you more room).
Orientation: the wire exits from the bottom of a properly installed bulb assembly. (Its one of those jobs - you take the old one out and think to yourself wtf do these 3 tabs go?)

Driving: I now fear no deer (ha ha). Frankly safety wise, this was long overdue. I would never use them with oncoming traffic but that's the same as with the factory high beams. Highest recommendation.

John

 

I may do this as well actually. I don't really like the low beams or the high beams on my car, they never seem to go far enough. They are plenty bright enough but they don't seem to eluminate far enough.

Edit: I will probably just get upgraded Halogen bulbs though because I don't really want to mess aroudn with conversions as I don't have HID anyway.

 

Did you use that same brand for the low beams, or something different?

 

There is HID ( High intensity discharge) Xenon (filament with a halogen gas) and LED ( light emitting diode) .
So what is xenon /LED ? Its either Xenon or its LED.
What you show in your photo is LED for the main beam I guess. When you go to main beam the dip stays on.

 

Isn't there an issue in the UK that LED bulbs can only be used with the correct reflectors or something as the LED bulb is physically different to the standard fitment? I thought it was an MOT fail if the tester noticed. But I'd be (very) happy to be wrong!

 

Its HID bulbs that require self leveling headlamps in UK . LEDs are fine provided they give the correct pattern .

 

Thank you.

 

Are these a “simple” replacement or are there other mods needed?

 

Here is the Hakari HB3 LED high beam that I’m using . 20,000 lumens (per pair I believe). Kind of pricey at $99. But Hakari has HB3 high beams from $33 and up if you are willing to accept less output (12,000 lumens)

Hikari 2022 HyperStar 9005/HB3/9145 20000LM Wireless LED Bulbs, 32W Acme-X LED Equivalent to 150W Ordinary LED, Wider Driving Vision, Halogen Upgrade Replacement, 6000K White IP68, 9140 H10 Foglight


I’ve been very pleased with this brand. Long lasting and incredible light output . They have the H-1 low beams as well at several price points.

I drive cross country at night so the lights are on for hours at a time. I did start out with the budget Hakari bulbs and was so impressed that I upgraded to their best product . Glad I did. My eyes need all the help possible. With these bulbs my confidence in night driving has returned 100%.

Z

 

Follow up. For those who might not know, earlier yrs, like mine, in north America came with incandescent bulbs. Terrible lighting.

I'm using different brand bulbs for low beams. To address pistonbrokes question:
I was summarizing to save time. I 1st put HID low beam in both sides. At the time I lost the oval access cover in the left wheelwell. After a few good rainstorms that HID transformer died. After reading so many positive reviews about LEDs on this site - I bought that as a replacement. Thats why I mentioned both HID & led.

HID: requires a second or three to come to full brightness. Rather difficult to install. Slightly brighter light output. Twice the price (at least) of led.

LED: Plug in ready. Easy to install. Not quite as good coverage as HID but instant on & coverage more than enough.

Given the performance of these new bulbs, I'd buy this brand for the lows next time.

John

 

Kuddlesworth, just caught your note. Been there done that. Sorry but you're burning money. The halogen bulb will hardly make a marginal difference.

I hope that doesn't sound too harsh, just remembering my experiences going through the same thing. Jump to LED, promise you'll be blown away.

Advice: for simplicity go for LED replacement. HUGE difference. Plug in ready. Cost around $35.

John

 

I would go with LED but I don't think they are road legal in the UK. Going off the website that offers the Philips LED bulbs for my car they state they aren't road legal anyway.

 

the brand I’ve used, Hakari, required no modifications for either the low or high beam installation.

However, the Hakari low beam bulbs do require a good deal of push-in pressure in order to get the holding clip to latch properly.

Z

 

John,
Did your 1998 XK8 originally come with HID Low Beams or were they Halogen Bulbs to start with? It's been so long since I had the 1998 Coupe and I can't remember.....If it came with Halogen Low Beams, you did the right thing! (LED replacement)....But for those whose XK"s came with HID Bulbs, it would not be the Smart thing to do!

Most of the XK8/XKR's that came out in the 2000s had HID Low Beams and Halogen High Beams. If you own an X100, you want to be sure which Headlight system you have before changing out your Bulbs....Remember, the HID Low Beam System is a great system and only needs to have the Bulb enhanced and in some cases, the Ballast should be renewed.... Jaguar used a Valeo LAD5G Ballast and a Philips D1S Bulb for the Low Beams through 2006 in the XK-100...Two or three years ago, I replaced both the Ballast and the Bulbs by using the same Ballast but changed the Bulb to a D1S (75) Watt with a brighter color number (6000)....It bought me into today's world of Lighting! My regular (Low Beam) Lights are now Bright White! Like the New Cars out there at Night....All I had to do was make sure the "White Light" was 6000 Lumens....So if your XK8-XKR has HID Low Beams, you should upgrade them to new HID 6000 (White Light) Bulbs for the best Night time driving Lights. I love mine.....As I use the Low Beams all the time at Night.

The High Beams, which my 2005 came with were Halogen and really didn't do much when you asked for Brights......I changed the Halogen Bulbs to "short" LED Bulbs so that the "Light Source" was the same distance from the Base of the Reflector as the Halogen Bulb's were...This made the Light come off the Reflector properly so that the Light doesn't scatter.....I would have to go to "Projector Lights" in order to have better driving Lights than I have now! Our Friend in Porta Rica has done that and has written several articles about how to do it...

I guess my point is: You should know what type of Lights came on your XK8-XKR before making all these Bulb changes! Also, I noticed that someone asked about Self Leveling LED Lights, which all of the XK-100's with LED lighting came with....One reason to replace your "Ballast" is to ensure the Self-Leveling System is still working! Also, when replacing the Ballast......You want to make sure you use the same one that came in the Car! It controls the Self-Leveling System.....

Billy Clyde @ Cinco Ranch

 

for what it’s worth, my 2002 XKR came with / has the (sad) halogen lighting for both low and high beams.

Changing to the top of the line Hakari LED bulbs has 100% restored my confidence in night driving.

Z

 

Billy, no the 1998 north America cars had plain old incandescent headlights.

John

 

My take on the LED bulbs is not in agreement with most here.

I have a 2005 xk8, originally with halogen hi and low beams.

I initially installed LED for low beams, the light scatter was too much and while it initially appears as if the lighting is increased the depth of the light penetration was signigicantly less than the halogens were.

I purchased 4 different sets of LED bulbs, some were better but they all suffered from a shortened light depth compared with the halogen. I finally installed a set of HID for the low beam and everything got better. Later on I experimented with two more sets of bulbs (HID) and settled on the 5200 temp as they almost gave the same depth as the 4300 but the ‘whiter’ appearance appealed to me.

Fast forward a year or so and I once again went for all the hype @ LED, long-short, every configuration (5 different types) none of them gave me increased lighting at a distance. If I primarily drove in a city environment I probably would be thrilled with them and that would be ithat but out in countryside I want distance of lighting effects. I finally added a second set of HIDs for the high beams and am satisfied that I have an improved lighting system.

If I feel compelled to go back to the allure of LEDs it will be by following giandanielxk8’s approach

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...jector-240281/

and adding small projectors to the housing.

YMMV and Flame suit on



wj

 

It would be helpful to know which LED manufacturers & models you found unsatisfactory.


Z

 

Sorry, I gave most of them away but looking in cabinet I still have HKARI

X001V5MOZD – re-9005

And

X0023KE1E5 – re-H1

Don’t know if they are hi, lo or fog



It has been over a year since my last attempt

wj

 

ZRay,
WJ is going to change his Lighting System to the Projector Style, as Porta Rica has done. By using the Projectors, you can get both the Low Beams and the High Beams so that they work beautifully together....They also look great inside the Headlight Lens....Go back and look at Giandanielxk8's Thread on Projector Headlights. Just follow his directions and you will have the very best Headlights you can get!

Since your XK has the older Halogen lights, you will need to converse with him on the parts you will need....WJ's Lights are like Porta Rica's, so all he has to do is follow his directions.....I'm going to leave my Lighting System alone, as I have found the correct LED Bulb for my Reflector System.....I'm happy for now but will probably change to the Projector System someday!

Billy Clyde @ Cinco Ranch