How to Choose the Correct Bulbs

Headlight Upgrade Guide · Halogen vs. LED

Whether it's to get the premium look of upgraded bulbs, or finally admitting your eyes don't work as well as they used to, you've come to the decision to upgrade your vehicle's lighting system. Either way, better vision while driving is invaluable.

The road from here gets a little confusing with all the different options, so we're going to shed some light on which technology will work best for your driving habits and climate.

Why You Need to Upgrade

Stock headlights are made to last a long time, and that's about it.

• Dim, yellowish light output
• Not enough distance and width
• Dead space in the beam pattern

Already upgraded with a competitor's product and still longing for more light?

• Not bright enough
• Poor beam patterns
• Not a great color output

What Type of Bulbs Are Right for Me?

Halogen

Even with the takeover of LED headlights on newer vehicles, halogen bulbs are still the most common type of headlight on the road today. The technology has been around for years, but PIAA has redefined the performance you can get from it. By using top-of-the-line filaments and a proprietary gas mixture, we've been able to produce light output from halogen bulbs that hadn't been seen before. Although this technology doesn't add up to LED, its redeeming factors are simple installation and low cost for the increase in output over stock bulbs.

• Most affordable type of light upgrade
• Increased light output for low cost compared to other technologies
• Can aid in defrosting the headlights in colder climates

LED (Light Emitting Diode)

LEDs produce a brilliant, bright light that's easily visible day or night. They use a minimal amount of power, which makes them the energy-efficient choice, and they even run on electric cars. LEDs give off a highly concentrated light from several small light sources working together, so they're easy to manipulate into all kinds of shapes and assemblies. And since they don't use the same filament technology as halogen bulbs, they're less susceptible to damage during installation.

Replacement is typically easy, since most LEDs are direct plug-and-play, but there are a few extra considerations. First, most LED bulbs have an external driver or control box that needs to be installed, and while it isn't large, it often can't be tucked inside the housing. Second, LED bulbs draw less power than halogen, so certain vehicles will show a warning indicator that a bulb is out. That's usually solved with an appropriately rated resistor. Lastly, the cooling features of LED bulbs can make them physically larger than the outgoing halogen, so pay extra attention to whether there's enough room for installation.

• Highly efficient, resulting in a low amp draw with a very bright light
• Very long lasting, with increased durability over halogen counterparts
• Instant-on function, meaning no warm-up time
• Great value between performance and cost

Brightness

The benefits of increasing the brightness of your headlights are instantly noticeable. The added brightness gives you more down-road and side-to-side visibility, which makes driving safer because you recognize upcoming hazards that much earlier.

Whiteness

Through extensive research, we chose the correct color temperature for each lighting technology to give you the whitest light output possible. This pure white beam makes road signs and hazards easier to define and recognize at greater distances than standard vehicle lighting. Along with the safety benefits, that vivid white light gives your vehicle the look of luxury models with expensive upgraded lighting options.

Is the Light With the Most Lumens the Best?

Not necessarily. Lumens is a metric that specifies the total possible light from a given source, and in this case the source is the LED chips. To maximize the power of those chips and direct it where it's most effective for the driver, we've put hundreds of hours into testing to get the light pattern right. Chip placement on the bulb column, and the orientation of the chips once the bulb is installed, are the most important qualities in creating a usable beam pattern.

With LED lights especially, many manufacturers specify raw lumen ratings. That's simply a theoretical maximum: the rating of each individual LED chip multiplied by the number of chips. The actual measured output, or effective lumens, can be much lower than the raw count. That's why we put more emphasis on measuring effective light output using lux and candela.

So, What Bulb Is Best for Me?

The first choice is LED or performance halogen. Either way, PIAA has options. Here's a quick diagram to point you in the right direction:

Solutions From PIAA

Good

Xtreme White Plus

Halogen

The Xtreme White series of halogen bulbs has a cool white light output that gives the driver better color recognition, depth perception, and contrast than stock halogen lamps. The blue top coat on this series adds a slight blue tint with no loss of performance. Xtreme White Plus is PIAA's bestselling technology: these bulbs provide a brilliant, cool white light that picks up road hazards and street signs long before a normal halogen bulb.

Starting at $69.00

Good

Xtreme White Hybrid

Halogen

Xtreme White Hybrid bulbs provide the best possible balance between performance and bulb life. Built using features from both the Xtreme White Plus and Night Tech lines, these bulbs deliver the high output and reliability today's drivers demand. Newly developed bulb coatings provide a much brighter and whiter beam than stock, with more contrast and brighter down-road illumination so you can see farther.

MSRP $49.95

Better

PIAA Platinum LED

LED

Platinum LED bulbs are engineered with a brilliant cut-line and anti-glare technology to direct light where you need it most. High-power Lumiled Luxeon Z ES LEDs provide extreme luminance in a micro footprint for precise beam angle control. Along with the dual-alloy heatsink, these LEDs have excellent thermal resistance, allowing consistent operating temperatures and longer life.

MSRP $149.95

Best

PIAA G3 LED

LED

The G3 LED line brings performance and quality not seen before on the automotive market. G3 bulbs use higher-output CREE XP-L chips with a wider viewing angle than the current Performance LED bulbs. The chips also sit on a thinner board that places the light source closer to the center of the column, replicating the precise position of a standard halogen filament. Together, those two designs let the G3 increase beam intensity and provide continuous light distribution throughout the beam. A newer controller addresses pulse width modulation to prevent flickering or hyper-flashing on most vehicles.

Starting at $229.00

If you're looking for a bulb with more reach, whiter color, and better clarity than your stock bulb at a fair price, halogen is your answer. If you want the ultimate light output paired with incredible durability and lifespan, look to the Platinum and G3 LED lines.

Build Quality and Warranty

We know our bulbs are a big investment, but for the gains in light output and safety, we think they're well worth it. You can find cheap bulbs online all day long. The way those manufacturers get prices that low is by cutting corners on the manufacturing process and using cheap parts. Tens of thousands of hours go into testing our bulbs, not just for beam output and pattern but for vibration ratings, heat ratings, amperage fluctuation, and much more. Combine that testing with top-quality parts that pass our strict Japanese testing procedures, and you get a product you can buy knowing it's among the best quality on the market. And if that doesn't do it for you, we back it with a strong warranty program and our customer service team.