To be fair you do need to keep to the regs. Imagine you had an accident at night and the other party said they were blinded by your lights. Whether they were or not, as soon as the insurance company find out you had illegal LEDs fitted then bye-bye insurance.
@@nakoma5 because brighter lights need an automatic levelling system. Also the optics are wrong because the led is bigger than the original filament. This means that it's likely that you can't see as far ahead because you need to lower the lights. However on a slightly lowered MX5 and the best Led this law is a nonsense.
"...as soon as the insurance company find out you had illegal LEDs fitted then bye-bye insurance"; wrong. There's so much nonsense on the internet about policy aspects like these; the 3rd party costs would be covered in their entirety, that's the most fundamental premise of a policy. As for the policyholder's costs, if your assertion were true, Osram would be out of business with their "150% brighter bulbs" or are you suggesting there's a lumens chart as an addendum in your policyholder booklet??
Matt, I did exactly the same as you which is why I was keen to see this follow up video. I tried replacing my H7 halogens with some very good quality LED replacement bulbs. They were definitely brighter, whiter and improved visibility. Nobody flashed me and I am confident they didn't dazzle other drivers, however I do not want to break the law or invalidate my insurance. I therefore put some philips legal brighter halogens back in the car.
Glare happens because a lot of people who just convert their bulbs to LED are either using cheap LED bulbs with bad light spread, or did not adjust their headlamp levels, or both. I use Osram's H4 LEDs on my 1990 Mini and adjusted the level so it's the same as incandescent. No problem at all, and it's not blinding other road users.
Headlight misalignment is a significant issue I believe. My Dacia Sandero has LED dipped headlights and was obvious to me when I picked it up from new. They were pointing too high and dazzling on coming road users although I think a lot of owners would just think they were great as yes you could see further into the distance. I question how many new cars have this fault and aren't picked up until the first MOT at 3 years. Whilst the light from these is whiter/brighter and better for seeing than halogen, I think poorly aligned LEDs from the factory compound the issues people are raising. Mine are now correctly aligned. I can't see so far in the distance, but hopefully not dazzling others either.
A two volt drop, from 12V to 10V, to an incandecent H4-bulb leads to 25% less light emittance! The drop comes from thin wires, switches and relays. If your lights shine are "yellowish", you have this problem. My way of doing things: - Use the original headlamp wiring to control a new relay each for high and low beam. - Connect positive and negative to the bulbs from the battery, via the relays and a new fuse, using 6mm2 wires.
I can't believe how people wanted to attack your fitting of the new lights. I'm glad you responded in the right way with an explanation. a clarification and an adaptation. Next thing you know, someone will say that your constant polishing of the cars has changed the drag co-efficient, and that you have to tell your insurer as this might make them faster lol.
Well done Matt a great video and I think it’s an important safety upgrade as well I am sorry people have been how they are, I’ve known other classics and moderns having new led lights with no issue…. Glad to see the mx5 getting better every time and you enjoying the car Daniel
Surely it’s easy to understand why it is illegal to retrofit bulbs that are not designed for the headlight housing? If you want LED headlights there are retrofit housings available for the MX-5 which aren’t especially expensive and are fully road legal. Why not go with those?
As long as the dipped beam pattern is correct, morally I don't think led lights are a problem. However, I decided to upgrade to Osram Nightbreakers on a previous car (Fiat 500) as technically leds would have meant that the car was not road legal, and therefore the insurance would be invalid. I was impressed with the improvement the Osrams gave.
To all those saying swap them back after the MOT to LED, I assume you are notifying your insurance company of the modification you have made to your car. It is well known insurance companies will find any excuse not to pay out on a claim. Swapping them back after a collision is not always as easy. Suggesting your opinion that is different to that of the law isn't really going to get you off the hook when things go wrong.
I’d like to see how the lights are on the MOT beam and light meter. Perhaps you could ask your MOT place to put in on the MOT ramp and actually have the facts to how they perform. Beam pattern and how bright they are.
I would have thought it would be really easy to find some great led replacement headlight units for that car. Replacing the whole unit with one designed to be led in the first place (presuming they’re made to standard) will give you no problem with dazzling and they’d probably be even brighter as well.
Exactly what I was thinking. 7” round is common on so many vehicles - old and new (eg Jeep). There’s expensive good ones like the JW Speaker & their ilk. Problem we have in Australia is the same that you’d have in the UK - cheap Chinese ones made for the LHD market, that morons buy online because they are cheap, and put in RHD cars. Only last weekend wondered why a clown in a late model jeep was blinding everyone in the underground shops car park with drop-in 7” LED housings, and then I saw the pattern on the wall as we went up the ramp. Beam was angled up, and was higher on the right by a long way……
I drive a lot at night in my job and don't really have a problem with dazzling from LED headlights. From what I have noticed it appears to be mainly badly adjusted headlights which is not a problem unique to led headlights.
Ive lost count the number of times that LEDs have been so bright that they've out shone the indicators on cars. Also some busses have the same problem with the rear lights being so bright they out shine the brake lights and indicators, especially in the rain.
The real problem here is the law has just not bothered to keep up. It's worth noting that it's not legal to put LED headlights into a pre-86 car anyway, its simply not an automatic fail (1986 seems to be a random date). The issue with using LED headlights is to do with the beam pattern - they can however make LED lamps that will work properly in a halogen unit (I suspect the Philips ones do). BUT, the way compliance testing works means that it is the headlamp unit that must meet the compliance with the bulb. As the unit was designed with a halogen bulb in mind, I would imagine if a company wished to make a compliant bulb, it would need to be tested for each headlamp unit for it to be used in - which would be very expensive (particularly considering a new headlight design is often the way cars are facelifted). Given almost no one cares, and in the UK certainly policing on the matter is virtually non-existent, we get the current result - companies sell the bulbs and allow the consumer to break the law. This is worse for everyone, as it means theres no onus on the company to comply with any regulation! So people buying cheap bulbs will be dazzling everyone, and beyond swapping bulbs at MOT time, nothing is done. If they actually legalised bulbs by creating a test for it to pass, then cosumers would mostly buy those bulbs, and come MOT, those with cheap bulbs could be advised of the legal alternatives! Why is the government so inept at reacting to tech? - e-scooters are the same - no legislation simply results in illegal use (which means dangerously fast on the pavement is as illegal as safe speed on a cycle lane).
Hello another great video I really don’t understand why people are moaning for. If your headlights are useless then I don’t blame anybody upgrading there headlight bulbs for better safety after all safety comes first. I ride a motorcycle and my headlight bulb is very poor in the dark so I will be getting some of these bulbs because being seen and to be able to see better for motorbike riders at day and night is a must as always safety first. Great video thank you and you can’t keep everyone happy.
Great content again. Worst culprits are the self adjustable ones. On the B roads near me they can’t adjust fast enough for the undulating road surface. Can’t see a problem on fixed dipped. Keep up the great work.
good quality aftermarket LED bulbs that are aligned the correct way in headlight lenses do not blind other drivers. even in halogen lenses. everyone’s eyes are different, some people have light sensitivity. drivers who say there blinded by LED headlights whether that’s factory led or aftermarket led are probably looking directly at oncoming car headlights for 2 seconds. don’t look directly at headlights. just like you don’t look directly at the sun. Directly will blind. directly is the iris in your eye. simple fact that nobody mentions. and also the drivers who complain about led bulbs being to bright,factory or aftermarket are more than likely to be driving a car with LED lights. people need to complain more about cyclists with NO lights,nationwide problem that is illegal but government or police do nothing about.
I haven’t changed to led’s on an Audi I bought the other day. They can tend to work initially and then cause can-bus errors which could lead to it not working or working and having a constant message on dash. Just got the best halogen bulbs. Also depending on the mot station it can fail mot as the light pattern can change with non standard bulbs.
We have a 97 original mini and I just replaced the whole original 7" headlight with a LED unit about 4 years ago and it never been an issue as only downside will be having to replace the headlight like you used to have to do with the old sealed beams.
@@derekchapman5167 It's about globe design and reflector shape not the shiny surface. Look up topics on why most conversions are no brighter yet blind oncoming.
The LED's were wrong. It doesn't matter how you try to justify it. If you had a bump, no matter how slight, your insurers would take great delight in walking away. leaving you with a large bill. You've done the right thing.
I like led bulbs but I'm glad they weren't invented a few years ago when I was a bus driver,you see as a bus driver the heating on a bus very rarely worked so when you had some waiting time I used to get off the bus and stand in front of the head light and get a warm in you couldn't do that with Led.😅😅😅.
I agree with you Matt there are many things worse than correctly fitting LEDs with a superior beam pattern to your miata. And as you say, the roads are now full of production cars SUV and vans with significantly brighter headlights often combined with illigal use of fog lights....
My advice is to go with the 150% brighter and keep within the law. Also keep dipped headlights and rear lights on during the day also as some other higher cars/SUVs will not see you coming as you are so small and low. The lights on will help them see you in the day never mind the night. Good video Mr Furious
If someone can’t see you with the standard lights, it’s not the lights that are the problem. Someone who isn’t looking won’t see you with these antisocial super troopers front and rear either. And the case for them being safer falls apart somewhat when the vehicles heading towards you can’t see properly.
As someone who drives 2k miles a week all over the country in all conditions, can honestly hands down say Osram night breaker lasers are the best bulbs I’ve ever had and put them in all my vehicles now
Don't always agree with Matt, however I really like him, and it's his channel, his cars to do with as he pleases.. He works really hard on this channel..., just dont get caught out
Matt, absolutely love the channel, one of the best out there. I did comment on the first video, and the responses on here to this video is why it was right to take it down. Just because people see these videos on RUclips doesn’t make some modifications legal, and you do have a responsibility as a popular channel. Those Osram Nightbreakers are ok, but personally I find Phillips Racing Vision GT200 bulbs a better performer and whiter (similar price) if you wanted a even whiter light, then Phillips White Vision Ultra are a whiter bulb but a shorter projection. There’s plenty of information out there regarding LED v Halogen in Halogen housings, and almost always, LED is ‘brighter’ however especially in rain, fog etc, the performance Halogen will actually perform better with a better beam pattern, far less scattered light and they don’t freeze the lens up in very cold weather as they run hotter. Personally looking forwards to seeing more Hippo, would love a video on maybe LED lightbar/pod lights/spots on the 4x4 !
To be honest, I tried LED bulbs on my '05 Civic and they also turned out WAY dimmer than expected. Weird, considering they're supposed to be bright. Anyway, Osram Nightbreaker Laser is the way to go 👌🏼
I can see the point of having upgraded lighting in such a low, small car, Matt. Safety first. And there's a difference between careful, considerate bulb choices and irresponsible "collapsing star" fitments.
Can’t believe the haters got to you Matt! Glare does happen is when people don’t know how to align their headlamp aim or if they’re put cheap bulbs in by giving the wrong beam pattern or just dazzles every single oncoming traffic at the opposite direction. If the beam pattern is correct the exact same as the halogen then there shouldn’t be any problems. I have a set of LEDs in projector lamp so the MOT can’t see the bulb. The MOT is not allowed to dismantle anything and start fathering about the covers to remove the bulb what it uses or if it has any approval
What I find annoying is being behind someone in traffic, they have LED brake lights and keep their foot on the brake, I then have red images in my vision for a minute or so after, high rear lights makes things worse. Being visible should not be your problem as others should be attentive. Most of my driving was done with 25w or at best 30w glowworms on many miles of unlit roads including Motorways. A bright moonlit night would often drive on sidelights as less tiring on the eyes. We don't often get a 'Bomber's Moon' though. Everyone drove on sidelights in London and other well lit towns. Bonus was the battery still having enough charge to start next morning without needing the handle.
I managed to miss the hate comments, but I what I HATE is people sending hate comments, especially when it REALLY doesnt affect them!! Ignore them, your videos are too good for people to hate on them. F**k them honestly
Retrofit LEDs have certainly come on a long way since I last had a go with them. My 8 year old Audi TT is full LED as standard (except for the glovebox light).
I've updated my vehicle to LED's to the Auxitos in fact & they've been fine, I know some people won't like what I've gotta say but if you can't beat em join them if bright white LED lights are illegal then it should go across the board for all vehicles fitted with bright white lights whether from factory or upgrades, but I doubt that will happen.
If you put xenon or LED bulbs in a reflector (halogen) housing then yes, you'll blind alot of people and it will fail it's MOT. If you put the bulbs in a projector lens, you won't blind people.
I was one of those who mentioned the legalities. I certainly wasn't angry. More concerned that your insurance would be invalidated. Same reason I've not upgraded my 2cv
I added driving lights in the grill area of my MX5 so I could have front facing lights on without having the barn doors open all of the time. There were two mounting points that I was able to use.
Hi Matt. Great video especially as we are still in UK 'dark night season' . I had a hired 2023 Nissan Qashqai around this time last year. Took it straight to Halfrauds to get 150% brighter bulbs which replaced the birthday cake candles Nissan fitted! Completely understand your 'see and be seen' stance. Many years ago some Numpty in a Hilux drove straight over the bonnet of my Lotus Elan +2 with the usual 'didn't see you mate'! from the knuckle scraping driver. Be safe Bud!
Suggestion. There are e-marked sealed beam LED replacement lamps. They were fitted to end of line Land Rover Defenders as they also had 7" round headlamps. This isn't a bulb upgrade, it's the full lamp unit. If you want something legal, that's the way to go. Be warned though they are extremely expensive to get the legal versions.
I'm with you, I have a 2015 X3 and the lights are pitiful after my E class, I will be upgrading whichever way I can as I find been able to see whilst driving at night quite handy
GLB380 is a twin filament bulb Stop & Tail. GLB382 is single I.E. Indicator, or fog. GLB472 is an H4 headlamp, GLB410 Incandescent Headlamp. LED "fast flash" is called hyperflash, you can buy non hyperflash LED Indicator lamps.
As you mentioned, LED's in reflector housings are far more dangerous on bigger SUV's and trucks. Though it seems some new cars (I'm looking at you Honda Civic) have poorly designed reflector housings with LED bulbs that dazzle oncoming cars
Big problem with a lot of aftermarket LEDs (and the HID aftermarkets setups) is that the part that emits light is in a different place, hence the reflector spreads the light all over the place. Buy a cheap aftermarket LED, pop it in a spare headlight and marvel at how bad the beam spread is. For production cars seems there are various things.The beam cut off with an LED is very sharp, hence can be pretty much full brightness up to this point unlike a conventional bulb headlight. Hence a bump in the road, etc, gets you dazzled with the full brightness of the LED. Some are also badly designed (some Porsche cars are nasty if overtaking on the motorway, as the beam dips to the side but lands up with full brightness into the side mirror). I also wonder if the human eye struggles with the light from an LED, with how dazzling it is for the amount of illumination it provides. Certainly an LED hand held torch can be very dazzling while being utterly pathetic to see where I am walking!
I personally think that the brightness of LED headlights has gotten out of hand. When driving at night, especially when it's raining, it very hard to see with a constant stream of dazzling leds coming at you. It's not just SUVs either. Audis and BMWs are particularly bad. These blinding lights will cause more accidents than they prevent. I think some kind of regulation to limit the output of LED bulbs needs to be introduced. And why can't they be yellow instead of white. Yellow light also penetrates fog better than white light. Being followed by a modern SUV is like being tailgated by a neutron star! 🤣
People do get really enraged by led headlights on new production cars let alone converting older cars to led bulbs then start throwing a fit. I personally have done the same thing in my mini cooper, the car is low enough that i get blinded by pickup trucks and tall suvs with led lights behind me but that doesn't matter because i did lots of research to make sure i got bulbs that give the correct light pattern, adjusted them to same level as my old halogens and I've not had anyone flash me about my lights all year since i fitted them back in December 2022. I am aware you can't have an led bulb in a halogen headlight housing due to a updated MOT regulation, irregardless of if they meet the headlight alignment criteria, so i swapped them back for regular bulbs just for the mot and put them back again. Very much appreciating my improved lighting on dark country lanes and poorly lit roads.
Great video all up for better lights i tried rears one but had issues. I'd love to see the difference in the rear lights, e.g. Light v brake light v fog light brightness
Only problem I've had with LED lights is reliability. I have 2 identical Toyota Previas, one I put a full LED set in the rear and the other just had the original incandescent bulbs it came with. About a year later both plate lights and one taillight were out on the LED set and all the incandescent ones were just fine. I took all the LEDs out and threw them away
I was pulled years ago from having led H4 in my Astra the cooper said the beam pattern was all over the place , but when I fitted Led H7 into my vectra all was ok because the bulb sat in its own glass holder and main beam was a separate bulb
Bad replaced lightbulbs are the worst! No matter if they are led or srandard h4 ! When they are legally then there should be no problem! Better visibility is in every ones benefit! At least the P 6 is getting some bright eyes ! Sadly the Eunos not! Matt hopefully in the near future but anyways nice job like allways ! 👍🏻👍🏻🆙
I’ve got Phillips racing vision 200 incandescent bulbs in one of my cars, and the other has LED’s as standard, and to be honest the LED bulbs are only marginally better in my opinion in various conditions, probably most noticeably when it’s wet and dark. Otherwise….
I can't see a thing out of my MK3 MX5 with all these LED million lumen headlight crossovers. If there was an easy option to do this on mine I would (bulb changes are through the arch liners plus there's the legal element as you state).
I have to say I've upgraded all the bulbs in my mk1 mx5 to LED... accept for the actual headlamps themselves. There's a noticeable safety improvement in the stop/tail lights... but I was concerned over the legality of the LEDS for headlamps and stuck with some OSRAM nightbreakers instead. They're good. :)
Saying you would be happy is all you gotta do is change the bulbs for it to pass a mot but that’s not the point it they fail the mot they not legal which you don’t seem to care about but if you like them keep them no anger here just opinions it’s what the comments section is for
I got fed up with rear side/brake lights on my Partner Tepee failing for a pastime so relaced them with leds, they work fine and fit better than ordinary bulbs. Only thing is the code reader (checking something else) shows both lights short to earth-replacing with ordinary bulbs removes the code. I don't think I'll replace anymore bulbs yet!
LED Bulbs in a Halogen housing with a glass Lens designed for Halogen is indeed illegal and a breach of the UK MOT regulations for "Headlight modifications". Interesting that you believe that you believe having Illegal lights is not really an issue.
I found the best thging we did with our mx-5 headlight was cheking the level, flying miata have a video on it found ours were way too low just need someone to sit in the car whilst setting them
You should have left the new leds in your mx5 it’s your car and it’s your choice. Other people should keep there options to them selves after all you can’t please everyone. So I would definitely put the LEDs back in your car Matt.
I did exactly the same thing, swapped side light bulbs to LEDs but then found out that they weren’t legal so had to swap them to little blue bulbs which was a downgrade. Silly law really. The light colour of the side lights also needs to match the headlights I believe.
I would not have changed the high level brake light bulb, although admittedly high level is a contradiction in terms with that car. In traffic jams those do dazzle, especially if the driver in front uses the foot brake instead of the handbrake.
I think a lot of the bad reputation from LED's come from the fact that most manufacturers like to bolt them to SUVs and crossovers which means for normal car users they are slap bang in your eyeline. For the MX5 however I would think they are perfectly acceptable. Not only because the car itself is so low as you point out but also because people have a really difficult time spotting the MX5 coming out of junctions etc. The amount of times I've been driving mine and had some idiot in a range Rover not notice me is crazy.
I assume the experience of people with LEDs being retrofitted have been mostly tarnished by the use of el cheapo crap. The sensitive way to this is: use quality LEDs and have the beams checked and keep them properly adjusted. Job's a good'un. All the moaners are probably just jealous or frustrated by some physical deficit 😉😂
Putting LED headlight bulbs in the correct way is key. When you install them, the diodes have to be facing side to side. If not, it blinds people. I have them in all my cars and never have anyone flash me. I get blinded more by SUV's and pickups with factory LED headlights.
Some rules don't make sense. Why can an SUV blind you as a sports car driver yet you are not allowed to improve your visibility. Excellent video anyway.
You are allowed to upgrade any vehicle to LED headlights, however, after April 1986, all vehicles would need to be fitted with LED projector style headlights as the LED bulbs need the beam pattern projecting down the road differently to the more basic reflector of a Halogen reflector that will scatter LED light every where. Fact is, performance Halogen bulbs in Halogen housings out perform LED bulbs in the same housing anyway.
I am happy with my Yellow continental bulbs. Plenty bright enough, and highlight white lines and roadsigns brilliantly. Even when I'm following a car with Led's my Yellow shows up on roadsigns. White lights just seem to white wash everything. Something I can't understand is that I drive down many unlit rural roads with just my normal beam on, and I always have someone approaching me with their high beams on. Is it because they are just too lazy to concentrate whilst driving 🤔.
First video was fine Matt, you could of left the bulbs as they were as thousand others have fitted LEDs i hope after the video you refit the LED bulbs......
Yeah, the U.S spec side marker lights will fit but I don't know how you'd get them for a reasonable price especially with the cost of international shipping these days?!
Matt,I do not understand why the conversion to LEDs has attracted so much hatred to you.If the beam is properly adjusted and the opposite driver does not get dazzled,then,what is the fuss all about?Great work,btw.
Sad end indeed - the LED's look like they have less bleed/overspill compared to incandescent. I drive a van and get blinded by SUV's all of the time; yet LEDs are allowed - but people are whinging about a thoughtful upgrade to your Eunos that isn't going to blind anyone!? Can you get H4's with LED highbeam, and incandescent dip beam?
I suppose the only other alternative is to have a pair of LED driving lights mounted on the front for highbeam or off-public-highway use @@furiousdriving
The GCM youtube channel gives good guidance with his Police officer friend giving us the right insight into the correct regulations as regard to upgraded lights on the video The law and regulations on upgraded lights - HID's, LED's Tinted lights underglow DRL's and more
Let's leave the legality for a minute. Let's talk about taste. I prefer the yellower halogen light on pre 00's cars. I just looks better and fit the car more I feel. Think your last bulbs colourwise look better on the MX-5 :)
I don't really see the point of having side light bulbs in the MX-5 headlights, as when just the side lights are on aren't the headlights in the down position? I'd say because your headlights have the beam deflectors in the lens as opposed to in the reflector on more modern units, LED bulbs will work fine.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
To be fair you do need to keep to the regs. Imagine you had an accident at night and the other party said they were blinded by your lights. Whether they were or not, as soon as the insurance company find out you had illegal LEDs fitted then bye-bye insurance.
Why are they illegal?
@@nakoma5 because brighter lights need an automatic levelling system. Also the optics are wrong because the led is bigger than the original filament. This means that it's likely that you can't see as far ahead because you need to lower the lights.
However on a slightly lowered MX5 and the best Led this law is a nonsense.
@@andrewthompsonuk1 I don't have an automatic levelling system in my car that had LED lights from new.
"...as soon as the insurance company find out you had illegal LEDs fitted then bye-bye insurance"; wrong. There's so much nonsense on the internet about policy aspects like these; the 3rd party costs would be covered in their entirety, that's the most fundamental premise of a policy. As for the policyholder's costs, if your assertion were true, Osram would be out of business with their "150% brighter bulbs" or are you suggesting there's a lumens chart as an addendum in your policyholder booklet??
@@derekchapman5167Aftermarket LEDs are prohibited under the legislation for this year of vehicle.
Matt, I did exactly the same as you which is why I was keen to see this follow up video. I tried replacing my H7 halogens with some very good quality LED replacement bulbs. They were definitely brighter, whiter and improved visibility. Nobody flashed me and I am confident they didn't dazzle other drivers, however I do not want to break the law or invalidate my insurance. I therefore put some philips legal brighter halogens back in the car.
Well done for highlighting and addressing this issue, it's a real problem (less so on an MX5) but with SUV and crossover, dazzling
Glare happens because a lot of people who just convert their bulbs to LED are either using cheap LED bulbs with bad light spread, or did not adjust their headlamp levels, or both. I use Osram's H4 LEDs on my 1990 Mini and adjusted the level so it's the same as incandescent. No problem at all, and it's not blinding other road users.
Headlight misalignment is a significant issue I believe. My Dacia Sandero has LED dipped headlights and was obvious to me when I picked it up from new. They were pointing too high and dazzling on coming road users although I think a lot of owners would just think they were great as yes you could see further into the distance. I question how many new cars have this fault and aren't picked up until the first MOT at 3 years. Whilst the light from these is whiter/brighter and better for seeing than halogen, I think poorly aligned LEDs from the factory compound the issues people are raising. Mine are now correctly aligned. I can't see so far in the distance, but hopefully not dazzling others either.
Just swap them back off camera. Job done
A two volt drop, from 12V to 10V, to an incandecent H4-bulb leads to 25% less light emittance! The drop comes from thin wires, switches and relays. If your lights shine are "yellowish", you have this problem.
My way of doing things:
- Use the original headlamp wiring to control a new relay each for high and low beam.
- Connect positive and negative to the bulbs from the battery, via the relays and a new fuse, using 6mm2 wires.
I can't believe how people wanted to attack your fitting of the new lights. I'm glad you responded in the right way with an explanation. a clarification and an adaptation. Next thing you know, someone will say that your constant polishing of the cars has changed the drag co-efficient, and that you have to tell your insurer as this might make them faster lol.
Well done Matt a great video and I think it’s an important safety upgrade as well I am sorry people have been how they are, I’ve known other classics and moderns having new led lights with no issue…. Glad to see the mx5 getting better every time and you enjoying the car Daniel
Surely it’s easy to understand why it is illegal to retrofit bulbs that are not designed for the headlight housing? If you want LED headlights there are retrofit housings available for the MX-5 which aren’t especially expensive and are fully road legal. Why not go with those?
As long as the dipped beam pattern is correct, morally I don't think led lights are a problem. However, I decided to upgrade to Osram Nightbreakers on a previous car (Fiat 500) as technically leds would have meant that the car was not road legal, and therefore the insurance would be invalid. I was impressed with the improvement the Osrams gave.
💯.Car insurance is expensive enough without it being invalid if needed.
To all those saying swap them back after the MOT to LED, I assume you are notifying your insurance company of the modification you have made to your car. It is well known insurance companies will find any excuse not to pay out on a claim. Swapping them back after a collision is not always as easy.
Suggesting your opinion that is different to that of the law isn't really going to get you off the hook when things go wrong.
I’d like to see how the lights are on the MOT beam and light meter.
Perhaps you could ask your MOT place to put in on the MOT ramp and actually have the facts to how they perform. Beam pattern and how bright they are.
I would have thought it would be really easy to find some great led replacement headlight units for that car. Replacing the whole unit with one designed to be led in the first place (presuming they’re made to standard) will give you no problem with dazzling and they’d probably be even brighter as well.
Correct. Not cheap, but they are legal.
Exactly what I was thinking. 7” round is common on so many vehicles - old and new (eg Jeep). There’s expensive good ones like the JW Speaker & their ilk. Problem we have in Australia is the same that you’d have in the UK - cheap Chinese ones made for the LHD market, that morons buy online because they are cheap, and put in RHD cars. Only last weekend wondered why a clown in a late model jeep was blinding everyone in the underground shops car park with drop-in 7” LED housings, and then I saw the pattern on the wall as we went up the ramp. Beam was angled up, and was higher on the right by a long way……
I hope you swap them back , let the haters only think they’ve won . Nothing wrong .
Technically you have made an illegal modification and if that is picked up by your insurance after an accident it may invalidate it.
You soon know when your lights are wrong, everyone else flashes their lights at you.
I drive a lot at night in my job and don't really have a problem with dazzling from LED headlights.
From what I have noticed it appears to be mainly badly adjusted headlights which is not a problem unique to led headlights.
Ive lost count the number of times that LEDs have been so bright that they've out shone the indicators on cars. Also some busses have the same problem with the rear lights being so bright they out shine the brake lights and indicators, especially in the rain.
The real problem here is the law has just not bothered to keep up. It's worth noting that it's not legal to put LED headlights into a pre-86 car anyway, its simply not an automatic fail (1986 seems to be a random date). The issue with using LED headlights is to do with the beam pattern - they can however make LED lamps that will work properly in a halogen unit (I suspect the Philips ones do). BUT, the way compliance testing works means that it is the headlamp unit that must meet the compliance with the bulb. As the unit was designed with a halogen bulb in mind, I would imagine if a company wished to make a compliant bulb, it would need to be tested for each headlamp unit for it to be used in - which would be very expensive (particularly considering a new headlight design is often the way cars are facelifted). Given almost no one cares, and in the UK certainly policing on the matter is virtually non-existent, we get the current result - companies sell the bulbs and allow the consumer to break the law. This is worse for everyone, as it means theres no onus on the company to comply with any regulation! So people buying cheap bulbs will be dazzling everyone, and beyond swapping bulbs at MOT time, nothing is done. If they actually legalised bulbs by creating a test for it to pass, then cosumers would mostly buy those bulbs, and come MOT, those with cheap bulbs could be advised of the legal alternatives!
Why is the government so inept at reacting to tech? - e-scooters are the same - no legislation simply results in illegal use (which means dangerously fast on the pavement is as illegal as safe speed on a cycle lane).
Hello another great video I really don’t understand why people are moaning for.
If your headlights are useless then I don’t blame anybody upgrading there headlight bulbs for better safety after all safety comes first. I ride a motorcycle and my headlight bulb is very poor in the dark so I will be getting some of these bulbs because being seen and to be able to see better for motorbike riders at day and night is a must as always safety first.
Great video thank you and you can’t keep everyone happy.
Great content again. Worst culprits are the self adjustable ones. On the B roads near me they can’t adjust fast enough for the undulating road surface. Can’t see a problem on fixed dipped. Keep up the great work.
good quality aftermarket LED bulbs that are aligned the correct way in headlight lenses do not blind other drivers.
even in halogen lenses. everyone’s eyes are different, some people have light sensitivity. drivers who say there blinded by LED headlights whether that’s factory led or aftermarket led are probably looking directly at oncoming car headlights for 2 seconds. don’t look directly at headlights. just like you don’t look directly at the sun. Directly will blind. directly is the iris in your eye. simple fact that nobody mentions. and also the drivers who complain about led bulbs being to bright,factory or aftermarket are more than likely to be driving a car with LED lights. people need to complain more about cyclists with NO lights,nationwide problem that is illegal but government or police do nothing about.
I haven’t changed to led’s on an Audi I bought the other day. They can tend to work initially and then cause can-bus errors which could lead to it not working or working and having a constant message on dash. Just got the best halogen bulbs. Also depending on the mot station it can fail mot as the light pattern can change with non standard bulbs.
We have a 97 original mini and I just replaced the whole original 7" headlight with a LED unit about 4 years ago and it never been an issue as only downside will be having to replace the headlight like you used to have to do with the old sealed beams.
I put LEDs in my 1980 car..very happy with them. So much better than the original sealed beam. Will be good in the Rover.
Glad it worked out. Most reflector housings aren't suitable for LED.
Why's that then; the reflective surface of the housing will be more compromised by standard Halogen as that creates far, far more heat than LED.
@@derekchapman5167 It's about globe design and reflector shape not the shiny surface. Look up topics on why most conversions are no brighter yet blind oncoming.
The LED's were wrong. It doesn't matter how you try to justify it. If you had a bump, no matter how slight, your insurers would take great delight in walking away. leaving you with a large bill. You've done the right thing.
I like led bulbs but I'm glad they weren't invented a few years ago when I was a bus driver,you see as a bus driver the heating on a bus very rarely worked so when you had some waiting time I used to get off the bus and stand in front of the head light and get a warm in you couldn't do that with Led.😅😅😅.
thats only one up from letting the horse wee on your hands to warm them up!
I agree with you Matt there are many things worse than correctly fitting LEDs with a superior beam pattern to your miata.
And as you say, the roads are now full of production cars SUV and vans with significantly brighter headlights often combined with illigal use of fog lights....
My advice is to go with the 150% brighter and keep within the law. Also keep dipped headlights and rear lights on during
the day also as some other higher cars/SUVs will not see you coming as you are so small and low. The lights on will help them see you in the day never mind the night. Good video Mr Furious
If someone can’t see you with the standard lights, it’s not the lights that are the problem. Someone who isn’t looking won’t see you with these antisocial super troopers front and rear either. And the case for them being safer falls apart somewhat when the vehicles heading towards you can’t see properly.
As someone who drives 2k miles a week all over the country in all conditions, can honestly hands down say Osram night breaker lasers are the best bulbs I’ve ever had and put them in all my vehicles now
Great improvement Matt, love the videos.
Don't always agree with Matt, however I really like him, and it's his channel, his cars to do with as he pleases.. He works really hard on this channel..., just dont get caught out
Matt, absolutely love the channel, one of the best out there.
I did comment on the first video, and the responses on here to this video is why it was right to take it down.
Just because people see these videos on RUclips doesn’t make some modifications legal, and you do have a responsibility as a popular channel.
Those Osram Nightbreakers are ok, but personally I find Phillips Racing Vision GT200 bulbs a better performer and whiter (similar price) if you wanted a even whiter light, then Phillips White Vision Ultra are a whiter bulb but a shorter projection.
There’s plenty of information out there regarding LED v Halogen in Halogen housings, and almost always, LED is ‘brighter’ however especially in rain, fog etc, the performance Halogen will actually perform better with a better beam pattern, far less scattered light and they don’t freeze the lens up in very cold weather as they run hotter.
Personally looking forwards to seeing more Hippo, would love a video on maybe LED lightbar/pod lights/spots on the 4x4 !
for leds they seem spot on
To be honest, I tried LED bulbs on my '05 Civic and they also turned out WAY dimmer than expected. Weird, considering they're supposed to be bright. Anyway, Osram Nightbreaker Laser is the way to go 👌🏼
I can see the point of having upgraded lighting in such a low, small car, Matt. Safety first. And there's a difference between careful, considerate bulb choices and irresponsible "collapsing star" fitments.
I wouldn’t give a toss about what anyone else thinks Matt just use them 👍
Can’t believe the haters got to you Matt! Glare does happen is when people don’t know how to align their headlamp aim or if they’re put cheap bulbs in by giving the wrong beam pattern or just dazzles every single oncoming traffic at the opposite direction. If the beam pattern is correct the exact same as the halogen then there shouldn’t be any problems. I have a set of LEDs in projector lamp so the MOT can’t see the bulb. The MOT is not allowed to dismantle anything and start fathering about the covers to remove the bulb what it uses or if it has any approval
What I find annoying is being behind someone in traffic, they have LED brake lights and keep their foot on the brake, I then have red images in my vision for a minute or so after, high rear lights makes things worse. Being visible should not be your problem as others should be attentive. Most of my driving was done with 25w or at best 30w glowworms on many miles of unlit roads including Motorways. A bright moonlit night would often drive on sidelights as less tiring on the eyes. We don't often get a 'Bomber's Moon' though. Everyone drove on sidelights in London and other well lit towns. Bonus was the battery still having enough charge to start next morning without needing the handle.
I managed to miss the hate comments, but I what I HATE is people sending hate comments, especially when it REALLY doesnt affect them!! Ignore them, your videos are too good for people to hate on them. F**k them honestly
Cretin.
Too many people these days get easily offended on other people's behalf.
@@worldofrandometry6912 Ain't that the truth
Retrofit LEDs have certainly come on a long way since I last had a go with them. My 8 year old Audi TT is full LED as standard (except for the glovebox light).
I've updated my vehicle to LED's to the Auxitos in fact & they've been fine, I know some people won't like what I've gotta say but if you can't beat em join them if bright white LED lights are illegal then it should go across the board for all vehicles fitted with bright white lights whether from factory or upgrades, but I doubt that will happen.
If you put xenon or LED bulbs in a reflector (halogen) housing then yes, you'll blind alot of people and it will fail it's MOT. If you put the bulbs in a projector lens, you won't blind people.
Even a projector lens, designed for how a halogen bulb emits light, doesn’t guarantee you won’t blind others.
Another great video keep your customers happy Matt 😂
I like the leds on the car I have a mr2 roadster and have the same issue as you on the Mazda
Side repeaters are the only led's that warrant any cognition. Happy happy. Joy joy! 😂
I was one of those who mentioned the legalities. I certainly wasn't angry. More concerned that your insurance would be invalidated. Same reason I've not upgraded my 2cv
I added driving lights in the grill area of my MX5 so I could have front facing lights on without having the barn doors open all of the time. There were two mounting points that I was able to use.
Hi Matt. Great video especially as we are still in UK 'dark night season' . I had a hired 2023 Nissan Qashqai around this time last year. Took it straight to Halfrauds to get 150% brighter bulbs which replaced the birthday cake candles Nissan fitted! Completely understand your 'see and be seen' stance. Many years ago some Numpty in a Hilux drove straight over the bonnet of my Lotus Elan +2 with the usual 'didn't see you mate'! from the knuckle scraping driver. Be safe Bud!
Suggestion. There are e-marked sealed beam LED replacement lamps. They were fitted to end of line Land Rover Defenders as they also had 7" round headlamps. This isn't a bulb upgrade, it's the full lamp unit. If you want something legal, that's the way to go. Be warned though they are extremely expensive to get the legal versions.
100% this. Want to do it? Do it right and legally.
I'm with you, I have a 2015 X3 and the lights are pitiful after my E class, I will be upgrading whichever way I can as I find been able to see whilst driving at night quite handy
@simonfield1276: quiet handy for people coming towards you to be able to see. Perhaps that's why it's illegal to fit them?
GLB380 is a twin filament bulb Stop & Tail. GLB382 is single I.E. Indicator, or fog. GLB472 is an H4 headlamp, GLB410 Incandescent Headlamp. LED "fast flash" is called hyperflash, you can buy non hyperflash LED Indicator lamps.
As you mentioned, LED's in reflector housings are far more dangerous on bigger SUV's and trucks. Though it seems some new cars (I'm looking at you Honda Civic) have poorly designed reflector housings with LED bulbs that dazzle oncoming cars
Big problem with a lot of aftermarket LEDs (and the HID aftermarkets setups) is that the part that emits light is in a different place, hence the reflector spreads the light all over the place. Buy a cheap aftermarket LED, pop it in a spare headlight and marvel at how bad the beam spread is.
For production cars seems there are various things.The beam cut off with an LED is very sharp, hence can be pretty much full brightness up to this point unlike a conventional bulb headlight. Hence a bump in the road, etc, gets you dazzled with the full brightness of the LED. Some are also badly designed (some Porsche cars are nasty if overtaking on the motorway, as the beam dips to the side but lands up with full brightness into the side mirror).
I also wonder if the human eye struggles with the light from an LED, with how dazzling it is for the amount of illumination it provides. Certainly an LED hand held torch can be very dazzling while being utterly pathetic to see where I am walking!
I personally think that the brightness of LED headlights has gotten out of hand. When driving at night, especially when it's raining, it very hard to see with a constant stream of dazzling leds coming at you. It's not just SUVs either. Audis and BMWs are particularly bad. These blinding lights will cause more accidents than they prevent. I think some kind of regulation to limit the output of LED bulbs needs to be introduced. And why can't they be yellow instead of white. Yellow light also penetrates fog better than white light. Being followed by a modern SUV is like being tailgated by a neutron star! 🤣
People do get really enraged by led headlights on new production cars let alone converting older cars to led bulbs then start throwing a fit. I personally have done the same thing in my mini cooper, the car is low enough that i get blinded by pickup trucks and tall suvs with led lights behind me but that doesn't matter because i did lots of research to make sure i got bulbs that give the correct light pattern, adjusted them to same level as my old halogens and I've not had anyone flash me about my lights all year since i fitted them back in December 2022. I am aware you can't have an led bulb in a halogen headlight housing due to a updated MOT regulation, irregardless of if they meet the headlight alignment criteria, so i swapped them back for regular bulbs just for the mot and put them back again. Very much appreciating my improved lighting on dark country lanes and poorly lit roads.
Great video all up for better lights i tried rears one but had issues. I'd love to see the difference in the rear lights, e.g. Light v brake light v fog light brightness
Blinding the bejazzle out of other peoples shins
Only problem I've had with LED lights is reliability. I have 2 identical Toyota Previas, one I put a full LED set in the rear and the other just had the original incandescent bulbs it came with. About a year later both plate lights and one taillight were out on the LED set and all the incandescent ones were just fine. I took all the LEDs out and threw them away
Who gives a bollocks what people think or say, Matt?
Your car, your business, do to it whatever you like 👍
You need to practice blowing raspberries Matt. A universal language.
without changing the lenses you will cause other drivers problems. they are not built for led.
How's that then? The spread of light is controlled by the lense, more light in the correct areas wouldn't be an MOT issue.
I was pulled years ago from having led H4 in my Astra the cooper said the beam pattern was all over the place , but when I fitted Led H7 into my vectra all was ok because the bulb sat in its own glass holder and main beam was a separate bulb
Matt those people are just being PITA 😝 it’s not a big deal, the LEDs looked great! Keep up the great stuff 👍
Oh this car looks so much fun.
Do you know if your brake components will fit hub nuts mini Pajero
Bad replaced lightbulbs are the worst! No matter if they are led or srandard h4 ! When they are legally then there should be no problem! Better visibility is in every ones benefit! At least the P 6 is getting some bright eyes ! Sadly the Eunos not! Matt hopefully in the near future but anyways nice job like allways ! 👍🏻👍🏻🆙
I’ve got Phillips racing vision 200 incandescent bulbs in one of my cars, and the other has LED’s as standard, and to be honest the LED bulbs are only marginally better in my opinion in various conditions, probably most noticeably when it’s wet and dark. Otherwise….
I can't see a thing out of my MK3 MX5 with all these LED million lumen headlight crossovers. If there was an easy option to do this on mine I would (bulb changes are through the arch liners plus there's the legal element as you state).
I have to say I've upgraded all the bulbs in my mk1 mx5 to LED... accept for the actual headlamps themselves. There's a noticeable safety improvement in the stop/tail lights... but I was concerned over the legality of the LEDS for headlamps and stuck with some OSRAM nightbreakers instead. They're good. :)
You can easily get modern flasher units that are designed for led lights.
Yea there great Matt, just swap them back off camera, F all the haters init
Saying you would be happy is all you gotta do is change the bulbs for it to pass a mot but that’s not the point it they fail the mot they not legal which you don’t seem to care about but if you like them keep them no anger here just opinions it’s what the comments section is for
Never apologise, never explain. Can’t believe you caved in to the mob and downgraded. #FreeTheLED
Couldn’t agree more 👍
Ah, another selfish twat who believes the law doesn't apply to them.
Totally concur... #FreeTheLED!@@christopherlowe2200
I got fed up with rear side/brake lights on my Partner Tepee failing for a pastime so relaced them with leds, they work fine and fit better than ordinary bulbs. Only thing is the code reader (checking something else) shows both lights short to earth-replacing with ordinary bulbs removes the code. I don't think I'll replace anymore bulbs yet!
Just put the led ones back in when the cameras off. As all sane people would
LED Bulbs in a Halogen housing with a glass Lens designed for Halogen is indeed illegal and a breach of the UK MOT regulations for "Headlight modifications". Interesting that you believe that you believe having Illegal lights is not really an issue.
I found the best thging we did with our mx-5 headlight was cheking the level, flying miata have a video on it found ours were way too low just need someone to sit in the car whilst setting them
You should have left the new leds in your mx5 it’s your car and it’s your choice. Other people should keep there options to them selves after all you can’t please everyone. So I would definitely put the LEDs back in your car Matt.
Except it is not his choice. The law requires that no LEDs are retro-fitted. Plus it would invalidate insurance. End of discussion.
I did exactly the same thing, swapped side light bulbs to LEDs but then found out that they weren’t legal so had to swap them to little blue bulbs which was a downgrade. Silly law really. The light colour of the side lights also needs to match the headlights I believe.
I would not have changed the high level brake light bulb, although admittedly high level is a contradiction in terms with that car. In traffic jams those do dazzle, especially if the driver in front uses the foot brake instead of the handbrake.
I think a lot of the bad reputation from LED's come from the fact that most manufacturers like to bolt them to SUVs and crossovers which means for normal car users they are slap bang in your eyeline. For the MX5 however I would think they are perfectly acceptable. Not only because the car itself is so low as you point out but also because people have a really difficult time spotting the MX5 coming out of junctions etc. The amount of times I've been driving mine and had some idiot in a range Rover not notice me is crazy.
I assume the experience of people with LEDs being retrofitted have been mostly tarnished by the use of el cheapo crap. The sensitive way to this is: use quality LEDs and have the beams checked and keep them properly adjusted. Job's a good'un.
All the moaners are probably just jealous or frustrated by some physical deficit 😉😂
Not jealous. Just don't want to fail the MOT, or invalidate insurance with illegal headlights.
Putting LED headlight bulbs in the correct way is key. When you install them, the diodes have to be facing side to side. If not, it blinds people. I have them in all my cars and never have anyone flash me. I get blinded more by SUV's and pickups with factory LED headlights.
they are brighter but look dazzling which could pose a prob to oncoming cars? but good job matt.
myself commenting previously, I didn't want you falling foul of the law and mot. But will look great in the rover.
I'm guessing the "extra" sidelights are the result of the replacement headlight bowls...
exactly that
What about heat generated by LED lights?
They tend to dim after a few minutes, heat is a big issue with LED lights.
Not to mention they can burn.
the heat from the from is lower than the high output incandescent of the P6 main beams
OSRAM now has a street legal LED bulbs - Night Breaker LED.
Oh, and even the LED head light bulbs for the oldtimers - LED Driving HL Vintage.
Thats good, need ti check them out
Some rules don't make sense. Why can an SUV blind you as a sports car driver yet you are not allowed to improve your visibility. Excellent video anyway.
You are allowed to upgrade any vehicle to LED headlights, however, after April 1986, all vehicles would need to be fitted with LED projector style headlights as the LED bulbs need the beam pattern projecting down the road differently to the more basic reflector of a Halogen reflector that will scatter LED light every where. Fact is, performance Halogen bulbs in Halogen housings out perform LED bulbs in the same housing anyway.
I am happy with my Yellow continental bulbs. Plenty bright enough, and highlight white lines and roadsigns brilliantly. Even when I'm following a car with Led's my Yellow shows up on roadsigns. White lights just seem to white wash everything. Something I can't understand is that I drive down many unlit rural roads with just my normal beam on, and I always have someone approaching me with their high beams on. Is it because they are just too lazy to concentrate whilst driving 🤔.
First video was fine Matt, you could of left the bulbs as they were as thousand others have fitted LEDs
i hope after the video you refit the LED bulbs......
Yeah, the U.S spec side marker lights will fit but I don't know how you'd get them for a reasonable price especially with the cost of international shipping these days?!
Matt,I do not understand why the conversion to LEDs has attracted so much hatred to you.If the beam is properly adjusted and the opposite driver does not get dazzled,then,what is the fuss all about?Great work,btw.
Sad end indeed - the LED's look like they have less bleed/overspill compared to incandescent. I drive a van and get blinded by SUV's all of the time; yet LEDs are allowed - but people are whinging about a thoughtful upgrade to your Eunos that isn't going to blind anyone!?
Can you get H4's with LED highbeam, and incandescent dip beam?
I dont think so, the technology is so different, theres no glass capsule on the LEDs
I suppose the only other alternative is to have a pair of LED driving lights mounted on the front for highbeam or off-public-highway use @@furiousdriving
Hey Matt, forget LED, and go straight to Laser 😁😁😁
The GCM youtube channel gives good guidance with his Police officer friend giving us the right insight into the correct regulations as regard to upgraded lights on the video The law and regulations on upgraded lights - HID's, LED's Tinted lights underglow DRL's and more
Let's leave the legality for a minute. Let's talk about taste. I prefer the yellower halogen light on pre 00's cars. I just looks better and fit the car more I feel.
Think your last bulbs colourwise look better on the MX-5 :)
You can get warm white bulbs.. classiccarleds does them.
I don't really see the point of having side light bulbs in the MX-5 headlights, as when just the side lights are on aren't the headlights in the down position?
I'd say because your headlights have the beam deflectors in the lens as opposed to in the reflector on more modern units, LED bulbs will work fine.
you can put the lights up without the headlights on, so just a glow