Anyone else having horrible luck with LifetimeLED?

[Jman423]

I have been through countless warranty exchanges in 3 different vehicles and many different bulb models. I've had far better luck with the same style bulbs from Amazon that are 1/3 the price, and since I have to dismantle half of the front end (F-150) to change the bulb, it is getting severely annoying. To top that, I have to have a hold put on my credit card to get another bulb because there is no way I'm going to tear the front end apart more than once. Fans are failing, LEDs are failing, and drivers are failing.

Any similar experiences? Anyone with anything other brands or solutions that they're happy with?

/rant off

 

[bluestinger90]

I assume you're talking about led headlight bulbs?

I've researched various LED bulbs and there's nothing better than HIDS when you factor in cost and performance. HID bulbs last longer, and if properly wired up, HID ballasts will last forever, provided it's a decent ballast to begin with.

In my opinion, the technology just isn't mature enough for them to be the preferred choice.

Fan failure = bulb failure.
No fan = massive heat = led failure.

There's just no reliable way to remove the heat LEDS produce at the power ratings they need to be driven at to provide light equal to or better than halogen bulbs.

The best bet would be to stick with HIDS, run off a dedicated relay harness, in a projector headlight setup.

 

[buddek09]

I have never switched my headlights to LED, though I have thought about it. One brand you might want to check out is VLEDS. I think they just recently revamped their LED headlight bulbs. I haven't looked into them but have used a bunch of their other LED products and don't have any complaints. I was one of the first to buy their V3 Triton turn signals, gen 1's. I've had them for over 5 years and have been installed on 3 different vehicles now. I'll be retiring them as soon as I have a chance to install the new V6 Tritons they just came out with. I have been using their products for over 7 years now and have had very little problems. The problems I did have were from older products which have been discontinued or have been revamped and redesigned to improve them. They have a $30 off sale and free shipping on LED headlight bulbs right now.

I've had several friends that had HID's, even spent big money on high quality ones and getting them properly wired up. They've all stopped using them and switched back to regular halogen bulbs due to ballast failures.

 

[Jman423]

Yes, I’m sorry... I didn’t specify headlight bulbs. I was seeing red because I just put the offending bulb in two weeks ago, and it’s no simple process. I’ve always steered clear of HID because of the horror stories, although, I’m more than qualified to properly wire them up, but I just don’t have confidence in the systems because of a lack of experience.

However, my brain has trouble accepting the logic of paying a premium for something and getting the same performance that can be found from the knock-offs. I understand the limitations of the technology, but it's still frustrating!

 

[Station 3]

TITAN led headlights have not given me any problems in the past 2 years installed in my truck. they cost me about $150 for the pair installed at my local off road truck shop. They are so damn bright and good that I bought a pair for my crown vic patrol car. So far no failures and brighter than my generic off road led lightbar I have on my grill of my pick up truck. The only thing I don't like is they don't work well with wig wags I had to disable that function on my patrol car since the led headlights and wig wags don't like to play with each other.

 

[Station 3]

And HID lights are horrible they fail a lot I conduct a crap load of traffic stops "Defective equipment" on those dropped chevy pick up trucks with rims that are atrociously popular down here in South Texas and about %90 of them have HID lights and one burnt out so they get a ticket.

 

[SafetyLighting]

FWIW, I have installed probably 100 pairs of LED headlights in the last four years. I have used Atomic and Race Sport in the past. In the last 18 months I have switched to using Putco exclusively. They are more expensive than others but I have had far less issues than the other manufacturers. No fans and they have low profile models that work in dodge vehicles. I also have been using the Putco's in my 16 Charger for the last year with no issues.

 

[Jman423]

I appreciate the feedback. I’m in the market to replace these. It’s bad when I’ve decided to toss something in the trash that has a lifetime warranty and costs this much, but the days of reaching under the hood and popping out a headlight bulb are behind us in these newer vehicles, and an equipment failure ticket on top of a pair of headlights that cost $200+ is what I’m trying to avoid here.