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The SL1 bulb reviews for the F150 have been pretty much universally great, for both low and high beams. The only less than satisfactory high beam review I can remember ended up being because the bulb was not properly seated when installed.
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I looked into this also. There were two reasons I wanted to switch out the high beams: 1. change to a bulb that doesn't give off a warm yellowish look, 2. go to a stronger bulb to improve vision farther down the road. The LEDs do get rid of the yellowish look since the kelvin temperature is much better (whiter), but I could not find an LED bulb that had any more lumens (brightness) than the OEM. For $80 and up I decided stay with the OEMs until something better comes along. If such has, let me know.
I looked into this also. There were two reasons I wanted to switch out the high beams: 1. change to a bulb that doesn't give off a warm yellowish look, 2. go to a stronger bulb to improve vision farther down the road. The LEDs do get rid of the yellowish look since the kelvin temperature is much better (whiter), but I could not find an LED bulb that had any more lumens (brightness) than the OEM. For $80 and up I decided stay with the OEMs until something better comes along. If such has, let me know.
Our SL1 was designed specifically to utilize the OEM headlight optics correctly, and produce more hotspot lux. They are a true upgrade in terms of usable output down road, while maintaining the same output pattern as your OEM bulbs.
They are also 100% plug and play, made in St. Louis, and backed with a 3-year limited warranty.
These guys have a 20% off sale for July 4 so I ordered a set of the Hi beams yesterday. Still calling for 6-8 week delivery so will update when I get them and also when I get them installed.
Guinea pig here.
Just received notice that the SL1 High beams shipped today and should arrive on Friday the 13th. That was a week to ship versus the 6 to 8 week on their website. How about that?
Our SL1 was designed specifically to utilize the OEM headlight optics correctly, and produce more hotspot lux. They are a true upgrade in terms of usable output down road, while maintaining the same output pattern as your OEM bulbs.
They are also 100% plug and play, made in St. Louis, and backed with a 3-year limited warranty.
The SL1 H9 lights have arrived and been installed. Took the car out on Saturday night to see if they are an improvement over the HID I had installed previously. I must say I was impressed. The color difference was night and day and not to mention no warm up time for bright lights. The old Corvette Mods HID set was always too blue.
The Diode Dynamics lights seem to throw the light pretty far down the road as road signs and reflectors pop as they did not before. Fairly wide spread of light to the sides also. I will take the car out on one of my favorite roads that has no traffic at night and do a better evaluation as I have done that road many times and have a good idea of where things are and how they do or don't light up and has long straights for lighting down the road.
I think these bulbs are a winner. Its been so long since I had the stock halogens installed I really have no comparo to those but best I remember they weren't all that good. Installation could not be easier. If you can unplug and twist a bulb in a socket then you can do this. The lights do go inside the stock boot without modification but I could not get them to seat back into their channels. The bulbs push on the boot just enough that they want to slip out of their channels so I took a piece of wood and wedged between the top of the boot and the fender to anchor the top of the boot into its channel. The rest of the boot then fit as it should. I have an 05 model so not sure if all the boots are the same on c6's.
Overall I am happy with the lights and actually have some bright lights now. By the way, the bulbs arrived one week after I ordered them, not the 6 to 8 weeks as shown on the website.
The SL1 H9 lights have arrived and been installed. Took the car out on Saturday night to see if they are an improvement over the HID I had installed previously. I must say I was impressed. The color difference was night and day and not to mention no warm up time for bright lights. The old Corvette Mods HID set was always too blue.
The Diode Dynamics lights seem to throw the light pretty far down the road as road signs and reflectors pop as they did not before. Fairly wide spread of light to the sides also. I will take the car out on one of my favorite roads that has no traffic at night and do a better evaluation as I have done that road many times and have a good idea of where things are and how they do or don't light up and has long straights for lighting down the road.
I think these bulbs are a winner. Its been so long since I had the stock halogens installed I really have no comparo to those but best I remember they weren't all that good. Installation could not be easier. If you can unplug and twist a bulb in a socket then you can do this. The lights do go inside the stock boot without modification but I could not get them to seat back into their channels. The bulbs push on the boot just enough that they want to slip out of their channels so I took a piece of wood and wedged between the top of the boot and the fender to anchor the top of the boot into its channel. The rest of the boot then fit as it should. I have an 05 model so not sure if all the boots are the same on c6's.
Overall Iam happy with the lights and actually have some bright lights now. By the way, the bulbs arrived one week after I ordered them, not the 6 to 8 weeks as shown on the website.
So the Dust Covers do not fit over them like they said they would ?
So the Dust Covers do not fit over them like they said they would ?
The dust covers will fit over the bulbs but the bulb pushes on the cover just enough to keep it from staying in the cover track. I wedged a small piece of wood between the fender and the top of the boot and it fit fine. Just needs a little help at the top of the boot. Not sure if all the boots on c6's are the same but for the much greater light output compared to what I had its no big deal.
You could probably do the same thing using a dab of silicone on the boot to hold it in its track. I just didn't have any in the shop at the time.
The dust covers will fit over the bulbs but the bulb pushes on the cover just enough to keep it from staying in the cover track. I wedged a small piece of wood between the fender and the top of the boot and it fit fine. Just needs a little help at the top of the boot. Not sure if all the boots on c6's are the same but for the much greater light output compared to what I had its no big deal.
You could probably do the same thing using a dab of silicone on the boot to hold it in its track. I just didn't have any in the shop at the time.
I am glad you are happy with them. See post #7. Peace.
I too ordered some on the 4th. They arrived just a couple of weeks later, and unfortunately my car is in Arizona as I work in Washington and can only get home one weekend a month. I'll install them during the next trip to see how they work out.
I also have a 2015 Equinox I use in Washington as my DD. The plus is it has projector lights, the minus is they are halogen and my research for converting to HID is not good. The classic "sure the bulbs will fit but there is no control over the light pattern" problem we see so often these days on conversions. I'd be interested in trying LED's if the light pattern remains under control, but not so sure I want to part with $150 for the experiment since I drive it mostly on city streets where there is a lot of street lighting to help out.
As others have stated, the high-beams on the C6 are indeed an H9 bulb size. The main issue with using an HID setup in the high beam housing is that you won't be able to flash your high-beams when needed since they have a warm up time.
After over two long years of engineering development, extensive testing, and production tooling, we've finally released our new SL1 LED headlight replacements. They are manufactured here in St. Louis, Missouri (100% USA made!), and will do an excellent job utilizing the factory headlight's optics to maintain a safe, OEM output pattern while producing a solid increase in usable output down the road.
Our engineering team utilized advanced optical modeling software to aid in the design of the SL1.
The SL1 is also a low-profile design, which will fit inside the factory dust cap cover without any modifications required.
Did I mention it's 100% USA Made?
We are still looking for a C6 to bring into our studio here in St. Louis for comparison photos and installation videos.
Thanks!
Nick C.
I received my High Beam LED's and like mentioned the dust cover doesn't fit on my 05 C6 like they stated above (in red lettering). Their web site also states that no modification is needed which as myself and others have stated is not the case. I wish they could come up with a fix such as possibly offering a larger dust cap because I do like these better than any other alternative or they need to correct their web site accordingly, The following is from their web site concerning fitment of these for my car.
Fitment. With its patent-pending design, the SL1 LED fits where other bulbs won't, without cutting or modification. There's no hanging metal straps, just a compact bulb that plugs right in, with a nylon-reinforced shroud. Only slightly larger than a standard halogen bulb, it fits behind dust caps and in tight spaces. The base sizes are keyed for exact applications, not one-size-fits-all, and the compact driver easily tucks away.
I received my High Beam LED's and like mentioned the dust cover doesn't fit on my 05 C6 like they stated above (in red lettering). Their web site also states that no modification is needed which as myself and others have stated is not the case. I wish they could come up with a fix such as possibly offering a larger dust cap because I do like these better than any other alternative or they need to correct their web site accordingly, The following is from their web site concerning fitment of these for my car.
Fitment. With its patent-pending design, the SL1 LED fits where other bulbs won't, without cutting or modification. There's no hanging metal straps, just a compact bulb that plugs right in, with a nylon-reinforced shroud. Only slightly larger than a standard halogen bulb, it fits behind dust caps and in tight spaces. The base sizes are keyed for exact applications, not one-size-fits-all, and the compact driver easily tucks away.
I wonder if the boots on the high beam bulbs aren't just a poor design and fit to begin with. This summer I decided to try a set of PIAA halogen bulbs to improve my stock high beams that have always been a disappointment to me. I chose to go that route since I didn't want to leave the lamp housings uncovered as required with most LED conversions and also was leery of some of the conversions since the whole headlight upgrade arena seems to by like a wild west free for all with many presenting a blinding hazard to oncoming traffic since I'm frequently encountering these lately as well as cars following me that almost give me a sunburn on the back of my neck.
When I went to install my new PIAA bulbs I was surprised to have found the dust covers on both sides had fallen off and were lodged behind the fender liners. That also explained why the inside of my headlight housing have started to appear dusty.
I wonder if the boots on the high beam bulbs aren't just a poor design and fit to begin with. This summer I decided to try a set of PIAA halogen bulbs to improve my stock high beams that have always been a disappointment to me. I chose to go that route since I didn't want to leave the lamp housings uncovered as required with most LED conversions and also was leery of some of the conversions since the whole headlight upgrade arena seems to by like a wild west free for all with many presenting a blinding hazard to oncoming traffic since I'm frequently encountering these lately as well as cars following me that almost give me a sunburn on the back of my neck.
When I went to install my new PIAA bulbs I was surprised to have found the dust covers on both sides had fallen off and were lodged behind the fender liners. That also explained why the inside of my headlight housing have started to appear dusty.
Could be but I never had them come off with the stock bulbs.
I received my High Beam LED's and like mentioned the dust cover doesn't fit on my 05 C6 like they stated above (in red lettering). Their web site also states that no modification is needed which as myself and others have stated is not the case. I wish they could come up with a fix such as possibly offering a larger dust cap because I do like these better than any other alternative or they need to correct their web site accordingly, The following is from their web site concerning fitment of these for my car.
Fitment. With its patent-pending design, the SL1 LED fits where other bulbs won't, without cutting or modification. There's no hanging metal straps, just a compact bulb that plugs right in, with a nylon-reinforced shroud. Only slightly larger than a standard halogen bulb, it fits behind dust caps and in tight spaces. The base sizes are keyed for exact applications, not one-size-fits-all, and the compact driver easily tucks away.
Thank you for posting this, I'm sincerely sorry you're experiencing issues with our bulb fitment. I've passed your feedback along to our service and engineering team, and am waiting for a response. In the meantime, don't hesitate to give us a call at 314-205-3033 Monday-Friday 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. CST, or shoot us an email at contact@diodedynamics.com, if you decide that an exchange or return is needed.
I'm glad you like the bulbs, but again, I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Thank you for posting this, I'm sincerely sorry you're experiencing issues with our bulb fitment. I've passed your feedback along to our service and engineering team, and am waiting for a response. In the meantime, don't hesitate to give us a call at 314-205-3033 Monday-Friday 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. CST, or shoot us an email at contact@diodedynamics.com, if you decide that an exchange or return is needed.
I'm glad you like the bulbs, but again, I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Thank you!
Jake H.
Diode Dynamics
I would suggest you look into making an aftermarket cap that's a little larger than the stock one that will accommodate these bulbs, and offer those for sale or supply them in conjunction with your bulbs. I think you could make some or have some made for you that are injection molded pretty cheaply. If we had that option I'd be more than happy to keep the bulbs. Please let us know what your service and engineering team comes up with, and I'll just hang onto the bulbs for now until we hear back from you.
I would suggest you look into making an aftermarket cap that's a little larger than the stock one that will accommodate these bulbs, and offer those for sale or supply them in conjunction with your bulbs. I think you could make some or have some made for you that are injection molded pretty cheaply. If we had that option I'd be more than happy to keep the bulbs. Please let us know what your service and engineering team comes up with, and I'll just hang onto the bulbs for now until we hear back from you.
I'll definitely be passing that idea along! For the time being, they may simply need to look into changing the listing while they investigate and begin looking into a possible solution. Unfortunately, as I don't have a timeframe for this, the best route for you in the short term may be to return the bulbs, as I don't wait to keep you waiting with bulbs that you aren't using.
I received my High Beam LED's and like mentioned the dust cover doesn't fit on my 05 C6 like they stated above (in red lettering). Their web site also states that no modification is needed which as myself and others have stated is not the case. I wish they could come up with a fix such as possibly offering a larger dust cap because I do like these better than any other alternative or they need to correct their web site accordingly, The following is from their web site concerning fitment of these for my car.
Fitment. With its patent-pending design, the SL1 LED fits where other bulbs won't, without cutting or modification. There's no hanging metal straps, just a compact bulb that plugs right in, with a nylon-reinforced shroud. Only slightly larger than a standard halogen bulb, it fits behind dust caps and in tight spaces. The base sizes are keyed for exact applications, not one-size-fits-all, and the compact driver easily tucks away.
I had the same issue, I tried for 30 minutes to reinstall the dust cap securely to no avail. When I reinstalled the original, the dust cap for perfectly. Living in the Southwest, dust is an issue. In Phoenix it's like talcum powder making dust caps mandatory. I returned them to Diode Dynamics who promptly refunded my money. I hope they can get the dust cap issue resolved, the LED high beams are nice and bright for those dark roads.