Installed LED fog bezel and LED switchback in 2016 CX-5

[viprez586]

Osram nightbreaker. Highly recommend them.
I put DDM hids in the low beams but thec projector still scatters light. Led bulb options also make dark spots. Halogen bulbs or a true retrofit is the only safe and practical resolution.

 

[kdaug]

Osram nightbreaker. Highly recommend them.
I put DDM hids in the low beams but thec projector still scatters light. Led bulb options also make dark spots. Halogen bulbs or a true retrofit is the only safe and practical resolution.

Have you ever used the Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited halogen model? The only other halogen upgrade that I have seen some fair reviews for is the Philips Xtreme Vision +130%, BUT, like many other halogen upgrades with whiter light output, the longevity of the bulb is much shorter than standard oem halogens. If the Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited had decent longevity(at least 2-3 years) I'd give them a try. I'd like to replace both my low and high beam halogen bulbs but would prefer NOT to be replacing 4 bulbs every 2-3 years!!

 

[kdaug]

I have now bitten the bullet after researching ad naseum what upgrade of halogens to use for my high and low beams. I finally settled on the Philips Crystal Vision Ultra's with a supposed output of 4000K. I did compare their output colour to my oem bulbs and they do look marginally whiter. I was concerned about their reported shorter life span as compared to the oem variety, but since I rarely use my high beams and my DRL's have been disabled with my LED bezel addition I think I should get more then the 1+ years out of them that many others report. The auto parts dealer I bought them from said that I could return them to their store for a refund any time up to a year if I am unhappy with them or 1/both of them fail, AND, if one or both should fail between 1-2 years that Phillips would refund my money. I paid less for these 4 bulbs than I would for an HID low beam upgrade, so, at the moment I'm happy.

 

[calebian21]

Did you notice a lot of difference when you installed the new fog lights in usable light? The stock fog lights are a joke.

 

[tomcat1446]

Did you notice a lot of difference when you installed the new fog lights in usable light? The stock fog lights are a joke.

like night and day, the new fog lights supplement the main headlights very well and shoot light just as far. I lined up right next to a CX-5 with tech LED and mine were brighter and further. best way to see for yourself is the video I posted above, that's with HID in main projector housing and HID in foglight housing no shroud.

 

[calebian21]

I installed a LED surround bezel(around my foglights) on my 2014 GT non-TECH and since these fog light LED surrounds have become my new DRL's I removed fuse #51 (which disengaged the halogen DRL's but not the highbeams) as I didn't want my new LED's AND my old halogen DRL's on at the same time. My LED's also dim when I turn on my lowbeams or highbeams.

Now that I've resolved the yellowish DRL issue I'd like to take the next step and update both my lowbeam, highbeam and foglight bulbs in that order. With the unfortunate short life of the "hotter burning" halogens(Sylvania Ultra and Phillips Crystal Vision Ultra for example) that many have complained about, I'm thinking that they may be a waste of money if I'd have to replace them every year or so. With the poor beam distance(despite a much whiter light and longer lasting bulb) of many/all LED's that several other forum posters have commented on it would seem that HID's may be my best option. BUT, is this the case for all 3 lights.

For those of you who have replaced any of these bulbs(particularly in the non-Tech CX-5 model) I'd be interested to know what your recommendations are for brands and types for each of the 3 applications(lowbeam, highbeam and fog light), particularly that are "Plug and Play".

I use a DDM Ultra HID kit for my low beams and couldn't be happier. I made the mistake of going with HID for my high beams. They have a delay until full brightness which makes them impractical for high beams. Eventually I will have to switch them to LED. I can post a pic of my lights if you'd like.

 

[calebian21]

like night and day, the new fog lights supplement the main headlights very well and shoot light just as far. I lined up right next to a CX-5 with tech LED and mine were brighter and further. best way to see for yourself is the video I posted above, that's with HID in main projector housing and HID in foglight housing no shroud.

I just watched it and wow you're right, there is a huge difference. Think I might do this, thanks.

 

[eqlso]

For the hyperflash issue, does it matter which turn signal it is installed on? I installed leds on both the front and rear turn signals. I installed a load resistor on the passenger rear turn signal but it looked like it did nothing. Wondering if I just need to buy more resistors.

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[Chris_Top_Her]

For the hyperflash issue, does it matter which turn signal it is installed on? I installed leds on both the front and rear turn signals. I installed a load resistor on the passenger rear turn signal but it looked like it did nothing. Wondering if I just need to buy more resistors.

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You need a resistor for each blinking bulb

 

[eqlso]

So I finally got my hands on 4 resistors. The rears were easy to install as there is plenty of space. Is there an easier way to install the front ones? I removed the wheel liner but the spacing is really tight. I soldered the rear ones, and wanted to solder the front ones, but I can barely get my hands in there, let alone a soldering iron.

 

[yrwei52]

Installing switchback resistors to fix hyperflashing

So I finally got my hands on 4 resistors. The rears were easy to install as there is plenty of space. Is there an easier way to install the front ones? I removed the wheel liner but the spacing is really tight. I soldered the rear ones, and wanted to solder the front ones, but I can barely get my hands in there, let alone a soldering iron.

Yeah the space is tight at front unless you can manage to pull the whole liner out. By looking at pictures in post #34 of this thread, OP tomcat1446 soldered some wires onto resister and spliced the wires to factory wiring harness. I thought that is a better way and you can remove those spliced connectors if needed without doing too much damage to factory wiring harness.

 

[Wobbs91]

So I finally got my hands on 4 resistors. The rears were easy to install as there is plenty of space. Is there an easier way to install the front ones? I removed the wheel liner but the spacing is really tight. I soldered the rear ones, and wanted to solder the front ones, but I can barely get my hands in there, let alone a soldering iron.

Easier? Probably not. Better? Definitely

I mounted resistors the the bottom of the headlight. There is an emplty mounting space (for HID balast?) that I made brackets for on the plasma cutter at work and used to mount resistors. Will make headlight removal easy should you ever need it.

 

[eqlso]

Thanks for the help. Got it installed and they work great. For people with 2016 Led headlights, blue is ground, red/white is the turn signal.

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