[jhontyrod]

Hello All,
I just bought the 2019 DS SE a week back and love the ride. I do have a question on the headlights. With the SE version, the head lights come with Halogen bulbs. The halogen bulbs are not bright enough. I want to upgrade it to LED bulbs. I spoke to the dealership and they told me that they can do nothing and I will have to live with it. When I was buying the car, I was told that everything is pretty much same compared to a HSE with the exception of panoramic roof and the fog light and few packages that I really did not care about. unfortunately they never pointed out the halogen headlight. I had test driven HSE and HSE Lux ..so was used to seeing the bright white lights

I was wondering how to I get brighter low beam, high beam LED lights and also add the fog lights to the car, Any recommendation?

 

[Desperado74]

I have a 2018 DS SE with Xenon Headlights Standard, no halogen, i'm pretty happy with the bright lights. I guess all SEs should have the Xenon lights...

 

[jutty]

Yes, you can absolutely change out your low beams. I just did it tonight. It takes about 10 minutes.
You'll need a decent flashlight and a long flat headed screw driver. You unscrew the large circular back covers of the headlight housings. Then use the screw driver to pop the grey wire connector tabs off the bottom of the halogen bulbs. Then a quarter turn will release the halogen bulb from the housing.
The LEDS I bought were plug and play. Simply plug the grey connectors from the truck into the new bulbs' connectors. Place the bulb itself into position and a quarter turn will lock them into place.

!!Look in through the front clear plastic of the headlight as you are placing the new bulbs, you can directly see how to turn/lock it into position!!!

Once the bulbs are in stuff in the wiring inside the housing right around the rear of the new bulb, then replace the circular rear covers on the housings. Simple.
I haven't done the high beams or the little tiny driving lights yet. Not sure about those as of yet. But I'm going to look into it.
I've attached a photo to show what the difference looks like with one original halogen and one new LED. They are supposed to be 280% brighter. I believe it. Nice easy upgrade to rid yourself of the crappy halogens. Incredible difference. Good luck. It's pretty easy.

Copy and paste the info below and go to Amazon. 78 bucks.

Qcheye
5.0 out of 5 stars 407 Reviews
H11 LED Headlight Bulbs - Philips Chips 13000Lm 6000K Cool White,H11(H8,H9) All-in-One Conversion Kit,Adjustable Beam - 2 Yr Warranty

 

[jutty]

My wife's truck is a '16. I'm not sure if the headlight housing is the same on a '19. Hopefully it is the same or very similar. If you can change the bulbs, (they have to be replaceable, what if one dies?) then you can put LEDs in.
The dealership is full of #[email protected]# if they say it's not possible. I don't believe that for a second.

 

[cartrucks]

@jutty Be careful about installing the LED bulbs. I changed all the halogens in my SE to LEDs as well, but I had to rotate the headlight adjustment screw a couple turns down as to not blind oncoming cars(my headlights are aimed 5 or so degrees below horizontal). From the factory, the headlights are aimed pretty high, and without the factory HID or LED cut-off lines, it is dangerously bright; the housing should also be cleaned periodically as the whiter light reflects road dirt and grime easier than halogens. All these responsibilities come with a simple headlamp swap and if you choose to swap in brighter lights, don't be negligent about the safety of other drivers on the road.
@jhontyrod The dealer probably deferred the question as retrofitting LED or HID bulbs is in a gray area of legality. If an accident occurs or if their customer receives a fix-it ticket because of non-DOL approved bulbs, they would be liable for the consequences. However, if you still want to install the aftermarket bulbs yourself, as long as you are aware of the responsibilities of the modification, I would go for it.

 

[jutty]

Cartrucks makes an excellent point. One does assume responsibility if the new bulbs aren't DOT approved. OP's post made it sound like the dealer said it was impossible, which isn't true at all. I taped off a high mark on my garage wall with the halogens and the new LEDs have an adjustment feature which I didn't see the need to use as the new beams were the same height in my case. I also had the wife drive behind me and the lights didn't seem bothersome in the rearview mirror.
I casually looked for an adjustment screw during installation and didn't see it. But it was like 3 degrees outside so I didn't spend too much time looking because my hands were frozen after changing the bulbs. But I'm glad you brought it up.

Where is that little adjustment screw located?

 

[cartrucks]

If you open the hood and look on the inside of the headlight assembly, you should see two green hex-shaped holes (above and below the low beam housing).

One is for adjusting it horizontally, the other is for vertical adjustment, I don't quite remember which is which but trial and error should work. When turning the screws, keep track of the number of rotations so you can turn it back if needed.

Not my Disco, but I marked the green hex screws in the attachment

 

[jutty]

Thanks for taking the time to do that. That's very helpful. I appreciate it.

 

[jutty]

Update! Low beam LED's, and tiny marker lights next to the low beams went in no problem. BUT, I ran into a snag with the high beam LED's. The original halogen bulb sits in a LR factory bulb socket/clip that specifically adapts to the back of the headlight housing and snaps in. (My thumb is touching this clip in the photo.) As you can see in the photo the new LED below it has a considerable heatsink. There's enough room inside the housing to fit the LED, but it doesn't clip into the factory receptacle at all. LED's that are powerful enough for high beams need a heatsink behind the bulb. This LED heatsink is in the exact position where the factory halogen bulb holder clips into the headlight housing and it's not the same shape, so you have zero stability. The bulb fires up fine but you can't fit these with any confidence without some more serious modification which I have no interest in doing.
They do make LED bulbs without heatsinks that are the exact size and shape of the original halogen bulb but they DO NOT put out enough light for a high beam. Anything with enough lumens needs a heatsink. So what's the plan then? I'm going to order 6000k halogens identical in shape and size to the original bulbs to match the color my low beam LED's, clip them into the factory receptacle, and call it good enough. Not an OCD solution, but it's my wife's truck and she won't even notice or care. Check the attached photo to see the LED next to the halogen sitting in the factory clip and it will be obvious to you why this doesn't work. I haven't taken the time to look for an LED that comes with a rear end that will fit in the factory clip and also puts out enough power to be useful. I doubt it exists, but you never know. Hopefully this helps people.

 

[jutty]

After more searching, there's direct fit H7 LED's on eBay that claim to be bright enough for high beam use. So maybe a portion of what I said before was inaccurate. I'll try some.