Full LED Suzuki Grand Vitara: a customer review

If you have always driven with xenon and then buy a new car without it, you miss it badly. In fact, it looks as if your lights are not even switched on. That is why our customer wanted LED lighting across the whole front of his Suzuki. And the result is well worth a look.

Full LED Suzuki Grand Vitara: why did you choose an LED kit?

I have always driven with xenon, and in my Vitara it was easier to fit an LED kit. Since the light output is nearly the same, I went for the Hilox LEDs, for my low beam, high beam and fog lights alike.

Which products did you install and why?

I only wanted to replace my low beam, which is what I came in for. In the end I left with the whole front done in LED lighting. It cost me more than half as much again, but I am very happy with the result.

Products used

• Low beam: H7 LED, Hilox Performance
• High beam: HB3/9005 LED, Hilox Performance
• Fog light: H11 (50W) LED, Hilox Performance
• Parking light: 4-SMD LED parking light

Low beam, high beam, fog light and parking light: what does each bulb do?

A complete LED front means replacing four different lighting functions. Each one has its own job, and often its own fitting too. In this Suzuki that is H7 for the low beam, HB3/9005 for the high beam, H11 for the fog lights and a small T10/W5W wedge bulb for the parking light.

• Low beam is the light you normally drive with in the dark. It has a sharp cut-off line, so you can see the road properly without dazzling oncoming drivers.
• High beam is for unlit roads with no oncoming or leading traffic. It throws light further and higher than the low beam.
• Fog light sits low in the bumper and gives a wide, flat beam. It is meant for poor visibility in fog, rain or snow.
• Parking light is the small position light inside the headlight unit. It gives little light itself, but it stands out next to a white LED headlight.

If you only replace the low beam, you often get a colour mismatch with the yellowish parking light and fog lights. That is exactly why the customer ended up doing the whole front. Which fitting you need is shown in the overview of LED low beam and high beam, with the LED fog lights and the LED parking light.

LED or xenon: what is the difference?

The customer drove with xenon for years and now chose LED after all. That is a logical choice when fitting xenon in your car is awkward. A xenon kit works with a ballast that supplies the high ignition voltage, and that ballast has to be tucked away in or behind the headlight. Xenon also needs a short warm-up before it reaches full brightness. An LED is at full strength instantly, even when you flash your high beam briefly.

On light output the two are close these days. According to the product details, the H7 XTR Black LED kit Hilox Evolution delivers 3,600 lumens per LED, instantly 3.5 times more light than halogen and just as powerful as xenon. The Luxeon Z ES LED chips from Lumileds (Philips) last up to 50,000 hours, 50 times longer than halogen and 12 times longer than xenon.

Still want xenon? Have a look at the xenon kits. If you go for LED, you will find all the kits in the XTR Black LED kits 3600LM category.

What you need to know about the XTR Black LED kits

The XTR Black is the 4th generation LED kit from Hilox and comes in the fittings D1S, D2S, D3S, H1, H3, H4, H7, H8, H9, H10, H11, H13, HB3/9005, HB4/9006, HB5/9007 and HIR2/9012. You choose between an Evolution and a Performance version, and between a Duo (two bulbs) and a Solo (one bulb, for a motorbike, say). So for this Suzuki there are kits for all three headlight functions: H7, HB3/9005 and H11.

According to the product details of the H7 XTR Black Evolution:

• 5700K: a white colour of light.
• Plug-N-Play installation, with no extra wiring or changes to the headlight.
• The LED can be rotated through 360 degrees, so you can set the beam pattern properly in both reflector and projector headlights.
• A Smart Cool IC chip with a Maglev fan stops the LED chips from burning out.
• IP68 waterproof, resistant to rain, splashes and dust.
• The Duo contains 2 bulbs of 36.2 mm, 2 drivers of 66 x 31.1 x 15.7 mm and 2 CAN-bus II modules (12V) of 70 x 38 x 23.5 mm.

Please note: according to the product details, LED bulbs with an H fitting designation cannot receive ECE approval or an E-mark, and they are intended for racing circuits and private land, not for public roads. According to Hilox, that applies to all brands.

How to swap the front for LED, step by step

1. Check the fittings. Look in the owner's manual or on the old bulb to see which fitting each lighting function uses. Low beam, high beam and fog light often each have a different one.
2. Measure the space. An LED kit has a driver and a CAN-bus module that you tuck away behind or beside the headlight. Check beforehand that there is enough room.
3. Remove the cover and the old bulb. Do this with the lights and ignition off, and let halogen bulbs cool down first.
4. Fit the LED. Place the LED in the fitting and turn it until the beam pattern is right. With the XTR Black that works through 360 degrees.
5. Connect the driver and CAN-bus module and route the cables neatly, so nothing touches hot or moving parts.
6. Test every function: low beam, high beam, fog light and parking light, and check that no warning appears on the dashboard.
7. Adjust the beam. Before fitting, park the car facing a wall, mark the cut-off line and check afterwards that it has stayed the same.

Have the beam adjusted after fitting and check that your car still meets the APK requirements (the Dutch roadworthiness test). If in doubt, ask the RDW (the Dutch vehicle authority) or your inspector.

Parking light in LED: the finishing touch

The parking light is the smallest bulb in the headlight, but it stands out at once if it is still burning yellow next to a white low beam. The customer chose a 4-SMD LED. Today the T10/W5W 9-SMD Power LED Hilox Evolution II is one of the parking light bulbs in the range, and in the LED parking light category you will also find BA9S and BA9XS versions. The T10/W5W is a wedge bulb without a base: you pull the old bulb straight out and push the LED in. If it does not work, turn it round, because an LED only works in one direction.