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LED Low/High Beams for Sorento 2014

11K views 17 replies 4 participants last post by  bluezeka 
#1 ·
I browsed this subject as I have Kia Sorento 2014 and I'm thinking of buying LED bulbs. Several discussions but I still miss some info.

Nobody mentioned installations issues: the dust lid is very close to the back of the standard H7 bulb. The LED bulbs are approx 4 cm longer which means you can't put back the dust lid.

Any thoughts about NOT putting the dust lid back? Bad idea? Any other solution?

I'd appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
It's worse than that... you don't have to worry about the dust cover because there is no way to fasten an H7 LED bulb into the socket. The mount used by Kia is different from normal H7 bulbs. Even HIDs require adapters but I don't know of anyone making adapters for LED.
 
#3 ·
Wow

Wow, I had no idea... I wonder how then some of the web sites sell LED bulbs for Sorento without any warning that you can't mount the bulb. The let you pick your car manufacturer, model and year and they offer all the replacement bulbs but there is only a warning that the bulb is longer than standard H7, nothing about mounting socket problem.
 
#6 ·
If you're determined, anything is possible with enough time and money. You'd simply have to come up with a way to secure the bulb, and deal with the additional length. You might be able to hack the covers and extend them, but I'd make sure they would still fit.

I like LED but went with HID on low beams only, with cheap adapters from eBay. The entire setup fits inside the headlight assembly so there's no exposed wiring. With HID low, I rarely need high beam.
 
#7 ·
I too ended up going with HID. I had bought H7 LEDs for the Sorento because I really liked the H9 ones I installed in my Mustang but after spending an entire weekend trying to figure out how to fasten them, I just gave up, returned them and installed HIDs in the low beams. The fact that it has separate high and low beams helped with one of the disadvantages of HID... that they don't come on instantly and need several seconds to warm up. That would make the flash-to-pass feature essentially useless in a vehicle with a single projector (like my Mustang) but leaving halogen bulbs in the high beams works well.
 
#9 ·
I got mine from Diode Dynamics. You have to look up Hyundai Veloster because their listing incorrectly shows H11 for the '14-'15 Sorento. The Veloster listing shows the correct H7 application and includes the adapters at no extra charge. The kit costs $150 which is a bit more than some cheaper places but you will notice the quality construction immediately. You can also get the adapters on Amazon by searching "H7 HID adapter Kia" - they're about $8 for the pair.

You have two choices for the dust covers - you can put all the parts including the ballast into the headlight housing and use the factory dust cover or you can buy dust caps for $10/pair from Diode Dynamics with pre-drilled holes that fit the grommet that comes with their HID kit. I went with the new caps because I wanted the ballasts to have more air circulation but either way will work.

There are places with less expensive HID kits but you should be careful. The difference is in the ballast and a lot of the cheaper kits have ballasts that have been known to fail in relatively short order (DDM Tuning in particular is a place to avoid). V-LEDs is another good source for HID and LED lighting. They sell Morimoto HID kits which have a great reputation (but they cost the same $150 as DD).

Assuming you are buying a headlight upgrade for performance rather than just looks, you should get an appropriate color temperature. 4300K is the color of all factory HID kits... it's daylight white (still has a slight hint of yellow) which is the most effective color for maximum visibility. 5000K is a popular color that is pure white and the next most effective. 6000K is ice white (has a bit of blue in it) and although it is less effective, it's quite popular because people seem to like the look of the blue tint. Anything higher than that (8000K ice blue, 10000K blue, 12000K violet, etc.) is a complete waste of time if you want effective lighting. The difference is dramatic - a 5000K bulb produces about 3200 lumens, moving to 6000K drops the output by almost 15% to 2800 lumens. More than that, the human eye does not respond well to blue light and interprets it as glare making the higher color temperatures worse than even their lumen rating would indicate.
 
#13 ·
Go with the base model. What you're looking for is H7 low beam with the bulb holder adapter included. You could also use the '13-'16 Genesis Coupe which includes both the bulb adapter and the pre-drilled dust caps for the same $150 (you have to uncheck the $30 relay option). Or you can find the adapter separately using their part number "hidadapterh7" and the dust covers using their part number "dustcap-A".
 
#14 ·
Thank you for the info.

Now I have a dilema: I found some LED for which the manufacturer claims it can be mounted on Sorento

OPT7 LED High Beam Headlight Bulbs w/ Clear Arc-Beam Kit - H7 - 60w 7,000Lm 6K Cool White CREE - 2 Yr Warranty


amazon[dot]com[slash]dp[slash]B01ACOCKZ6 (sorry it won't let me post links).

I even posted a question and they replied that it will absolutely fit Kia Sorento.
 
#16 ·
Here - look at this adapter and how it will lock the HID bulb flange in place. This substitutes for the stock socket, which the eom bulb plugs into directly (the green circle indicates where they need to be cut or filed to pass the wired thru.)

The socket or adapter are inserted and twisted to lock in place with those three tabs you see. Without that, there is no way to secure the bulb.

 
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