Replacing halogens on 2016 CX5 Sport

Hi there, I am a recent owner of this SUV, very sporty and nice looking in my opinion, but not really happy with the low visibility given by the halogens.
I am planning to put HIDs lights, sounds like more recommended than LEDs. Can someone give me some advise on brands and models of HIDs to choose on, or maybe tell me if you are using a certain kit you can recommend?

Thanks in advance.
 
Morimoto appears to be a well-reviewed brand/supplier. I used one of their HID projector retrofit kits many years ago on one of my older cars, and it looked and performed very well. I purchased through theretrofitsource.com. There are a couple of kits I would consider: the XenonDepot kit for $150 or the Morimoto kit for $165. The XB kit comes with a 3 year warranty while the Morimoto kit comes with a 5 year warranty.

I've also heard good things about XenonDepot.com, which I think is owned by theretrofitsource.com.

With all that said, if you do upgrade your lighting to HID or LED, please take the time to re-aim your headlights to account for the larger spread of light. There are a bunch of guides on the internet that detail how to properly aim your headlights. If you don't re-aim your headlights, you may end up blinding oncoming traffic. More importantly, keep in mind that aftermarket HID and LED bulbs used in halogen housings are not compliant with DOT / FMVSS108 and thus not street legal for use in the USA. They will work just fine, but if you take your car in for an inspection, you may have to reinstall your OEM lighting to pass.
 
a quick search on the forum for "HID conversion" reveals


those should get you started.
 
The real, actual, STREET LEGAL and best of all DIRT CHEAP upgrade is to replace the original 9005 high beams with 9011 bulbs, and replace the H11 low beams with H9's.

You will have to do some very minor trimming of the tabs of the H9's and 9011's to make them fit, but it's trivial, and there are instructions all of the Net on where you have to trim.

The difference in light output with those bulbs over the stocks are nothing short of amazing.

Plus, like I said, they're dirt cheap! Just google for Philips Standard H9 and Philips Standard 9011. Amazon has them, as well as a bunch of other places. Expect to pay around $10 each. Yup! That's all they cost!
 
The real, actual, STREET LEGAL and best of all DIRT CHEAP upgrade is to replace the original 9005 high beams with 9011 bulbs, and replace the H11 low beams with H9's.

You will have to do some very minor trimming of the tabs of the H9's and 9011's to make them fit, but it's trivial, and there are instructions all of the Net on where you have to trim.

The difference in light output with those bulbs over the stocks are nothing short of amazing.

Plus, like I said, they're dirt cheap! Just google for Philips Standard H9 and Philips Standard 9011. Amazon has them, as well as a bunch of other places. Expect to pay around $10 each. Yup! That's all they cost!
“The H9 has a 65w (nominal) filament optimized for maximum luminance and flux at the expense of shorter lifespan. The H11 has a 55w (nominal) filament optimized for long life at the expense of lower luminance and flux. Both bulbs have equal filament precision, etc.”

There’re reports that the headlight wirings are melting due to higher current of 65W after switching from H11 to H9. I personally would choose those “high performance” H11 halogen bulbs, which keep the same wattage for safety reason.

The same on HB3 / 9005 and 9011. 9005 is 60 watt and 9011 is 65 watt, hence 9011 is brighter but the service life will be shorter.
 
I have done the swaps, using a Dremel to remove the tabs that allow the bulbs to fit in 9005 and 9006 sockets. The 9012 for 9006 lo/hi bulbs are brighter, they do last a shorter time, probably about two years. This was done on a 2009 Civic Si (I know, ancient history) with no wiring issues. They were about $20-30 a bulb, and we had found that you could get quality bulbs from John Deere for less than $15 because the tractors used 9012 or 9011, can't remember. We ended up replacing 9012 because of the low/high beam function was used more than the 9011, high beam. Little opportunity to use high beams in a suburban area, although they were also used for DRL at 45 or 65% power draw, can't remember.
 
I had used a TRS Morimoto kit in my wife's 2010 CX-9 and it was a fantastic upgrade and had zero issues with oncoming traffic.
 
@webarro the risk of messing up your wiring is cause for concern, and for that reason my official recommendation is to use the correct bulbs for the application (or a quality HID conversion kit). This is not to say that what @theblooms and @Chas have suggested will not work, obviously it has worked for them in the past. It's just not something I would personally risk on a fairly new car. I have done something similar on an old car, but it was 12 or 13 years old at the time and replacement harnesses would have been cheap (but didn't need them for the 2 years I continued to use that car).

Instead I would try an aftermarket bulb, maybe something like the Sylvania H11 XtraVision, Silverstar, or Silverstar Ultra bulbs. Or the Phillips H11 Vision, VisionPlus, or X-treme Vision bulbs. Usually you can get these from your local auto parts store, and if you aren't happy with them, you can return them and try a different set/brand.
 
Back in the day, WAY back, almost 20 years ago, I replaced my Integra halogen projector 9006 bulbs with Sylvania Silverstar 9005 bulbs modified to fit 9006. They were definitely brighter, and much more expensive. But the bulbs were blowing out every 3 months! The reason is that 9005 bulbs are rated for less than 100 hours lifespan.

Shortly after that I did a HID projector retrofit on that car, which it still has to this day. H11 projectors are much better than 9006, however, and they should work much better with an HID kit. One of these days I plan to get the Morimoto kit for our 2014 Touring.
 
If you're worried about messing up your harness (it's really a non-issue, but I get it), go the next step: make up a relay harness and drive the bulbs directly from the battery. Besides, you can get up to an extra volt going to be bulbs that way, increasing the light output even more!

A couple of standard 30A Bosch relays (1 each for low and high beams) and some harness adapters, you're talking $20 and an hour worth of work.
 
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