Cayman LED headlights

Has anyone replaced their 987 Cayman S low beam headlights with LED bulbs ? I tried using the Headlight Experts online configuration and was sent 4 units for close to $300. When contacted, they replied, “The website is only as smart as the user,” so I promptly returned them. They refunded approx 70% of the purchase price, so beware, Headlight Experts are only experts at ripping off customers. After combing the web, I can’t seem to find any reliable info on LED low-beam replacements. Anyone have a suggestion? Many thanks in advance.

What lights are installed currently? If they are Halogen, I replaced all of my exterior lighting plus frunk and trunk with LED ’s. If you have bi-xenon or other, you’ll need other options, but I’m happy with mine so far.

Thanks so much, Chuck, but believe mine are the bi-xenon. I need to check the build sheet— just purchased this 987 last month. Appreciate your prompt reply.

If you've got bi-xenon then the lows and highs are both xenon (with a shutter) and putting an LED in there would be a downgrade. There's also the extra halogen fill/flash light, I think. That's halogen and I'd just leave it as such.

Don't forget your fogs, I put LED 's in there too. Use them early in the am during dawn, they work and look great.

Thanks, Gubi, this clears up a multitude of misinformation recieved (especially from those thieves at Headlight Experts —-rot in Hell). Looked up the build sheet and in fact DO have the bi-coming. Perhaps just replacing the dull low beams with bi-coming with give me some nightime clarity. Appreciate you clearing up (!) this issue for me, thanks again.

Thanks to apple’s auto correct, bi-xenon was changed to bi-coming (whatever that is) so will follow that path! Much obliged

Back on-topic. Bi-xenon headlights have headlight washer jets in the bumper. I believe that's required by law in the US. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that you won't find washers on halogen headlights . BTW, vendors commonly charge a restocking fee with returns. Some electrical parts are not even returnable since they would have to test them before reselling them (even if you claim you didn't install them). I don't know how you can expect the vendor to know which type of headlights you have unless they asked for your VIN to verify fitment.

I swapped all of them, hi, lo, fogs, parking, side markers, reverse lights. They are so much brighter and clearer. Backing into my garage at night, the reverse lights illuminate my whole driveway and garage. Additionally, where the Euros only use a single rear fog, I was able to modify the passenger side rear light assembly to add the rear fog there. I rarely use them, but on the highway in a heavy thunderstorm or foggy conditions, I know my car will be seen at a greater distance from the rear, hopefully avoiding getting rear-ended.

Question: Why not just install fresh Xenon bulbs in your car? That might solve the dimness problem and give you a nice clean whitish light. With that out of the way, I have the non-xenon headlight units (i.e., halogen projectors), and installed LED bulbs from DDM Tuning. They're fantastic, and have been 100% reliable in the year and a half that I've had them installed. DDM has a wide range of forwarding lighting models, so best to do some research to figure out what you want to prioritize. I went with the SaberProX 55W Accu/V2 for both my Porsche and my Mazda daily driver, and love them. A few tips: 1. DDM's 6000K (crystal white) is pure white, without a hint of blue. It's perfect, and exactly what I wanted 2. Stick with a 50W to 65W max to reduce the risk of canbus errors. I believe the factory halogen lights draw ~55W. The Xenons probably draw more (on startup) but may have a lower draw in steady state operation. 3. Stick to around 11,000 (ideal) to 12,500 lumens (max) from a reputable manufacturer to avoid the risk of blinding oncoming traffic and/or attracting a traffic stop/tickets. There's a trend among vendors, especially on Amazon, to claim ridiculously high lumens (e.g., 50000, 75000, 90000, etc.) While the claims are overstated, super bright bulbs will be a danger on the road and draw unwanted attention to you. Standard halogens output around 3,500 lumens, so a ~12,000 lumen bulb is theoretically 3X as bright to begin with, which is plenty to be able to see well on the road. You really don't need anything more. 4. Try to find a bulb that is designed to be as close to halogen as possible in terms of where the filament/LEDs are located, as well as the overall size. It'll give you a better beam pattern and minimize the light scatter that's so problematic for other drivers. DDM has have a couple of big sales each year (around July 4th and Black Friday) where you can get a substantial discount of their retail prices.

I've moved this over to the 987 electronics subforum, where I believe you'll find other discussions on headlights , LEDs , xenon.

Yes, I have replaced mine with Philips Ultinion Pro 9200 LEDs on my last two 987s. You also need Canbus adapters. Both worked really well - noticeably brighter, and a much nicer, Xenon-like colour temperature.

When I swapped my original lights for LED I added in-line resistors for some to avoid error messages. What did you use for Canbus adapters, and where did you add them?

Full thread about LEDs here: https://www.planet-9.com/threads/halogen-h7-to-auxito-led-plug-play.257654/ The OP and myself had great luck with the Auxito LEDs... though Foodbiker apparently is having some issues. I still have no codes to-date with my LED lows and highs.

Just get some premium xenon bulbs like osram nightbreakers and call it a day. I put them in both my cars because they are a bright crisp white and are pretty universally regarded as one of the brightest

To put it as nicely as I can, the people at 'Headlight Experts' are bunch of extremely rude condescending jerks! Their ads on Facebook look convincing but, when I ordered some LED bulbs for my old Ford Focus ST, they simply didn't fit. I contacted them. They told me I needed special adapter clips which didn't even fit! Then they told me I didn't know what I was doing.. that got ugly fast! I paid with Visa. I contacted Visa who did an investigation. Visa stopped payment to them and I got a full refund. Very low ratings on Trust Pilot as well. So maybe try your local Advance Auto Parts or another local parts store you trust. I did get replacement LED bulbs from my local AAP which fit and work well. I would have responded sooner but it usually takes about two or three days to get my Planet 9 forum email..

Appreciate your confirmation about HE and will follow up with Apple Pay to see about the missing 30% of my refund. Seems the forum has steered me away form the LED conversion. I may just need new low beam bulbs —- the high beams are fantastic from my point of view, but not so much for oncoming traffic. Thanks!

Thanks, Gubi, I’m now convinced to stick with the xenons and may just need a new low-beam bulb. Appreciate the advice!

If you have the bixenon (HID bulb with a shutter for hi/lo) - a set of new bulbs - stock ones - might just brighten things up enough to do away with the need for a more exotic bulb. The HID bulbs do darken with age. By 100k miles you're down about 50% light output. If you do buy them - buy them from a reputable source. I would normally suggest powerbulbs.com in the UK (they ship worldwide) - but I have no idea what tarrifts will do to the pricing. There are lots of Chinese ripoff-clone HID bulbs out there, they look almost perfect (as good as the good Rolex Chinese clone watches ..) I suspect Amazon if you're buying from Amazon (and not an ourside vendor) will be the real thing, and if not - returns are easy. I replaced them on my 2011 Cayenne at about 110k miles - and was surprised how much the lighting improved.

I like headlight revolution they seem knowledgeable. Good luck!

I have a 2014 Porsche 981 Cayman . I replaced the factory setup with LED bulbs — H7 for the low beams and H9 for the high beams. I purchased what was labeled as an “all-in-one” LED kit, which is completely plug -and-play with no external ballast or additional wiring required. They have lasted for at least 10 years.

I bought a carbon duck bill spoiler on Rennmeister LLC and I’m satisfied. They sell reconditioned headlights as well as a lot of other cool looking products,and I’m going to pull the trigger on those soon

After fitting them to my car, I've created a video to address: Brightness comparison halogen vs LED Fitment including Canbus adapters Common issues I hope it helps, let me know if you have any questions.

It might be helpful to provide a link to the CanBus adaptor, and the lights themselves. That said - on my '09 987.2 - I've fitted multiple LED elements (replacing the halogens), and have never had an error message as a result. It seems odd since I would think your 2010 would use the same bulb monitoring that my '09 does. The warning is normally generated if no continuous path is detected through the headlight connection, ie - with the halogen bulb, a pulsed signal will pass through the filament and be detected at the other end of the circuit to the control driver. That's the scheme most automakers now use, they don't rely on just current draw to monitor the bulbs since that won't work without turning the light on. Sending a pulse through (short enough that the bulb doesn't light) works if the bulb is on or off with the halogen. On both LED units I've tried, the cooling fan is wired in parallel to the LEDs , and it provides the needed path for the pulse signal to be detected at the negative end of the connection. Curious - I won't what's different. I don't believe I have DLR turned on, so perhaps that's the reason?

I didn't get error messages, but I did get dimming without the Canbus units. Links are in the vid description, also here (UK links, but you can hopefully find the same parts abroad): Philips Ultinion Pro 9200 Philips Canbus adapters