[veni vidi vici]

Has anyone replaced their 2009/2010 Sonata low beam H11 headlights with LEDs?

Most of my driving is city. High beam use is infrequent.

My night vision isn't what it used to be and I could use better brightness. Also hope to avoid troubles with fit which seems to be the most common reason for returns on LED replacements.

Any recommendations?

 

[2424Goldie]

I have done it with my 09 Sonata Limited. If you are looking for extra brightness right in front of the car LEDs are a good choice. However, the light doesn’t go as far as the OEM halogens and it’s quite a hassle to install since our cars use H11b bulbs and not H11 but still doable if you want.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Thanks. I had no idea that there was more than one type of H11 bulb. I'm off to Google that now. I'm still getting acquainted with the Sonata since I just bought used.

 

[2424Goldie]

The bulb itself is the same between the H11 and H11b so they still fit. The problem is the connector is not the same. What I ended up doing is I bought these bulbs:
https://www.auxbeam.com/headlight-bulbs/H11/70024166
They are very bright and have a nice even light distribution. The only problem is the distance isn’t as good as OEM halogens like I said but I haven’t tried other LED bulbs to see if there are better ones out there. I then proceeded by following instructions on different forums where people with H11b bulbs are having trouble to connect their HID conversion kit and I applied those instructions to my LEDs. If you want I can probably find those instructions if you’re unable to find them.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Got it. I see that my hopes for a simple LED replacement are dashed.

I was going to post I link a found on the gencoupe forum, but since I'm new to this forum am restricted for the first week from posting links. I think it may have been the DIY h11b-h11 conversion post you were referring to.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Also, I just found a Youtube video titled "How to install LED headlights into Hyundai Projector Housings with H11B bulbs" dated Feb 3, 2018. This looks like another worthy approach, assuming the Sonata's low beam lamp housing is the same as it is in the 2009 Santa Fe. I like this approach which makes no modification to the original wiring or lamp housing and allows going back to OEM H11B halogens if one is unhappy with the LEDs.

 

[2424Goldie]

That video wasn’t available when I upgraded my headlights to LEDs however that’s exactly the method I used and he used the exact same LEDs as me. As far as I can see the Santa Fe headlight housing is the same as our Sonata housing in terms of wiring and installation except that we only have the two top bolts and not the third one. So if you follow the video you should have no problem changing your headlights to LEDs but if you have any more questions just let me know!

 

[veni vidi vici]

Thanks. It may be May or so before I get to this. Will let you know if I have any more questions then, report back my experience.