1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Thinking about changing headlight bulbs

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by MikeSF, Mar 27, 2019.

  1. MikeSF

    MikeSF Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    416
    19
    0
    Location:
    San Francisco
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    2006 car nearly 130k miles on it (haven't been driving as much in the past few years since my wife got a Rav4 hybrid), and figure it might be getting time to change the headlight bulbs... they're the stock ones that came with it. I know I need to buff the acrylic shields as they're super yellow, but might as well make it all right in one shot.

    So my question is am I limited to the standard halogen(?) bulbs that came with it? Or can I put HID or LED bulbs in by chance? Or do those other two need a special ballast to run?
     
    #1 MikeSF, Mar 27, 2019
  2. bobodaclown

    bobodaclown Member

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2012
    214
    71
    0
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    I'd go with some quality halogen bulbs. I tried led bulbs but wasn't happy with the filiment alignment in the reflector. I did the buffing but ended just replacing the light assemblies.
     
    #2 bobodaclown, Mar 27, 2019
  3. jzchen

    jzchen Newbie!

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2012
    3,296
    1,006
    0
    Location:
    Arcadia, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Philips Xtreme Power are supposedly very good. Amazon and Walmart seem to have them at a fair price.
     
    #3 jzchen, Mar 28, 2019
    bobodaclown likes this.
  4. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2018
    2,912
    1,496
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    The HID lights have problems. Thank your lucky stars you have the halogen bulbs and just get new ones.
     
    #4 Skibob, Mar 28, 2019
  5. mpg_numbers_guy

    mpg_numbers_guy Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2019
    116
    64
    0
    Location:
    VA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    Definitely clean your headlight housings, especially if you are considering an LED conversion. Cloudy headlight housings will create unnecessary glare to oncoming drivers as well as reduce usable light output downroad.
     
    #5 mpg_numbers_guy, Mar 28, 2019
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)