OEM vs Aftermarket - Chinese JUNK Comparison

[BobsYourUncle]

Last year January I posted a headlight thread regarding the crummy headlights my truck came with. I was looking for suggestions, solutions etc. There was a lot of great input and ideas, and I finally got it taken care of.

I did a ton of research and it turns out that virtually every aftermarket LED headlight system is made in China.

My truck was hit hard in the front by a drunk driver in Dec 2012. 20K damage and it was very close to being written off. I had to agree to some non OEM parts to save it. One of them was a headlight. This headlight was absolute junk, and got worse from there. See in the photo the side by side comparison of the original drivers side from 2006 and the Chinese junk from 2013:



Based on my experience with the aftermarket headlight, and learning that most all of the LED conversions are made in China, I opted to follow the advice given to me by the owner of Daniel Stern Lighting, a well known expert in automotive lighting. He helped me big time.

I bought some used OEM GM Denali projection headlights and upgraded the bulbs to those recommended to me by the above named expert. More lumens per bulb, but the same power draw. These lights are a straight swap, no mods needed.



I'm looking forward to some night time highway driving where I can actually see where I'm going. I just finished installing them a couple hours ago.

Back to the title of this thread:

I am astounded that the powers that be actually allow and even recommend this cheap aftermarket garbage to be used in vehicle repairs. Insurance companies dictate that all aftermarket be used to save money on repairs.

These safety items are very substandard and actually dangerous to safe operation of our vehicles. The big 3 have very strict standards of quality, all stamped and approved for road use in North America. How is it that the regulatory people actually allow this junk to be imported and installed on a vehicle? Sure makes me wonder.... We are talking a genuine safety hazard here. See the OP of my previous thread linked above to see my complaint.

I have been whining about my crummy headlights for years. I'm happy to have a great upgrade, and with OEM GM parts. No more of this cheap replacement junk for me.

[wnjj]

We have a 2005 Silverado and a 2014 Yukon, both with stock headlights. The '05 headlights blow the doors off the '14, hands down. Every time I switch back to the truck I'm amazed how those older lights project. The Yukon lights are terrible and when you switch to high beam there is barely a noticeable difference in light output or projection distance. Both vehicles' lenses look clear yet.

It looks like the GMC truck lights were slightly different than the Chevy in the mid-2000's. I wonder if GMC puts too much into the styling over the function?

[CharlesinGA]

Skibane wrote:
Performance-wise, the LED retrofit headlight bulbs are all over the place.

Some are surprisingly good, and some are utter ****.

Me and quite a few other 2nd-generation Frontier owners have had excellent luck with the Katana 9007 LED bulbs.

Their LED emitters closely mimic the shape and position of the filaments in the incandescent bulb they replace, which makes a HUGE difference in avoiding a beam pattern that sprays light everywhere.

The earlier version that is equipped with a cooling fan works better than the more recent fanless version. (Most fanless designs reduce the LED brightness after a few minutes of operation, in order to avoid burning them up).

Mine have seen operation almost every night over the past 2 years, with one failure.

MUCH brighter than the original incandescents (without blinding oncoming drivers), and well worth the 55 bucks, IMO.

Curiously my 2003 Dodge RAM 2500 uses the 9007 bulb also. It had aftermarket fixtures in it when I bought it, and the light was scattered everywhere, so I ditched those and went back to OEM Damiler Chrysler light fixtures, which took some shopping in 2018 to find NEW originals. I MUCH prefer OEM lights.

The 2003-2005 RAM trucks have poor light distribution even with OEM lights, so I will look into these Katana lights. I DO NOT want BLUE lights, and at 6500K they would be but the information on Amazon says each KATANA bulb can light up to 6000 lumens,6500k extremely white light,5 times brighter than halogen.

So I'm gonna hold you responsible if I don't like them **WINK, WINK** NOT.

I don't want to be that SOB who is blinding other drivers.

Charles

[Chum_lee]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Last year January I posted a headlight thread regarding the crummy headlights my truck came with. I was looking for suggestions, solutions etc. There was a lot of great input and ideas, and I finally got it taken care of.

I did a ton of research and it turns out that virtually every aftermarket LED headlight system is made in China.

My truck was hit hard in the front by a drunk driver in Dec 2012. 20K damage and it was very close to being written off. I had to agree to some non OEM parts to save it. One of them was a headlight. This headlight was absolute junk, and got worse from there. See in the photo the side by side comparison of the original drivers side from 2006 and the Chinese junk from 2013:

Glad to see you found DSLighting. IMO, he's a great knowledgeable guy who actually CARES about you/your vehicle instead of some body who is just trying to make (or save themselves in the case of an insurance company) a quick buck.

Chum lee



Based on my experience with the aftermarket headlight, and learning that most all of the LED conversions are made in China, I opted to follow the advice given to me by the owner of Daniel Stern Lighting, a well known expert in automotive lighting. He helped me big time.

I bought some used OEM GM Denali projection headlights and upgraded the bulbs to those recommended to me by the above named expert. More lumens per bulb, but the same power draw. These lights are a straight swap, no mods needed.



I'm looking forward to some night time highway driving where I can actually see where I'm going. I just finished installing them a couple hours ago.

Back to the title of this thread:

I am astounded that the powers that be actually allow and even recommend this cheap aftermarket garbage to be used in vehicle repairs. Insurance companies dictate that all aftermarket be used to save money on repairs.

These safety items are very substandard and actually dangerous to safe operation of our vehicles. The big 3 have very strict standards of quality, all stamped and approved for road use in North America. How is it that the regulatory people actually allow this junk to be imported and installed on a vehicle? Sure makes me wonder.... We are talking a genuine safety hazard here. See the OP of my previous thread linked above to see my complaint.

I have been whining about my crummy headlights for years. I'm happy to have a great upgrade, and with OEM GM parts. No more of this cheap replacement junk for me.

[Nv_Guy]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Nv Guy wrote:
Since I don't pay my insurance premiums with foreign or counterfeit currency, when the DW bent her car, I made it crystal clear to both the body shop and insurance adjuster that no non OEM or used parts were to be used. Dealing with an accident is bad enough, but having to worry about poor quality parts is just not right.

Read your policy.

I did, that's why no used or aftermarket parts were used.

[Skibane]

mleekamp wrote:
Another option, as long as the factory headlight assembly is not broken, is to buy the $30 (may cost more now than a few years ago) headlight restoration kit at your auto parts store. I tried it a few years back on an older vehicle. Basically, it's a paste, with some sort of grit, and you use circular pattern to mill off a couple thousands of an inch of the face plastic material. It's a multi step process but I saved money, and 3 years later they still look good. In the end, it allows you to remain using your factory lighting assembly but remove the yellow haze. Worth checking out for those in that situation.

Yep, lenses that are fogged with age don't let as much light through - and the light that does get through tends to be dispersed in all directions. So, you get more glare in unwanted directions, and less light in the desired direction.

I've used the Sylvania restoration kit several times, and really like it - Makes a very fogged lens look almost brand-new again.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

It was pure luck that I got what I wanted: misaligned aiming. I was looking for 9004 LED bulbs that shined much brighter than incandescent factory bulbs. I was going to re aim the lamps downward to illuminate the street close to the car. Potholes and debris.

After installation they turned out perfect (laughter). High Beam really lit up the street in front of me. The hot spot was 30' ahead. And for oncoming drivers, there was less glare on high beam than the old bulbs had on low beam.

All without touching the adjustment. Because I do not drive outside of city limits and never in the rain. The crappy integral fan in the heat sink has a longer chance of living.

[Grit_dog]

IDman wrote:
In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?

2012 was a bad time to upgrade from a LBZ Dmax with anything but another LLy or LBZ, so the OP was quite limited in not buying more problems based solely on emissions standards.

[BobsYourUncle]

IDman wrote:
In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?

Truck was paid for in full. It was a really good truck, zero problems to that date, no costs aside from regular maintenance. A payout would have been well below market value. The BC insurance is notorious for that. I didn't want to get back into financing another new vehicle. This one was so good I didn't want to lose it.
The GM body shop that fixed it has a reputation for top quality work, and I trusted them to fix it properly. And they did.
Over 9 years later, I know I made the right decision. No issues whatsoever from the repair.

[IDman]

In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?

[Wade44]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Nv Guy wrote:
Since I don't pay my insurance premiums with foreign or counterfeit currency, when the DW bent her car, I made it crystal clear to both the body shop and insurance adjuster that no non OEM or used parts were to be used. Dealing with an accident is bad enough, but having to worry about poor quality parts is just not right.

Read your policy.

Exactly. I change carriers just about every time renewal comes up. In the past 10 years or so we've had Progressive, State Farm, Liberty, Erie, Farmers, NJM, and a couple more. Every single one of those had spelled out in the policy non OEM parts could be used. To get OEM parts specified it was always an up-charge to the premium and a substantial one. If you're getting the discount rate, you're going to get discount non OEM parts.

[BB_TX]

My only surprise would be if not all OEM lights are also made in China. Or likely they all are but are made to higher specs than aftermarket.

[_1Flyboy]

China is referred to as CCP = Communist China Party; don’t leave out the Communist Party please !

[Cummins12V98]

Nv Guy wrote:
Since I don't pay my insurance premiums with foreign or counterfeit currency, when the DW bent her car, I made it crystal clear to both the body shop and insurance adjuster that no non OEM or used parts were to be used. Dealing with an accident is bad enough, but having to worry about poor quality parts is just not right.

Read your policy.

[Vintage465]

I bought Chinese after market headlights for my 1999 Suburban. Fit like crud, low quality. I got frustrated and went to my buddy at the GM Parts counter and he got me some new OEM ones. When he handed them to me, they were made China. I said "hey, your stuff is made in China too"! He said, "yeah but our Chinese is better than your Chinese............and it was!