Did a quick forum search and it seems like most people have stuck with Xenon lamps in the headlights.

Mine still “work” but light output is not sufficient; city street lights overpower my headlights. I suspect the bulbs are 6-7 years old. I did restore my headlights with the 3M headlight restoration kit last summer. Not sure if that’s contributing to the poor performance.

Should I just stick with $100/pair Xenon or consider LED.

 

Please stick with xenon
Our housings were not designed for LED

Oncoming traffic will thank you

 

^ What he said. There is a ton of "lighting science" when it comes to developing housing and in particular how the discharge point of light is projected. This is why putting HIDs into halogen housings is a bad idea too, halogens have a longer filament whereas HID pretty much have a point of light. So the output gets all messed up. Same goes for LED. They have multiple light spot over a rather large area compared to HID, so the focus gets messed and and glare is created. The thing is from the driver perspective its not noticeable. Replacement HIDs are probably best but stick with Philips or any other name brand. I have a collection of cheap brands I tried like Wagner and they were not that good. My originals are Phillips and that is what I have in mine now.

 

Any recommendations for Xenon bulbs? I suspect the ones in my 2012 are stock (and very dim).

 

Osram Xenarc Nightbreaker 220.

I guess you have a LR4 since you’re mentioning a 2012 model year.

if the concern is that the long beam isn’t bright enough you need to get a led bar, like a Lazer (which are excellent)

 

Oops, yes--it's an LR4.

Thanks for the recommendations.