Dull Men's Club

Assume the service position

I changed the lights on my wife’s Yaris once, never again

Learned this the hard way. I was visiting my parents years ago and my mom's jetta had a headlight out. I offered to fix it and grabbed a bulb from the auto parts store down the street.

Two hours of searching online/youtube later the bulb was finally replaced.

My Hyundai is easy on three. Just a plug and a wire spring. The one on the outer driver's side has the battery right in the way, so if I'm not careful I'll get a hand cramp from the acrobatics. Still done it enough times to know the routine, and far better than taking the front off. Having that as a "feature" for a regular maintenance item is just lazy engineering.

On my car you have to access them via the wheel case, rotate the wheel to the left or right to access the left or right front lights, then stick your arm all the way in there and change the light blindly because you can't see shit from this angle.

Please, please, please aim these suckers per your vehicle's documentation. Be the person who isn't blinding everyone 🙏

Yes, sometimes adjusting the lights shows they aren't in need of replacement, only adjustment.

They are something you can do with some basic tools. You'll need a 10mm socket, a t15 torx bit and a flat screwdriver if you don't have access to a trim clip tool. A 7mm socket, and a Phillips screwdriver. I recommend doing this on grass as this way, you don't have to remove the entire front bumper. Separate the fender liners from the bumper. This gives you access to the 7mm fascia retainers (one on each side) Open the hood, remove the forward shield, undo the 10mms holding the grille to the sheet metal. Starting at one side of the bumper fascia, carefully pull the bumper away from the fender. One side loose, do the other, then under the headlights, same type of retainer as by the fenders. Then the upper portion of the grille. Pull the fascia away and downward. The whole thing will tilt forward, the lower air deflector will touch the ground and you'll have access to the 5 10mm bolts that hold the headlight in. Remove the bolts, disconnect the headlamp connector and bring the whole assembly out. Then you'll be able to unscrew the access covers. Once opened, you'll see the little screws (Philips) that hold the d3s bulb retaining box. (It's a metal cover that holds the bulb against the headlamp housing) Take that box off and change the bulbs. I opted to install led in lieu of the hid (search wireless d3s led kit). Doing this will require modifying the bulb retaining box to allow air flow for the integrated cooling fans. Going on year 3 without issue or needing replacement. I get to do this on a hoist but it's doable on the ground. This is assuming you're talking about a first Gen bolt and not newest one. The new style is essentially the same but gm smartened up and put led bulbs in from factory. Putting the fascia back up can get frustrating because of the grille shutter air deflectors wanting to catch on the fascia lip, but if you're dedicated you can do this. Otherwise I'd take the front fascia off completely (just more 7mm bolts on the bottom side of the fascia and the front fascia harness has to be disconnected) and you're definitely going to want another pair of hands so I guess yeah, you're right, it's a bit of an ordeal.

I drive a Ram 2500 with the factory LED reflectors… so same feeling.

What I don’t get is why with newer LED lights they don’t have them dim down to a minimum level as the car slows down and stops. No reason to have the same brightness for driving at 80mph as driving at 10 or 25mph.