Rando
So looking at my 2012 Dodge Ram I have H11 low beams and are 55 watts, You say I can put in H9 and they are 65 watts. Is 10 watts a big enough difference that will be noticeable while driving? As it is now low beams are hardly usable driving, just not enough light to see down the road at highway speeds. Need to use high beams to feel safe.
On the Ram it takes a bit of effort to change bulbs as you have to pull the whole light assemble out to get to the bulbs. Good to know options to make it better, brighter & safer.
It is not so much the extra 10W, but that the bulb is more efficient at the expense of a slightly reduced life time. A standard H11 is 1250 lumens while an H9 is 2100 lumens.
However, you should do some research into your particular application before making the swap. The other difference between the bulbs is that an H11 has a glare cap (the end of the bulb is blacked out) whereas the H9 doesn't. In some headlights, primarily projector types, glare is controlled by the optical design not the glare cap, so using a bulb without a glare cap won't change things. If you have older reflector type headlights, they may require the glare cap to keep the stray light under control.
If you have reflector type low beams, it would be safer (albeit more expensive) to buy higher brightness H11 bulbs such as these:
https://smile.amazon...n/dp/B00U1OIESK
I think these produce 1850 lumens, so somewhere between normal H11 and H9s.