I broke a headlight on my 2002 Double Cab and figure that now would be a good time to upgrade to something better than stock. I've been out of the lighting game for a few years and have no idea what the current wisdom is on this topic.
Recommend me a good, affordable headlight for a vehicle that sees primarily street and highway use. I just want to see better, I don't need to melt steel with 'em.
I hit a deer last year and had to replace. I went with the cheap'o headlights off of ebay. They are around 40 per light and I was skeptical at first but they fit and work great. New clear plastic OEM replacements should give you more than enough light.
If you are looking for more light wire up some cheap LED's or Hella roundies. If you have a deer wacker your options are almost unlimited.
Most people make the mistake of wanting to mount them high, go as low as you can for optimal sub-par weather conditions. Here in Utah we drive allot in the snow and any light above your current headlight will only blind you more.
Last time i researched the HID conversion thing the hi-low options were nihl.
I've had these for a couple years now. My stock housings had a haze to them and some of the mounting tabs had been glued on by the previous owner, the output is much better than what I was working with.
How well do those fit, being 1 piece and all? What all comes with them? I'm not sure based on the seller description, but it seems just corners are needed, no?
Osram 85/80 "offroad use only" bulbs (H4). $40 for both.
These brought my weak ass headlights up to par with everything else on the road. Other cars were literally casting a shadow in front of me.
I did not add a relay kit. I did this same swap on my motorcycle, WITH a relay kit, and got a ~2V increase at the bulb, but the brighter bulb alone made a bigger difference than the relay alone. Obviously both will be brighter. But I'm lazy. It's been on the bike for about 5 years now and still going strong.
back to the headlight thing...much, much info in the archives that were killed by the hack...
some basic info: forget going with the aftermarket HID bulb kits as they will simply blind everything in front of you and will get you tickets in many states. The OE housings simply are not designed for that type of light, period.
If you do want HIDs, the only way to go is with projectors, period...but, the good ones are pricey and install is tricky.
As for the 80/85 bulbs...been there, done that.
reasons for not: you wind up having to aim them down so far that you lose all gains the brighter bulbs give you. If you don't aim them down you blind oncoming traffic, period.
Without an aftermarket harness that is designed for the higher wattage bulbs you will eventually melt the plug ends...
Best advice? stick with the "Crystal" type replacements you can get online and use OE bulbs or equivalent wattage bulbs.
some basic info: forget going with the aftermarket HID bulb kits as they will simply blind everything in front of you and will get you tickets in many states. The OE housings simply are not designed for that type of light, period.
If you do want HIDs, the only way to go is with projectors, period...but, the good ones are pricey and install is tricky.
It doesn't matter the vehicle, if you are converting to HIDs, you ALWAYS need projectors. If not, you are a POS and deserve a very slow, painful death.
I know I'm late to the party, but here is what I did about two weeks ago:
I bought CAPA certified headlight housings, a HID projector retrofit kit, and all the misc wiring bits to get the job done for about $170 off Amazon.
It was pretty easy to install, the lowbeam light output is significantly more than my hazy stock housings with sylvania bulbs, the highbeam output is more also, but the difference isn't as ridiculous as the lowbeams were. Despite the increase in light output, the glare is less with the HID projector lowbeams when approaching my truck with my GF's car, however the visible range with the lowbeams is similar to the sylvania halogen setup I had been running, due to having the headlights aimed fairly low.
HID retrofits are legal in my state as long as the bulb color is within 1000k of stock color, depending on your state, an HID retrofit may not be legal.
I went with new wiring from this guy: Headlight Services - Wiring
It made a big difference but the first thing is to replace your housing. With the new wiring and housing there was an enormous difference.
I still have an old Danial Stern harness from over 10yrs ago...seems to extend bulb life as well.
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