Brighter bulbs on my 3.0

[Curious Hound]

According to NJ law most new cars are illegal. 2 headlights, 2 auxiliary/fog lights, and one spotlight is the max. Spotlight not allowed on public roads.

DRLs, seperate high and low, fog, and other nonsense... my moms edge is technically illegal.

I promise not to.report your mom.

 

[8thTon]

If you want brighter headlights I would look at moving the whole headlight system to relays off the battery. I put some Sylvania ZxE bulbs in my Ranger a few years ago because my old ones were starting to get dim and I was able to get a smoking deal on bulbs that were allegedly brighter without pulling more current.

Well that was a load of BS, since I have now burned out a dimmer switch about once a year since then. I moved my truck over to a floor switch for the high/low dimmer, so I was breaking the switch about once a year anyway, but the last few deaths have clearly been heat related rather than me just hitting it too hard and breaking it, which was what happened before I changed bulbs.

Yeah I've found the brighter bulbs to be a scam. At best they have a different color temperature, but at the cost of shorter life and higher price.

Geeze, down here you can and probably will get a ticket for having the light bar uncovered. If the cop is in a bad mood, or works for Northern York Regional you might get a ticket just for the light bar being there.

It's a free-for-all here - and why not as apparently NHTSA doesn't give a crap either anymore.

 

[Dirtman]

I promise not to.report your mom.

I would... she's too damn old too drive anyway. At least my dad has common decency to drive a 92 crown vic in the slow lane with his left turn signal on constantly so you know he's old. Pretty sure there's still a Ross Perot bumper sticker on it too.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah I've found the brighter bulbs to be a scam. At best they have a different color temperature, but at the cost of shorter life and higher price.

Yeah, Sylvania admits the life on their Silver Star and Silver Star Ultras are super short because they get a lot hotter and draw more power. The CLAIM that the zXe bulbs make more light with less heat and power draw due to using xenon gas instead of whatever they use in the other halogen bulbs.

I have found the zXes to be very white, but particularly the high beams seem to melt my dimmer switches. When warm weather comes around again I'm going to put my headlights on relays since I have an 87 Ranger with the engine harness from a highly optioned 94 Explorer, so I have a bunch of empty relay slots in my junction box.

It's a free-for-all here - and why not as apparently NHTSA doesn't give a crap either anymore.

I agree, but I am stuck right in between Northern York Regional, Lower Allen, and the Carlisle PSP barracks. I challenge anyone to find three bigger sets of dick-head cops sandwiched together in a continuous run like that anywhere else in the state.

 

[black_demon69]

Just a thought why not just get led bulbs they are brighter and draw less current. The only downside for you snow people is that they do not produce enough heat to defrost the headlights.

 

[8thTon]

I have found the zXes to be very white, but particularly the high beams seem to melt my dimmer switches. When warm weather comes around again I'm going to put my headlights on relays since I have an 87 Ranger with the engine harness from a highly optioned 94 Explorer, so I have a bunch of empty relay slots in my junction box.

Getting rid of those voltage drops from old switch and connector contacts and minimum gauge wires can make a real difference in brightness

 

[Curious Hound]

I agree, but I am stuck right in between Northern York Regional, Lower Allen, and the Carlisle PSP barracks. I challenge anyone to find three bigger sets of dick-head cops sandwiched together in a continuous run like that anywhere else in the state.

Sorry for you.

 

[adsm08]

Just a thought why not just get led bulbs they are brighter and draw less current. The only downside for you snow people is that they do not produce enough heat to defrost the headlights.

I did have a set. Only one worked and I never figured out why. Both bulbs work when hooked to a battery, but when plugged into the truck the passenger side would not light up, and it didn't make a difference which unit was on that side. But halogen bulbs don't do that, and I didn't have the time to really look into it, it was much easier to just throw the working pair back in.

Now I don't have time or motivation to look into it.

 

[Dirtman]

I got those Phillip's extremes that claim 50% brighter or something like that. No different than the cheapest sylvania bulbs. I out LEDs in my fog housings but the fog housings and they are amazing brighter BUT fog housings are not focused like headlight housings so it doesnt matter. I tried a set of LED bulbs I got free in my headlights and yes they were brighter but such a dumb beam pattern that pointed no where that they were worthless.

Between normal headlights, and led fogs pointed incorrectly (they should be low but I point them higher) and my 100 watt cop spot light I've never felt under lighted even on the darkest night in the woods. And my night vision sucks...

 

[sgtsandman]

Standard headlights fade over time as the filament burns off and clouds the bulb. Also, your head light lenses are probably clouding over. Just changing your bulbs for standard new ones will make a difference and making sure your lenses are clear. If you have to use one of those lens cleaning kits, make sure you re-clear coat the lenses to prevent them from oxidizing again. Usually, what causes the lens clouding is the OEM clear coat being worn and chipped off over time and the lens oxidizes. As far as those snake oil head light bulbs the aftermarket manufacturers push, they cause more problems than they help fix.