diamond cut vs. projector headlights

[Geeshik]

Projector Headlight

I believe Yellowsplash is right. I think the projector in this lens is only meant to be used as a fog lamp; albeit a very high mounted fog lamp. The outer lamp is designed to be used for high and low beams.

Yellowsplash, how does the APC 403624HL model you have differ from the one in the above photo? Are you happy with yours? They still go for about 300 a pair and i can't find reviews on them anywhere. I also can't find a website or an address for a company that claims to be an 'American Products Company'. Odd.

 

[Yellowsplash]

Yes, the projector you see is a foglight. It has its own switch and wiring harness to turn it on and uses an H3 bulb. The round reflector resembling an 01+ ranger is the low/high beam, still using a 9007 bulb.

I love them...mostly because the headlights are much clearer compared to the the factory "hazy" plastic. With a set of good bulbs the lights are not only brighter, but the beams go further and wider.

APC went out of business about a year ago. They are gone, but smaller ebay companies still distribute their own versions....for much cheaper. I dont have any feedback on those though.

Remember, these arent the only options for a headlight upgrade. There are headlights that dont have the projector built in and are a full clear diamond reflector.

 

[Geeshik]

APC headlights.

I bought the APC headlights PN: PRO-APC-FR93-BK. I got them for about $90shipped from Bodykits4me.com. They came and were well packaged, however there is a serious flaw that i noted. It does not fit the original 9007/HB5 bulb. I'm not sure why, but they do not use the factory headlight mount (the one that screws the bulb onto the assembly) and it comes with a much cheaper one. When the bulb is placed between the housing and the outer securing knob, there is no where near enough room for the thickness of the flange that seats the bulb in the housing and it won't tighten; at all. It looks like i will have to shave a little off of the back of the housing and hope that i can make it work.

 

[Geeshik]

Aftermarket headlights...

A couple hours and some bleeding later, i managed to get the stock bulbs to fit. I stuffed the hole with paper towel (i didn't want the shavings to get in the headlight lens) and used a utility knife to scrape just enough off of the back of the assembly and i notched the notches a little higher and they lock onto the bulbs now. I cut my thumb in the process, but all in all, they're workable.

One more problem that i noted with the assembly of the foglight projector portion of the headlight was one of the gaskets was not seated properly and was blocking the projector. It looked like crap, so i took it apart and fixed it.

Another problem was the new screw assemblies that came with the kit. None of them fit on my truck; they were all to tight, so i had to make the original ones work. Fortunately, i had enough good hardware to get the job done. This is definitely not a plug and play install though. Don't be fooled. I might wire up the fog lamps later today if time permits. I got a little sidetracked working on my car's license plate lamps. I don't want to get pulled over, so i decided to try and repair the corroded bulbs and wiring, but i can't for the life of me, find my soldering iron.

 

[Yellowsplash]

Remember, I bought mine over 6 years ago....Yours are probably procarparts, not actual APC. APC went out of business and never made the blacked out versions, only chrome. I never had any issues with mine whatsoever. Uses the factory bulb and the screw-type retainer.