Replacement Headlight Recommendations

[Uncle Gump]

How high are you two right now?

Saying things like this are only a problem when they become a problem.

@OldBlue61 is spot on... offer your opinion and perhaps something helpful. Questioning how high a person is to have an opinion on something? Go stand in the corner and think about what you've done...

Doorman... like most all suppliers... have really sold out to the lowest bidder meeting bare minimum requirements. The entire auto parts industry has become a total crapshoot.

I myself would probably find a nice set of factory light housings and polish them up. Put some good bulbs in them and call it a day. If I thought I needed more... I would add a nice set of DOT driving lights. I feel most of these aftermarket lights are throwing good money for cheap parts with questionable performance.

 

[OldBlue61]

...and that was the whole reason for my question, and thanks for your recommendation. I've been fortunate enough to be able to replace a car before it got too old and haven't had to do too much work to them (other than general maintenance), and just recently picked up the Ranger mainly to have something to tinker on. Not sure who makes decent stuff anymore.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Rangers are a great little truck for that. Many things you can do to make them your own.

You can never go wrong with Motorcraft replacement parts... I'm not sure I trust many others. Like I said... total crapshoot.

 

[Chapap]

I don’t think there’s much difference in performance for any of these incandescent lights. I think they’re probably all basically the same. I’d like to find some led replacement bulbs that work, but they’re supposed to all be pretty bad. I had a pair of led bulbs in a high beam only light with a reflector that was something like 3”x4” and it was excellent. I think these big housings don’t play nice with led bulbs. And I’ve never seen a success story with the hi/low leds.

they do make led replacements for sealed beam units that are purpose built for leds . I wish there was a sealed beam conversion for this truck, that’d be the best option. A pair of accessory high beams are probably the easiest option if you need more light.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm not a fan of most LED replacements... but I'm old.

FYI... I moved this tread to the lighting system forum.

Maybe do a search... this topic has come up several times.

 

[Ranger850]

Hey all. My '94 has had the original headlights replaced with God know what brand of replacement headlights. They suck. Big time. THE absolute worst light pattern and quality. I want to replace them with an original style headlight, but which one? There are a lot of different brands and places to purchase them from, but I don't want to end up with a couple of piles of poo for headlights again. I'm not adverse to paying a premium (within reason) for a GOOD set of replacement headlight assemblies, but which ones? Anybody have recommendations and links for decent quality ones? I live out in the sticks where it's dark as molasses at night, and although I don't drive the Ranger that much, I still need a light with a good beam pattern and something that's decent quality. I have considered adding a set of aftermarket driving lights to supplement the high beams, but I'd rather get the factory lighting as good as possible first.

Spec-D Tuning seems to have a couple of different options out there. Not sure how far you want to go into converting to LED. Simple swap or projector custom build.

Buy Turn Signal Lights, and Side Marker Lights

Zoro Tools Industrial Supplies

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93-97 Ford Ranger Pickup 1-Piece Headlights w/ Corner LED Accent - Smoked Lens

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As far as LED bulbs go, stay awya from the "C6" brand at all costs.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/ has good quality LEDs.

 

[Dirtman]

I have never seen a ranger with LED headlights that seem to have a decent beam pattern. The simple bulb swaps don't work well in the factory housings because they don't reflect the light of an LED bulb properly and the few housings designed for LED bulbs seem to do even worse for some reason.

Every LED bulb sorta makes its own distinct light pattern by how the bulb is built so it's nearly impossible to match a particular bulb to the particular reflect pattern of a housing whether stock or aftermarket. That's just my experience, LED stuff may have gotten better.

The only true "upgrade" I've seen were HID bulbs in projector lenses but in my opinion they still offer more of an annoying light (to both driver and oncoming traffic).

LED bulbs do however work great in the fog lights since those housings don't really reflect the beam anyway it's just a flood pattern. And they work great as reverse lights.

 

[OldBlue61]

I've got HIDs in my low beams in my Jeep as well as LEDs for the fogs. Both projectors, and both work great. But like some have mentioned I've never seen an LED that works properly in a housing originally meant for a halogen. The pattern is usually bad, and the glare to oncoming drivers... well let's just say I'm sure we've all been on the receiving end of that and know what that's like.

At this point I'd be happy with some Silverstars in decent housings that I can aim and that have a decent pattern, so I may try to find an OEM set and see how far I can get polishing them. At least I'll start there and see how they come out. Thanks everyone.

 

[Dirtman]

I've got HIDs in my low beams in my Jeep as well as LEDs for the fogs. Both projectors, and both work great. But like some have mentioned I've never seen an LED that works properly in a housing originally meant for a halogen. The pattern is usually bad, and the glare to oncoming drivers... well let's just say I'm sure we've all been on the receiving end of that and know what that's like.

At this point I'd be happy with some Silverstars in decent housings that I can aim and that have a decent pattern, so I may try to find an OEM set and see how far I can get polishing them. At least I'll start there and see how they come out. Thanks everyone.

If you stick with Halogen look at the Phillips Extreme vision bulbs. I think they are slightly brighter than the Sylvania Silver Stars, at least in 9007 series.

 

[Ranger850]

+1^
I just replaced the crappy LEDs in my Corolla, for the Phillips Crystal vision bulbs and may upgrade to the Extremes next time I need bulbs.

 

[rebuild83]

If you decide to sand and polish the old lenses I know they will look like new but a month later they will look the same so I think some aftermarket kits have a protectent you can spray on to make it last longer.

 

[rubydist]

I have LED replacement bulbs in the Ranger, and had them in the last F-150 I had before that. There are a million choices on ebay etc. that you can buy and most of them are junk. If you look carefully at the photos you can find the few that are decent.

What you need to do is find the ones that have the actual LED in the same location as the filament is for the halogen bulb. You would think that it is obvious that this is important, but most of the cheap asian suppliers use the same guts of their LED replacements in a huge range of bulb numbers, so they are a compromise at best in any one. The guys who do it better don't try to make the same guts work in a hundred different bulbs, if that makes sense.

If you look hard enough you will find the right one, but there are like 2 decent LED bulbs on ebay out of hundreds of possibilities, for the 9007 type bulbs. BTW, you also need to look for ones that are fanless, because the locking ring attachment method that Ford uses on those bulbs will not fit over any of the fan style LED bulbs, so that helps you narrow it down.

 

[OldBlue61]

Thanks everyone for you input. I ended up buying a pair from Amazon made by Evan Fischer. $47.31 for the pair including bulbs. I figured if they're crap, it's easy enough to return them via Amazon than most other places. I'll update this post once I get them installed.

 

[OldBlue61]

Well, got these installed and aimed (kinda) over the weekend. While these replacements are better than what was in my Ranger, I hesitate to call them acceptable, or even good. Better than what I had, which isn't saying much. I may at some point buy another set from a different manufacturer, but for now...