Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade

road-runner wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:

If the truck uses 9004/9005 bulbs, IMHO the best update is to replace the 9004/9005 with 9011/9012 HIR bulbs.

Maybe I'm the only one who had a disaster doing this in my lo-beam projector lights. The larger glass envelope of the HIR light placed the heat source a little closer to the plastic reflector, and melted a hole in the plastic reflector. I ended up shoehorning some generic HID reflector assemblies into the the headlight case and the end result came out ok, but was a lot of extra work I wasn't looking for.

And hence my warning about using higher wattage bulbs OR bulbs not originally specified than what the housing was designed for.

Even 5W more worth of heat or slightly larger glass envelope can do damage as you have found out.

Back when I was making my first relay kit (2003), I was having a hard time finding headlight pigtails to use, contacted one place and the first thing they asked was if I tried higher wattage bulbs and burned up the connector.. That had never entered my mind as well as even the thought of stuffing a higher wattage bulb in the housing. I told them no, no high wattage bulb and I was building a relay kit and they said that made sense..

I got the idea of a relay kit from Ford Truck forum as this was a pretty popular mod at the time to correct the weak wiring..

I was blown away and hooked as soon as I turned the lights on with the new relay kit..

I did a before and after kit voltage comparison, wish I would have written that down but it was pretty telling as I recall that I had at least a 2V drop before and no detectable drop after the kit..

Brightness increased substantially, at that time I didn't have a Lux meter so I can't say for sure just how much difference in brightness but I can tell you that it was very noticeable.

Made another kit in 2006 when we bought the next truck with same results..

Bought parts to make a relay kit when we bought our 2013, never got around to doing that one.. The only saving grace was that truck came with factory fog lights which are junk also but they gave enough light to make low beams OK.. Not to mention the ONLY way to get to the drivers side headlights is to remove the entire grill :M Totally stupid move Ford (although I have considered cutting access hole in the wheel well liners but I am not sure if that will work).. My DD is driving that truck today and I figure I will have to eventually replace those bulbs..

Our 2019 and 2020 trucks well those "quad beam" lights are also terrible, but once again if it wasn't for the fog lights, I would be forced to add relay kit and do some wheel well liner cutting..

It is amazing the technology advances we have had from what headlights used to be even from the 1960s and up but yet, the headlights have not improved with new technology but have gone backward so much that folks are willing to try anything to fix them..

Like I mentioned, Bob just needs to check voltages at the bulb, and if the voltage is not at battery voltage a relay kit will improve the lighting.. It is the first thing that needs done before you start messing with bulbs or fixtures.. Honestly, as long as the fixture lens is not clouded or badly yellowed getting full voltage to the bulb will make a big improvement.