Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade

[BobsYourUncle]

My old 2007 GMC has never had the best headlights.

Driving from Lethbridge to Calgary last night I was really cussing them.
Old original factory headlights and I cannot see worth a darn. They are so lame that I deem them unsafe.

I have tried different bulbs in them over the years but no real joy there either. One side is a repro unit from a major collision repair in 2012. It is so yellow and dull that I can see a huge difference in the 2.


Anyhow, enough of that....

I am looking for ideas on some decent aftermarket lighting, including the headlight housings themselves. I really like the lights on the newer vehicles, they look great.

I just want to see in safety without blinding oncoming traffic.

Back in the days of my youth we would just replace the sealed beams with Cibies, Bosch or Wipacs. Can't do that today.

Anyone done a complete upgrade kit to their headlights? I'd like to go with LED, so I don't have to put in heavy duty drivers and such. I don't know a lot about them.

I gotta fix this thing, it's terrible.

[whjco]

I replaced my halogen lamps with LED lamps from Carifex. It made a huge difference.

[BobsYourUncle]

The way they have been wrecking trains around here lately I'm not sure about that!!

[pianotuna]

I prefer the train...less chance of drowning? LOL

[BobsYourUncle]

Don, that would be wonderful.
The closest thing to that is a cruise. I've been on 7 of them.
Go to bed, wake up in a new destination, all ready for a day of experiencing that area.

But in an RV? Nah, we will both expire long before that happens..

[pianotuna]

Bob I long for the day when we have automatic RV's. Go to bed. Wake up in a new location ready for a day of sight seeing.

Alas, I fear I will age out before that becomes available.

[BobsYourUncle]

pianotuna wrote:
Bob,

Who was the industry expert?

Hi Don, missed this post earlier..
It was the owner of Daniel Stern Lighting.
I read many articles about lighting and also read his credentials. He is a pro.

[pianotuna]

Bob,

Who was the industry expert?

[otrfun]

For those folks with 2010-2018 Ram trucks. We installed a set of 9005 high beam/H11 low beam Sealight LED's on our 2016 Ram 3500 with standard OEM reflector headlight assemblies. As long as you don't mind modifying the mounting ring on the 9005 high beams to get them to mount at 9 & 3---it's a simple plug and play installation with no load resistor or ECM programming necessary. Retained the original OEM halogen beam pattern after some minor adjustment. The Sealights are a very bright white---very little to no blue cast. They significantly improved our visibility at night---at least double the brightness/lumens vs. the OEM halogen bulbs. Have yet to have anybody flash us.

[BobsYourUncle]

After much research and finally a consultation with a well known industry expert on automotive lighting, it has been determined that there does not exist a quality, properly engineered and designed LED upgrade kit for my truck. They are all Chinese junk. They may look pretty, but it stops there.

My goal is safe, effective lighting so I can see the road ahead, properly designed and built that will not throw glare in the air and blind oncoming drivers.

The best option for me is to replace the entire housings with new, OEM GM Denali headlights. They are far superior than the stock lighting that came with my truck. And they are a bolt in swap, no mods needed.

In addition to that, there is a bulb upgrade that has the same wattage and power draw as my stock bulbs, but it throws more lumens of light. The internal bulb design is identical, making it compatible with the OEM Denali housings design. A slight bulb mounting mod is needed. Combine that with the superior housing design, and I have the best upgrade available.

I have ordered the bulbs, and I'm shopping around for the best price on OEM, genuine GM Denali headlight housing assemblies. They are a lot more money in Canada... usual thing.

I appreciate all the input everyone here offered. Thanks.
Solution found.

[BobsYourUncle]

I have one OEM housing and one cheap quality aftermarket Chinese junk housing that was installed during a collision repair.

The aftermarket housing is very badly yellowed and cloudy. It has been a poor housing since it was new, and will go straight into the garbage where it belongs.

My replacements will likely be US or Canadian made so I know its built properly.

[pianotuna]

I've not had one person "flash" their lights at me in the six years I've had the led light bars. I was careful to aim them below where the low beams focus.

They provide a brilliant white light unlike the yellow from the existing stock Ford E-450 head lamps.

[DrewE]

If the headlight lenses are cloudy, cleaning and polishing them so that they are again transparent will make a noticeable difference. (They will often then require touching up from time to time since the polishing process also tends to remove much of the UV protective layer of the plastic. Arguably a better alternative is to replace the lens assembly entirely.)

For those with light bars, please don't use them on the highway; they almost inevitably cause a lot of glare in other driver's eyes, and very often have rather poor pattern control otherwise for good visibility. Many illuminate the roadway near by directly in front of the vehicle far too brightly in comparison with farther away, which is unhelpful--it draws your eyes to that area, too close to be able to react to anything you see at highway speeds, and due to the increased ambient light makes the pupils close down more and thus reduces one's ability to see things farther away in the distance. Furthermore, they are not DOT approved for highway use. For off-road use where speeds are much lower, they are often very good.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I left the oem alone and added a switched set of led light bars. I have better visibility on low beam than on high beam.

[BobsYourUncle]

Interesting comment. Mine is a 2007 and not sure how much of that superfluous junk it has. Indeed it is a total PITA.

My previous truck, a 2003 the same as current ride, had a radio / CD player. At that time I had a massive collection of educational cassette tapes. I went to GM and ordered a AM/FM / cassette / CD stereo. I paid close to 900 bucks for it.
Same as you describe. The computer wouldn't recognize it properly. Many trips to the dealer, reprogram the computer, doing some stupid thing with the VIN to make it function... They never did get it to work properly.

I have not done anything with my headlights yet, but I really need to. They are getting worse. I'm going to out in some aftermarket upgrades with better housings.