I dont have fog lights, only stock head light lenses. Definetly when its raining my view is very poor like my head lights arnt even on. Im not sure what bulbs i have, but what bulbs do all you have? Whats the brightest shining or best or favorites without switching to HID's or adding other lights?

 

What year is the truck? The reason I ask is the 99-01 lenses suck...

I went to 02-04 style lenses, to keep the 7.3 nostalgia look.

With the newer lenses, Then I chose the Hella 100/80watt bulbs from Susquehanna Motorsports, make sure to check the 100/80watt

9007/HB5, 12v, Hella High Performance Xenon Blue Bulb, Pair | Rally Lights

And also add the upgraded harnesses, for the extra wattage, not to mention the stock harnesses suck too.

HL282 Upgraded Headlamp Wiring Harness for Conventionally Switched Systems | Rally Lights

Without adding additional driving lights, this IMO as well as the recommendation of others on here is the best light output and bang for the buck in the stock housings.

 

There has been a thread on LED bulbs for our truck this week. The 9007/HB5 bulb is the one you want to convert, and the spec sheet was pretty impressive for lumens (the brightness of the bulb).


For something off the shelf at your local auto parts store, I ran the Sylvania Silver Stars with the stock lenses and had excellent results. I have since upgraded to the 2002 lenses with the same bulbs, but I didn't see a noticeable difference by doing that. To me, the upgrade is more cosmetic than functional. I should point out that I kept my 2000 lenses cleaned and polished, so your results may vary.

 

It is a 2000, and the lenses themselvesves are very hazy, not cleat at all, yellowish in color.

Can that be fixed and be made clear? I want to upgrade to the one piece new style (07) i believe, but thats out of question at moment budget wise.

 

I personally would go with a set of 2002-2004 lenses like mentioned. Check eBay or craigslist. Then get a set of HID's off eBay for $40. I just installed them a couple of months ago and love them. Very nice and bright. I used to run silver stars but after they would burn out every 3-4 months at $40 a pair I said forget it.

 

I have purchased the fancy-schmancy lens polish kits and used them with varying results, but I fell back on redneck techniques for just as good (if not better) results:


Soft Scrub and a buffer pad (small one from one of the kits, and a cordless drill) gets things looking pretty good. The chlorine is hard on plastic, so it needs a thorough rinse - then I applied Armor All. It looks great and holds that look longer than anything else I tried. If you're in an experimenting mood, Rain-X (or silicone paste) after polishing was going to be my next trial.

 

Get the newer lenses for sure.

For bulbs I use Sylvania SilverStar zXe. They give a good color temperature without going the HID route.

 

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Best/favorite headlight? The stock ones. 15 years and the original bulbs are still going strong.

No way would I want to go through what Seth said about changing Silverstars every 3 or 4 months. I'll bet Ford wouldn't put in a light bulb that had to be replaced every 3 or 4 months, because that would be 24 light bulb changes (3 x 4 x 2) in the first 36 months bumper to bumper warranty. Even if lightbulbs were excluded from the warranty, the need for constant light bulb changing would tick off enough customers to send them to another brand for their next vehicle. There are probably good reasons for Ford choosing the bulb intensity they spec'ed. I did change housings to the 2002 OEM style, but that was purely for cosmetic reasons.

Speaking of other vehicles, my least favorite headlights are HIDs. The least reliable, and the most expensive. And I'm not talking about aftermarket units on eBay, I'm talking about bone stock HID headlights from what most surveys call the most reliable automotive manufacturer in the industry: Toyota. After almost a decade dealing with these on again off again HIDs, if ever given the option NOT to get HIDS again, I'm taking it.

Sometimes what is brightest may not be the best. Having too bright a headlight, with too sharp of a cut off, renders too great a contrast with what is illuminated and what isn't. With too bright and concentrated of a beam, the white car in front can be stridently bright from the reflectance of blindingly bright headlights, while the deer grazing on the side of the road by comparison is pitch black. I'd rather have a duller more diffused lamp, where the contrast between what is or isn't lit is more of a softer transition, rather than a sharp cut off. This enables the irises of my eyes to adapt better to the 270 degree field of view across all front windows.

Other drivers who sport obnoxiously bright headlights that are obviously brighter than OEM cause my irises to close down, and I can't see everything as well. While these drivers may be indifferent to the needs of other drivers to be able to see, and may choose to ignore the laws that govern headlight brightness for this very reason, they may not consider that I am more likely to hit someone or something that I cannot see from having been blinded by their super bright lights, and tie up traffic, which ultimately may effect them by impeding their access to where they want to go.

 

The stock electrical harness has resistance that will drop your voltage to the headlights to (depends) somewhere south of 12 volts. Test it and see! For the best solution, use 2 relays hooked up to your battery (thru fuses, of course). Great reading here: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
It's amazing that a 1000 lumen bulb (at 12.8 volts), will output only 800 lumens at 12.0 volts, etc.
You can buy a kit already made or he'll show you exactly what's needed. Also a great pre-made kit- dfuser.com

 

I'm currently using silver star ultras. Some say they don't last long, and I can't really give an opinion on that, as I only did about 2k this year. They are nice though, and no one is flashing their lites at me. You can clean up most lenses by removing the scratch resistant coating by sanding it off with progressively finer abrasives and buffing. Then spray with auto clear coat. Here is something you might not believe, but worked. Spray the lense with Deep Woods Off. I read about it somewhere and my wife tried it on her Honda Pilot, and it cleared them up nice. Its also lasted about a month now.

 

One thing to consider with the "bright" lights. Most of them have a blue tint to them, and although they look really bright up close, blue light scatters much more than true white light does. 99% of LED flashlights are a good example. Very bright out to about 6 -8 feet but try to project a beam 20 feet away, (IE Maglite), no dice. That being said Maglite does make a new generation of LED flashlight that will, so I don't know if this technology is available in automotive head lights or not.

 

I absolutely love my LED headlights, i refuse to buy HID and these just blow away the factory headlights

 

Miles, do you have a picture of what your head lights look like? I like Alan's lights the best. With that wiring harness and blubs its good light. I believe Barney uses them also on his F550.