The thing about bright lights is to not look into them, people who get blinded by them usually stare into them like a dear into head lights lol. I have $23.00 HID kits ordered directly from china in all my vehicles. I have also have them pointed proper and my cut off is good. These kits are hi/lo so I can can control the cut off from night flood to road beam. Gives me the option to really blind those who stare and flash me first. HID's are by far the cheapest and best source of light output just look at the numbers. As long as they are pointed proper you won't blind anyone. You could even use a can of VH Smoke to give you head lights some eye brows and control your cut off. I don't want to get into a pissing match here but the hids that blind people are not installed properly plain and simple.

 

Those would be the 4509's. Forty years ago I had a "canyon car" with a pair.

I still remember their performance, and have often thought that they would make a good addition to the F-350, but I'd have to live out in west Texas or eastern Oregon to take much advantage of them.

If you can see oncoming headlights, no matter how far away they are, you GOTTA' turn them off.

Conservatively rated at 110,000 candlepower.

Pop

 

You know we gotta ask Marv; What's a "canyon car" ? LOL

 

Here in the southern California we have a series of small mountain ranges that geographically separate various parts of "The Southland". For instance, Malibu is about fifteen miles from me, but I have to travel through a small mountain range to get there. There are lots of "canyons" out here, with roadways through most of them.

Back when I was much younger, we used to go out at night and drive some of them for "best time". It's a practice still ongoing today, but with much better-equipped cars and motorcycles (which sometimes conflict with each other). The law enforcement is a lot better today, as well.

Mine was a lowered, four-speed, OHC Ford Taunus-powered two-liter Pinto station wagon with wide rims and tires. Yes, Pinto wagon! It ran the canyons like it was on tracks.

It was a great little car for me at the time, but it got accordion'd on the freeway when traffic came to an abrupt halt and the guy behind me in a Galaxy lost his brakes. It pushed me into a full-size Chevrolet hard enough to push it into a Buick, which didn't move at all.

I had about two hundred thousand dollars of aircraft radar equipment in the back that I was delivering to LAX air cargo, and none of it was damaged at all, but required retrieving from an impound lot the following day to get it shipped out to an unhappy airline in dire need. The guys in the impound yard most-certainly didn't know what they had, if only overnight.

Gee, it all COULD have caught fire (as Pintos were want to do) but this was a wagon, and they must have had the fuel tank farther away from whatever hit them. I dunno'. Maybe it was just dumb luck.

I have photos, but no scanner to digitize them. Wish I could show you the wide-stance-pony of my youth.

Temporarily replaced it with a Vega Kammback. What a genuine, jen-u-WINE, P-O-S that was!!!

Anyway, this is all completely off-topic, so let's get back to headlight performance on Ford SuperDutys!



Pop

 

Great story Marv! I was thinking about Malibu and Topanga Canyon and wondering if it was something like that. Didn't know about the cars set up to run them, though. I used to like to run Redwood Canyon on my motorcycle up in the East Bay in Norther Cal. back then.

To be young again, eh?

 

Yeah, but along with the youth we'd have to start doing really stooooopid things again.

We might not survive a replay!

Pop

 

That's true.

 

Good stories! I had this set on my 'ranchhand' bumper for a few years on a 3way switch - ON-OFF-ON w/hi-beams. They are extreme!! I haven't put them back on since the reflection from street signs literally hurts my eyes and I don't drive many places without signs... They sure will light up a couple miles of straight road though. And God help those cheap HID guys who think they have their junk 'aimed properly'!!!

I'd love to see a real world 'shootout' to quantify the real and percieved values of all these options - bulbs, housings, etc. The fact is there are a bunch of HID 'kits' on the market and I'm sure some are better than others. I spend ALOT of time on the road, much of it at nite - and I can tell you I have pulled up along side plenty of HID retrofits that lit the road right in front of the vehicle BRIGHTLY, but had no distance whatsoever. Meanwhile, stock, 'yellow' halogens actually provide more usable light - but the perception is the opposite. People tend to feel more secure with all that (scattered) light right in front of them.

Its only a matter of time before technology provides the law a way to enforce annoying headlights. Then, those in denial can take their argument to the judge...

 

Jason,

Just for grins, I finally "scanned" a couple of the old photos (with my camera), and put them on my server:
http://springerpop.net/F350/images/73_Pinto1.jpg
and
http://springerpop.net/F350/images/73_Pinto2.jpg

One of the shots shows those 4509 aircraft bulbs. They sure lit up the night!

Going through that old photo album was a trip-in-time for me, looking at some old photos of myself, too.

But I ainna' gonna' put THOSE up!

Pop

 

i just bought a set of 02 headlights to upgrade my EX and to my surprise they came with PIAA bulbs in them. WOW is all i can say. my f-i-l put the silver stars in his rig and the PIAA bulbs are nicer. about 75 bucks for a set...........

 

Cool car! I dig those belted tires and alum wheels.

Here's mine on my old bumper. Those headlights needed all the help they could get!!

 

What am I missing with the Silverstars? I've tried them in two different vehicles. What I've found is that it makes a somewhat whiter light, but it reduced how far the beam shines if that makes any sense. What it did light up was brighter, but the beam pattern front and side was reduced. I absolutely hated them. Plus the color just wasn't great compared to a true HID.
This was a while back, now you guys are calling them Ultras. Do they have a higher wattage bulb now?

 

They do not 'compare' to HID's at all... Perhaps a 'whiter' light than the other halogens on the shelf at auto parts, but still only 55/65 watts (low/hi beam). The only way to make these better is the 'Brite Box' mod which keeps low-beams on when ya switch to hi-beams.

The Optilux/HELLA bulbs I'm using in Excursion are almost the same color (4000k) as the HID's I have in the F350 now (4200k). NOT 'blue' - they are very WHITE. (and they are waaaaay cheaper than the Silverstars) The Optilux bulbs do have a blue tint on them though...
Susquehanna MotorSports - Auto Performance Product

The 'Ultras' are Sylvania's newest offering - I have not used them or seen them, but some have said they thought they weren't as good as 'regular' silverstars. I just looked it up and Sylvania sez Silverstars are ~4000k. Not sure what the '~' means exactly... 'Standard' halogens are in the 3000-3200k color range - thats why they look yellow compared to Silverstars!

 

I don't mean I was comparing them to HIDs, I'm comparing them to regular bulbs.