Hey guys, I have been looking into adding some aftermarket lights behind my 05 billet grille. I have been searching for a few hours and not really found much yet. I have been looking at hella 500ff and 700ff lights because they are cheap and I do not need an extremely high quality set up. I am mainly going to be using them for when i go up north to see the GF's family. I was wondering what combo of light types i should get. I do not have factory fogs so I wanted to have a set of fog style and driving lights so i can see farther down the road and out to the sides better. Are the FF style reflectors ok for fog light applications if they are aimed properly? I was thinking a smaller light for the fogs like the 500ff and then the 700ff for the driving lights. Is this a good idea or at least a good start?

 

I installed some FF75's in my grill and am very happy with them as an addition to my high beams. Here's my thread.

 

Thats a nice clean install nice job man!

 

Thanks. I would like to put two more (like the 500FF's) on the bumper, but I have to find a way to mount them. My 2000 doesn't even have the mounting holes for factory fog lights because they were not even an option until 2001. in your case, I think you could easily do them on your bull bar.

 

have you though about H.I.D. light?

I just installed them in my 06 much better lighting then stock bulbs

 

I don't know about Monte(?), but I would love some info on the HID's you installed.

 

its a simple install just installed the HID bulb in the headlight they get plugged into a ballast and that gets wired in to your OEM headlight wiring or if your not into wiring you can get a plug and play kit they are more $$ but for some it might be worth it

 

I have HID's as well, I'm not all that impressed to be honest not much of an improvement over stock. I did an 05 conversion so i have the same headlights. I also have 8000k, i was thinking of swapping to 6000k bulbs to make them more white colored. BigPigDaddy literally all it is is you connect you factory harness to the ballast and then the ballast to the bulbs and the buls should go right in without an issue. My HID's illuminate really close but not too far out, also i adjusted them way up too and no luck really. I was going to convert the Hella lights to HID if i did end up getting them though. The one problem with the bullbar mounting is i relocated the license plate so that it was visible and i wouldn't get pulled over and now it is too close to the mounting holes and the lights would be in the way, i could always bend the bracket however and make it sit farther back.

 

To correct my last post, my HID's are great except in poor weather, like we had a misty rain the other day and i couldn't see anything at all. Normal Driving they are perfect though and i have no problems with them, they do however tend to light up the area more so directly in front of the truck rather than farther ahead.

 

I've been dealing with the HID's for the last 7 years or so i've installed over 20+ sets friends & family (7 in my cars alone) I can tell you if your lights are only a "little brighter" then your stock bulbs you have low wattage ballasts if you was to swap them for 55 watt ballast you will be amazed at the difference in any weather

I had dim HID's to we tried some of the $40 kits from ebay not worth the money

 

Where did you get them and what brand?

 

I use to buy them from ebay now I just search on Craigslist and buy them from some one local

if your ordering from ebay look at the sellers feedback and return policy thats how I find better kits the guys that sell the better stuff will take returns $55 to $70 kits are usually the nicer sets that will last

 

Can i swap the ballasts and keep my current bulbs? i know by going from 35w to 55w the bulb temp will drop form 8000k to 6000k which is what i would like. Also will the added heat hold up OK in the 05 light housings? I have been resherching this a lot lately and appears to be a simple fix.

 

you should not have a problem with the housing I updated my 06 from the XL headlights to the XLT aftermarket and have no issues with heat

you can swap just the ballast and it should all just plug in to what you already have for power every set I've installed was all the same plugs

I personally like the 5k & 6k it looks more like stock and better out put, as for swapping just ballast it will change the color it should make it a more pure light and loose some of the blue or greenish tint the light have now

one thing you might want to do is get a relay kit, some of the fords that I installed them in with automatic light there was a problem that when you started the vehicle one or both lights would go out and you would have to shut the lights off and turn them back on to get them both on, the relay kits are cheep $10 to $15 simple to install connect to the battery plug in the the ballast and tap into one headlight for power, 4 out of the 5 ford vehicles I've installed them in had this problem until the relays was installed if your not having a problem now you might not have to though

from what I've learned installing these the connecting have to be good and sealed where you tap into the headlight wiring for power or your going to have a problem at point i've learned to just solder the connection at the headlight wires and used electrical grease in the plugs that these kits have cars that this was done on have been problem free cars that had problems was solved by doing this

not sure what it is with ford all the others dont have issues? 2008 f150 problem, 2000 Lincoln problem, 2003 Lincoln problem, 2008 focus problem, all had to have relays my 2012 expedition has been ok i'm not running relays in it but the connection are done as I stated above, my 06 f350 does not have automatic lights so it don't need one

Any one reading this after you install HID's please aim your lights correctly these are bright you can blind on coming drivers if you get alot of drivers flashing you at night they need to be aimed down a bit

if you guys have any more question just let me know

 

I did the same thing. I tied them into my high beams using a diode with the relay so I can manually turn them on with a switch or they turn on automatically when I use the high beams. You need the diode so that the manual switch doesn't back feed the high beam lights.