I am looking to upgrade my lights and housings. I have a 01 excursion. I want something that will put out the light and also want a housing thats good. What luck have u all had. I like this housing. Anyone use this one

 

http://www.protuninglab.com/hid-pro-...d=140845617178

Incase the photo doesnt show

 

I will let you read yesterday's discussion on them being illegal on focus on tech.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...eadlights.html

Yes I have used that headlamp and the lighting was horrible even compared to my old factory oxidized lamps.

I took them off and even though a friend wanted to buy them from me because they undoubtedly look cool I refused, I busted them with a hammer and pitched them in the trash.

So what is wrong with them ? They beam patterns were crooked and uneven and the cutoff was vague at best with unacceptable bleed over. My experience tells me that the build quality was the problem and likely in the manufacture of the reflector either being shaped wrong or it wasn't designed for a HID. Also the ballast were not made by Phillips, they were clearly knock offs.

On the plus the light color was decent and they looked cool.

 

Fwiw, had to cut my header panel to make them fit. Not hard to do but I cut out the lower adjustment point for the stock mount and had to get a new header panel when I went back to a factory style light mount.

 

You are better of getting an oem set from the newer excursions. They have clear lenses. Not really suitable for HID, but you can still install HID. Just make sure to adjust them down or you will get some angry ongoing traffic.

 

I had beautifully clear '03 lens, but wanted the look of the 05-07 style. Got some used OEMs off EBay. They are a bunch better! The reflector/ bulb combo just flat works, even with stock bulbs.
Highly recommend OEM housings for ruggedness and waterproof-ness!

 

With all the talk about headlights, whether it be legality, light output, etc, what would you recommend pirate4x4_camo? What do you have on your beastly Ex?

I have an 01' with stock headlights, upgrade would be nice, but only if there is an actual "performance" gain...ie more "safe" light output.

Thanks!

 

All the recent headlamp talk is likely due to the fact it is dark 14 hours a day this time of year. Add in some rain or fog and even the best of vehicle lights will not be good enough.

As a side note my search for the Holly Grail in lighting stems from 20 years of desert racing at night in Baja, our last race truck had over $10,000 worth of lights on it and yet there always seems to be a situation that calls for more.

Anyhow, back to the excursion. I have tried several setups, and recently switched back to the original 2 piece design and went with the lamps from Doorman using a Phillips 9007 bulb.

I switched back to the 2 piece design hoping they would be made to a higher quality then the fashion brands and choose the Doorman units since they are made by VAIP who does make CAPA certified headlamps. Unfortunately i think they also make a second tier quality product and sell them to Doorman

Another lesson I guess. I will be installing another set soon.
I will be buying a set of 2005 one piece CAPA certified headlamps made by TYC from rockauto.

To make a point about your "performance gain" The performance gain I seek comes from a high quality reflector. High quality in both the materials and the manufacturing process. Installing a brighter bulb in a housing that doesn't properly focus it in a suitable pattern is a loosing endeavor. Having a bright light scattered all over the place doesn't help you or the people who's eyes it is shining in.

 

Just so people don't get the wrong idea and think I am anti bright lights...

Besides my factory replacement type headlamps I also run several other lights to suit my needs.

The 3 round lights are HID that stay covered on the streets in the US.
They are just plain dangerous to oncoming traffic even a mile away. ( Cost about $350 each and that is actually a lower end light )

The 2 square lights look similar to the factory fog lights but are actually HID lights which I use on desolate roads. They are actually aimed a little closer in the my factory lights but completely illuminate the area. I turn them off at the first sight of oncoming headlights as They would be irritating to oncoming traffic but not dangerously so because of the angle. ( cost $600 for the pair )

The single light in the bumper is a 55 watt halogen that is very high quality that is aimed far down the right and slightly off the side of the road to spot wildlife in the bushes. I live in a rural area plagued with deer. Even though it isn't likely to affect oncoming traffic I still turn it off for oncoming traffic. ( cost $150 ea )

 

Your guard isn't big enough. A deer will slam into your headlights, grill and hood.
They are a real pest around here.

 

So far the score is: Bumper 3 Deer 0

But the bigger threat are cows when driving at night in Baja, Most all of Baja is open range and the cows will come lay down in the road for its warmth at night.
I have actually seen the aftermath of excursion vs cow and everything died, people, cow and excursion.


Combine the cows and the undulating roads. ( they build roads nap of the earth rather then graded flat ) and it is a receipt for disaster. there are plenty of road side shrines to remind you.

 

I can't stand anyone that puts HID's in a non-specific housing, ugh. Yes, a standard projector bulb housing has the proper cut-off's, but you're still losing around 30% of the output as they weren't designed for actual HID bulbs. To do it properly, you're looking at close to $450 in retrofit work if you outsource it. I don't care what anyone says, you CANNOT get HID's to work in a standard housing. If you're not blinding people, then they're pretty much aimed straight at the ground and at that point - why even bother wasting the money on them? Cool color? After 6500K you're losing actual lumen output and they only appear brighter because the human eye isn't super great at adjusting to and filtering the blue/purple color spectrums of light.

Personally I went to one-piece housings, threw standard Phillips bulbs in 'em, and tossed some 9005 bulbs in the foglights. The 9005's (Chevy high-beam bulbs) work GREAT at throwing more light on the road with good reach, and since they're way down compared to the foglights I'm not blinding anyone with them down there. My ex-wife followed me when I picked up the Chevelle and had to drive it 38 miles at night on poorly lit roads, even without window tint in the Chevelle I wasn't getting my retinas seared from the fog's. Haven't had any issues with them overheating, popping fuses, cooking wiring, etc and they're jumped to turn on with the headlights automatically. Had them in for over two years, zero issues. Just another idea for getting some more safe light on the road and out of oncoming traffic's eyeballs.

I have a spare set of 2005 headlights that I am currently doing an HID retrofit on, and one of the reasons I upped the foglights is the cutoff in the housings. It'll keep the light out of oncoming traffics' eyeballs, however it also keeps the light from reaching street signs at night so you can't read the damn things.

 

My other plan was to do the 05-07 lights and just get the brightest stock bulbs and just do that. And i only like to use off road lights when its a must. I will have 5 forward facing ones so i wont have a problem when they are on but u blind one cop and u have problems. What are ppl doing with the 05-07 headlights? I have heard u can a duel light set up so ur high and low are on and i would really like that. Anyone else have done this

 

I have been following this thread closely as I would really like to improve my light system as most of my driving is in darkness. I looked closely at the aftermarket headlights but after reading a lot of negative reviews I held off.
I had HIDS in my 2005 when I purchased it but took them out after being flashed by most oncoming traffic.
I really would like true projectors but am not sure what components are needed.
KrazeeMatt- Could you post info/pics of your HID retrofits?

Rob

 

They're just gutted 2005's right now, I'll have to find my parts list to post it up. If you don't see it in a few hours PM me and remind me