Headlight upgrades
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 435
Likes: 2
From: Bloomfield, NM
Headlight upgrades
Looking to do something to make my headlights brighter. I don't know if just brighter bulbs will do much, as the lenses are fairly rough. Lookin to see what you guys have done with your rigs to give me some inspiration. Trying to keep the budget fairly low.
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 435
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From: Bloomfield, NM
I've been checking eBay and found some lense assemblies that come with brighter bulbs for cheaper than I expected. Just wish there was a way to see how black lenses would look on the truck haha
Tuned
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 314
Likes: 11
From: Dallas / Ft. Worth Area
I'm not sure why there isn't a sticky about this subject. The short version of it is this: Stock halogen headlamp assemblies are not designed to focus HID or LED light patterns. There is no doubt HID or LED can be brighter than halogens, but the properties of these lights differ tremendously. A proper HID conversion will require a projector housing retrofit behind the halogen light housing. A lot of your Ebay crap is cheap Chinese junk I'd never install into my vehicle. LEDs are a bit easier to work with but LED light patterns are again different. There are some manufacturers that claim their bulbs create a halogen like cutoff and focus the beam pattern so that it can be used in a halogen headlamp assembly without blinding other drivers and giving you more light output.
I don't know how true that really is to be perfectly honest.
I don't know how true that really is to be perfectly honest.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,210
Likes: 20
From: prince george, bc canada
I bought some spyder black tinted headlight assemblies for my 08 duty. Not projector models. I put a brightsource SFB HID kit in these housings and it works well. Even with an 8" lift I have no blinding of oncoming traffic issues whatsoever. The light increase is good. I had a different kit in these housings to start with and they blinded traffic. Not all kits are created equal.
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2014
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From: Bloomfield, NM
The bulbs I mentioned were still halogen bulbs. I don't really need hid type brightness, more just looking for better lenses and a little bit better visibility in low beams. My high beams are ok. And the black lenses I mentioned have black frames. I'll try to figure out how to put a picture in a post
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Joined: Dec 2009
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Oops, I didn't realize the model year of the truck.
1999-2004 Ford F-250/F-350 Headlight Retrofits - The Retrofit Masters
1999-2004 Ford F-250/F-350 Headlight Retrofits - The Retrofit Masters
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,015
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From: Lakehills, TX
The best option is also the easiest and cheapest: leave your headlight housings alone and add some driving lights. You can trigger them to come on with your brights, if you like. Or even have a set that comes on with your low beams (aimed lower and to the right a little) and a different set that comes on with your high beams, if you really need that much lighting. You can get chinese LED cubes for cheap, but go ahead and step up to something more like PIAA or IPF halogen driving lights that are cheap, easy, and long-lasting. Or spring for the more expensive but higher quality LED driving light options like those from Rigid and others.
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2014
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From: Bloomfield, NM
Cargo Master
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,152
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are those stock 04-ish style super duty headlights? got any more pics of them installed after the retrofit? looks great, i'm wanting to eventually do something like this on my stock 04 headlights.
Tuned
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 368
Likes: 0
From: Ventura, Ca
you could upgrade to the 06 type lenses if you're talking about your 03. it's a pretty simple mod.
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 435
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From: Bloomfield, NM
Where would a guy find more information pertaining to such a conversion?