I have an '06 F-350 CC SRW and am not real satisfied with the lights. Maybe I'm getting old but are there any replacement bulb options that will work?
I was wondering if anyone had tried the Sylvania Silverstars or something similar.

Thanks.

 

there is a company that offers new wiring harness for these trucks. It has bigger wiring so the bulbs don't starve for energy. I read they work really well but I never tried them yet. so far I just added extra driving lights to the light bar. These trucks do have terrible lighting.

 

I have an 05 that had the same problem (I think they all do). At first I bought some Sylvania Silver Stars. They made a difference, but VERY little, it seemed if I didnt drive with my foglights on, I could barely see the road. I drove it this way until I found out about the upgraded heavy duty lighting harness by Dfuser. I installed it a couple weeks ago, and what a difference! I can put the brights on and actually see down the road. I drive a mountain pass every weekend and there are lots of elk grazing on the sides of the road. I used to not be able to see them until I was almost on top of them, now I can pick them out hundreds of yards ahead of me. Absolutely the best upgrade I have done on my truck, especially with the Silver Stars. It should have come from the factory like this.

 

Sporstman-

Thanks for the info.

Do you have a link for the info?

How hard was the swap?

 

http://www.dfuser.com/mfg/powerstrok...s/lighting.php

The harness is the third item down. The install was very easy, probably took about an hour. Like I said, it made a huge difference for me, but I also have the Silver Stars installed. FWIW, the last night trip I made up the pass I had my brights on all the way up (about 50 miles straight), when I got to the top I stopped and checked the harness/bulbs for excess heat and felt no heat at all. The bulbs are getting more power from the battery, so I was a little worried it might produce some extra heat, but there was none at all. I dont think you'll be sorry at all, especially for 59 bucks. Lots cheaper than installing some PIAA driving lights. Let us know what you do.

 

For those that do alot of rural driving there is also the Bright Box available, allows you to run hi & lo & fog lights all at the same time. I don't have mine installed yet but am going to do the wiring upgrade as well when I do get around to putting everything in.

 

Hid (xenon) headlights are definitely the way to go. The prices have dropped over the last year and a single low beam system can be found for around $100. HID light output is three times that of halogen, and as an added benefit, the ignited gas uses very low voltage, thereby reducing the load on the alternator. The light, now at a “hotter” color temperature than halogen, appears nearly white. The powerful white light makes distant street reflectors and signs highly visible to the driver. The single HID is used only for the low beam, with a halogen bulb reserved for high beam use. Bi-xenon headlights offer both a “low” and “high” HID beam. Hid headlights will also outlast halogen as they do not have a filament to burn up or break. The only down side is that once you drive a vehicle with Hid lights you will feel blind if you drive without them.

 

Sportsman, thanks for the link and the info on the upgrade. I also noticed that going to Silverstars didn't give me the added benefit I was looking for. I'll definitely consider this if I can't find a good set of HID's.

diverseth, do you have a link for HID's for the 05 and newer trucks? Which set did you go with?

Thanks everybody for the input as I'm sure many who like myself do a lot of nighttime driving out in the boonies will be greatly benefited by an upgrade like this.

 

HIDs are def. the best as far as light output. I have some friends with them.....most likely will put some in my 07 and 01.
Phillips are probably the best quality, but also the most expensive. There are tons of brands that are more economical, but I don't know anything about how well they perform.

 

were can we find the bi xenon lights any link??

 

I got mine on E-bay. I origionally got a single / low beam only but upgraded to a quad system w/ high and low beam. When I hit high beams it's daylight.Brighter than my friends jeep w/ 4 KCs on a rollbar! When I get home I will look up the name of the ebay store.

 

I was so concerned with the lighting on my truck that I took extensive measures. I didn't want to add a light bar, or any other fog/driving lights up front. After doing TONS of research I came to the conclusion the best way for me to upgrade my lighting was to do a complete HID retrofit. I have posted this in other sections of this forum.

 

The E-bay store is "hidgalaxy" Check out Item number: 180142507773. The lights I got from them were good but not sure if they are the same it has been over a year. (HID) Xenon bulbs do not require a projector lens any more than halogens require a reflector. The projector is definitely a more elaborate setup as it focuses the majority of the light directly in front of the vehicle limiting side scatter. Projector lenses have been used for years on headlights with halogen and more recently xenon bulbs. Reflector style lights can be focused for a proper light pattern by moving the light source in or out in relation to the reflector think of a Maglight type flashlight. Good xenon kits will take this into account and position the bulb properly inside of the light housing as there is no adjustment for this on most vehicles. Both bulb types are just a light source and must be properly positioned but it’s more critical with a brighter/ whiter light. Xenon has more visible light output when compared to halogen of the same wattage therefore it is brighter 2300-2500 lumens vs. 500-700 lumens. Another advantage is that the light from xenon is more color specific so you can choose the color or temperature getting a light that is more white (5000k) than yellow (3000k)like halogen tends to be. There are plenty of poor quality lights in both halogen and xenon that will give a poor light pattern that will blind others.Try to stay away from the lights that are not DOT approved or say “Off Road Only”.

 

I added silverstars to my stock 05.

Maybe im the only one, but i have no problem at all with the light output on my 05. I find it to be by far better than the output on any of my previous vehicles including lexus, ford trucks, and dodge trucks.

I mgiht look into the harness though just for fun. 60 bucks is sort of steep for wire.

 

Ok, I am not sure we are on the same page. When you talk about halogen vs xenon you are just refering to the bulb that is still going into the reflective housing in the headlight. Now, when you talk about HID, you are talking about a completely different technology. Your standard bulbs Xenon and Halogen are both filament bulbs. High Intensity Discharge the light is emitted from an arc discharge between two closely spaced electrodes that are sealed inside a quartz glass capsule. Now you can take and HID bulb and put it in a reflective housing that was meant for a standard halogen filament bulb. These are what HID plug and play kits are. They are downright dangerous. They emit glare, and even though the light will be 'brighter' you will actually have less useable light.

So again I am not sure if you were talking about true HID setups, or if you were talking about standard halogen or xenon filament bulbs.

A lot of these companies making bright white, or cool blue xenon bulbs are actually just putting a blue filter over the bulb. They then need to up the output of the bulb to keep them DOT approved. In turn you will lose bulb life. 4300K is basically the same as daylight, and the most useable temperature of light. Anything above 6000K is brutal on useable light.