I realize most prefer the 05 style for the looks but i find mixed reviews on the light output. is it better or worse than the 03-04 style lights????

I'm getting really sick of the horrible beam pattern produced by my TYC '03 style lights, there are a lot of dead spots in the pattern. tried both regular Sylvania bulbs and Philips Xtra Vision, neither fixes the dead spots which i assume is the reflector. so I am debating buying OEM housings, just not sure which style yet.

a projector retrofit is not really in the budget right now, but as compared to the cost of OEM housings maybe i really should consider that instead.

 

Not sure of 'best', but IMO, the 05-07 style headlights are a great improvement over the prior year headlights. I am currently running the Xtra Vision bulbs on mine and they do a pretty good job. Look around and you can find them on your local CL for under $100 for the pair. These do need you to cut the header panel. If you want to avoid the cutting, then you will need to replace the header panel with an 05+ version.

 

i can do the cutting of the panel, that isn't the problem. I just don't want to drop the cash if it isn't an upgrade in light quality. The TYC ones are really really horrible however, they look great on the front of the truck, but the light produced is barely better than driving with the lights off

 

If you're fine with the cutting, you will not regret it. Personally, I would save up a bit more and get the projectors retrofitted for even better results.

 

in the short term I might get the Hella 80/100w bulbs and build a harness. I have had good luck with harnesses on 2 prior vehicles that had crazy voltage drop between the switch and the lights. it could just be the wiring.

now that brings up the question too of how are the lights activated? with high beams on are both filaments active? i would think not so just 1 5pin relay should work fine

i wish i could find a good pic of "this is a pic of the output from my 03 lights, and these are my 05 lights....."

 

See if these help


These are the 05 style lights with the Xtra Vision bulbs

These are the 05 style headlights with the HID retrofit

 

I've personally had good luck with the 05-07 housings from eBay, I think they were like $95 for the pair with bulbs.

 

 

Morimoto projectors are pretty well regarded, and have the option of a "Bi-xenon" projector which raises the cutoff shutter for the high-beam.


The amazon link above has good reviews, but most importantly has a diagram of the bi-xenon function (they use the word gobo instead of shutter)

 

thanks for that link, will do some more searching. the TYC capa certificed housings were cheap enough off rock auto that I don't feel like i'm wasting a lot of money if i screw them up

for now I ordered a Putco 9007 100w harness, and am getting some used honda relays (per one of the reviews on amazon that said to use the honda relays instead, Mitsuba RC-2201 is the number). I will report back after i get that wired up. the putco harness was cheaper than me sourcing the ceramic plugs etc because theren't arent many options out there for the 9007 socket. for giggles i am also probably going to order the Hella 100/80w bulbs. although the putco harness is only 16ga wiring, so I might be rewiring it or building my own and returning it. but at factory 65w high beams x2 is only 9amp, so 16ga can handle that no problem, so only might be an issue if i were to use the 80/100w bulbs (11a/14a, so approaching limits of 16ga, but it is split between 2 relays)

on thursday i am going to measure the voltage at the sockets and the drop before i install the harness this weekend, or next monday.

 

For what it's worth, I wasn't recommending that particular projector, it was just an example, and it had the diagram I wanted. I think that particular one is too cheap to be worth the hassle of trying, then returning because it's cheap in both senses. When a pair is less than half of what a single projector costs, you're in trouble.

My opinion is that rather than up the voltage and get into HID territory, you're far better off going LED at half the wattage. Even compared to stock wattage, you're getting less draw for more light.

Do the research and make sure you get an LED that's designed for the housing you put it in. Don't get a projector LED set in a reflector housing. Seems like you've got a good handle on what you're doing though.

 

 

I have a set of the 05 style with the morimoto projectors in them, put together by a member here. I've had them for a couple years now and I'm very happy with them. They have the "high beam" shutter.

Sorry I've never done a halogen comparison between the 04 and 05 headlight styles.

 

 

How did you go about finding a member on there to have this work completed? I would eventually like to upgrade and a plug-and-play solution from someone on these boards seems like a decent avenue to pursue.