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Better headlights?

Nate S

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Was driving last night and my wife made a comment about how much better new headlights are. Gotta say she’s right. What have you all tried and how do you like what you’ve done to improve them?

I don’t really want something that doesn’t look the part but figure there must be some options out there.
 
Installed Crackedback's kit on my '68 Charger. The kit and instructions were spot-on. Excellent upgrade!
 
Another option is the Hella H4 conversion assembly.
You can use any H4 style bulb.
I put them in my Charger and unplugged the two other high beams.
They are a plastic lens however.
 
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Outside bulb
 
I used crackbacked harness for mine too. Attached is head lights on just battery power and not running. I hid the relays under my battery tray. Good quality and member

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There is a guy on EBAY selling 4 headlight halogen upgrade kits for ( I think ) Corvettes and these are not to pricey and look original. They also have the stock two pin high beam plug so no need to worry about that. I bought a couple of sets of him he runs a business and is good to deal with.
If you used them with the wiring kit upgrade from Crackedback you would be all set.
 
I'll take another picture tomorrow.
The difference in look is more noticeable from a straight on shot.
 
I bought some reasonably priced halogen headlights from Summit and wired them in with relay's, every bit as good as my modern daily drivers now. The headlights were a direct fit with no mods and have the same twist lock bulb removal as the new cars.
 
I bought some reasonably priced halogen headlights from Summit and wired them in with relay's, every bit as good as my modern daily drivers now. The headlights were a direct fit with no mods and have the same twist lock bulb removal as the new cars.

That's exactly what I did, "low buck" upgrade that was a direct fit. Huge improvement and I couldn't be happier. Night drives are much better.
 
The original-type headlamps are sealed beams. No matter what brand or when made, plain or halogen or "performance halogen", these are primitive and barely marginally adequate. They produce a dim, narrow smudge of poorly-focused, brownish light, very little light on the road surface, no side spill, and a great deal of upward stray light that causes backdazzle in bad weather. You can do much better than these, but you have to be picky and shop carefully because much of what's on the market is unsafe/fraudulent junk (though of course all of it is advertised as an "upgrade").

The most important thing to keep in mind is that whether or not you like your headlights is not the same question as whether or not your headlamps are safe and effective. The difficulty is, what we feel like we're seeing isn't what we're actually seeing. The human visual system is a lousy judge of how well it's doing. "I know what I can see!" seems reasonable, but it doesn't square up with reality because we humans are just not well equipped to accurately evaluate how well or poorly we can see (or how well a headlamp works). Our subjective impressions tend to be very far out of line with objective, real measurements of how well we can (or can't) see. It's not because we're lying to ourselves or fooling ourselves or anything like that, it's because our visual systems just don't work the way it feels like they work.

Which means most internet "reviews" of a headlamp are useless at best.

There are good options worth buying in all four of the sealed beam sizes; large and small/round and rectangular, but in some sizes there are more options than in others, and the price range for lights worth having varies by lamp size/shape. In general you won't get what you don't pay for, but in some cases there are nice bargains to be found on lamps worth switching on at night.

Whoever wants advice on the subject, feel free to ping (PM) me and I'll give you dependable advice and pointers (to and away-from) whether you buy anything or not.
 
Guess

P9170528.JPG
 
Whoever wants advice on the subject, feel free to ping (PM) me and I'll give you dependable advice and pointers (to and away-from) whether you buy anything or not.
Or perhaps since most of our rides are of either single large round or (4)smaller round headlights, you could
lay said advice out here for all to see (and for posterity)?
 
I'm plenty happy with halogen sealed beams!!! Tipical upgrade made back in the days which still works nicelly nowdays.

Feed them with relays from the alt side if you still have ammeter in operation conditions and you'll be done
 
Or perhaps since most of our rides are of either single large round or (4)smaller round headlights, you could
lay said advice out here for all to see (and for posterity)?

Right now the objectively-best H4 high/low beam and H1 high beam large and small round lamps are glass-and-metal units made in Japan by Koito, one of the top suppliers of lights and lamps to the world's automakers, and the best bulbs are made by Tungsram (GE of Europe), so that's what I keep in stock. That's likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future, but posterity is actually a good reason not to post recommendations for posterity.

Equipment availability and recommendability varies. It shifts and drifts as products are discontinued and introduced, and any given lamp or bulb's performance and quality can change a lot—tooling gets worn out and doesn't get renewed, companies shift production from a good line to a cruddy one or they outsource it to a country known more for trinkets than for quality, companies and product lines get bought and sold, etc. So stuff like "I've always used [brand]" or "[company] makes good lights" can wind up being bad advice.

Apart from that, there's a ton of junk on the market, at a wide price range, all of it hyped as an "upgrade".

Whatever headlamps you get, put in relays and good wiring—though even the best wiring and bulbs won't "save" bad headlamps.
 
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