RANT: lifted trucks and aftermarket lights
- Thread starter Thai
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blanchard7684
New member
It isn't only people adding aftermarket lights. OEMs have some sort of internal metric for retina pain they are targeting.
Current model F250 and Dodge Ram trucks are flat out painful.
Current model F250 and Dodge Ram trucks are flat out painful.
Bluesky 07
Senior Member
Can we add running with LED lightbars on, especially in broad daylight, to this rant?
Thai
Elite Member
Ford actually recalled or TSB F150/250 due to their overbearing LEDs. I think that the 2022 F-series are more subdued.
DAW89446
Member
And is based upon the incorrect assumption that the other driver is courteous, undistracted or sober …
2021nightshade4x4
New member
I feel it’s my duty to step in every time we see one of these threads and clarify:
Yes the lift can be responsible for poor aim. But the glare can be from the LED hitting a frosty aged headlight lens. Also poorly indexed bulbs. In a reflector housing, LED bulbs should be indexed so the chips face left and right. If they face up and down. The light will bounce off of uncontrolled (flat/not shaped) areas of the inner housing and scatter / glare.
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Yes the lift can be responsible for poor aim. But the glare can be from the LED hitting a frosty aged headlight lens. Also poorly indexed bulbs. In a reflector housing, LED bulbs should be indexed so the chips face left and right. If they face up and down. The light will bounce off of uncontrolled (flat/not shaped) areas of the inner housing and scatter / glare.
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John in NC
Member
Wrong- LED bulbs should only be used with LED specific/ factory LED type housings. LED's in reflector housings are a big no-no.
Here's the thing, if you get people flashing their brights at you, you have the wrong bulbs in and/ or you need to aim your lights lower.
If you continue to get flashed and do nothing about it, you're a jerk.
If you have a 'levelling kit' installed you need to lower your lights.
Here's the thing, if you get people flashing their brights at you, you have the wrong bulbs in and/ or you need to aim your lights lower.
If you continue to get flashed and do nothing about it, you're a jerk.
If you have a 'levelling kit' installed you need to lower your lights.
To those advocating the use of rear facing lights, etc. Just remember you may be liable if you hit them with your lights and they have an accident.
I spent a considerable amount of effort making sure my SS3 Pro fog lights were properly aimed - what a PITA it was tightening down the bolts from under the truck.
There is no excuse for not having everything properly aimed.
I spent a considerable amount of effort making sure my SS3 Pro fog lights were properly aimed - what a PITA it was tightening down the bolts from under the truck.
There is no excuse for not having everything properly aimed.
BRPNW4R
New member
My eyes
Yes indeed! You don't know how many times I've stared at the white line trying to keep in the lane. I've adjusted mine twice now..and still adjusting them depending on my cargo area/trailer load. It's a fine line as I don't want to "aim down/up" every time I travel loaded for bear. Cheers
Yes indeed! You don't know how many times I've stared at the white line trying to keep in the lane. I've adjusted mine twice now..and still adjusting them depending on my cargo area/trailer load. It's a fine line as I don't want to "aim down/up" every time I travel loaded for bear. Cheers
2021nightshade4x4
New member
There are two types of LED bulbs, aftermarket replacement, and the kind that are molded into housings for cars that come stock with LED headlights.
If you’re about to say “any stock halogen you replace with an aftermarket LED is illegal” then I’d advise you to bring that up with a multibillion dollar industry and the several dealers, independent shops, and franchises that have all passed my vehicles for inspection every year. Never said a thing about my headlights. I know they’re strict, too, because Christian Brothers warned me about lifted trucks always failing due to headlights in casual conversation before I even brought them a vehicle to inspect.
I’m running aftermarket CHINESE housings and $39.99 a pair, Amazon, replacement LED bulbs in several vehicles that have just passed their inspections this month.
The housings bear both SAE and DOT, and are general, reflector type housings. The bulbs I bought come with instructions how to index the bulbs for both reflector and projector housings.
There is no mention of housings specifically made for LED in the aftermarket. There is classification of “LED” or “HID” or anything else. Only reflector and projector.
LED’s are indexable to suit either, and HID can suit either reflector or projector as well, BUT you must use type D2R, D4R, etc. with the letter R for reflector housing. These have a bulb shield to block glare.
It wasn’t the housing, but the BULB design that made xenon’s in reflector housings possible for Toyota in the early 2000s Avalons, Prius, Sienna…
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2021nightshade4x4
New member
SS3 Pro look to be TIR instead of projector like the Morimotos, what do these bulbs offer in terms of a cutoff line when shining down the road?
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The sport probably has a cleaner line, but I was able to get a pretty decent break, with some spillover. It was a pain adjusting them, as you have to do it at the mounts with a hex wrench. based on my wife in her car, it was not blinding to on-coming traffic, so I feel pretty good about them. If it turns out I need to adjust the further, I will do so.
John in NC
Member
[MENTION=659386]2021nightshade4x4[/MENTION]
Couple questions- in your vehicles with aftermarket headlights, LED's etc, do you get flashed by other drivers?
If flashed do you aim your lights lower until you aren't flashed by anyone anymore?
Couple questions- in your vehicles with aftermarket headlights, LED's etc, do you get flashed by other drivers?
If flashed do you aim your lights lower until you aren't flashed by anyone anymore?
2021nightshade4x4
New member
No I don’t get flashed - What good are my bright lights if it removes other drivers’ ability to see? I’d scrap a set in a heartbeat if I kept getting flashed. I’ve got a process I follow:
1.) Replace one side, aim to match stock halogen side that I know I don’t get flashed on.
2.) Confirm I don’t get bleed over above the cutoff, replace other side and aim to match.
No flashes that way. If I can still read my driver’s license by the light of the bleed over I just take the bulbs back out and confirm whether the bleed is from bulb or housing. I’ve had to do this once with a REALLY bad pair of HID, not LED, from Headlight Experts. One bulb was significantly more pink and the other more blue. Absolute junk.
Ironically the only times I’ve been flashed for aim are when I rented a pickup from U-Haul (Silverado) and my factory LED aim on my 2021 4Runner. I never got flashed by oncoming traffic but across ONE intersection I did on a few occasions. The lights were aimed borderline too high at the factory and selling dealer missed it, too. Took it to different location but same franchise, (Hendrick Toyota) for my 1yr inspection and it still passed.
I ended up adjusting them down myself.
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2021nightshade4x4
New member
Also the cheap “universal kits” that purport to work with all 9007 bulbs, etc. don’t take into account manufacturers like Dodge (or at least early 2000s Dodges) don’t have standard pin outs despite a matching harness that clicks in.
I installed a “plug & play” harness for my Durango from Headlight Experts that ended up giving me permanent high beams so you’re exactly right. I looked up solutions and someone in the same boat had to buy a harness from a different manufacturer, listed for a FORD, to successfully run their headlights.
I yanked the system because I would have forfeited my right to return it for fitment issues if my VIN didn’t match.
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Too Stroked
Member
There's a whole lot of debate and passion around the whole aftermarket drop in LED bulb market and whether or not they work and / or are legal. I'm going to side with John on this one on several points though.
First of all, drop in LED bulbs are not legal for use in headlights in the US. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently went after most of the big players in the market resulting in them pulling their products off the market. Unfortunately, this action had a very negative effect in that the reputable players did pull their products off the shelf. The cheap eBay / Amazon players simply ignored the ruling.
As far as these drop in "bulbs" actually working, you might want to read these two links from very reputable sources:
Why Most LED Headlight Upgrades Don't Really Work: An Expert Explains
Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors | Tacoma World
In short, there are some very valid scientific reasons one should not use the wrong light source in a housing designed for halogen bulbs. And if simply changing to LED bulbs in current halogen housings would yield headlights that were both legal and actually performed, don't you think the OEM's would have done this in droves?
With all of that said, does cold, hard science prevent Marketing types from saying their LED bulbs work just fine? Nope, not a bit. Even the "indexing the bulb to get them to work properly" argument is hard to swallow for me. Most folks have enough trouble simple replacing a burned out headlight bulb. Indexing (adjusting) one to get it correct? Not generally going to happen and I've had the displeasure of being in front of way too many idiots who can't seem to get this part right.
And finally, although your inspection station hasn't flunked any of your vehicles for illegal headlight bulbs, that doesn't make them legal. I've seen all sorts of technically illegal stuff passed by inspection stations that either don't know or simply don't care.
2021nightshade4x4
New member
I could have very well had a bad experience and junked the bulbs. Abandoned LED for life. However, changing out my housings and the bulbs gave me a crystal clear window and cutoff as not to blind drivers with the glare of a high output bulb, behind what would essentially turn an old hazed housing into an unshielded frosted bulb, diffusing in all directions.
What I benefit from is the change in light color. I hear that 4300K provides the brightest light, yada yada. But 6000K LED actually light up wet pavement, which doesn’t get lit up from yellower bulbs. I want to see that piece of black metal lying in the middle of a rainy road at night.
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What I benefit from is the change in light color. I hear that 4300K provides the brightest light, yada yada. But 6000K LED actually light up wet pavement, which doesn’t get lit up from yellower bulbs. I want to see that piece of black metal lying in the middle of a rainy road at night.
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