I'll start by saying I don't drive my truck much at night. I do come home from work after dark but it is 1.1 miles from my spot at work to my spot in the garage, and the entire trip is well it by street lights. So I never really noticed.

I drove home from Chattanooga the other night up the old highway and my head lights are dim as...well make up your own joke, just dim. This past Friday night I had to got up to my parents house to see one of my dad's friends who was in from Grand Cayman. All day Friday in SE TN was a
b!+ch to say the least, it rained hard all day long, and on the drive up and back my wife kept commenting on how dim my lights were after usually asking if my headlights were on.

Now, eliminating the possibility that there is a problem, what can I do to get brighter headlights?

I know there are some things on ebay like...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-06...QQcmdZViewItem

...but that seems iffy.

I know that several of you folks have, I believe, just switched your OEM bulbs for PIAA or Sylvania something or others.

And... I know there are some mods that require ballasts, but I don't know what kind of light set up that is for.

 

go get yourself some Sylvania SilverStar headlight bulbs part# H13ST o'reilly autoparts, autozone, advance auto parts, checker auto parts carry them they're about $20/side but WELL worth the cost- they take a minute apiece to install

 

Sylvania Silverstar or Xtravision. I've used both, and liked both. I think you may have some sort of problem, or your current bulbs are very old though. Our stock setup is quite good.

 

he's got an 06 so the bulbs cant be that old- well i s'pose they could be if they've been sitting since 03- what do you think could be causing the dimness- lack of voltage to the headlights? bad battery?

 

Or maybe (pure speculation) their previous vehicle(s) had HIDs...I imagine it would be hard to go back regular lighting.

 

Are these halogen bulbs?


I bought my truck in May this year and only have 2700 miles on it.


Nope, my last car was a '95 Saab 900 SE V6, no HIDs.



So HIDs conversion kits aren't worth the cost?

 

Yes, the Silverstars are halogens, the H13ST are a direct replacment for the factory bulbs. If you have fog lights you could also replace those bulbs with either 9145ST (direct replacements) or 9005ST (a higher wattage, actually a high beam bulb that fits into the fog housing)

I have the H13ST and the 9005ST in my truck. With them both on, while driving down the interstate at night, you can actually see them lighting up the 2 lanes in the other direction. This set-up is very bright. While driving in town at night I now turn my fogs off, as not to get flashed to dim or "blind" people.

 

here is an item i came across last night and am wanting to try.

http://www.thebritebox.com/BB.main.page.html


Right now I did the foglight/hi-beam mod on my truck along with the upgraded silverstars in the fogs, HUGE difference.......

 

is it safe to put the bigger bulbs in the fog lights?

 

Silver Star Ultra's......very bright!

 

can we get the lights bmw's and cadillac's have? (blueish super white light) you can see really good with those

 

did you see that one thread with the round fog lights that were melted [looked fogged] in the middle?? thats a possible consequence of running bigger bulbs in the fogs lol...

 

Waste of money. You can modify the switch itself so where the HI/LOW are on at the same time and it makes a nice difference. I only use it when i am driving as the air speed cools them down. I haven't burned out a bulb yet.

 

Since you seem very concerned with quality lighting, heres a great tip for you. Any bulb with a blue coating will output LESS light. It appears whiter, but its a filter which is removing color which is useful.

Do you have foglights? If so use them they help out alot. Despite your opinions, the newer F-150 has fairly decent headlight output compared to other domestic trucks expicially those of previous years. But I do agree that there is still not enough light. If you have the factory fogs, use them, if not, get some good SilverStars.

 

ya i saw that, and i dont really want to have to deal with that, i think when i do it im goin to just stick witht he stock sizes lol