I am very disappointed with the factory head/fog lights in my truck. What is a good replacement bulb for our trucks? I know that projector hid lights would be the real solution here but that is way out of my budget.

 

Look up Philips extreme bulbs. They're the best I've personally used and my brother put them in his '12 on my suggestion. He said they were noticeably better. Other than hids, you're options are small. Hope that helps

 

You might want to re-post over in the Lighting forum. Lots of good information there.

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have the rectangular factory fog lights? Upping the wattage of the bulbs in those makes a bigger difference than anything you can do in your headlight housings.

 

No he's 2009-'13 circle only. Their lights suck in general

 

I put silverstar Ultra's in my truck. I love the improvement. I also put a set of silverstars in my fog light housings.

 

I'm wondering if raising the lights a tad might help. I'v never done anything about the head lights, they are terrible on both low beam and high beam, but I replaced the backup bulbs, they were even worse.

 

His sig said he's got a 2005. That's what fooled me. Bummer, because swapping a set of 55 watt bulbs (9005's) into the 2004-2005 rectangular fogs is the cheapest / best mods going if you ask me.

 

I wasn't happy with the lights on my 2012 either
after only 1 month I changed them to Philips H13 9008 X-treme Power Headlight Bulbs

They had a rebate on them last month too!

These definitely seem brighter than the stock bulbs.

 

I put plug and play HID's in the stock round housing from theretrofitsource.com and they are so so so so much better than the crappy halogen lights. They bright as can be but I adjusted them down and nobody flashes me so my consensus is they are just fine for the people coming towards me.

And if it increases my safety that much and does not bother other drivers than I'm all for it

 

Yes I do have a 2012 f150 xlt. I did have previous to this one a 05. I am very unhappy with the 2012 head lights. I can't believe ford felt it was ok to have such sucky lights on a $39000 truck. No only are they dim but they do not broadcast out far enough. Its not that the head lights are adjusted down or need to be adjusted up higher. It's simply the lights don't shine out that far. So let me get this right, H13 bulb for headlights and a 9140 for my fogs. Like I said if budget wasnt an issue I would buy the headlights that are in my brother in laws truck. He has the 2013 with factory projector lights. Those are awesome.

 

Go to bilinvic retrofits and see what he can do for you. I am on his waiting list for a set of custom built HIDs. I tried the new silverstar XKE or whatever, minimal improvement.

 

Found them for $31 on Amazon... Pretty reasonable for what sounds like a significant improvement..

 

The 9008 h13 bulb is one of the poorest bulbs ever engineered.....so its partly Ford's fault to keep on using them....

 

You can upgrade to a 9145 fog light bulb without trouble. Many users here have them in their plastic housings without any problems, including myself. They are a little bit of a wiggle to get them is as the tabs are slightly different, but they will go, and they are significantly brighter than the 9140.

 

I did as one suggested and went to www.theretrofitsource.com and purchased a set of their HID h13 kits, and h10(4145) kit for the fogs. OMG what a difference. The fog lights are brighter than the headlights. I hated to spend that kind of money but it was well worth it. I did save money compared to buying from ford the projector setup. Thanks to the member who suggested that website.