Hey guys (and gals)

I have a 2000 F-150 Lariat that I have owned for 8 years. The headlights in this vehicle are originals. Does anyone know if the bulbs lose their brightness over time? These I would assume are 55W/65W low beam/high beam bulbs. Just curious as to whether I need to replace them?

DaWG

 

Bulbs will get dimer over time, so you might think you are in a tunnel at times.

If you are going to replace them ( shocked they have not busted an element by now ) take a look at the Silverstar Ultra line. You will not believe how much brighter these are when compared to new std bulbs, and compared to a 8 YO bulb, you might think you are driving around with your brights on.

I had 10 month old Silverstar bulbs in my motorcycles, and got the EU version of the Ultras ( under the OSRAM name ) prior to the US launch of the Ultras. This was for a H4 bulb type.
Comparing them side by side, the old style reflector with the Ultra bulb produced more light then the new style reflector with a US Silverstar bulb, and the Ultra drew 0.25 AMP less then the US bulb ( one would think this counter intuitive ).

I went factory bulb ( sylvania ) to the XV ( eXtra Vision bulbs ) on my 2006 ( prior to the release of the Sivlerstar bulbs for the '04+ MY Trucks ) and saw an increase in light output. This was a 3 month old bulb to a new XV bulb.
When the Silverstar bulbs were release, I put one in and compared it to the XV bulb, and there was a noticeable increase in light output again.

 

Another major factor to increase the brightness along with bulbs of course, would be to get new headlight housings all together. As you/our style of truck have a frosted non-clear lens, a new crystal lens makes a HUGE difference and looks great too!
I just put my new heads in a week ago and i love em!!

 

Where did you get the housings?

 

did the same to mine, i used lightning heads i found on ebay for like $60 with SS ultras, with PIAA 520 fogs bulbs swapped for GE 100w feels like driving during daytime. with the lightning head there is a huge difference alone

 

^ exactly! getting the clear lens makes a big difference, then you can take advantage of a nice SS or PIAA bulb, I myself just order an HID kit.

The housings including corners are from ebay

 

i recently put my clear headlights on and it was a night and day difference with the stock bulbs. i wanna get some SS ultras, but i dont know if its worth paying $50 for a short lived bulb

 

Thanks. I will look on e-bay.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

the ss ultras are nice, but like you said, why pay $50...when you can pay $120 and do an HID UPGRADE But the SS ultras or PIAA will make a huge difference for you