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What's the going "best" headlight upgrade?
I'm starting to get the bug somewhat again after the car being more or less just parked for 6 years and have not kept up with the trends. What the current best/easiest/full kit headlamp upgrade? I want something that is quality but I'm not going to tear up my car or remove the popups. I drive the thing maybe 3-4 times a year at night and just want a little more light so I can see where I'm going. Even a bulb upgrade would be great if they exist and are worth anything. I searched for about 15 minutes so get off my ass youngsters.. ;)
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Sakebomb Garage. I was kind of in the same boat as you with my lights getting worse and worse so I bit the bullet and spent the dough.
Holy crap they're so much better its almost unbelievable that I actually drove at night before I got them.. On par with a new car, you get to keep the pop-ups and their shop is in the bay area! |
Originally Posted by Natey
(Post 12300299)
Sakebomb Garage. I was kind of in the same boat as you with my lights getting worse and worse so I bit the bullet and spent the dough.
Holy crap they're so much better its almost unbelievable that I actually drove at night before I got them.. On par with a new car, you get to keep the pop-ups and their shop is in the bay area! Those are super nice though. Seems like they had several levels at one time with some more reasonably priced. |
I hear ya about the price. Keep an eye out in the classifieds. They'll pop up (pun intended) for around 750 once in awhile which is still spendy, but not quite as painful at 1200 bucks.
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Depend on how much work you want to do, best PnP solution is obviously SBG, they often do a GB during 4th quarter of the year so maybe wait for that. Best performance and lower price will be do your own retrofit with top quality projectors, I made my own and it looks identical to the SBG kit, just with different projector (I prefer Koito projector :)). One down side is time consuming getting the projector sit properly, but it is 1/3 of the SBG price. Decent performance and best price is also do your own retro but with Morimoto Mini, it’s like a PnP projector. You still have to bake open the headlights but the retro process is a lot quicker, you can probably do one in a couple hours, and the light output is still going to be night and day compare to stock headlights. |
Get yourself some Sylvania Silverstar replacement bulbs. They are much brighter than stock, are simple to replace, and wont cost you much. They are definitely worth trying before spending a bunch of time and money on a "project"
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^ +1
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Hit up turboIIrotary, he has sets for sale from time to time in the $800-900 range. Still some decent money but excellent quality. |
Sakebomb Garage if you want functional light output. Other kits look great but anything that doesn't pop up has the issue of the beam not fully clearing the bumper line. If you consider the amount of work that goes into them they are very fairly priced.
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@Donovan I have used the Hikari brand LED H4 bulbs on one of my FD with great results. They are not the same as the SBG stuff (still the best), but for someone looking for an easy upgrade that wont hurt the bank, these have worked really well. The LED focus pattern is identical to the incandescent bulbs, and do no distort the beam pattern in the OEM light housings. After installation, the only thing I had to do was adjust the height on the housings. I have not gotten any on-coming high beam flashes or complaints from other drivers (the FD is so low).
Amazon has them on promo at this current moment. Jehan |
I bought my Sakebomb headlight kit on the original group buy, probably 5 years ago or so. They have worked great, never a single hiccup or problem. Amazing light out put.
You can put better headlight bulbs in and adjust them to get the most out of the stock setup. I've seen many FD's with REALLY badly aimed headlights, many times pointing nearly straight down. They're not going to be amazing, but they can be better and at least safe. But, you can't beat the Sakebombs. The big problem is the stock reflector on the FD is just crap, a bulb doesn't fix that. The Sakebomb setup goes to a quality projector assembly. Dale |
The longer it goes, the more likely it is that even your economy "other" car or rental cars even will have great HIDs, and the step down to FD headlights is all the more dramatic. It's like when you follow an old car from the 50's and it has tiny little dim brake lights that seem like Christmas tree lights.
The Silvania Silverstar are a solid budget option, but if you're going to spend any more, go ahead and go for the Sakebomb. they're fantastic. |
Hella E-Code headlights with Hella H4 ( HL78151 - +50% Premium) 60/55W Xenon bulbs.
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Originally Posted by FourtyOunce
(Post 12300445)
@Donovan I have used the Hikari brand LED H4 bulbs on one of my FD with great results. They are not the same as the SBG stuff (still the best), but for someone looking for an easy upgrade that wont hurt the bank, these have worked really well. The LED focus pattern is identical to the incandescent bulbs, and do no distort the beam pattern in the OEM light housings. After installation, the only thing I had to do was adjust the height on the housings. I have not gotten any on-coming high beam flashes or complaints from other drivers (the FD is so low).
https://www.amazon.com/HIKARI-Headli...ikari+h4&psc=1 Amazon has them on promo at this current moment. Jehan |
Originally Posted by FourtyOunce
(Post 12300445)
@Donovan I have used the Hikari brand LED H4 bulbs on one of my FD with great results. They are not the same as the SBG stuff (still the best), but for someone looking for an easy upgrade that wont hurt the bank, these have worked really well. The LED focus pattern is identical to the incandescent bulbs, and do no distort the beam pattern in the OEM light housings. After installation, the only thing I had to do was adjust the height on the housings. I have not gotten any on-coming high beam flashes or complaints from other drivers (the FD is so low).
https://www.amazon.com/HIKARI-Headli...ikari+h4&psc=1 Amazon has them on promo at this current moment. Jehan Thank you all gentlemen for the suggestions. If I were to drive this car at all at night other than accidentally I'd be on those SakeBomb setups. |
Originally Posted by Hot_Dog
(Post 12300505)
Hella E-Code headlights with Hella H4 ( HL78151 - +50% Premium) 60/55W Xenon bulbs.
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I used the H4 with hi/lo from Hikari. It looks like the deal was an Amazon lightning deal.
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Originally Posted by Donovan
(Post 12300521)
You know.... This may be something to look at. You can get 100/55W bulbs too. Hmmm
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Originally Posted by Hot_Dog
(Post 12300529)
Sure, you can use 100/55W bulbs but make sure your wiring can handle the additional current. Rally Lighting (Rally Lights, Hella, TerraTrip, Hans, WRC, ZAMP) is a good source, but the headlamps might be on back order. I ordered mine last year before Thanksgiving and received my order shortly after the New Year.
Was the glass the same contour as the stokers? Everything was drop in? |
Originally Posted by FourtyOunce
(Post 12300525)
I used the H4 with hi/lo from Hikari. It looks like the deal was an Amazon lightning deal.
Thanks again for that rear corner light! |
Originally Posted by Donovan
(Post 12300571)
Looks like they are all over Amazon.
Was the glass the same contour as the stokers? Everything was drop in? |
Prepare to replace those Hella bulbs often. Avg life 200hrs...That's about 10% avg lifespan.
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I installed the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs around 2006. They are still working fine.
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Originally Posted by adam c
(Post 12300730)
I installed the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs around 2006. They are still working fine.
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^ Mine have also been in for many years. |
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