roblimo

So I'm going to go to sealed-beam Halogen lamps.

Sylvania SilverStar? Any other suggestions?

And then there are the parking lights, turn sigs, tail/brake lights... Halogen or LED? I see a lot Amazon reviews saying people have gotten LEDs and they're not very bright. Anybody have any LED suggestions for the various parking, tail, brake, backup and marker lights? (1996 Cherokee)

OTOH, Halogens get hot. Have they messed up any Jeeps? If LEDs are the way to go, this is moot.

How about it, more experienced people?

All advice appreciated.

exjay1027

i'm running the sylvania silverstars and i don't think there's a better plug n play option. i love them.

Slim357

I agree I had H4 headlights for a while and it was scary driving at night. I could see less then 2ft off the nose of the jeep. Only other option is HID 6ks IMO. I plan on the 6k hid here in the near future just for the brightness of them

Michael952

At night I always run my highs. Lows are utter garbage

Slim357

That was with my highs on. I switch back the the sylvanias and my lows and highs are amazing lol I also put an upsated H4 plug in place of the factory one and my headlights are almost white now that Iv added it

salad

You lads need to upgrade your harnesses lol. And I've never heard of halogen parking lamps, if they do exist the would melt your housings pretty fast.

If you can't see anything other than 6k HIDs you seriously need to get your eyes checked dude. Stock lighting is bad but not THAT bad.

Slim357

Stocks are better then the H4 is what I was saying and stocks are much better since I put a new H4 plug in place of the stock 3 prong plug

PocketsEmpty

Did you upgrade your harness? Because this goes against everything I've read about the H4 upgrades. My stockers are awful

DaBeebs84

you are doing something wrong.....my stock lights were TERRIBLE. After I put in the harness and the IPF H4 setup; it was a night and day difference.

roblimo

"You lads need to upgrade your harnesses lol."

No, 55/65W sealed beam halogen headlights are okay.

"And I've never heard of halogen parking lamps, if they do exist the would melt your housings pretty fast."

No, they're out there and apparently not melting housings -

My friend Taran tried LEDs in his RX7, decided they weren't bright enough, got these.

Slim357

No just the headlight plug so far

salad

cherokeelaredo'90

I thought the factory parking lamps were halogen?...

cruiser54

Here's what you need to know:

Originally Posted by xjsnake
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179

Upgraded headlights the legal (ish) way...

1) Get a new headlight harness.

You can make your own
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

Or you can buy one: http://www.eautoworks.com/Putco-H4--...s-PRD7540.aspx

The eautoworks harnesses used to be quite cheap until everyone on this forum started recommending them and the price was raised accordingly.

You can pick them up for $29.99 here http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/csd/full.aspx?Page=48 part number 36-3580. It says it fits a chevy blazer but it's the same as the eautoworks harness and I'm running the LMC harness in my XJ.

There are other more expensive options for pre-made harnesses but I'm not super familiar with those.

2) Upgrade to H4 housings

There are two types of regulations pertaining to headlight housings. There are DOT approved housings which are legal in the US and there are Ecode lights which are European housings and aren't legal in the US although many people use them as they are considered superior housings due to the light pattern.

DOT
Rampage http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_501.htm
IPF http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_1600.htm
Delta http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_121.htm
Hella http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_02.htm

Ecode
Autopals (look on ebay for Autopal 200mm H4 housing)
Hella http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=744
Cibie http://www.clearcorners.com/products/cibie/

Personally I won't buy housings that have plastic lenses, I much prefer glass but your mileage may vary.

3) Get good bulbs

Some of the above housings come with bulbs included with them. I tend not to recommend bulbs as the choices are extremely vast and everyone has their own preferences as to color and wattage.

4) Aim your headlights properly!

I can't say enough how much improperly aimed headlights annoy me on the road plus you are wasting all that time and effort to upgrade the lighting if you don't aim the light where it does the most good... http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=78017

5) On HID Lights

I do not recommend HID's for use in XJ's... People will show links to cheap HID kits and "Projectors" off of ebay and other sites which will give you a lot of light and will also throw a lot of light in all directions making you very visible to police and possibly blinding other drivers.


Read http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html for a well written description of the problems with HID kits.

When using HID's you need a true projector housing. I'm sure people will chime in and say they run HID's and ebay housings and have had no problems but I'm describing the legal (ish) way.

If you want to go down the road of HID's, take a look at what true projector housings cost http://www.kbcarstuff.com/6054-200mm...-p/xd-6054.htm
http://www.brightheadlights.com/hid-upcoming.htm
or you can buy the projectors and retrofit them into existing housings if you are so inclined: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/hea...9/#post1391556

There are a myriad of options available to consumers with the limiting factor being cost. One can spend under $100 and have significantly upgraded their lighting or they can spend $1000 and upgrade their lighting more. It's all in how much money you want to spend.

For those wanting to do some of these upgrades but not necessarily all I would do them in the following order:
1) Headlight Harness (major improvement even with sealed beams)
2) Housings and Associated Bulbs
3) Hid and Projectors (Cost prohibitive to do correctly)


For installation of the harness and housings see this excellent write up: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/my-h4-upgrade-114440/

Disclaimer: Always check your local and state laws as some places have more stringent lighting laws than others... I am in no way associated with any of the above companies and none of what I say should be taken as the absolute truth or only way to do things. Flame on...

PocketsEmpty

Awesome post Cruiser! I think I'm still leaning towards the Rampage lenses, but I kinda like the idea of the stock-ish look of the IPFs too. which ones are you running? not to thread jack..I'd really like to see some pics and info on LED brake lights and such. I'd be interested in that