HID conversion and crystal headlights.....disappointed

millican · March 23, 2008

I was extremely unhappy with my '98 Explorers factory headlights. They have not yellowed (yet) but do not light up the road well. I swapped to a "xenon" 9007 bulb with little improvement. The light was whiter then the stock yellow halogen.

I thought I'd go all out and ordered a full set of clear crystal headlights with clear sides from ebay. Seems like an obvious improvement right there. I also bought a bixenon HID conversion kit. I installed it this weekend and tested. WTF I thought, terrible light output, must need adjusting....so I adjusted "by sight" at night till I got the best view. Little improvement.

What am I not happy about? The light output is far from uniform. I have "spots" of light everywhere, not equal at all. If I cover up one side at a time I have 3 spots of light in a triangle arrangement from each headlight, one spot on top and two spots on bottom. This must be from the headlight housings (the reflector) I am thinking. Anyone else notice this annoying problem and how can I improve it/fix it?

Bill Kemp · March 23, 2008

Short answer is; some are good and some are like yours.
Check out Aldives thread below. His clears dont have the shadow problem,
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210647

millican · March 23, 2008

When you say "some are good" are you refering to the headlight housing reflector assembly? I believe you are, just making sure.

I have read Aldives post a couple times. he doesn't mention what diamond clear housings he used. I "assumed" they would all be the same since they have to fit in a particular vehicle. I think I may have been wrong. :thumbdwn:

aldive · March 23, 2008

millican said:
I have read Aldives post a couple times. he doesn't mention what diamond clear housings he used. I "assumed" they would all be the same since they have to fit in a particular vehicle. I think I may have been wrong. :thumbdwn:

You must have missed this part ...

The new diamond cut headlight housings ( http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209470) make bulb access without removing the battery difficult at best.

Bill Kemp · March 23, 2008

Al, from where did you get your latest clear headlights?

millican · March 23, 2008

Al, somehow I did miss what headlight housings you were using. I just read diamond clear housings and thought nothing more of it.

I just placed my order with LMC Truck for the 50-4694 housings. Hopefully I will see a more dramatic differance compared to my ebay clear housings.

calisoundmix · March 23, 2008

i bought my clears (black) off ebay and once properly adjusted had no problems, even showed improvement. the stock bulb sent with it was a pos, swapped in a silverstar and all was good.

Bill Kemp · March 23, 2008

millican, Who did you get your clears from? Is there any type of marking on the lights that could iidentify them from other clears?
Sure would be nice to know which are good and with are bad/shadowed. When your spending that kind of $ for lights I'm sure we all would spend a couple of more bucks to get the good ones.

Al, can you see if there are any identity markings on your clears?

aldive · March 23, 2008

Bill Kemp said:
Al, from where did you get your latest clear headlights?

As mentioned in the instal post ...

The new diamond cut headlight housings ( http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209470 ) make bulb access without removing the battery difficult at best.

shortstack · March 23, 2008

do u have bi-xenon

Bill Kemp · March 23, 2008

aldive said:
As mentioned in the instal post ...

For some reason the link doesnt owrk for me???

aldive · March 23, 2008

Bill Kemp said:
For some reason the link doesnt owrk for me???

Sorry about that; I just copyed the link and did not go to the link and past in the URL ).

Fixed now.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209470

spkhone · March 23, 2008

i got bizenons and installed in stock headlights. i see better and i no one hasn't flashed at me after adjusting the headllighs. i drive on the interstates everyday in the wee hours of the morning.

Afboy143 · March 25, 2008

If you really want to go out, do a projector HID retrofit. You WILL NOT be disapointed then. p51 has a sticky at the top on this

millican said:
I was extremely unhappy with my '98 Explorers factory headlights. They have not yellowed (yet) but do not light up the road well. I swapped to a "xenon" 9007 bulb with little improvement. The light was whiter then the stock yellow halogen.

I thought I'd go all out and ordered a full set of clear crystal headlights with clear sides from ebay. Seems like an obvious improvement right there. I also bought a bixenon HID conversion kit. I installed it this weekend and tested. WTF I thought, terrible light output, must need adjusting....so I adjusted "by sight" at night till I got the best view. Little improvement.

What am I not happy about? The light output is far from uniform. I have "spots" of light everywhere, not equal at all. If I cover up one side at a time I have 3 spots of light in a triangle arrangement from each headlight, one spot on top and two spots on bottom. This must be from the headlight housings (the reflector) I am thinking. Anyone else notice this annoying problem and how can I improve it/fix it?

millican · March 26, 2008

Afboy143 said:
If you really want to go out, do a projector HID retrofit. You WILL NOT be disapointed then. p51 has a sticky at the top on this

I read the sticky, very cool. It's too much work for me, now if I could buy the headlights already modified I may be interested.

millican · March 29, 2008

UPDATE:

I received my (expensive) LMC Truck 50-4694 housings. They were $199 plus $27 shipping JUST for the headlight housings. Just as a reminder I had only paid $129 plus $45 shipping for my ebay clear housings that INCLUDED clear sides but was very unsatisfied with the spotty output.

Well the expensive LMC housings showed up and guess what? They are EXACTLY the same as my "cheap ebay" housings right down to the markings and made in Taiwan sticker. I don't even want to install them because I am 100% sure they will not be any differant then the cheap spotty ebay clear housings.

The markings on the front of the clear housings are:
HB5 8V 12H SAE HR 95 DOT KS-FR421

Can anyone that has a good result with HID conversion and clear housings tell me where they got their housings from? Please?

shortstack · March 29, 2008

so do you have bi-xenons or single beams?

millican · March 29, 2008

shortstack said:
so do you have bi-xenons or single beams?

I did mention in the first post I did have bi-xenons.

shortstack · March 29, 2008

i know with my bi-xenons my low beam SUCKS for the cut off beam as for the high the cut off beam is near perfect, the shadows for the high beam isn't bad at all

millican · March 29, 2008

Yes I will agree with you. My low beam pattern is terrible. The high beam pattern is very good. The only thing that's changed is the position of the bi-xenon bulb itself due to the solenoid moving the actual bulb for high beam.

HID conversion and crystal headlights.....disappointed

Member

Elite Moderator Emeritus

Member

Elite Moderator Emeritus

Member

Well-Known Member

Elite Moderator Emeritus

Well-Known Member

Elite Moderator Emeritus

Active Member

Explorer Addict

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Explorer Features

Explorer Features

Similar threads