Best headlight bulbs?

[Swamp Fox]

I'm just looking for any feedback on the best replacement headlight bulbs for Gen3 Explorers. Any and all comments welcome and thanks.

 

[BrianDye]

HIDs all the way man.
8000k or 10000k are the best, in my opinion

 

[Four0Sport]

HIDs if you are retrofitting a projector lens into your headlight, if youre not.. youre wasting your money. A simple wire harness upgrade and some premium off the shelf bulbs will tremendously enhance your light output.

 

[Limited02]

Some sylvania sylverstar ultras could work good too?

 

[celly]

HIDs all the way man.
8000k or 10000k are the best, in my opinion

For colour only. For safety and effectiveness, don't go over 6000K. 4300K is ideal (like every OEM HID kit on the road). Anything over 6000K can actually leave you virtually blind in some conditions (i.e. rainy, overcast conditions). Any serious HID seller will tell you just that. Of course they'll gladly take your money just so you can say you have blue lights.

Remember, higher the K means less useful light but more colour.

 

[celly]

HIDs if you are retrofitting a projector lens into your headlight, if youre not.. youre wasting your money. A simple wire harness upgrade and some premium off the shelf bulbs will tremendously enhance your light output.

You're only wasting your money if you don't take the time to properly aim them. If you do take the time to minimize glare, you'll get much better light with a HID kit than any halogen setup.

I agree with you on the harness upgrade. They make a difference even with halogens. I did the Suvlights option with my HID setup (which are mounted in aftermarket projectors for 2nd gens). Best lighting option I've ever used, but they're not available for 3rd gens to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Four0Sport]

Some sylvania sylverstar ultras could work good too?

I run regular Silverstars in each of my explorers and my fiance's subaru. We have always been happy with the performance of the bulbs, but my 97 Explorer was lacking on the light output mainly bc of the small headlamp assemblys. I purchased an upgraded aftermarket harness online and immediately noticed a huge difference in the output. The color is sharper, light output is increased from larger guage wiring and individual relays, all in all a good investment.

 

[Mike Deege]

I just put in philips crystal vision ultras(4000k) last week and they're pretty good. 29 bucks at suvlights.com

 

[Swamp Fox]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I doubt I will go HID although it would be nice. I may just add a wiring harness and premium bulbs. BTW, has anyone had any experience with the VisionPlus bulbs you can pickup from suvlights.com?

 

[Mike Deege]

The reason I chose the crystal vision ultras over the vision plus is for me anymay I find the bulb with the slight bluish tint reflect road signs better. The vision plus has no coatings on it so it will be a little bit brighter of a bulb. The difference between these two bulbs are going to come down to your preference and needs(and$4). Other than that they're both decent bulbs. The car guys on the speed channel did a promo on these bulbs, I think it was car crazy, you can search 4 the video.

 

[Swamp Fox]

How long does it ususally take to switch out for new wiring harnesses in Gen3s?

 

[celly]

How long does it ususally take to switch out for new wiring harnesses in Gen3s?

Minutes. You don't remove your existing harness. You simply plug everything into the new harness. Suvlights.com for the best one out there. I've got one. High quality piece and does what it's supposed to.

 

[Four0Sport]

the harness i bought was great except for the relays.. they were junk. the low beam relay would flicker off and on. ironically.. the harness i had used the same relay style as a subaru, which i had several on hand from a recent u pull it run. everything is great now. i hafta say, the color difference is amazing.