Diamond clear headlight question

[aldive]

A friend of mine got a set of diamond clear headlights for his 2000 Explorer and they came with a cover like thingie ( I have not seen them yet ) for the bulb ( mine do not have this "thingie".

Is there a way to remove it safely? I seem to remember reading a post about this in the past ( but I cannot find it ).

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Are you speaking of the hood that covers the front of the bulb to direct the light backwards to the reflector?

 

[Steve_C]

Do you know where he got the headlights from? I have been looking for them for a very long time and I can't find them for Explorers.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[aldive]

Are you speaking of the hood that covers the front of the bulb to direct the light backwards to the reflector?

Yes.

 

[aldive]

Do you know where he got the headlights from? I have been looking for them for a very long time and I can't find them for Explorers.

Thanks,
Steve

I believe he aquired them from an ebay seller.

I noticed in the new LMC catalog that they were available there also ( http://www.lmctruck.com/ ).

I got mine in a group buy on this site years ago.

 

[parad1mg]

if you know how to "bake" headlights ( google it.. there are a lot of write-ups on it ) then you can open it up safely since its an aftermarket headlight unlike our stock ford ones that cannot be baked.. the bulb shield comes off when you take out the screw attaching it to the reflector/housing.. i dont think removing them would make a big difference but thats how to take it off.. seal back the headlight by baking it up again thus softening the sealant and pressing the lens back while its still soft.. buy some seal-all and apply around to get a better seal overall..

 

[Joe Dirt]

I would think that removing it would reduce the reflective qualities and reduce the lighting, because there would be less light bouncing off the reflectors, no?

They are all OVER eBay- if you search "explorer" at least 1/4 of all of the ads are for these lights.

 

[Steve_C]

Thanks Al, I will check it out!

 

[Steve_C]

I didn't think to check on Ebay, I will now, thanks!

 

[Anime]

The glare shield in front of the bulb, as the name implies, reduces the glare from the headlamps seen by oncoming traffic and the cars in front of you on the road. Removing it will have the effect of producing more glare, blinding other drivers the same as if you were using high beams. It's unsafe to remove it for on-road use, but fine if you wanted to try to get slightly more light for off-road.

Just because existing headlamps on a vehicle don't have a glare shield does not mean it should be removed on replacement headlamps that do have the shield, since the reflector designs for each type are completely different.

 

[Steve_C]

Do the projection headlights need to have the wiring harness modified like the Xenon headlights?

 

[Joe Dirt]

Ah ok, so the black painted tip of the bulb is supposed to do what the glare shield does? (sort of) I thought it served to reflect light backwards to the diamond cuts to reflect light.

Not sure on the projection mods, but I know there are threads on here if you run a search...

 

[Bill Kemp]

When the clears were first introduced none of them had bulb shields. All who used them thought they had a great, evenly distributed light beam.
Later, 6-9 mos. or so, the bulb shields started showing up on the clears and some complained of there being shadow areas in the light beam.
IMO the clears were designed without the shields. The shields were then added. Maby to be DOT compliant? I dont know why.

 

[Anime]

It usually depends on the bulb and application. Bulbs that have a coated tip usually don't have glare shields on the housings they go into, but there are plenty of housings that use H4 bulbs (which have coated tips) that have glare shields, especially for OEM applications. My guess would be headlamps specific to trucks and SUV's might have been given the shields since they sit higher and put more glare into the eyes of drivers with lower vehicles. Usually it's a completely different reflector design that makes use of the glare shields, though.