Lights and bumpers

For those of you who upgraded your lights - did you upgrade your bulbs to something like PIAA's or Nokya's? Or did you upgrade straight to HID's in projectors and retrofits? Or did you upgrade the bulbs, realize the light output is still crap, then upgrade to HID's? Curious mostly because you can get a set of fogs and hi/low bulbs for under $100 for good stuff, but HID's will likely cost $500+ if you want decent stuff. Is the HID light really worth the expense?

Curious - are bumpers like ARB or Pro-OffRoad plate bumpers really that much better/stronger than a stock bumper?

 

If you are spending $500+ on HID stuff you aren't looking in the right places. That's way too much to spend on a pair of lights

 

Well, $500 may be a stretch, but I've seen folks spending $120 for Slimcubby fogs, $140 for Slimcubby headlights and $200 for fx-r projector housings. Then maybe spending more on retrofit housings for the fogs.

Seems like a lot compared to $50 for PIAA headlight bulbs and $30 for Nokya fog bulbs.

 

First, the plate steel bumpers are a hell of a lot stronger than the OEM plastic. ARB is probably one of the most stout you will find.

As far as lights, I've had PIAA Xtreme white and Philips Xtreme Power bulbs in my head lights and they are much better than stock (PIAA's being a little better than the Philips. I've also run Nokyas in my fog lights and they are also a little better than stock. Since then I've retrofitted the fogs with projectors and there's no comparison. The light output from the projectors is much better than the Nokya bulbs mainly because of the low, wide beam pattern. The same will be true of the head light retrofits. The reason I've never retrofitted my headlights (and more likely never will) is because they already put out decent light with a simple bulb upgrade and I spent my money on aftermarket lights to suppliment the high beams when needed (I'm running 4 PIAA 520 driving lights on a light bar).

 

I believe it was at the recommendation of Pugga (not to me directly, just in general discussion) - PIAA headlight bulbs, Nokya fog light bulbs. I have purchased the 4100K PIAA headlight bulbs, Nokya 5000K fog bulbs.

So far, very pleased. Good light - not blinding, but definitely lights up the road ahead and around.

My curiosity was spurred by all the rave in HID lighting. At one point, someone told me that if I was thinking of spending the few bucks for halogen bulbs, why not spend a few more to get the HID's. My research found the Nokya's for about $25, the PIAA's for about $45. Recommendations for Slimcubby HID's showed me $115 for fogs and $135 for headlights (with digital ballasts).

$70 for 4 plug-in lights - $250 for lights that should really have replacement housings. Maybe $180 isn't my idea of a few bucks more.


And plate bumpers are on my after-I-win-the-lottery list