head light up grade consensus?

My headlights came in and i installed last weekend...took 12 yrs off the age of the front...and improved night sight beyond expectations...really happy bout it...Thx for the suggs

 

I did a restore lately and it worked awesome.

This is the second time I've done a restore and like most people, after the first restore thry dulled out worse than before I restored them.

This time I found a secret, and it works, no shit.

Google spar urethane headlight restoration. One example:

http://my350z.com/forum/body-interi...restoring-headlights-with-new-uv-coating.html

The urethane is the key, it's diluted with mineral spirits by a 1 to 1 ratio and applied as a clear coat, and it works.

Best part, it's cheap.

I do plan to ditch the shitty 98-00 stock headlights which in my opinion sucked when the truck came off the lot.

I'll do clear euro housings with mini D2S HID projectors from theretrofitsource.com to support a forum vendor, those guys kick ass. Got some of their led fogs, they are so nice, sharp cutoff right below my low beams so they'll suffice til I do my hid swap

 

A little before and after for those who like visual aids The right side actually looks a little dingy, but it's actually dust inside the housing, too lazy to pull it and clean it.

They are holding up nicely after a couple months. You can tell the surface is glossy because of the clear coat, the dirt adheres and water beads much differently then when it was pourous plastic before the urethane application.

 

And I just wanna make one more comment-

I've owned my truck 10 years and had 3 different sets of headlights. All had pros and cons. At this point though, if you don't do a projector retrofit inside some euro clear ebay lights I strongly suggest staying stock.

Euro clear eBay headlights:
-Pros: nice appearance, brighter light output due to no opaque lense.
-Cons: spidery light output, crappy beam, hard to aim

Oem appearance aftermarket:
-Pros: cheap
-Cons: cheap for a reason, as in crap beam pattern and no brighter than stock

Stock:
-pros: sharp cutoff, nice beam, best fitment
-cons: light output is not very bright

Lastly, for those of you running aftermarket hids in stock housings or without a projector, thanks a ton for blinding me and everybody else with unfocused, overly bright and essentially illegal headlights. There's a reason automakers don't put hids in cars and found projectors with their super sharp cutoff to be necessary. Why don't you consider other people's safety that you share the road with, not just your own.

 

Coating the lights after cleaning them is the key - you can also use a high quality UV clear spray paint - I used Rustoleum. Between cleaning and sealing the lenses and replacing the bulbs with Silverstar ultra's, the lighting has improved greatly since I bought it.

 

What LED fogs do you get from them? I'm trying to figure out a good set for my relentless diy bumper...

 

I went with what they then called the Type T (t for Toyota, and at that time they only had 2 types of them) and they were only $75 in the clearance section instead of $150 because they had a defect, one I simply haven't been able to find. Honestly, one of my favorite things I've bolted on to date. I think they're just called Toyota style now, but honestly, it's more about the way you choose to mount them. I had to make my own brackets. My bumper and the light mounting was all fabbed by me so I could really be as creative as I wanted.

The retrofit source has so many options for their led fogs now based off different vehicle manufacturers I'd just find out by the schematics they provide for each light what will best suit your needs