LED Lights

Just because the OP had mentioned led's rather than hid's in the original post. But yes hid's would be better.

 

I would say you're almost guaranteed to make it worse by trying to modify anything, especially if you are starting off with the cheap ebay knockoffs.

Proper headlight design is achieved through advanced modeling software and precise manufacturing, not a dremel and some silicon goop. Although, that's probably the level of engineering you'd get from the ebay knockoffs to begin with...

Best just to stick with OEM headlights, maybe the ultimate headlight upgrade (the 1st gen version), or get yourself some LED pods and/or a lightbar if you want to throw some lumens down the trail.

I went with a partial ultimate upgrade for my 2004 where I got the upgraded wiring harness, new CAPA certified housings, but kept some "decent" halogen bulbs ($15 ones) rather than going with the high output Osrams. So far they work great, and I chose longevity over brightness at this point.

 

Actually, the eBay knockoffs would be very hard to tell from the Phillips. I went with the knockoffs to experiment after reading @crashnburn80's review. I had already been bitten by the OPT7 LED's (now sitting useless on a shelf) so didn't want to invest another hundo in bulbs that might not be satisfactory. But they are exactly as described by @crashnburn80, including the bit of light going high on the driver side. Once I get my truck back from frame replacement, I will probably experiment with minor tweaks to the glare guards. At $38 for the pair, I can afford to replace if I totally screw them up.

 

What I'm saying is that even when a $200 pair of LEDs can't muster an ideal light beam, given the amount of engineering that goes into them, I don't think mucking around with a dremel is going to make much of a difference.

I'd rather put that $38 towards some pods or lightbar.

 

: ) Got plenty of light from the light bars for off road, fogs for bad weather, but would like to have good visibility with just my low beams for normal night driving. The Phillips are so very close to being perfect, especially in comparison to the OPT7's, that I am willing to muck around with the dremel on the chance that I can correct that last little bit. It was absolutely amazing to compare the light patterns of the OPT7 vs. Phillips.

 

You can look up the glare guard mod, but it is a hack and a waste on expensive LEDs. In short, no. These are precision engineered and computer modeled, I think the glare guards differ by a single mm, maybe less on the Philips. Not something you will pull off at home.

Completely agree retrofitting LEDs is inherently flawed. When you look at the reflector with LEDs you can see the dark spots in the reflector at the top and bottom, I talked about it in one of my threads and tried to take some photos but it is tricky to take a photo looking into the headlight.