New Light Bar Installed ~ Need Lights! Which Kind?

Ok I know absolutely nothing about lights. I don't even know where to start, or which kind to look for. Here is the front of the truck as of today with the new light bar and skid line-x'd. Pay no attention to the chrome grill, colormatched one on the way. I put red dots to depict approximately where my light tabs are. I want them to hang underneath the top bar, and not on top of it. Need some lighting suggestions please!

 

well first you can decide if you want a flood light or spot light. Then decide if you want HID's or standards. then just go from their on what you like, its basically just preference and the amount of money you may want to spend.

 

A lot of people are running Hellas, Lightforce or PIAA. I would think those brands are good quality. Also what snowgod06 mentioned what will be be used for most should help with your decision on what beam and HID vs. others.

I am looking at either the Lightforce or Hella myself

 

First, I really like that light bar, looks good. I've just got a set of Hellas I got at Walmart for $60, they work fine, came with all the wiring and switch and hardwire.

 

Seriously, do something with the empty factory fogs first.....not to mention your own grill.

Then look into some PIAA 540s or maybe the Hella Black Magics to put on your Avid bar.

 

Nice light bar. If you're not sure about wiring, make sure to look at the top of the screen in the Mods & Tutorials, there's a write up on wiring after market lights that's pretty good. Good luck.

 

Similar light locations:

Not cheap but worth the money, Lightforce 140s ("Lance") fit, come with clear spot filters, can add wide angle/fog filters. The Lightforce wiring harness (wire in split sleeving, connectors, relay, plastic firewall grommet) is pretty good, although I substituted a Toyota rocker switch (00550-35976) for the simple toggle supplied in the kit.

Decent prices at http://www.off-roadlights.com/xcart/home.php?cat=276

 

HID have the best light out put with the least amount of watts

 

I have 4 hella 700FF's. The light output is ok and the price was great. If I could do it all over again i'd buy a good set of hid offroad lights. Might be more expensive but the light output would be better

 

ever think of converting yours?

if i ever end up with mine i am going to convert them to 55w's.

 

Thought about it, may do it this summer. I should have gotten hids in the first place to avoid all this extra work

 

I've been doing some research on lights lately, b/c I'm about to get the Avid Light bar myself, and I want to mount 2 lights on top of the top bar (not below it, like you). Like Snowgod06 said...you want to first figure out if you want fog's or driving lights. Fog's are a wide-throw of light, not really meant for distance. Driving lights are sometimes called "pencil beam" b/c they throw light a far distance, but they lack a wide-throw.

The IPF 968's actually do a bit of both. I would say they are 25% fog and 75% driving lights. You can get them at costco for $90 shipped right now w/ white covers, and buy brush/rock guards separately for $40 +S&H from trdparts4u (or spend an extra $20 and just get the

$190 968csg IPF 6" 55W Light with Grill - Pair

968csg kit that comes w/ the rock guards). I am going this route, b/c Piaa's cost more; I don't like anyone else's initials on my truck ("KC"); and "Hella" lights are a little 'you get what you pay for' and they don't look as rugged as the IPF's (IMO). Along the same lines as "KC", I don't know how I feel about my lights saying "hella" - takes me back to early high school. Although, Hella 500ff fog's are definitely next in line if I want to save some money over the 968's and/or have more of a fog light. They are $70 shipped from Amazon right now. You can also do an HID conversion for about $40 if you wanted to go the HID route but not pay the $100+/light. There's a writeup on here showing it accomplished on the 700FF hella's.

You also need to figure out what will actually FIT where you want to place your lights...Most lights are 6"+ in dia. I actually don't know if the IPF's would fit or not. I hope they do, b/c if I ever decide to do your mounting position I don't want to have to buy new lights.

Anyway, hopefully that gives you an idea of what is out there and what one guy thinks of what's out there.

 

thanks all. this is alot of info, still not sure what to go with. but let me ask you this since my factory fogs are plugged ... if i was getting both a set of fog lights AND a set of driving lights, which would be ideal to put on the light bar?

 

super helpful, thanks! where are u seeing the $110 968 csg's?

 

Hella 500s are pretty cheap. Im thinking about getting some myself

 

Lightforce are sick. I really want some of those.

 

I meant spend the extra $20 bucks over buying the lights and guards separately for about $135

 

Will this light bar hold up pretty good or do they fold like bull bars do??

 

IPF 968's...seriously. I'm a base model w/o fogs (like you), and if the look is off, or if I ever want more fog covg then I'll install fog's in the factory locations. Again, this is my preference based off my research, ymmv

 

They've held up pretty well in about 3 incidents (from what I've heard - only saw one set of pics and I was impressed, there was minimal corner fold-in on that particular low-speed accident). Virgilus11 figured out a way to beef up the bracing on them for possible front-collisions. See the avid bar thread for details. I think this is a VERY sturdy 'light' bar - funny how 25% actually put lights on them, haha