The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Yeah I have several things working against me. Unfortunately my housings are not OEM (NSF oem 2006 chrome style) and they are probably about 5" higher than stock (3" lift & 35" tires). You mentioned upgrading the fog lights. I was running 9011 HR1 bulbs but I recently installed a steel plate bumper with the Offroadtown SAE led pods so they are mounted higher in the bumper than the OEM lights were. I have never had anyone flash me so I guess they are not too terribly high. The back is about 1" higher so I still have some rake which probably helps some. Suggestions?

 

Wow, that's a tough one. Between your lift and taller tires, both your headlights and your fogs are significantly higher than stock. That's going to make just about anything you try problematic.

The best thing I might suggest is changing the LED pods to something a little better. A while back, @crashnburn80, our resident lighting guru, did a comparison of all of the most popular LED pods with fog patterns. (That would be a wide, flat beam that offers more visibility out to the sides and directly in front of the vehicle as opposed to long range out front.) The KC G4's were the top performer and I have a set in my truck. They're awesome and don't cause glare for oncoming drivers. I'd have to do some searching to find that post.

Another alternative might be to mount a set of DOT compliant halogen mid-beams below your bumper. I'm not sure if anybody still offers them, but I have a set of Hella 550 mid beams in my basement that I used on a Mazda 626 that had seriously deficient OEM headlights from day one. They made a huge difference and again, didn't bother anybody. Other than that, I'd wait and see what @crashnburn80 has to say.

 

Here is the headlight aiming procedure to get you started with an established baseline:
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

I say started, because you may need to fine tune it further from there. One of the challenges of this though, is you need a perfectly flat section 25' from a wall. That isn't always easy to come by.

High wattage bulbs keep the OEM pattern and cut off but are brighter throughout the beam pattern, meaning your squirrel spotters are brighter also. High efficiency performance bulbs keep the OEM pattern and cut off, but enhance the focus of the light to be more intense in the hot spot for better projection, which will be more ideal and less offensive in a high lift application.

Soon I'll be comparison testing the best high efficiency performance bulbs to give recommendations based on data. I've already sourced the headlights assemblies, now just need to pickup the power supplies. I can tell you the GE +130s are outstanding in the H11, outperforming 2100 lumen H9s. They are also available in H4, and they came out with a newer GE +150 H4 which may be even better. I've ordered the +150s and should have them any day now. Both are available from PowerBulbs. However both the +130 and +150 do coat the high beam, meaning reduced high beam performance. The GE +120s do not, and still should be excellent performers, but are much harder to come by, requiring ordering from Europe on eBay.

While the lower location of the fogs may seam more ideal, the pattern really isn't suitable for substituting a headlight since the fogs are short range wide angle lights. His ORTown pods are from the SAE fog thread and do have very strong projector cut offs, not as full of a pattern as KC or Rigid but they are bright with sharp SAE cutoffs to not blind others if aimed correctly.

 

They were replaced in 2016 after a crash. The guys at the body shop installed and “aimed” them. They had zero idea what they were doing. When I got my truck back, they blinded people and my high beams were in the trees. Took it back and my high beams were in the ground. They showed me how they “aimed” them, and they just use a garage door and put the cutoff at a certain level on it. I messed with it myself, but I’m no expert on headlight aiming. I got it where I like the high beams position, but I’m not fond of my low beam pattern.

 

Starting from scratch can certainly be a challenge. Check out the link in my previous post for where to start and fine tune from there. Aiming should be done with the low beam, as the high beam will be correctly aimed when the low beam is correctly aimed. There are no cut offs or hot spots on the high beam to gauge aiming quality.

 

I replaced my wiring harness with the Rallylights standalone harness ~2 years ago along with the bulbs. I didn't see anybody else in this thread with the same issue, but my high beams don't work anymore low beams are fine, but when I switch to high beams the lights just go dark and I have nothing. I remember hearing the relay click whenever I turned my high beams on/off, but I can't hear that click anymore so I'm assuming its a relay?

@crashnburn80 have you seen this before? ill probably have to test the rallylights relay to find the faulty one.

also for anybody whos interested the osram 85w discontinued bulbs lasted me 2 years and around probably around 40,000km

 

Had that happen on my original Rallylights harness as well. I now run the Headlight Services harness. See post #1677 here. The Rallylights harness uses made in China Hella relays, the Headlight Services one uses European made Bosch units. The recommendation is to swap both relays for the Bosch units linked in the referenced post, they are inexpensive and better quality.

 

Whoops, I missed that!! Just ordered two of them thanks so much!!!

 

Crashnburn80, thanks for all the info – I have been following this thread for a while.

About to finally place an order for the headlight services universal power-switched premium-plus harness.
Just to make sure I’ve got this right, since the Osram Hyper 85/80 is discontinued, next best with my harness setup is the Osram allseason 85/80 version?

I guess it’s either the all season 85/80 or the 100/90 super brights?
Purposes are just for daily driving. Thanks.

 

Sorry for the slow response! Man you guys have been keeping me busy lately! I've been averaging something like 6-7 PMs a day with technical questions, plus so many tags and quotes to respond to. I practically need to hire an intern.

To answer your questions, I personally like the warmer appearance of the All Seasons, and they have a higher more focused output on low beam which will give greater distance projection for low beam. The Superbrights have significantly higher output on high beam, but a less focused lower performing low beam. The Superbrights are not as yellow as the All Seasons.

 

Thanks! The All Seasons are not as yellow as stock though right?

Actually thinking again and bulbs is the tricky decision now. Maybe I'll just order the harness for now and wait to see if you recommend the new GE +150 over the Superbright 100/90w.

 

Have him make a chart

 

I just received mine and they are blue? Did you ever receive/ try yours crash?

 

Looks like they are stock wattage too right? Are you going to use stock harness or the upgraded one?

 

Harness upgraded already, just trying to get my headlights on par with my fogs after doing the Ultimate fog light upgrade which now crank light.

 

sweet i went back and read some of your posts. looks like you are currently running osram superbright 100/90w? did you hate those and now want to try out these GEs or something?

 

The back of the bulb is blue, the filament remains uncovered. This gives a bit whiter looking light without severely negatively impacting performance. But no blue coating would be better. I haven’t received mine yet. I think we ordered near the same day, I’m in the Seattle area furthest from the UK other than Alaska/Hawaii. So hopefully I should have them this week.

 

I don’t hate the 100/90W, just want something a little more. hopefully I’ll get these in in a day or so and will post what I think.

 

Did you try the 85/80w bulbs? Their low beam is far better, though only available in an All Season now.

 

The charts are coming, but this stuff is not free. Fortunately another TW member is donating good condition late model OEM headlights to the cause which helps. Even with donated light assemblies, those charts are going to cost me easily more than $500 to produce. These threads are all operated at huge losses to help educate others and bring a dose of real engineering and science to automotive forums that desperately need it.