Headlight Upgrade

[ReimundKrohn]

My experience with Jeep. Wranglers are that halogen headlights don’t work well but if you ever had LED headlights halogen will never be satisfactory. Had Halogens on a 2015 JK and even the supposedly super bright halogens suck. I got i
a set of LED aftermarket with the cancellers. What a difference. Please note that the units I ordered off Amazon were DOT Approved. I did fine tune them to focus on the road rather than the flood effect. Once tuned I nerve got the flashing from other driver. When I ordered my 21 JLU Sport S I ordered the LED package. The option is well worth it. There are no halogen headlights that are bright. The technology for Halogen Headlight has fallen way behind. it is also not a clear clean color the natural yellow doesn’t show up. The LED white is so must easier to see on dark roads. The only issue I have is the bright reflection on street signs from the LEDs

I keep hearing this (that factory halogens “suck”), and I expected that would be the true and I would have to change out my Islander’s factory halogens ASAP. After all, I live in the country and dark highways and streets are the norm, and we only get 9 hours of daylight in the winter…. But…. Bullshit.

I have had vehicles with road-rage inspiring, oncoming traffic swerving off the road due to blindness, deer spotlighting LEDs since they first came out. My Expedition, my Sequoia, my Rogue and my Rav-4 all had em, and the thing I hated most about them was having to pull off the highway in the middle of winter to try to piss the frozen mucky slush off of them so I could see at night. If it sounds like I hate LED’s (except for their slick look), well I kinda do…. But yes, they are crazy bright…. But to finally have Halogens again? Hallelujah! I don’t know where y’all are driving, but I see the highway at high speed, wildlife in the ditches, and deer in the fields adjoining…. And oncoming traffic STILL knows I have my brights on and flashes me within a half mile. There isn't anything I can’t see with my halogens, despite my old man eyes. So what gives? Y’all don’t get enough beta carotene in your diet or somethin’? I wouldn’t swap out these halogens if you paid me to!

….Kinda like all the folks telling us that our Wranglers needs independent front suspension because the solid front axles have you “constantly jerking all over the road”. Complete Bullshit. I’ve taken the JL on six and eight hour drives on highway, gravel, and through the city. No jerking, no discomfort, just miles and miles of smiles. It is actually a hell of a lot more comfortable than either of the Toyotas I had. The RAV’s seat sat too low for my liking (it made my ass numb) and the Sequioa was like driving in a Lazyboy. Sloppy, I was practically curled up on the damn seat it was so wide and deep and over-stuffed.

My opinions are apparently unpopular (or at least very uncommon), but I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, can I?

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[viper88]

My experience with Jeep. Wranglers are that halogen headlights don’t work well but if you ever had LED headlights halogen will never be satisfactory. Had Halogens on a 2015 JK and even the supposedly super bright halogens suck. I got i
a set of LED aftermarket with the cancellers. What a difference. Please note that the units I ordered off Amazon were DOT Approved. I did fine tune them to focus on the road rather than the flood effect. Once tuned I nerve got the flashing from other driver. When I ordered my 21 JLU Sport S I ordered the LED package. The option is well worth it. There are no halogen headlights that are bright. The technology for Halogen Headlight has fallen way behind. it is also not a clear clean color the natural yellow doesn’t show up. The LED white is so must easier to see on dark roads. The only issue I have is the bright reflection on street signs from the LEDs

The factory LEDs have a good cut off pattern.

 

[mwilk012]

I rather like the appearance of the Kiwi Master headlights. They actually fill the space quite well. My only complaint for them is that the old version didn’t have adjustable aim without adding washers to shim. That has been fixed, but I never did get mine adjusted up right.

 

[HellaYellaChick]

I bought a set of Oracle Occulous bi led headlights for mine. I couldn’t be happier. Light output is amazing, crisp cutoff line

Thank you!! I will look into those!

 

[HellaYellaChick]

I rather like the appearance of the Kiwi Master headlights. They actually fill the space quite well. My only complaint for them is that the old version didn’t have adjustable aim without adding washers to shim. That has been fixed, but I never did get mine adjusted up right.

Thank you! That is a sweet looking adventure buddy you have!!

 

[HellaYellaChick]

I keep hearing this (that factory halogens “suck”), and I expected that would be the true and I would have to change out my Islander’s factory halogens ASAP. After all, I live in the country and dark highways and streets are the norm, and we only get 9 hours of daylight in the winter…. But…. Bullshit.

I have had vehicles with road-rage inspiring, oncoming traffic swerving off the road due to blindness, deer spotlighting LEDs since they first came out. My Expedition, my Sequoia, my Rogue and my Rav-4 all had em, and the thing I hated most about them was having to pull off the highway in the middle of winter to try to piss the frozen mucky slush off of them so I could see at night. If it sounds like I hate LED’s (except for their slick look), well I kinda do…. But yes, they are crazy bright…. But to finally have Halogens again? Hallelujah! I don’t know where y’all are driving, but I see the highway at high speed, wildlife in the ditches, and deer in the fields adjoining…. And oncoming traffic STILL knows I have my brights on and flashes me within a half mile. There isn't anything I can’t see with my halogens, despite my old man eyes. So what gives? Y’all don’t get enough beta carotene in your diet or somethin’? I wouldn’t swap out these halogens if you paid me to!

….Kinda like all the folks telling us that our Wranglers needs independent front suspension because the solid front axles have you “constantly jerking all over the road”. Complete Bullshit. I’ve taken the JL on six and eight hour drives on highway, gravel, and through the city. No jerking, no discomfort, just miles and miles of smiles. It is actually a hell of a lot more comfortable than either of the Toyotas I had. The RAV’s seat sat too low for my liking (it made my ass numb) and the Sequioa was like driving in a Lazyboy. Sloppy, I was practically curled up on the damn seat it was so wide and deep and over-stuffed.

My opinions are apparently unpopular (or at least very uncommon), but I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, can I?

Luckily I live in the South, so we don't really get snows like that here, but with that being said I can understand how it would be annoying at the least to have to get out and clear the lights!

As for the suspension, I love mine - no changes straight factory and never had an issue either! Thank you for your opinion, I really appreciate it!! ??

 

[CorvZ061]

I keep hearing this (that factory halogens “suck”), and I expected that would be the true and I would have to change out my Islander’s factory halogens ASAP. After all, I live in the country and dark highways and streets are the norm, and we only get 9 hours of daylight in the winter…. But…. Bullshit.

I have had vehicles with road-rage inspiring, oncoming traffic swerving off the road due to blindness, deer spotlighting LEDs since they first came out. My Expedition, my Sequoia, my Rogue and my Rav-4 all had em, and the thing I hated most about them was having to pull off the highway in the middle of winter to try to piss the frozen mucky slush off of them so I could see at night. If it sounds like I hate LED’s (except for their slick look), well I kinda do…. But yes, they are crazy bright…. But to finally have Halogens again? Hallelujah! I don’t know where y’all are driving, but I see the highway at high speed, wildlife in the ditches, and deer in the fields adjoining…. And oncoming traffic STILL knows I have my brights on and flashes me within a half mile. There isn't anything I can’t see with my halogens, despite my old man eyes. So what gives? Y’all don’t get enough beta carotene in your diet or somethin’? I wouldn’t swap out these halogens if you paid me to!

….Kinda like all the folks telling us that our Wranglers needs independent front suspension because the solid front axles have you “constantly jerking all over the road”. Complete Bullshit. I’ve taken the JL on six and eight hour drives on highway, gravel, and through the city. No jerking, no discomfort, just miles and miles of smiles. It is actually a hell of a lot more comfortable than either of the Toyotas I had. The RAV’s seat sat too low for my liking (it made my ass numb) and the Sequioa was like driving in a Lazyboy. Sloppy, I was practically curled up on the damn seat it was so wide and deep and over-stuffed.

My opinions are apparently unpopular (or at least very uncommon), but I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, can I?

For you guys that have to deal with snow there are heated LED housings. So you get the great light output without having to deal with snow buildup

 

[Chupacabra]

+1 on the Beamtech - I went with the fanless ones and they are still plenty bright.

I've had mine for 14 months and they still work great. Nobody's flashed me once in over a year so they can't be terribly obnoxious, and the beam pattern/cutoff on my garage wall matched up with the halogens before I pulled them so I think I'm OK. They are 10x better than those crappy yellow halogen things they put in at the factory

 

[Luxy60]

For you guys that have to deal with snow there are heated LED housings. So you get the great light output without having to deal with snow buildup

This is the reason I didn't order them with my '21 Sport. I will likely upgrade in the future with heated LED's. The Oracle Oculus looks promising but it's a new product and I'm going to wait and see how they perform in the wild for a bit before I shell out $600+ for any heated LED. I've made it 45+ years driving around with old style or newer halogen incandescent lights so another year or so shouldn't be much of a problem!

 

[areuriding]

Look at Superbright LED..

 

[blnewt]

I rather like the appearance of the Kiwi Master headlights. They actually fill the space quite well. My only complaint for them is that the old version didn’t have adjustable aim without adding washers to shim. That has been fixed, but I never did get mine adjusted up right.

How's the cutoff? So many aftermarket LED headlights have a very dull/broad, or even hazy cutoff. I've been spoiled w/ some excellent bi-xenon sets w/ our Infinitis, razor sharp cutoffs at an excellent 5500k light temp. If these Kiwis have that sharp cutoff I'm going to look at them soon, as my current set is lacking in that regard.

 

[cosine]

i have the supernova v4 led bulbs for the head and fog lights. they are bright and lights up the road. i've had them for 2 years and no issues with them. you can find them on headlight revolution.

 

[Heimkehr]

There are no halogen headlights that are bright. The technology for Halogen Headlight has fallen way behind. It is also not a clear clean color the natural yellow doesn’t show up.

My wife's CR-V has projector beam incandescent headlights. They do indeed rival factory LEDs in terms of clarity and cutoff.

Down-road visibility, which was already decent, was improved with the addition of Silverstar Ultra H4 bulbs. Neither she nor I have any complaints about this very current and effective headlight technology.

I keep hearing this (that factory halogens “suck”), and I expected that would be the true and I would have to change out my Islander’s factory halogens ASAP. After all, I live in the country and dark highways and streets are the norm, and we only get 9 hours of daylight in the winter…. But…. Bullshit.

...to finally have Halogens again? Hallelujah! I don’t know where y’all are driving, but I see the highway at high speed, wildlife in the ditches, and deer in the fields adjoining…. And oncoming traffic STILL knows I have my brights on and flashes me within a half mile. There isn't anything I can’t see with my halogens, despite my old man eyes. So what gives?

My opinions are apparently unpopular (or at least very uncommon), but I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, can I?

While I believe there's some room for improvement with the Wrangler's halogen headlights, I'll be the first to agree with you that there's more hyperbole than hard data when reading the same tired opinions about the alleged ineffectiveness of the H13 bulbs.

Sure, it's easy to be spoiled by quality LED lighting, but this doesn't automatically translate into the halogens being votive candles by comparison. The latter works well enough that I saw no cause to rush out and replace them on my Wrangler. I may do so at some future point, though, if only because I do enjoy the benefit that LED lighting has provided on my motorcycles.

+1 on the Beamtech - I went with the fanless ones and they are still plenty bright.

I was ready to click Buy Now, but for the fact that multiple reviews by Wrangler owners mention flickering, especially at idle. Thoughts?

 

[mwilk012]

I can tell you, I was amazed at how well the JL halogen lights lit up the road compared to my 2011 JK. Those things were downright dangerous. Nowadays LED lights on factory vehicles are just too bright and you have to have something to match or you can't see.

 

[The Fixer]

I keep hearing this (that factory halogens “suck”), and I expected that would be the true and I would have to change out my Islander’s factory halogens ASAP. After all, I live in the country and dark highways and streets are the norm, and we only get 9 hours of daylight in the winter…. But…. Bullshit.
-snip-
My opinions are apparently unpopular (or at least very uncommon), but I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, can I?

I'm with you 100%! Some of these people never drove an '80s G-body with index-card sized 4x6" headlights and it shows .

My son has my wife's old Jeep Liberty. It has 9" light housings as well. He got the bright idea (pun intended) to try and swap a set of JL headlights into the Liberty. We pulled a headlight off mine, and decided we could make it work. He found a set locally from @awdkamil and after some trimming of the grill and core support, and tracking down OEM-style connectors, we got them wired up. They're better than the hazy OEM Liberty lights for sure!

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