fj headlights

[hillbillyjake]

the wife has mentioned to me that she would like some better headlights for her fj. she says it iis the most dificult for her to see when it is raining at night. i have a set of hella 500 driving lights that i am goign to add but was wondering about headlight upgrades. any suggestions would be welcomed.

also, if i were to wire the hella's in with the high beams. would it hurt to turn them on and off as often as the high beams during normal driving situations. meaning the off/on associated with oncoming traffic? thanks

jake

 

[hillbillyjake]

also, part numbers would be nice

 

[Cackalak Han]

When it is raining or snowing heavily, brighter lights isn't going to help. The light from the headlights will reflect off of the rain drops/snowflakes and make it difficult to see. What you want is some fog lights that are lower that shine on the road more.

I've heard that yellow light is optimal for dark/rainy days. Perhaps some fog lights with a yellow tint would help? Not sure on this.

Also, just would like to add, my stock headlights that are 9 years old still does me just fine on rainy nights, snowy days, deep in the back country, etc. Maybe your headlights are just out of alignment.

 

[hillbillyjake]

i do understand about the lights reflecting off the rain and snow. but she says that it doesnt seem to heer that her lights are even on. thisi is why she would like to have brighter lights. thanks

jake

 

[Cackalak Han]

Do you also notice this in your Tacoma? Maybe you should have her drive the Tacoma to see if she notices the same thing.

 

[Layonnn]

A guy on the FJ forum did a headlight bulb replacement test. For 60 bucks, the piaa xtreme white H4 bulbs were the best. That is what i have.

You could also replace them with HID's. For 100-150. I am just not a fan of the overly bright white HID's that people have shining into on coming drivers vision all the time.

 

[hillbillyjake]

are the piaa's a real white light? she would prefer that style. do you have a part nuber for them or a link.

jake

 

[Gone2Baja]

I replaced the factory bulbs in my fj with Sylvania Silverstar Ultra and was very impressed with whiter and brighter light.

 

[Crookthumb]

I replaced the factory bulbs in my fj with Sylvania Silverstar Ultra and was very impressed with whiter and brighter light.

I would say that my experience with Silverstars is that they are whiter, but suck in the rain. I wouldn't say they are brighter though. There is a tint to the bulb so some of the light is being filtered out. When it rains it is hard to see. Sure signs and snow appear brighter, but it seems to be more glare then anything. I now have the IPF Super Low Beams and they appear brighter than both the stock and Silverstars.

 

[Layonnn]

are the piaa's a real white light? she would prefer that style. do you have a part nuber for them or a link.

jake

I would say they are whiter and brighter.

Another guy with an FJ commented on them and asked about them. He had the sylvanias and told me mine looked brighter and more of a white color.

I don't have any part numbers offhand though.

 

[mgb]

For snow/rain visibility I've found fog lights are the way to go. You need a well dispersed flood style light mounted down low to minimize reflection. Some people have told me that a yellow tint helps, but I have no personal experience with that, I always go with a clear white light (I figure how can filtering the spectrum help?). That's just an opinion, take it for what it's worth.

I think hella 500 fogs are on sale right now at amazon.

 

[Corey]

Send an email to this guy.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

He is considered the guru of automotive lighting.

 

[hillbillyjake]

thanks for the link. i'll look into it

 

[Rob O]

What makes dedicated fog lamps effective is not just design (light/beam dispursion) but also placement; when done correctly they should be as close to the ground as possible (within reason) and as close to the front corners of the vehicle as possible. Fogs mounted high and tight will throw the right light but are not optimal and will thus be less effective.

For headlamps then, the taller the vehicle and the closer together the headlights the less effective they'll be in inclement weather. I suspect the FJ suffers from this given its front-end design, with the headlamps being somewhat inboard and relatively high up (based on even stock vehicle height). Being archaic halogen bulbs (vs HIDs) doesn't help.

 

[michaelross]

A guy on the FJ forum did a headlight bulb replacement test. For 60 bucks, the piaa xtreme white H4 bulbs were the best. That is what i have.

You could also replace them with HID's. For 100-150. I am just not a fan of the overly bright white HID's that people have shining into on coming drivers vision all the time.

I also have the piaa bulbs in extreme white and it really comes in handy especially on the rainy days.. Just right to see the road clearly..