2003 Dodge Ram. I have new housings and it is time to source lights.

We live way out in the country now and I need to see the various animals who are determined to commit suicide by truck.

I've looked at a few LED and a few HID offerings. Does anyone have a standout offering?

Headlight Experts does a good job of showing up at the top of the search lists and their kits look well put together but it is easy to make things seem nice that don't work well.

If HID, is 55 watt too bright? I want to see as well as I can but I don't want to be the jerk with the too bright lights.


Thanks in advance, Mark

If going to LED or HID get the housings for them and not a retro fit.

Don't put them in a housing designed for standard lights, it never works out.
It may look brighter to the oncoming traffic but the light will be scattered and look like shit.

LED or HID lights in the proper housing and adjusted correctly will give off better light and not blind oncoming traffic.

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:
If going to LED or HID get the housings for them and not a retro fit.

Don't put them in a housing designed for standard lights, it never works out.
It may look brighter to the oncoming traffic but the light will be scattered and look like shit.

LED or HID lights in the proper housing and adjusted correctly will give off better light and not blind oncoming traffic.

THIS. Using improper housings for the bulbs you select will result in less light for you to see and MUCH more for oncoming traffic to see.

Is there anything he can do to upgrade with new bulbs using the existing housings? I guess we are assuming the new housings he refers to are "stock" replacements.

I just use good halogens. Nothing special.
Clear lenses and properly adjusted lights is about all I do.

On my older Chevy trucks I added relays for the lights to get full battery voltage to them.
Had about a 2v drop with the old factory wiring.

After hitting a bull Elk and totaling a 69 Chevy truck I just slow down now when driving at night. Helps when you round a corner and there's a herd of Elk standing in the road I have found.

The easiest way to do this is use a Silverstar (or equivalent) bulb. They are brighter than OEM, but don't last as long.

There are aftermarket housings that have projectors. For some wildly unknown reason, they mostly use HID for low beams and halogen bulbs for high beam use. (Plus they have extra diodes scattered around somewhere so the Fast & Furious crowd will buy them and try drifting).

If you decide to go the HID or LED route with either the stock housing (see powermad & cruiser68 above) or an aftermarket housing, consider the following: Your truck has a multiplexer and proper HIDs will require a CANBUS harness. 35w HIDs aren't as bright as 55w HIDs, but the 55w HIDs run hotter than what most housings are designed for and may be damaged by the heat. The biggest issue with LED lights would be thermal expansion and heat dissipation.

I tried a different route. Bought some headlights off of a totaled Infinity Q45 and used them inside the original truck housing. Sure, it was more effort at the time, but I haven't had any problems the six or so years they've been there. Used 35w ballasts and bulbs of 4300K. Those and the HID fog lamps I use emit somewhere in the range of 13,000 lumens and the light pattern is amazing.



The critters seem to notice me sooner and I have a heck of a lot better odds of spotting them first. Let us know how it turns out.

I went a different route on my 2018 Silverado, which has crappy OEM lighting:
Hood mount LEDs.
I bought light mounts that attach to the hood under the hinge mounts and then put stand alone LED modules on the mounts.
The LEDs height give better coverage and distance, with no shadowing.
No real alteration to the truck or OEM lights.
Solid, high quality mount.
Vast selection of modules to suit your fancy.
Only drawback is the hood opening may limit the size of the LED module. If too tall, they may hit the windshield upon opening.
The hood mounts were pricey but worth it.