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What headlights give best spread of light?

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 11:14 pm
by sudso
I've got pretty standard 7" x 5" headlight beams with H4 globes in the Rodeo but they dont really give a decent light spread on low or high beam.
They have little reflectors in front of the globes too but I guess it's the "light refractor lines" in the lens that determines the spread of light for low and high beam.

Just wondering if anyone has changed theirs for the same reason and found something really good.

I'm after more spread on low beam and a longer beam on high.

And before anyone says use your spotties, no, I've already had 2 warnings from Mr. Plod about using them in the town limits, mainly cos he was coming around the bend when I had them on :oops:

cheers, sudso

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 12:13 am
by HotFourOk
I bought some clear altezza style H4 replacements and they work really well.

They spread the light well due to the reflectors being on the rear of the unit, and the light is not spread by the glass lens like conventional lights.

These are the ones I bought:
Headlights

And they look bling :D

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 12:39 am
by sudso
These look like the same ones only $30 more
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TOYOTA-HILUX-HOL ... otohosting

Thinking of using those "White Light" globes too.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 12:54 am
by HotFourOk
Why spend $30 more?

Whatever you do, dont use the globes with the 'blue' tinge to them. They create glare and make no extra visible light on the road. Although they light up signs well, the spread onto the road is poor.
Mr Plod may also not like the blue globes if you use them.

And once it rains, you will throw them in the bin for sure!!

They put these high ratings on the pakets of the globes taking into account the blue filter raises the amount of glare produced. This is not real good for driving and also for oncoming cars.
There is also a site which explains the downfalls in deatil.. In short, it describes how the human eye does not pick up blue colours as well as say yellow of a night time.
This is why all weather globes and fog lamps are yellow.

I use some Tungsram +60 globes and they are really good.

Did i mention... DONT BUY THE BLUE ONES!
Just checking :)

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:59 am
by sudso
Nah, these are'nt the blue ones. The "white Light" ones are what my auto eleccy was tellin me about some months back and he uses them on his GQ. Apparently they give more of a daylight appearance and outclass the blue ones.
I drive the Dukes Highway a fair bit and I find the "blue lights" from oncoming traffic to be less glary than badly adjusted normal lights actually.
Why spend $30 more?
I wont. I'm not that stupid, was just showing the price difference. I've seen quite a few versions of these on ebay, good to know they work ok.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 9:56 am
by amtravic1
I bought some of those "altezza" clear lights from ebay to replace the Hella inserts I already had. I was hoping to get better lights. Unfortunately they are not a patch on the Hella lights and I will soon be taking them out and putting the Hellas back in. They may be an improvement on poor quality original inserts though.

Ian

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 1:53 pm
by fnqcairns
First thing I did when I bought the GQ was replace the sealed beams with those crystal headlights and a new loom to run the higher wattage globes, o yeah I also dumped the blue globes that come with the lights straight in the bin!
The light is heaps better than the originals although I wouldn't say it is great, just good enough sound about right.

There is a lot of light in the foreground which takes away a persons ability to see into the distance when traveling at speed, so certainly a vast improvement for in town driving.

cheers fnq

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 3:25 pm
by sudso
Mine are "IKI" brand, (icky by performance too) sounds Japanese so are prolly the OEM ones. The reflectors are in excellent nick though and they have breathers.

Yeah I've seen the Crystal ones on ebay and wondered what they're like.
There is a lot of light in the foreground which takes away a persons ability to see into the distance when traveling at speed, so certainly a vast improvement for in town driving.
That's what my factory ones are like now.
It's probably the refractory lines in the lenses that do this. I suppose they have to conform to ADR's but you'd think you'd get some reasonable light distance on high beam from them.

Might go see my auto sparky this week and see what he's got. He usually lets me try something out 1st (country locals, God bless'em).

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:53 pm
by DamTriton
Before you go replacing the headlamp assys, try upgrading the wiring to the globes. Most manufacturers make to a price, and if they can save on a bit of wire they will. If you intend to up the wattage of the globes anyway, it would be a timely investment to upgrade the loom, as trying to replace a burnt out OE loom caused by the standard wiring overheating can be expensive.

When I upgraded the loom I got about an extra 0.7 volt at the furtherest point on the loom compared to standard with the regular wattage globes. (13.3-14.0 volts). Easily made about 20% difference in light output, both due to the overall power input to the globe increasing, and the increase of brightness due to voltage increase (not a linear function).

It now runs the 140/100 globes really wel :cool: :cool: .

Search is your friend

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:55 pm
by LuxyBoy