Headlights - improving quality / quantity of light?

johnwartjr

Registered User
Greetings I've always found the light output of my 95 SC to pale in comparison to most other vehicles I've owned.

Truth be told, I bought a gently used 95 LX back in 97, and remember the light output being kinda sub-par.

I don't want HID lighting, I don't want blue tinted lighting. I just want a quality light output. Is this possible with the 95 SC?

I bought a headlight restoration kit recently and polished the crap outta the original light lenses and that helped some. The lenses were heavily oxidized. They are nice and smooth and look like new now - but I'd still like a better quality of light.

My driving lights are original and are also not as good as I'd like. One of them burnt out years ago and I didn't even realize it.

I'm not against replacing harnesses if needed. I'll put some money into a solution, but not insane money. $100 I wouldn't think twice about. $250, I'd need to be convinced. Really convinced.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks!
 
Don't be fooled, polishing oxidized lenses doesn't work. Get new lights regardless of what you do for bulbs. Then if you don't want to pay a lot for a new harness, just use some 14awg wiring and relay the lights directly off the alternator lead. That takes a little know-how but won't cost more than $40 all together. The headlights themselves are a little expensive but well worth it. They'll look better too.
 
I'll kick my two cents worth in.

1) Relay the lights, using 14, 12, or even 10g wire (bigger is better!). The factory wiring is "adequate" like the factory injectors are "adequate". Do much power adding, and you run out on both. Bigger gauge wire is like higher flow injectors, but doesn't require a tune to use :D Just swapping to 12G on the Malibu upped the voltage on the passenger low beam (motor off, ignition off) from 11.6V to 12.4V (!!!) And that was with no alternator to help. There was also a noticably brighter light to the halogen. (Still went with HID high beams, but that's easy when you HAVE quads instead of duals ... )

2) New headlights. There's places that can clean old headlights to where it's hard to see, but my Lux meter says there's a difference.

3) Investigate converting to Gen1 lights (9005/9006 instead of 9007) and using HIRs.

4) If staying with 9007's, look hard at the 4000K to 5000K HIDs. Just because all the ricers want to run 12000K (or as they put it, "12K") HIDs doesn't mean YOU have to :D 5000K is a nice bright white with only the slightest touch of blue to it. I'm using 3000K for my fog lights when I get finished with them on both the Cougar and the Malibu, because of the yellowish tint they have.

5) If you DO stay with 9007's, consider doing a projector HID upgrade. It'll cost you extra, but the lighting improvement will be WELL worth it.

RwP
 
Here's my two cents which added to Ralph's 2 gives you four.

When I did the relay swap a couple of things happened. I picked up almost 2 volts at the lights.

Also I didn't have to worry about melting my light switch again.

It took me a little time but most all of that was trying to be neat and tidy.

Here's a pic of the melted light switch and my current relay set up. I have an extra relay since I redesigned the switching using a diode so the low beams will come on when I put the highs on. Of course I have a '91 so have the two bulb set-up. With a single dual filament bulb you wouldn't use a high/low on at the same time set-up.

I will be doing a projector beam swap into an extra light set-up I bought. I contacted these guys (www.theretrofitsource.com) and got the drawings for this set of lights (www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=141), and using the drawings cut and mocked up an old light I had to see if everything would fit.

That option is a little more involved but doesn't look difficult. But I will be doing it into an assembly that I can just swap in once I'm done. Perhaps when I'm I'm ready I will investigate a group buy since they mention that on their website. They were very good to deal with when I was doing my mockup.

Regards

Sean
 

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Here's another vote for new headlights. Mine came with new bulbs.

Along with new clear corners and 3M shields, the 'of course', looks-like-new effect is all worth it.

If you're concerned over the wiring, focus on the grounds.
 
I as well got new headlights. you will be happy to get new ones instead of trying to fix the old ones. they really do make the front of the car look newer.
 
A while back I added brand new headlights and Silverstar bulbs to my LX. The light output was still completely sub-par.
 
Our fog lights DO NOT ACTUALLY GIVE OUT MUCH LIGHT. They are set back and teh lenses even new do nada.

I recently added 5000K HID to mine and still garbage. And as Doug said...CHEAP. I treid silverstars as well..ha expensive joke


If you want fog lighst that work. Buy new ones. Aftermarket..Ones that are actually made to deliver light..Just not look pretty.

I went HID with headlights also. Tad more light output..But factory lenses just really arent all that great in a 94-95
 
Don't be fooled, polishing oxidized lenses doesn't work. Get new lights regardless of what you do for bulbs. Then if you don't want to pay a lot for a new harness, just use some 14awg wiring and relay the lights directly off the alternator lead. That takes a little know-how but won't cost more than $40 all together. The headlights themselves are a little expensive but well worth it. They'll look better too.

I sanded down my lenses and clearcoated them and they look new. I don't have long-term results yet on the longevity of the clear coat, but I am very happy with the appearance.

XxSlowpokexX said:
I recently added 5000K HID to mine and still garbage. And as Doug said...CHEAP. I treid silverstars as well..ha expensive joke

I believe the light output was bad with HIDs in the stock housings. You need projectors or it will not work well, and will probably give glare to other drivers.

I tried the Silverstar Ultras as well, since they were on sale for only $14 more than the Xtravision bulbs. I don't care too much for them. The light looks a lot whiter, but I found that I actually prefer the warmer tone of the Xtravisions. And I felt like they don't really give much additional range of vision down the road. They also wear out faster than Xtravisions, which themselves wear out faster than standard bulbs. All things considered, I won't buy them again, but I guess they are all right overall.

sdw said:
I will be doing a projector beam swap into an extra light set-up I bought. I contacted these guys (www.theretrofitsource.com) and got the drawings for this set of lights (http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=141), and using the drawings cut and mocked up an old light I had to see if everything would fit.

That option is a little more involved but doesn't look difficult. But I will be doing it into an assembly that I can just swap in once I'm done. Perhaps when I'm I'm ready I will investigate a group buy since they mention that on their website. They were very good to deal with when I was doing my mockup.

Sean,

I was looking at the lights on that same page. Did the lights you chose fit the 89-93 headlight? I looked at my headlights and thought those ones would not fit. Why not use the Morimoto Mini kit, which seems significantly smaller?

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=227
 
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Sean,

I was looking at the lights on that same page. Did the lights you chose fit the 89-93 headlight? I looked at my headlights and thought those ones would not fit. Why not use the Morimoto Mini kit, which seems significantly smaller?


I don't know why I didn't look at those. When I took the old housing I cut the back out and measured the front to back clearance which would be okay with the larger ones.

Looking at the Morimoto the smaller size would make things a lot easier at first glance. I will contact them and get a drawing for those and see how that looks.

If I could get a job I would up this on the things to do scale. I'm really looking forward to improving the lighting on my car. Of course it's been a long time since I actually drove it at night but if memory serves me improvement is required.

Regards

Sean
 
I have Hella/Phillips Xenon HID setup (5100K) and am pleased. The only issue I have is in fog (have Hella fog lights too H3s, 4300k). Had to repair them and ordered a set of e-bay HID with 6000k bulbs--stick with 5100k. Ended up puting them on my wife's Grand Marquis.

Fog out here can be real bad so if you, don't have regular fog just ignore. Else its something to be aware of and make sure you have real fog lights--yellow/amber in color.
 
I don't know why I didn't look at those. When I took the old housing I cut the back out and measured the front to back clearance which would be okay with the larger ones.

Looking at the Morimoto the smaller size would make things a lot easier at first glance. I will contact them and get a drawing for those and see how that looks.

If I could get a job I would up this on the things to do scale. I'm really looking forward to improving the lighting on my car. Of course it's been a long time since I actually drove it at night but if memory serves me improvement is required.

Regards

Sean

Yes, impaired cash flow has a way of making you wait for things. Hope things improve for you.

...

I think the idea behind one of those Morimoto kits is that the projector actually mounts in the existing 900x bulb mount. So, in theory, no cutting, fabrication, or aiming is required. I liked the sound of that, which is why I was looking at that kit. The only 2 questions in my mind are the front-to-back depth of the headlight and the flutes in the interior of the headlight lens. I am not sure how the light distribution will be affected by the flutes. My suspicion is that we may need to sand them out, at least in the area directly in front of the projector. That worries me slightly.

Now, I actually need to get a braking system back in the car before I worry about lighting ... so I will not be able to experiment with this for a few months at least.

- Steve
 
I think the idea behind one of those Morimoto kits is that the projector actually mounts in the existing 900x bulb mount. So, in theory, no cutting, fabrication, or aiming is required. I liked the sound of that, which is why I was looking at that kit. The only 2 questions in my mind are the front-to-back depth of the headlight and the flutes in the interior of the headlight lens. I am not sure how the light distribution will be affected by the flutes. My suspicion is that we may need to sand them out, at least in the area directly in front of the projector. That worries me slightly.


You definitely have to sand off the flutes on the lens'. When I mocked it up I hit the inside of the lens with some 80 grit and it took the edges off no problem. I figure a couple of hours or so and you'd get them to clear, working up to 2000 grit.

Looking at the website again I will definitely be putting these into my car. There is quite a bit of room and theses are 1/2" shorter than the other ones I measured so that won't be an issue. I will double check tomorrow.

I will send them a note and see about arranging a group buy for early next year.

Regards

Sean
 
For those that live close enough to Longview, TX (a very short list, I'm sure ... )

One of the body shops there is doing ads on a local FM station (KZQX-FM, 100.3) that if you call the body shop and come rolling in listening to the station (which I do, when in that neck of the woods - and when at the house, lurve my FM streaming!), he'll do a polish of the lenses for free.

May be someone similar in y'all's neck of the woods.

RwP
 
actually the HID's in my stock housings dont blind oncomming traffic..And do work slightly better than silverstars..But it still just plain sucks and I have new lenses
 
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