Offshoreonly.com - Headlightsf

Lots of promise out there, but much less on actual delivery. Said another way, many manufacturers promised significantly improved lighting, but few deliver. Even fewer make the cut when you look at the trade offs.

The most common upgrade route is simply to replace the bulbs - sometimes called capsules - in the OEM headlight housings. Remember though, manufacturers are legally limited to how much wattage they can pack into a bulb. But, by playing some games with filament placement and color, there is soemthing to be had here. The best overall compromise I've found so far is the Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. They have decent color, output and longevity.

Next, you can buy higher wattage (and therefore illegal) bulbs, which sounds like a great idea. The sad truth is that your OEM wiring harness won't handle the load. This causes two problems. First, you can't really get more light out of the bulbs. Second, you end up melting some pretty expensive stuff. Don't even waste your time here.

Another option is to convert to a High Intensity Discharge (HID) system. These are used by many luxury vehicles right from the factory. The factory systems are pretty awesome providing lots of light for you without blinding oncoming drivers. Unfortunately, the conversion kits generally do just the opposite and blind oncoming drivers. Oh, and they're illegal too.

Finally, you can (in some cases) replace both of your headlight housings with aftermarket Projector / HID / you name it units. Almost everything I've seen in this category fits the "ricer / junk / just for looks" bill. This stuff is so bad I don't even want to talk about it.

So what's the biggest bang for the buck? In my humble opinion, adding a set of well made (I like Hella stuff) auxillary lighting along with the Silverstar Ultras in the headlights. I always add a set of high powered driving beam aux lights to give me that extra "reach" when driving out in the middle of nowhere.

Hope that helps.