Talk to me about TJ headlight upgrades...

The problem with anything except a standard filament type bulb is that they are not intended to be used with reflector housings, only with projectors. So, while they might be very bright, even crazy bright... they'll produce a lot of glare that just piss off other drivers. And, that glare will reflect back off of fog and snow making it harder for you to see yourself.

Good housings like the Hella E-Codes will reduce the glare quite a bit, but it'll still be there. True LED housings are the way to go. I bought the Quadratec lights last year and haven't regretted it for a second. Zero glare and great distance.

What brand h4 housing did you get. I put rampage ones in my XJ with plan old Phillips h4 bulbs and it was an amazing difference. Maybe just a change of h4 bulbs would help. I picked up a set a generic h4 "blacked out" projector style housing and before I put them in I read that many people said they were junk so never tried them. Quality housing with quality bulbs should be pretty good. Upgrade the harness also so the bulbs draw power from the battery and not through the switch will help big time also.
Will not be LED's but should be more than enough.

Stolen from another site:

There are four basic differences between Hella Vision Plus DOT and a Cibie / Hella ECE/E-code lamps.

First is in the lighting pattern. For us in the US, the regulations date from the 50's. The US DOT mandates a dispersed pattern that puts a percentage of the light output UP and to both sides of the road so that overhead or roadside signs, which may not have other lighting or reflective characteristics, are lit for you.

The European standard allows all the light to go on the road - they have a law that any overhead or roadside sign has to have it's own, independent lighting or must be highly reflective. So not only is there more light on the road with your low-beams, the high-beams are more precise as well. There is also a triangle of light on the right side to light up roadside signs.

The effect is that the E-code lights actually put more light on the road for you to drive with, and offend oncoming traffic MUCH LESS because of the sharp cutoff in the lighting pattern; and all of this with the same wattage lamps as in the US. That's on low beam. Because of the DOT low-beam requirements, and the resulting lens and reflector design, it's impossible to get a good high beam.

Although the Vision Plus is substantially better than your typical off-the-shelf sealed beam, it's performance falls short of the E-Code/ECE lamp.

The second difference is that the DOT required the lamp to have the three aiming lugs on the face of the lens. This requirement was dropped in the 2000 DOT Standard when visual aiming was approved. The Vision Plus lamps still have the aiming lugs, E-Code lamps do not.

Third, the lamp must have "DOT" molded in the face to confirm that it meets DOT specs. E-Code lamps do not have DOT molded in the lens.

Fourth, the lamp must not have more than 60 watts on high beam and 55 watts on low beam. The Vision Plus comes with a 60/55w H4 bulb in it in order to meet the DOT standard. The E-Code lamps are sold without a bulb because there are many variations in wattage and color available. It is not recommended to put a higher wattage bulb in a Vision Plus because the light pattern could dazzle oncoming traffic.

If you can upgrade to an E-Code/ECE lamp, then this is the least expensive, easiest and most beneficial upgrade you can make to your forward lighting.

I have the Hella E-Codes are even with 55/60 bulbs they are way better than stock.

Depending on what other vehicles you own/drive, it's very easy to get spoiled if they have projector headlights. Nothing else is going to compare to the cut-off you get with those.

Someone needs to talk to you about upgrading your suspension....

If anyone tries the LED inserts, I'd love to know how they work out.

I'm wondering how the low/high shift is handled.

In the pic it shows 1 LED in one pic and 2 in another. Maybe that's it.

Bob (Sandtostand) did the led inserts a while back iirc. As for me I run the Hella e codes with 130/90 watt Hella bulbs and I am very satisfied with them.

I used LED H4 replacements and am over all satisfied with them, a definite improvement over the standard H4 . The ones I have use two leds, one for low beam and both for high beam. Not too sure how long they are going to last, the drivers seem cheaply made, I have had them for about 10months or so. They do not like water.

Still extremely happy with the new-style trucklite ones I put in the CJ10...light years (pun intended) better than the factory sealed beams and no wiring needed due to the low draw. They're the same style as the quad ones but quad wasn't anywhere near offering rectangular ones when I ordered.

As a comparison...I ran Hella E-codes in my MJ and TJ (moved them to Jen's a couple years ago) w/ 80/100 bulbs and a relay harness. Arguably I'd prefer the LED's over those setups. Less glare and a better pattern in my unscientific view.

--Ian

Quote from Stafford

The ones I was originally looking at may not fit in my housing

Do you mean actually fit into the housing or if there will be enough clearance behind it?

I'm tempted to try the $100 ones.

With LEDs you have to becareful as the LEDs dont produce enough heat to melt ice while driving in the snow. Some housings are heated for this reason.

Or you can install those nifty lil headlight wipers like Mercedes or BMW has!

Quote from Kuntryboy816

Or you can install those nifty lil headlight wipers like Mercedes or BMW has!

and of course, don't forget the coveted angry eyes mod.

Quote from Dugan

With LEDs you have to becareful as the LEDs dont produce enough heat to melt ice while driving in the snow. Some housings are heated for this reason.

I had good luck last year using windshield de-icer/pretreatment on the headlights, never iced over. I'm sure if we were in an area with more snow, the heated housings would be required, though.

Quote from whatevah

I had good luck last year using windshield de-icer/pretreatment on the headlights, never iced over. I'm sure if we were in an area with more snow, the heated housings would be required, though.

Rain-X helps too. Even if it does ice up it helps it just slide off.

And I dunno, they use 40 watts per element, unless it's -20 I think it'll be ok.