Let's discuss headlights

Thanks for that. Here's the important bit. It would be interesting to convert that to a graph to show where the light is supposed to go.

In all 4 of my cars the problem isn't high beam visibility, they all throw plenty of lumens downrange when you don't have to care about oncoming traffic. But low beam visibility is spotty at best. Unfortunately it's a rare moment I can actually USE said high beams with all the traffic on the roads today.

Seems like automotive lighting engineers should focus (pun, hahaha) their efforts on improving the lighting that gets used about 98% of the time.

I would bet that what you are looking for is in the SAE standards quoted at different points in the regulation.

Likely J2009

There are a lot of SAE, ECE, and other things tied in. Its one of the more complicated regulations.

That's the table I posted - the minimum or maximum lumens at a number of points on an X/Y graph for the low beam.

Nah, SAE standards are their own documents which NHTSA frequently uses to set a framework, especially in regards to terminology. I am thinking that within J2009 some semblance of the graph which you seek might exist. (SAE is a different entity from the government regulators.)

but it wouldnt be too hard to generate if you wanted to from what is given.

SilverFleet wrote: Speaking of LED's... I've seen LED retrofit kits that are much like the HID retrofit kits people buy. Anyone ever try them on a Halogen projector with decent results? My guess is that it's probably a waste of money and time compared to the H9 swap, but I'm curious.

I have a friend who runs them on his dodge ram. Good output and seem to work well with those reflectors, he got the high $$ LED's though. Only issue I have found is they dont put out enough heat to melt snow off the lenses....

They don't put out enough heat. That's the flip side of efficiency.

I can see.....

although the headlamps are still those old sealed beams... those driving lamps are Hella DE2000. The DE2000 led directly to the BMW projectors.....

Mine are fitted with 100 watt bulbs, wired in with a relay

Well, I agree about the suckyness of modern lights and that older eurotrash had pretty good lighting.

My not quite modern Jeep ZJ has the worst lights ever, and after driving BMWs and SAABs for years, they seem that much worse.

There was, once upon a time, glass lens E code ZJ headlights, but they are unobtanium now. All the currently available aftermarket headlights seem like they are for bling, not function. I'm temped to fabricate my own housings for a pair of 7" sealed beams.

Do yourself a favor, build those housings for 7" round H4s, not sealed beams.

Only on the GRM board is a 20-year-old vehicle even close to modern

So what is the best non led 7 round headlight on the market now?

oldeskewltoy wrote: I can see..... although the headlamps are still those old sealed beams...

Find yourself a set of Phillips sealed beam bulbs and put them in. You will probably be amazed at the difference. In the many decades I spent with sealed beam headlight cars, the large rectangular Phillips bulbs threw more effective light than any other sealed beam headlight I ever used.

I miss the old days where the first thing I would do to a car was chuck the sealed beams and insert Bosch/Hella/Cibie H4 lamps and have good headlights for a modest price. None of the new cars I've driven was anywhere near as good, 'though some are less awful than others. A decent set of driving lights has become a necessity, even if bracket fabrication is a PITA due to all plastic front ends.

BTW, I'm not sure where the complaint about European H4 and road signs comes from. I've been using them since the 70s (one of the things I love about the NA is that they use 7" round headlights), and I have never found that to be a problem. Proper aiming might help - which is easy with the sharp cutoff on low beams.

Dusterbd13 wrote: So what is the best non led 7 round headlight on the market now?

7" round HID projectors. https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-headlight-fog-light-housings/morimoto-sealed7-headlights.html/#.Vv1urvkrKUk

Pretty deep though.

Low beams on the 335 and Silverado ain't bad and I always use fog lights to illuminate the roadsides as in deer country where a split second be a plus. High beams are excellent.

What auxiliary driving lights would the hive recommend? Something between low and high beam that wouldn't necessarily need dimmed for oncoming traffic.

I thought this was going to be another GGA thread.

In reply to java230:

Those would be great, but I would have to chop up the car quite a bit to make them fit. Not something I want to do. What's the next best thing?

This seems timely:

http://jalopnik.com/why-so-many-of-todays-headlights-suck-1768222130

Very timely! I guess I've been lucky enough to only drive well-executed new cars at night. I don't consider a full size truck a "new car".

In reply to Dusterbd13:

The JW Speaker's are supposed to be very very good. Not cheap though. LED 7" round, and much slimmer.

The LED headlights on my wife's Prius are absolutely awesome. Everything else I own has sealed beam 7 inchers from Napa and they are still adequate.

The problem on the Cadillac is that the cutoff on the HID's is TOO sharp. Where the light hits it's awesome, but outside that it's completely black. My biggest problem is coming up to street signs and not being able to read them because only the bottom of the pole has any light on it. And I want floor mounted high beam switches to come back. I miss those.

foxtrapper wrote: This seems timely: http://jalopnik.com/why-so-many-of-todays-headlights-suck-1768222130

Interesting. I just bought a '14 IS250 with the LED head lights and damn, they may be one of my favorite features. I'm impressed that they're only "Acceptable", as they're so much better than even my '13 Civic's halogens. They do a fantastic job of illuminating the road surface, especially in tricky situations like the dark areas between street lights. Simply fantastic. They might just get me to think about the 7" LEDs for the Miata.