Well, it's that time of year. The days have been getting shorter, and now you're either driving to work in the dark, heading home in the dark, or wheeling in the dark more than normal.
It's no secret the stock headlights on our Jeeps are horrible. Well, they work fine for on-road, in-town driving, but once you get farther from civilization, they just don't cut it. So we're left wanting something better.
We've bought aftermarket headlights in the past with H4 bulbs, sealed beam replacements that were supposed to be brighter, or have different colors. It seems that we only like one out of every two pairs we've tried over the years.
This year, like so many times in the past when the leaves start turning, we decided to get ahold of a bunch of lights and test them. From all the headlights we've replaced in the past, here are the things we didn't like:
Pattern: Does it put way too much light off to the left or right? Does all the light go to the ground right in front of the front bumper? Does it have decent range in both high- and low-beam modes? Rating system: a 1 will mean there's almost no usable light where it needs to be, and a 10 will indicate the light almost seems to know where you need to look at all times.
Light output: In other words, is the thing brighter than the stockers? This is largely a function of the bulb, and most of the lights we received came with them. We noted the wattages of the as-shipped bulb (all were stock except the Fatboy). But we aren't just talking wattage numbers here-we're talking about how bright the light appears to be. Rating system: a 5 will represent the brightness of the stock lights, so a 4 to 1 rating will mean it's progressively dimmer. A rating of 6 to 10 will indicate the light getting progressively brighter than stock.
Ease of installation: Again, from past experience, sometimes the headlight housing is physically larger or smaller, resulting in having to bend brackets or use weatherstripping to hold it tight. Rating system: a 1 will mean we had to use a hammer and then duct tape it in to get numbers for the other ratings, and a 10 will mean it fits as well or better than stock with no modifications needed.
DOT compliance: Some of you will care about this one and some couldn't care less. The reason we include it is that in some states, the state inspection people actually check the function of lights and make sure they're DOT compliant if they look to be aftermarket. What that means is that in some states, non-DOT compliance means you fail inspection, and in some cases, can't re-register your Jeep. Also, technically, it's illegal to run the non-DOT lights on the highway. We checked the light bulb and the headlight assembly for a DOT stamp. With that information, you can decide if The Man will have a problem with the lights.
With those criteria in mind, we did what we've done so many times in the past: picked up the 4 Wheel Drive Hardware catalog and went looking for 7-inch, round headlights. This time, though, we ordered six different pairs of headlights for testing and comparison purposes, in everything from mild to not so mild. There aren't any lights in the 4 Wheel Drive Hardware catalog that are likely to result in talking to Johnny Law, so any of them could be considered a viable replacement.
We're happy to say that headlight conversions have come a long, long way since even a few years ago. All the kits we tested were made of glass (which won't warp like some plastic kits), they fit without having to bend any headlight buckets or bulb connections, and the seals all seemed better than even some lights we bought a few years ago.
Part number: 0114950We got the regular, nondomed, nonxenon kit. There's also a classic look that features a near-exact replica of the stock Sylvania bulb. We already had a set of stock bulbs, so we skipped the classic look that's supposed to have the same light pattern this unit has.
Pattern: 6 (high beam), 6 (low beam)
Ease of installation: 9 (as tested), 5 (if installed to work correctly)
Installation notes: While the lights installed just fine, after the retaining rings were tightened down, the lights were still loose in their mounts. The rim of the housing isn't the right thickness.
DOT compliance: While there are official-looking markings on the lens of the headlight assembly, there's no specific DOT or SAE marking. The bulb isn't marked either.
Testing notes: A remarkable seal adorns the back of this light, with three slots for the three terminals on the back of the bulb, rather than just a circular hole for the entire back of the bulb.
The low beams have a decent horizontal cutoff, but there's this goofy triangle toward the right side of the beam that's supposed to light up the side of the road. However, in use, they don't light up the side of the road as well as some of the others we tested. When we adjusted them out so they lit the side of the road better, there was a dim spot in the center of the pattern.
As well-developed as the low beams were, the high beams were the exact opposite-we'd liken the pattern to a sock stuffed with potatoes. Don't get us wrong, they light up the road in front of the Jeep just fine, but like the low beams, don't do much for the sides of the road. These wouldn't be the lights for curvy mountain roads, but if you're bombing down straight or mostly straight fire trails, they get the light out there.
Whether on high or low beams, when hitting bumps, the looseness of the housings became evident by the light patterns vibrating as we were driving down the road. Perhaps with some weatherstripping or something, the lights would be tight enough in the TJ's housings to not vibrate.