Question on 2 different Ford vehicles

[yellowstang]

Fucking A, I'm an idiot...
I like the new headlights, whiter light, brighter too. But, still did not shine down on the road enough. So, look in the manual and see how to adjust them down, and I'll be damned... Turn the #2 phillps screw clock wise to lower the beam. Turned each 25 times (had some tape on the wall to check alignment too) and wow, huge difference!

So, long story short... Anybody with an F-150 and crappy headlights that do not shine for shit on the road, try to adjust them first. Pop the hood, just over each headlight is the adjustment, no need to remove anything, it is as easy as pie!

[yellowstang]

Lights on:


Lights off:

[yellowstang]

Well, I would say that in the dusk driving home after dinner, I am not impressed. It is a little better, but not what I was hoping for. Not worth the time to take the damn headlights out to replace the bulbs. They still seem to be adjusted too high, and not enough light immediately hitting the ground in front of the truck.

The light is whiter, and a little brighter, but not like a huge difference. :-(

Sgt, I am not surprised. All F-150's get a poor rating for headlight performance. They are the suck!

[Sgt Beavis]

Does anyone else think it's pretty stupid for a RAPTOR to only come with Halogens? You'd think Xenon or LEDs would be standard equipment at that level.

But I guess I can't say I'm surprised. My Jag came with halogens. It was easy enough to upgrade them to LEDs.

[yellowstang]

Didn't get any before pics, too much rain this week, and I was lazy.
I can't obviously tell much in the day time, but the lights shining on the garage wall were noticeably brighter. Went with Putco night white 3500K in the low and high beams. I'll try to get some night shots tonight.

Forgot to order the fog lights, so ordered those today, put them in some time later.

Oh, and these are still halogen bulbs, not LED

[yellowstang]

Post how you like them, I'm looking at the diode dynamics and f150leds replacements.

Will do. If it stops raining one evening, I will take some before pics. Plan on doing it Saturday at a friends house.

[Fatass]

Well, on the stupid USB thing, the selection on the screen is there to choose USB Device 1 or 2, just Sync will not be able to select one, it only uses the first one plugged in. You can also hit the little center button to go from one source to the next, but cycling thru all of them stinks.

Ordered some direct replacement Putco bulbs (H11 and 905), let you know in a week or so how they are.

Post how you like them, I'm looking at the diode dynamics and f150leds replacements.

[Fatass]

Depends on the car. Some of them are easier than gassing up, and some of them are a pain in the pecker hole.

I'd also recommend expensive LEDs to any of you that would like good reverse lights. Most stuff I've driven, the reverse lights are so worthless that I'm not sure why the manufacturer even bothered. But if you put an expensive LED in there, suddenly they work great. My old 87 chevy is a good example. You can imagine how bad those reverse lights would be, even when they were new. Now they're awesome, don't know how I lived without em.

I'll be swapping my tails to LED before long but until then, I added some aux reverse lights. I ended up with some whelen ion solos in blue from one of my customers. I like them, even with the backup camera the factory reverse lights suck and seem to wash out the picture from the camera.

[yellowstang]

Well, on the stupid USB thing, the selection on the screen is there to choose USB Device 1 or 2, just Sync will not be able to select one, it only uses the first one plugged in. You can also hit the little center button to go from one source to the next, but cycling thru all of them stinks.

Ordered some direct replacement Putco bulbs (H11 and 905), let you know in a week or so how they are.

[svauto-erotic855]

Why would I spend $200 to upgrade wiring that you say is a problem when I can drop in a $50 set of LED bulbs designed to work just fine in the housing I already have? When I swapped mine, I did one bulb to make a comparison. It was a difference far greater than wiring.

Because lighting is a system not just one part. You are unaware of the short comings of your own knowledge. The LED light bulbs simply can not do what you want them to do when used with a reflector designed for use with a normal bulb.

Edit: The way your eyes perceive light is a tricky thing which is why you use a lux meter to see if something that you changed in your system made an improvement. The drop in LED bulbs put significantly less light onto the road when measured past about 30 yards then a normal lighting system that is working as designed. They also cause a huge amount of glare to oncoming drivers because the lighting system is no longer in focus. They also give the illusion that you have good lighting because directly in front of the car it is bright but that is not what is needed in automotive lighting. Down range performance is where it is at in automotive lighting and drop in LEDs can not do it.

[juiceweezl]

It is not a blub problem. It is a wiring problem that nearly every car built has. I do like replacing the bulbs at the same time to some that I know are good quality but it is not really needed.

The drop in LEDS are a complete joke and are not a better bulb. You simply do not know what you do not know. I have the equipment to demonstrate what the problem really is and the know how to correct it and I am willing to do the work for free to benifit anyone that is interested in addressing the root problem.

Edit: Do an experiment once you get in tonight and measure the voltage drop to the headlights on your own car. You will find that what I am saying is true. Until you measure you will never know.

Why would I spend $200 to upgrade wiring that you say is a problem when I can drop in a $50 set of LED bulbs designed to work just fine in the housing I already have? When I swapped mine, I did one bulb to make a comparison. It was a difference far greater than wiring.

[svauto-erotic855]

So let me get this straight. Just under 200 bucks to fix a problem with a bulb that you say isn't a bulb problem or 50 bucks for plug and play bulbs from Amazon that are actually better anyway??? Makes total sense to me.

I'm going to sit back now and let you post some BS about lumens, voltage, and wiring now and link to wikipedia. Proceed.

It is not a blub problem. It is a wiring problem that nearly every car built has. I do like replacing the bulbs at the same time to some that I know are good quality but it is not really needed.

The drop in LEDS are a complete joke and are not a better bulb. You simply do not know what you do not know. I have the equipment to demonstrate what the problem really is and the know how to correct it and I am willing to do the work for free to benifit anyone that is interested in addressing the root problem.

Edit: Do an experiment once you get in tonight and measure the voltage drop to the headlights on your own car. You will find that what I am saying is true. Until you measure you will never know.

[juiceweezl]

I can fix the dim headlights. It really is as simple as I am describing and it cost under 200 bucks. You are still held hostage to the factories design limitations but I can get them working as intended by Ford.

If just one of you guys would let me take a
few measurement on your car/truck and watch what it takes to correct the problem it would help out all of you.

So let me get this straight. Just under 200 bucks to fix a problem with a bulb that you say isn't a bulb problem or 50 bucks for plug and play bulbs from Amazon that are actually better anyway??? Makes total sense to me.

I'm going to sit back now and let you post some BS about lumens, voltage, and wiring now and link to wikipedia. Proceed.

[Rick Modena]

Oh, good grief!

I know right, I had 3 full paragraphs typed up this morning and deleted it and posted a sarcastic quip instead.
The first was about the incandescent 12v direct current automotive headlight bulb, second was about the evolution of incandescent, halogen bulb, H.I.D. and L.E.D in a automobile application. And last but not least, how my eyes can see a difference in brightness between a halogen bulb vs L.E.D. bulb, but I knew he would try and one up me, so you get the quip...

[svauto-erotic855]

I’ll stick with my aftermarket HID bulbs that blind oncoming drivers and give my ride that ricer look. Actually my preferred solution to the weak Ford halogens is to not drive at night, or if I must do so drive something other than a Mustang.

I can fix the dim headlights. It really is as simple as I am describing and it cost under 200 bucks. You are still held hostage to the factories design limitations but I can get them working as intended by Ford.

If just one of you guys would let me take a
few measurement on your car/truck and watch what it takes to correct the problem it would help out all of you.