What Exactly Is Wrong With Our Headlights?

[TurboDiverArt]

Hi All,

I

[Kennedy]

Low beam bulbs have coating on tip so as not to glage. I would NOT recommend installing high beam bulbs in the low position.

I'd look to see if the lens is clouding.

From there, the trend (FINALLY) has been to use a clear lens and direct or project the light with reflectors. This is on the newer vehicles only though.

Any coating on a bulb or refraction in a lens will tend to suppress light...

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
I have found that if I try to adjust so I can see then I am getting flashed by other vehicles. I think it may be an adjustment issue that is tied in with how our trucks sit in relation to other vehicles. My headlights(same as yours, rally's and good 12volt power) are adjusted so that oncoming vehicles are not blinded. People that are in front of my at a red light in a small car have some problems but you can't please everyone! :D On Brights all my headlights are on and I have a set of PIA XT 80 race lights that REALLY light up the road. :D :D The only time they can be turned on is with my brights on, and then it is automatic. I did replace my lens and it made a difference.
L8r
Conley

[Cowracer]

These look like they might help

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33710&item=2467464195

Tim

[Bobbie Martin]

The problem is the composite lights. You can probably make them slightly better, but thats about it. There is some very good auto lighting info here. (http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html) The best way to get proper lights are to fit E Code sealed beams, like this.
http://home.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/40/40448/pages/94285/sub.jpg

[MTTwister]

JCWhitney's latest catalog had some new 'composite' headlight that have different rreflectors, and clear lenses. 2 diff kinds as I recall.

[Billman]

Art

I have been waiting to complete this project before I posted the results but here goes...

3 things are needed to put the 9005 bulb into the low beam socket:
Change the connector.
Trim the bulb to fit lo-beam.
Replace o-ring on the bulb.

When I say I haven't completed the project I mean I haven't upgraded the wiring yet. I just put in the bulbs. I have noticed a difference. Very slight, but a difference.

I'm curious to know what the heavier wiring will do. I also wonder if it will be too much.

Out of curiousity JK, why do you say no to this?
Maybe you've tried it?

[TurboDiverArt]

DVLDOG,

What new lenses did you put in? I tried to adjust the headlights but I guess the adjusters were stuck or I was doing it wrong. Seems that the right light is where I think it should be, looks like most of the visible light comes from that light. The left one is bright when you look at it from a distance, it just seems that the light doesn

[DmaxMaverick]

If you look at the difference between the 9005 and 9006 bulbs, you'll notice that one has the tip covered or frosted/painted over. That is a D.O.T. requirement to prevent direct/undiffused illumination from being directed into oncoming traffic's view. Some of the other designs that don't use the "blocked" bulb will have a shield built into the fixture. Sealed beams have it built in.

Altering your headlamps to accept a high beam bulb into a low beam socket is not only illegal, but very inconsiderate. There will be no way to adjust the lighting to provide good vision (to you) that won't be dangerously blinding to oncoming traffic. It would be like having high beams on all the time.

[patrick m.]

my truck has the "work truck" package, which is the nice way of saying, no package.
it has the two sealed beams, and provides pretty good light.
i often turn my headlamps off when sitting behind a car in a drive-thru, because my lights blind them in their mirror.
many compsoite headlamp assemblies "cloud" over with age. any easy fix is to wet sand and buff the lens. takes about 20 minutes per lens.
yours being a 99, are probably not cloudy, but this may help someone else.

[Kollin Syverson]

What exactly is wrong with our headlights? In my opinion, nothing. My factory headlights work just fine.

[britannic]

I got those SilverStar sealed beams for my truck and they're awesome for only $50.00 and just 100K less light temperature than the HID. As the advert, says, the difference is night and day :D .

[Dvldog 8793]

Art-
The new lenses that I put in were just new factory ones as my originals were clouding over. I have done the plastic polishing thing and never had good luck with it. The clouding or dulling of the plastic seems to be a real gradual thing and you don't really notice it until you look at them side by side with new ones. Sounds like you might also have some adjuster problems. When i adjust mine I use a piece of cardboard to cover the side I'm not working on, then you can see exactly what your adjustments are doing and where the light is going. It really took some playing around and you almost need someone in a car on the road in front of you to tell you how bright they are.
I know it sounds like I'm taking this WAY to far but I like to see what I'm missing! :D
L8r
Conley

[TurboDiverArt]

I

[MTTwister]

When I had mine out for my home made wiring up grade, I noticed that the Torx socket on the verticle adjuster, driver's side, was stripped out. There's a lot of friction in the adjuster mechanism, and no easy way to get lube in there either.

Found out that a 1/4" drive, 1/4" 6 point socket will fit over the external portion of the nut. Try the socket on the adjusters.

Do they make drive sockets that match-fit those wierd nuts they put on there?

[Billman]

They are called 'Inverted Torx' sockets.

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by Patrick m.:
my truck has the "work truck" package, which is the nice way of saying, no package.
it has the two sealed beams, and provides pretty good light.
i often turn my headlamps off when sitting behind a car in a drive-thru, because my lights blind them in their mirror.
many compsoite headlamp assemblies "cloud" over with age. any easy fix is to wet sand and buff the lens. takes about 20 minutes per lens.
yours being a 99, are probably not cloudy, but this may help someone else. Now THESE we can make ROCK! I have a set of glass receptacles designed to accept H4? bulbs. They are still available from Phillips in up to 130w!

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by MTTwister:
When I had mine out for my home made wiring up grade, I noticed that the Torx socket on the verticle adjuster, driver's side, was stripped out. There's a lot of friction in the adjuster mechanism, and no easy way to get lube in there either.

Found out that a 1/4" drive, 1/4" 6 point socket will fit over the external portion of the nut. Try the socket on the adjusters.

Do they make drive sockets that match-fit those wierd nuts they put on there? Yeah, I realized that and tried using a 1/4" socket. It was tight and could not turn it. Didn't want to snap it so didn't try any harder. I was planning to pull out the assembly and squirt WD-40 on the adjuster screw to see if I could loosen it a little. Craziest setup I

[tom.mcinerney]

It may be that the plastic lenses not only get scratched on the surface(even the glass sealedbeam lenses do after a while) but also develop micro-crack 'crazing' throughout.
Post back as you progress, Art. On mine, not only the adsjusters are frozen, so are the the long mounting screws; I'm probably going to have to replace or upgrade both entire assemblies. I'll try the resurfacing as well. Would it be too silly to install a transparent plastic film, or glass cover-slip, as a wear-component to be replaced when abraded or hit by stones?

[TurboDiverArt]

Tom,

I'll let you know how I make out. I'm hoping that buffing the lenses will give good results. If not I might try the newer clear lens assemblies if I know they will work. I figure it can't be much worse. I'll work on the adjusters, I've got to be able to figure out a way to get them to work!

Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend. I've got so many things to do this weekend. I've got to finish installing my X-Monitor, install my nice new 6.5L Turbo Diesel emblems as well as take the racecar to the chassis shop and maybe look at a car trailer. No rest for the weary

Anyone know for sure if the composite lens assembly on a 1999 is the same as previous years assemblies, for example a 1998?

Art.

[tom.mcinerney]

Art--
Here are a couple relevant sites for question of application of lamps:
<http://www.autobodypartswholesale.com/>
<www.autobodypartsonline.com>
I just looked at both. Indications are that the same [composite] headlamp assemblies were used on 88-02 C/K pickup, and '94-'99 suburban. The OEM part numbers for the complete assemblies are (15034930) and (15034929). '99 Silverado different...see for yourself!

[patrick m.]

il take my camera with me to work tomarrow and take pics of a car with one headlamp polished, and one not.
i tried many different methods to get them to "clear" up.
the only thing that has worked is the wet sand and buff method, funny thing is, is doesnt take long at all to do one.

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by Patrick m.:
il take my camera with me to work tomarrow and take pics of a car with one headlamp polished, and one not.
i tried many different methods to get them to "clear" up.
the only thing that has worked is the wet sand and buff method, funny thing is, is doesnt take long at all to do one. I've polished plastics and glass with my polishing wheel and polishing wheel compound. Things come out nice, removes minor scratches.

Art.

[Dvldog 8793]

Art-
As far as the aftermarket headlights...
If you look at pick-ups only they changed some of them in 1999 and others in 2000 and still more in 2001. It took them 3 years to get rid of the onld body style. I run into this problem so much when buying parts for my truck that most of the time I tell them that it's a '98. :rolleyes: I really don't think that they changed any of the headlight parts from 98 to 99. A dealer could tell you for sure.
L8r
Conley

[TurboDiverArt]

Patrick and others who have polished lenses.

Are you only polishing the outside? Initially I was thinking that I would have to polish both the outside and inside of the lens by removing from the reflector/bulb housing and then resealing. In thinking more and looking at them they are probably not smooth on the inside? If it's just the outside that is polished then I can see where wet sanding would be a much simpler approach as you could do it with the lens on the truck.

Thanks,
Art.

[patrick m.]

just the outside, if the lens has no cracks, the inside should as clean as it was when it was new.

i didnt have a test subject today to take a pic of, maybe Fri.

[TurboDiverArt]

Originally posted by Patrick m.:
just the outside, if the lens has no cracks, the inside should as clean as it was when it was new.

i didnt have a test subject today to take a pic of, maybe Fri. OK, thanks for the info! I looked much closer this morning and mine are definitely clouded and hazy.

Art.

[TurboDiverArt]

Quick update. I polished the headlights on the buffing wheel tonight. Nice and smooth and clear on the outside. There is still spidering but now with the outside of the lens clear I can see that the cracks are on the inside. The buffing of the outside definitely cleared up the lens a bit and the lights are a little better then before. While I was at it I polished the marker lights. Now there was a BIG improvement! I didn't even know they were clear since I see so many of them clouded over and thought it was normal...

Art.