Thread: Lighting Suggestions

So I've come to the realization that when it comes to lighting, my truck is stock...time to change that lol. First I'm wondering if the LED cab lights are any good or use less energy compared to the stock lights? Second, I would like some recommendations on head light replacement bulbs because the ones I have now aren't very bright when I actually get to a dark area with no light. And lastly I'm looking to add some other front lighting, not off-road lights or driving lights because I live in Californistan where all that stuff is illegal except for off-roading which I don't do in my 2WD truck so it doesn't justify spending a couple hundred dollars on those lights and a light bar and install stuff. Maybe just an LED bar or something that's legal on the street? Any suggestions? Oh I don't have fog lights either, so you guys know. And maybe suggestions for other cool lighting if you guys have them. Thanks!! Alex I trust you'll weigh in on this since you're the lighting and electrical expert too lol.

I love hid headlights but every set I've ever bought says not legal in the state of California so you'd have to know where you're at with that. Otherwise you're looking for some Xenon bulbs. Good LED head lights and light bars are expensive. If you have a little too much money you could put in LED tail lights and cargo light. You can go to an auto store and just change every bulb to an LED bulb, that's what I've done, brightens everything up. The back of my truck is all sharp white instead of that yellow white and I have blacked out tail lights but they're definitely still noticeable.
Not sure what you mean by save energy though.

Awesome, those are bright, and I mean something that isn't going to drain my battery because it's brighter than the stock bulbs lol.

Yeah LEDs are the way to go then. They draw less and have a brighter output. Just changing out the lamp costs roughly $20 - $50 each.

Not too bad, I finally started working my new job and since my gf is up north I'll have some extra cash to spend on my truck lol, and I've done just about all the performance stuff I want, finishing up my radio and speaker stuff, now it's just appearance and I want to start with lights.

Fantastic write professor!!

Mind-----BLOWN!
Awesome explanation.


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Originally Posted by Raptor05121

They do consume less energy (to an extent) but some do not put out the lumens of stock bulbs. I know some guys like to swap out corner/brake lights thinking they have more power. That's not true. A stock 3157 puts out about ~30 lumens. Unless you had a high-powered LED, it wont put out that much, and the downside is your exterior lights use a focal plane to reflect and magnify that light, so they need the spherical light source of an incandescent bulb. Simply swapping LEDs in your taillights will give you less light and less reflective light (candela). The only proper way is to retrofit some LEDs in there that adhere to the same reflective principal. Here are mine:



As you can see, I painted the interior black to darken the red tint (without compromising the reflector's job). I have an array of LEDs soldered to a PCB, cut to fit my taillight. I also have two LEDs on the side to accompany the job for clearance issues. They are tied into the main ones so they have dual illumination of brake/turn as well. Overall I'm at about 150% illumination compared to the 30lm of a 3157.

As for headlights, you have to decide how much money you want to spend. If you want lights that will blow away that Merc that passed you, you'll need at least $300 for a proper retrofit of HID projectors. It is labor-intensive (~10 hours, need dremel, glue, and an oven). But it is worth it. Almost 3x the light output, less draw (35W compared to 55/65W), and a cleaner output. I love my projectors.



Don't even consider PnP HIDs from eBay. You get what you pay for. Don't be surprised when they ballast you paid $35 (which handles 30,000 volts AC current) suddenly catches on fire. I've seen it.

If you want to stick to Halogen- Sylvania makes the Silverstar Ultra in H13, and also good are the Philips XtremePowers and GE Nighthawks.

Very great explanation Alex! Thank you very much. I'm not looking to change taillights or retrofit my headlights, all I want is brighter bulbs of which you recommended some lol. And besides those, any aftermarket lighting I can add that is street legal and isn't too expensive?