94 GT Headlights suck...

b1pig

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In consideration of upgrades, I got to thinking. I had a couple of different vehicles from the 80's-90's that had problems with reduced light quality/dimness. This was resolved by using relays to supply direct power from the battery. The Hi/Low wires were used to switch the relays.
Figured I'd ask on here if anyone has felt the need to do this on the SN95.
Could just be old bulbs with that yellow funky look. I put Sylvania Silver Stars in my Jeep in 2009 and they've been there ever since and work pretty darn good even today. I am definitely NOT trying any HID conversion on the original fluted glass assemblies. Silver Stars aren't cheap. Might go Amazon LED, but I haven't decided yet.
 

07GtS197

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These cars already have relays in their headlight circuits so not much to be gained. Leds in the stock housings aren’t that great either. A projector retrofit will be your best bet.
 

chithead

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I'll report back about Sylvania 9007 LED bulbs soon. Recently replaced both our Wrangler and Gladiator with them and LOVE the difference compared to halogen. But as stated above, the Jeep housings are perfectly round and respond well to LED bulbs. The SN95 housings might not. We shall see.

Also ordered the Diode Dynamics LED fog light bulbs to go with them.
 

07GtS197

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It’s not necessarily the shape of the housing. The biggest issue with putting an led in a housing that was designed for halogen bulbs is just that, it was never designed for an led. Take a 9007 halogen and 9007 led and put them side by side. The filament is not going to be in the same place as the led. Also leds do not shine 360* like a halogen filament does. Sure an led can look good in place of a halogen bulb but you won’t get the light from the led thrown in the right places so your beam won’t be as good. I’ll get off my soap box now.
 

RAU03MACH

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i like the one-piece headlight kits
the ones that i have seem to be pretty bright ,
would not change for any others
 

chithead

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It’s not necessarily the shape of the housing. The biggest issue with putting an led in a housing that was designed for halogen bulbs is just that, it was never designed for an led. Take a 9007 halogen and 9007 led and put them side by side. The filament is not going to be in the same place as the led. Also leds do not shine 360* like a halogen filament does. Sure an led can look good in place of a halogen bulb but you won’t get the light from the led thrown in the right places so your beam won’t be as good. I’ll get off my soap box now.

Completely agreed. One of the reasons I went with the Sylvania is because you can, "clock" the LED post after installing to make sure they are aimed both left and right, instead of being stuck with a vertical or more like a 45 degree angle. Like you said, not getting that 360 degree pattern is a drawback, so the compromise is trying to get that best aiming towards a horizontal disbursement pattern as possible.
 

92wastheyear

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Completely agreed. One of the reasons I went with the Sylvania is because you can, "clock" the LED post after installing to make sure they are aimed both left and right, instead of being stuck with a vertical or more like a 45 degree angle. Like you said, not getting that 360 degree pattern is a drawback, so the compromise is trying to get that best aiming towards a horizontal disbursement pattern as possible.
I can't recall which brand I used, but I concur that getting them into the right orientation is key. Mine are nice and bright and seem to be oriented correctly because I can see much better with the LEDs

PS I have the stock light fixtures in my '96
 
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b1pig

b1pig

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It’s not necessarily the shape of the housing. The biggest issue with putting an led in a housing that was designed for halogen bulbs is just that, it was never designed for an led. Take a 9007 halogen and 9007 led and put them side by side. The filament is not going to be in the same place as the led. Also leds do not shine 360* like a halogen filament does. Sure an led can look good in place of a halogen bulb but you won’t get the light from the led thrown in the right places so your beam won’t be as good. I’ll get off my soap box now.

This is all dead right.
Most conversion bulbs do not put the light source in the proper position to spread the light in the proper directions. Also a contributor to those ridiculous blinding headlights that certain people seem to cherish.

I'm kinda 50/50 on my opinion of projectors for this car. I don't love em, but I don't hate em, either. Not about the performance, more the appearance.


I had a set of aftermarket LED fog lights on my Jeep. I took them off because they put out horrendous RF interference so much that the FM radio was useless if I wanted to use the fog lights. I finally disconnected them and they went with the bumper when I upgraded. Still don't have fog lights on it, and I miss having them out on the back roads.


That set from Sylvania... I would certainly like to hear the feedback on them. From a big name company that is built on lighting, I would think that their product would be engineered specifically to replace the standard halogen bulbs directly.
 

07GtS197

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A projector retrofit can look good if done right. With a blacked out housing and smoked lens they don’t look bad. In my opinion, to look good they have to be slightly hidden.
 
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I have a tip for changing your lights. When you take the old ones out set them aside and count the number of threads on the adjusting rods. Then set your new adjusting rods to the same number of threads and install. This way your lights will be adjusted and you will only need a turn or two to tweak them to perfect alignment
 

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