Factory headlamp housings vs crystal/projector

[SAATR]

I parked next to a truck of the same body style as mine (97 Suburban GMT400 chassis) the other day and noticed that the owner had installed a set of the "crystal" headlamp assemblies, and being the curious fellow I am I stood and compared them to mine for a few minutes. Differences I noticed:

1. My reflectors were perfectly parabolic whereas the aftermarket units were faceted with perhaps 10 to 12 faces.

2. My lenses have a very specific diffraction pattern molded in, whereas the aftermarket units simply have a clear lens, hence the term "crystal", I suppose.

Questions:

1. Does the clear lens have any advantage over the factory lens? If so, what?

2. Does the faceted reflector have any advantages over the perfectly parabolic reflector? If so, what and why?

 

[JHZR2]

most aftermarket lights are garbage, made for "looks" and "street cred" versus actual lighting performance. The beam patterns are usually inferior if present at all.

 

[Johnny248]

I agree with JHZR2 where most of the aftermarket lights look a lot better, but do not do a very good job lighting the road. However, I can say that I have a set of "Euro-Diamond-Clear" Style headlamps in my '96 Camry (I believe they are DEPO)and the lighting is actually great. Better than the original headlamps. But I think it is more common for them to be sub-par to the OEM lights. Remember, there is 10's of thousands of dollars if not more that goes into lighting engineering of those OEM headlamps, and they have a goal in mind when designing them, where as these aftermarket are really just thrown together with cut back reflectors and clear lenses. They are mainly designed to look good.

Same goes for aftermarket projectors, many times the original reflectors do a better job of lighting but don't look as cool.

 

[SAATR]

Yes, the aftermarkets definitely look better, but I'm just curious about their performance. One of my housings is quite old (possibly original) and has a few rock chips that I've sealed with clear RTV. I will be replacing it soon and am really on the fence as to whether or not I should get an OEM style unit or one of the "cooler" aftermarket units. Thusfar I haven't seen any housings that have impressed me, and on this body style I think the "projectors" and "halos" look like [censored]. I would LIKE to find another factory style replacement made by Guide, but have been unable to locate such a unit. CAPA certified OE style units are also hard to come by and pricey when they're found. I will likely just get another factory replacement unit and pay the price, but was curious about the pros and cons of the aftermarket jobs.

On a side note, I'm seriously considering replacing the front turn signal housings with two more headlamp assemblies, thus giving me quad low and quad high beams. From what I can tell it WILL require modification to the radiator support, but if they can be mounted AND successfully aimed I think it will be a far nicer lighting upgrade than any driving lights currently made. And in case you're wondering, I will move the turn signals to the bumper (not deleting them

).

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Johnny248
I agree with JHZR2 where most of the aftermarket lights look a lot better, but do not do a very good job lighting the road. However, I can say that I have a set of "Euro-Diamond-Clear" Style headlamps in my '96 Camry (I believe they are DEPO)and the lighting is actually great. Better than the original headlamps. But I think it is more common for them to be sub-par to the OEM lights. Remember, there is 10's of thousands of dollars if not more that goes into lighting engineering of those OEM headlamps, and they have a goal in mind when designing them, where as these aftermarket are really just thrown together with cut back reflectors and clear lenses. They are mainly designed to look good.

Same goes for aftermarket projectors, many times the original reflectors do a better job of lighting but don't look as cool.

Some manufactures spend zero dollar in headlight engineering including headlight bulb requirement, that why some cars had 9004. Why on earth any engineer (or marketing guru) decided that 9004 is acceptable ?

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: SAATR
I parked next to a truck of the same body style as mine (97 Suburban GMT400 chassis) the other day and noticed that the owner had installed a set of the "crystal" headlamp assemblies, and being the curious fellow I am I stood and compared them to mine for a few minutes. Differences I noticed:

1. My reflectors were perfectly parabolic whereas the aftermarket units were faceted with perhaps 10 to 12 faces.

2. My lenses have a very specific diffraction pattern molded in, whereas the aftermarket units simply have a clear lens, hence the term "crystal", I suppose.

Questions:

1. Does the clear lens have any advantage over the factory lens? If so, what?

2. Does the faceted reflector have any advantages over the perfectly parabolic reflector? If so, what and why?


A free form reflector, if it's done right, will yield a more efficient beam pattern than a headlamp that relies on lens optics to generate the pattern. Unfortunately, a lot of aftermarket crystal-type headlights are not "done right" and have sloppy, poorly defined beam patterns.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I'm sure I've posted this before. I agree with the others that aftermarket lamp housings are often pretty poor. They generally don't adhere to the same standards that OEM housings do (even though they may have "DOT" or "SAE" on the lens somewhere). Here's a picture of fog light housings on my former Corolla. On the right is an OE Toyota housing and on the left is an aftermarket replica of an OE Toyota housing. The glare and optics from the aftermarket housing are horrible. The beam pattern is not well-defined either. Looking at the two (unlit), it's hard to tell the difference. But the picture doesn't lie.

I won't ever buy an aftermarket housing anymore, unless I can see a photo of the beam pattern. And even that doesn't guarantee good performance, but it's at least an indicator.

 

[bmwjohn]

THE DEAL WITH OLDER LIGHTS IS THAT THE GLASS? LENS IS CUT TO CONTROL THE LIGHT PATTERN WITH THE REFLECTOR TYPICALLY BEING UNIFORM SHAPE CHROMED BRASS - LOOK AT OLDER CIBIE - AND THE NEWER ONES USE A PLASTIC DOUGH MOULDING COMPOUND W/COMPUTER SOFTWARE TO MAKE THE REFLECTOR CONTROL WHERE THE LIGHT GOES.SOME NEW HELLA LIGHTS, SUCH AS 500 AUX. LIGHTS, HAVE JUST SHIFTED FROM OLD CUT LENS TO NEWER MOULDED REFLECTOR, THUS CALLED 500 FF FREE FORM. NEVER PUT TWO OF THEM SIDE BY SIDE, THOUGH.