Lighting modification stupidity

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Colt45ws

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I have a friend with a '07 Grand Cherokee that she received from her step-father after he upgraded vehicles. It has aftermarket projector housings on it, so I thought it had HIDs.
She was complaining to me last night about the headlights being near unusable to where she has to use the fog lights to get any light on some back roads. She was talking about getting the factory headlight housings and having me put those back on.
I couldn't understand why the projector HIDs would be so terrible. I figured, oh they are pointed way down or something and just not throwing light very far.
We went and looked at it. I put my hand in front of the light. Sharp straight cutoff until the middle where there was a bright spot. Most of the light was focused there, like a flash light.
Pop the hood, and her step-dad has took these (presumably) HID housings and put a 9006 in it. To adapt it from the 9007 or what ever factory bulb, he has spliced in the 9006 harness with wire nuts and electrical tape.

So, I told her Ill fix it next time shes over on the east side of the state. Probably going to reinstall the factory housings and bulbs.
But, I was also going to look into converting it proper or putting LEDs in it (probably easiest after I fix the harness) to make good use of the housings.
I have soldering gun and that good heat shrink that squirts glue out the end to seal, so that harness won't be any issue.
I don't know what the deal is with the 9006 bulbs in these. I couldn't tell if the bulbs were modified or, it just happened to fit. What do you guys think?
 
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The only way to fix it is to install oem housings with the correct halogen bulbs.

The aftermarket brand oem type housings are terrible too just like your experiencing with the cheap Chinese toys in there, although they would be better than what you have currently they have a myriad of issues like poor quality and optics.

There is nothing you can buy that will fix the aftermarket housings, and drop in 9006/9007 led bulbs are just as stupid and un usable as she's having now. There's no drop in led bulb that will safely or legally replace a halogen part number, they are all junk.
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Swap the 9006 for a 9011. More light lumens than 9006bulb. Just need to trim the tab with nail clippers.


9011 is not the correct upgrade for 9006. 9011 is a high beam bulb. It's possible to swap a genuine 9012 in place of a 9006 but only if that's in genuine non clouded oem housings, not aftermarket. Adding more lumens to a poor aftermarket housing will just create more glare for everyone since they don't have the correct quality optics to utilize it.
 
I don't think they are halogen housings, though. I think they are supposed to be HID housings and he crammed a 9006 into it. Thats why the lighting is so poor because the focusing is wrong. Im not sure though, Ill see if I can find the specific unit that was installed.
 
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Yes I'm sure they are hid housings which are not safe even with an hid bulb. There are many illegitimate manufacturers making 9006 size hid bulbs which is a big problem. Even if you splice in the proper ballasts 9006 hid bulbs you will be blinding everyone oncoming with the poor optics of the housings. It doesn't matter what model it is because there's no legitimate manufacturers doing this.
 
Oh, I forgot about the 9006 HID bulbs. You're probably right, though I am finding projector housings for this vehicle that are for halogen, aka complete wank. Im having her send me a photo so I can verify these are the ones Im looking at.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Cherokee-Projector-Headlights-Housing/dp/B008BX7MOK/ref=pd_sim_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51yNVJyOZUL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0K3A945ZQ1633MEZHX55
These are the housings she has. They say they are for halogen so worthless garbage.
She thankfully has the factory housings so next time she comes over Ill reinstall them and fix the wiring. Ill get some 9011s for the low beam as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Cherokee-Projector-Headlights-Housing/dp/B008BX7MOK/ref=pd_sim_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51yNVJyOZUL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0K3A945ZQ1633MEZHX55
These are the housings she has. They say they are for halogen so worthless garbage.
She thankfully has the factory housings so next time she comes over Ill reinstall them and fix the wiring. Ill get some 9011s for the low beam as well.


I followed the link for the aftermarket housings...i can't believe they are charging $236 for those cheap toys. Hopefully the wiring is repairable.


Very fortunate the oem housings are still available. If you want to upgrade to the HIR bulbs the correct bulb to replace the 9006 is the 9012. Do not buy a 9011 unless you are replacing a high beam 9005, which is something you can do since the housing uses both bulbs.

Make sure you get genuine bulbs, there are some fakes on eBay and the likes. Here is the genuine ones from Amazon. - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00480N18G/?tag=2402507-20
 
901Memphis, what's with the "all headlights must be OEM" attitude? If the housings that are on the thing are at least halfway decent projectors, they can probably be made to work as well as or better than the mediocre OEM halogen reflectors. It's just a matter of figuring out what bulbs the projectors are meant to have in them and setting them up correctly.
 
They are supposed to have the factory bulbs installed, so 9006/9005 with the 06 in the projector. I don't think they are very good. Instead of being an even pattern of light, they are like flashlights with a hot spot in the middle.
 
Originally Posted By: rslifkin
901Memphis, what's with the "all headlights must be OEM" attitude? If the housings that are on the thing are at least halfway decent projectors, they can probably be made to work as well as or better than the mediocre OEM halogen reflectors. It's just a matter of figuring out what bulbs the projectors are meant to have in them and setting them up correctly.


Headlight housings are a life safety item and as such require massive amounts of research and development to achieve every aspect of their safety, performance, optics and durability like they should be. As such they typically require multiple design changes to overcome all applicable laws and regulations during the design of a new vehicle. The quality of anything you buy outside of the oem realm will not achieve any of the same standards and typically perform very poorly in every one of these aspects.

Even oem style aftermarket housings typically have poor performance in all of these key areas. I've seen melted wires, housings, sockets, leaking water everywhere, poor UV coatings, thinner gauge wires, poor high/low beam relationship, poor optics with cheaper coatings internally.

This doesn't even take into account how most non oem style aftermarket housings are manufactured such as hid or halogen projectors housings intended to replace halogen reflectors which are laughably assembled with inferior components. Not to mention they are illegal and will fail you at a state that does a vehicle inspection.

If you want to learn more here's some information.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/TP-108-13.pdf

Full laws here

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?348614-Vehicle-Lighting-Laws-amp-Regulations-%95-Documents-amp-Links

Here's a recent discussion about aftermarket oem style housings
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?415133-Aftermarket-Headlight-Assemblies

Here is a discussion on the issue with hid projector retrofits.


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?380558-What-s-wrong-with-projector-retrofits
 
I totally disagree with getting OEM headlights. A quick look around shows MANY OEM units are poorly designed and constructed. They are usually grossly overpriced, and just produce the same inferior product, bad optics, hazy, bad bulb design (usually NHTSA problem). 2 $300 lights often cost more than the car is worth, and could be better spent on good tires and brakes. Best solution would be a set of new Chinese lights from E-bay, the CORRECT bulb in a good brand (Phillips?)perhaps relays, good wipers every 6 months, clean glass in and outside. I have put NUMEROUS replacement lights on cars, always Chinese brands, and better quality. The reason everyone buys Chinese is because a $100 pair is as good or better than the junk OEM $600 pair that the car owner can't afford. Now putting $600 Euro Cibie on a Volvo, Hella on a Jeep, or Bosch euro on a Porsche is worthwile if you can afford it. The Euro OEM often IS better. I just wish I could get Chinese copies of the Euro versions on e-bay.Wonder where the Amazon MOPAR OEM is actually made?
 
I will not argue with you on the fact that many oem headlights have issues with optics I don't know of any case where the aftermarket replica is better constructed. I don't see how they offer any better lightning when they are reproducing the oem part with lesser quality plastics, wires etc. The aftermarket parts often appear better at first glance but they rarely stand the test of time where an oem housing can last a good 10+ years before oxidation and clouding become an issue.
 
OEM lights do often last longer, but if the aftermarket ones aren't too expensive and perform better, I could live with having to replace them after 5 years.
 
I don't mess with headlights. I go OEM. I'll save my tinkering for the light in the trunk or back up reverse lights. Anything a cop might care about is strictly OEM.
 
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