Hopefully I edited my signature correctly and it'll show up there, but the truck is a 2016 F-350 Lariat Crew Cab.
Here in MN the days are getting shorter, and on our way back to the campground last night we found ourselves driving in a quite dark area on a country road. The domestic associate (DA) commented that the "headlights don't seem very bright". Of course, we're older and crotchety, so our aging eyes can always use a little help, too.
And they aren't. On the previous 2005 Chev I had replaced the headlight bulbs with aftermarket, 100W bulbs, and had the relays wired so the high beams, low beams, and fog lights ALL came on and stayed on with the high beams...
Back in our misspent youth we used to run SCCA road rallies, and our vehicle had added lights on the front. We had spotlights, driving lights, and fog lights. I recall the spots were very bright and we only used them on night rallies 'cause they'd blind anyone within a quarter mile. I'm not sure if the driving lights were driving beams or spread beams, but I don't recall being much concerned about "street legal" so I know they were all at least 100W, but that was WAY back before halogens and LEDs, so I'm sure a lot less power buys a lot more light today.
I looked in here and read several threads about lights, but they were "old" (2012) so I figured I'd ask about current ideas.
I'd like to mount additional fog lights and driving lights (or spread beams) on the bumper since I can't put ANYTHING on the root of the truck. I'll wire them through the auxiliary switches so I can disable/enable them to work with the fog lights and high beams. I'm not concerned about the wiring part, just looking for information on what's going to provide significantly better DISTANCE for light, and SPREAD for light...
My recollection is that way back we were using either Hella or perhaps PIAA lights - the medium sized (6"?) round ones as those were considered to throw the preferred beam pattern. But, with the LEDs and such today, what's a good setup to go on the front of the truck? Are driving lights preferable to spread beams since they're DOT street legal, or can we use the spread beams, which are supposed to be brighter? Are the round lights still better or have the small(ish) LED lightbars changed the game and work better? Same question for the fog lights. I'll keep the factory fogs in the bumper but put a second set on the front...
I don't want to spend 10x as much for a 1% improvement, so I'm curious about good/very good output but not necessarily the absolute highest priced whatevers.
Thoughts?
Second part: As I understand it, the factory headlight is an H13. Are there recommended replacements for these that'll be significantly brighter on the high beams? Same for the fog lights, 9145 bulbs?
Here in MN the days are getting shorter, and on our way back to the campground last night we found ourselves driving in a quite dark area on a country road. The domestic associate (DA) commented that the "headlights don't seem very bright". Of course, we're older and crotchety, so our aging eyes can always use a little help, too.
And they aren't. On the previous 2005 Chev I had replaced the headlight bulbs with aftermarket, 100W bulbs, and had the relays wired so the high beams, low beams, and fog lights ALL came on and stayed on with the high beams...
Back in our misspent youth we used to run SCCA road rallies, and our vehicle had added lights on the front. We had spotlights, driving lights, and fog lights. I recall the spots were very bright and we only used them on night rallies 'cause they'd blind anyone within a quarter mile. I'm not sure if the driving lights were driving beams or spread beams, but I don't recall being much concerned about "street legal" so I know they were all at least 100W, but that was WAY back before halogens and LEDs, so I'm sure a lot less power buys a lot more light today.
I looked in here and read several threads about lights, but they were "old" (2012) so I figured I'd ask about current ideas.
I'd like to mount additional fog lights and driving lights (or spread beams) on the bumper since I can't put ANYTHING on the root of the truck. I'll wire them through the auxiliary switches so I can disable/enable them to work with the fog lights and high beams. I'm not concerned about the wiring part, just looking for information on what's going to provide significantly better DISTANCE for light, and SPREAD for light...
My recollection is that way back we were using either Hella or perhaps PIAA lights - the medium sized (6"?) round ones as those were considered to throw the preferred beam pattern. But, with the LEDs and such today, what's a good setup to go on the front of the truck? Are driving lights preferable to spread beams since they're DOT street legal, or can we use the spread beams, which are supposed to be brighter? Are the round lights still better or have the small(ish) LED lightbars changed the game and work better? Same question for the fog lights. I'll keep the factory fogs in the bumper but put a second set on the front...
I don't want to spend 10x as much for a 1% improvement, so I'm curious about good/very good output but not necessarily the absolute highest priced whatevers.
Thoughts?
Second part: As I understand it, the factory headlight is an H13. Are there recommended replacements for these that'll be significantly brighter on the high beams? Same for the fog lights, 9145 bulbs?