I was thinking of getting my Dad something to improve the headlights on his 2012 F150 Ecoboost for Christmas, it used to be mine. He lives in a rural area and I know the headlights aren't great. I don't have the dough for new hid headlight set up but is there something that would help like led fog lights or led headlight bulbs? I don't think he can add a light bar by the license plate with the ecoboost.

Let me know now any ideas or links to a supplier. Lots of suggestions from searching but leds seem hit and miss depending on brand.

Jeremy

 

I thought the silverstar ultras were pretty good if you dont want to go the led route. But im sure the right led bulb would produce more light. But like you said the led bulbs seem to be hit or miss.

 

You're kind of stuck on these crappy units for that price. However, i found these LED bulbs helped considerably and do not have a massive glare problem, keeping the cut-off line fairly stock-like.

 

For your proposed budget I would suggest the following:

1: Find a shop with an optical headlight aiming machine. Ensure headlights are at ideal angle.
2: Replace bulbs with a quality replacement such as the Philips X-treme Vision.
3: Ensure headlight lens is clean and clear. Buy headlight buffing product if necessary.

 

I bought these and will install this weekend. Hopefully, it’s an improvement.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

Jeremy

 

Good suggestions if the headlight lens is decaying, it will make a big difference.
Some high power halogen bulbs, the XTremes or Silverstars can help.
Assuming you can shine the lights against a wall around 25ft away, you can judge whether the aim is close enough or not, otherwise, get them aimed, or use the guides and re-aim yourself.
Hope they work for you, i found my (likely original) halogen bulbs almost impossible to see with in unlit areas - i tried these LED's with the intention of getting the Silverstars if the LED's glared too much and/or didn't have a respectable cut-off line. So far, they're acceptable and have greatly improved how much i can see so they'll stay until i can afford/justify aftermarket headlight units.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Swapped them out today. I didn’t get to drive the truck at night, but wow! Turned them on tonight in the driveway and it’s a big difference already.

After I installed them, I read the directions and saw that the LED’s might need to be “clocked” a certain way. I’ll check them next weekend.

Edit: I noticed when I swapped out the headlights, I need to make new rubber air dams for the radiator.

Next weekends project....

 

Is that frozen rain on the bumper!?

Yeah, the clocked part is because of the aim in reflectors, but your housing should already have them clocked correctly. you need to make sure that when it's rotated into the locked position, that the LED chips are parallel with the ground, ie. pointing left and right, not an any kind of angle, otherwise you'll be blinding people.

Haha, yeah, made my new air damns a couple of months ago.

 

No ice on the front. The valance looked sandblasted after 137k on the clock, so I used a white bed liner to cover it. The sample chip I looked at was very smooth. What I got was very textured...😂

Drove the truck home and the lights look fantastic. So much so, that I’m worried they are blinding others.

Pix below.


Low beams.



High beams (with LED light bar).