Headlights are dim - what's the best way to boost them?

[Nervous but Excited]

I have a 2017 Energi, and the headlights are too dim for my liking.

Scratching around this forum and around the internet in general I am disappointed to see that increasing the brightness of the headlights is a surprisingly difficult task.

 

Does anybody have a suggestion for the cheapest and easiest way to boost brightness?

[cr08]

Probably the easiest method is to look for some high brightness halogen bulbs. They exist under different brands and seem to be often branded as a bright white or 'Ultra white' bulb. If the bulbs are factory you could also try just a standard set and see if the brightness improves. Old bulbs can become dim over time.

 

Do NOT buy into the LED hype. Replacing halogen bulbs with LEDs is a BAD idea for safety reasons. The housings are not designed to aim LED bulbs properly and doing so can cause you to blind other drivers. You might have experienced this yourself where you come upon an older vehicle with suspiciously bright/blue or white tinted headlamps with tons of glare. This is why. For the sake of others on the road, don't be that person.

Edited December 15, 2022 by cr08

[Nervous but Excited]

Great! THanks for the advice!
I don't have a tonn of DIY Experience. Do you think this is a fun project that I can figure out myself with some effort on the internet... Or should it be left to the experts?

[cr08]

On 12/15/2022 at 2:03 PM, Nervous but Excited said:

Great! THanks for the advice!
I don't have a tonn of DIY Experience. Do you think this is a fun project that I can figure out myself with some effort on the internet... Or should it be left to the experts?

 

Probably the thing I'd recommend is reviewing the section of the owners manual that covers bulb replacements. Ford's instructions are quite clear on the process. Here's a PDF from the 2017 manual. Page 237 covers it.

 

Untitled (fordservicecontent.com)

 

From there it is up to you if you feel comfortable tackling it.

[jzchen]

2017 got the revised headlight with projector low beams.  I would dare say, (after confirming clear/not clouded lenses), try H9 modified to fit.  Here's one demonstration on how:

 

https://www.goodmoneysense.com/h11-to-h9-conversion/

 

For my '14 Scion iQ I actually cut the plastic of the plug and one side did not even need trimming of the metal tab, (the other side did a tiny bit).

Edited December 23, 2022 by jzchen

[jzchen]

For specific bulb I do not recommend anything with any sort of tint on the surface of the glass, this is the last type I bought:

 

Philips 12361B1

[Nervous but Excited]

Thanks @jzchen

The potential downsides look scary - any comments on that?

 

[Lacienega]

I feel like there are a lot of people lately with the wrong bulbs in their cars?

[Wheatridger]

I wonder what happened to the practice of adding auxiliary driving lights  to the front of a car. When we did this to sports cars back in the day, we called them "driving lights." Does that exist only in the offroad aftermarket nowadays? 

 

I'd rate my 2017 C-Max's projector beams as pretty good. New car headlights are getting better all the time, now that US regulations aren't so restrictive and the IIHS is testing them and judging them for their safety ratings. 

[jzchen]

From my research the 2017 you have uses projector lamps not reflector lamps.  For the reflector lamps on prior model years I do not recommend H9s but high performance H11s.

 

I did not have to trim one bulb and only a tiny bit on the other to get it to fit, (not C-MAX but iQ), so YMMV as the saying goes.  I do not have the specs on the wiring on the C-MAX, but someone who does is no longer an active moderator/contributor.  I will see if I can find prior content on the projector C-MAX I do believe it has been covered…

Edited January 7, 2023 by jzchen

[jzchen]

Regarding Melting:

 

As far as ground wiring I do remember two wires going to each bulb, the base and trimming of such, (I would be very careful to only trim as much as necessary to fit into the socket), would be completely unrelated with respect to grounding.  As I mentioned I did not even need to trim one side, so I tried fitting the other side for a long time without trimming the tab, eventually giving up and trimming a tiny bit, (in my iQ, not C-MAX).  The tab to trim is very small as it is so it may make heat dissipation a teeny tiny bit worse.

 

IF one trims too much (which is kind of a difficult one to gauge) then the bulb may not sit properly, heating damage may definitely result from this, (user error as noted).

 

I would try to check if the wiring gets hot to the touch to verify the wires are not being overtaxed, maybe with a thermometer of sorts.

 

Excess heat damage: Yes there’s going to be extra heat to the area surrounding the bulb.  H9 bulbs have a (much) lower lifespan than H11 bulbs.  Similarly this extra heat may decrease the life of the lamps, whether it be the optic bowls/reflectors and/or lenses.  It is a compromise one has to asses on one’s own.  I found the lighting on our ‘13 good compared to all the other vehicles in the household which had at the time OEM HID or LED.  So I never upgraded the bulbs.

 

I suggest this option to those who say they have issues seeing, ie not bright enough.  I myself suffer from night blindness so I can definitely empathize with someone who has such a concern.

 

Please consider getting the lamps aimed properly as this has a significant effect on visibility and safety (blinding others), as well as condition such as lens clouding as the cars age, may be time to replace the lamps…

Edited January 7, 2023 by jzchen

[Hafro Samurai]

Don't completely write off led headlights as an option quite yet! 2013 C-min owner here and I have successfully swapped to led exterior lighting minus fogs and high beams. While I agree the led market is over saturated with cheaply made bulbs, it's a combination of low quality bulbs and people neglecting to be considerate of others on the road by not adjusting their beam angles. I can tell you that there are indeed some quality products out there and it pays off for doing the research.

I hate having my pupils blasted with the focal point of low beams as the next person. I opted to pay some extra money in order to have a tight beam pattern with minimal glare and have been continually adjusting my beam height as I dial in my ride height through adjust the new coilovers I installed. I recommend, if you'd like unbiased reviews of all types and brands of bulbs, to check out bulbfacts.com they lay out how they test the bulbs and rate them separately (low/high/fog) as well as overall. They show you the beam patterns as well. They are constantly updating their data.

I wanted clearer lighting for doing deliveries through the dark hours and drive anywhere in WA and OR. Especially since both states are useless when it comes to repairing potholes and even warning of them. My car has less than 43,000mi and had to replace several suspension components which began failing around 37k miles. Essentially I'd really like to see em slightly earlier if at all possible. I will try to get a good pic (of course pics never do lighting justice and look distorted), but it should give an idea of what to look for in bulbs. After all, there are other things that every driver does (bahaha.....okay like maybe %15 of drivers) that are for everyone else on the road (cough....blinkers!....cough), so I try to get my needs of increased visibility met while simultaneously respecting the sensitive and delicate needs of the human eye to not be bombarded with insanely bright lights after you've adjusted to dark county roads or highways (examples include lame people, those that can't move their finger an inch or perpetually forget to fill up on blinker fluid, those that forgot SMOG so they practice MOSG/MSG/MG/GS/you get it, and law enforcement who can but decide to not put their lights on chill mode after pulling someone over).

Feel free to reach out if you're having trouble with swapping to led exterior bulbs. I am still working out one issue where I'm not getting codes thrown but my high beams won't turn off low beams or fogs. My ThinkDiag2 isn't detecting the high/low combo as active when they're on either.