Headlight Upgrade

BobbyG

BobbyG

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For quite sometime now I've been meaning to do a little upgrade to the stock lights on my 1999 Dodge Dakota. For the time they stock lights were adequate but over time they've begun to leak and although I've fixed them, and polished them, a few times something told me there has to be something better...

Stock Setup..

As you can see, pretty much a boring but standard design 14 years ago.

StockLights.jpg


Upgrade

So this is what arrived yesterday.

These replacements are surprisingly well made and are direct replacements, so no modifications are necessary. I went over these with a fine tooth comb and so far I'll give them a 5 star rating. I've ordered new bulbs all around so when they arrive I'll get to installing them..

SpyderHeadllights.jpg


I hope they perform as well as they look. :props:
 
Bobby, I think you'll be extremely happy with them. Switching over the headlights on my truck to the clear ones from the SVT Lightning was probably the best improvement I did for night driving. The difference was very noticeable. Not only that but they also look so much better.
 
Looks good man, What bulbs did you get? My Wifes car does not have HIDs and I tried most of the slyvania line and then grabbed some BOGO GEs Night Hawk Platinum from Amazon.

The GE are by far the best bulbs I have tried for non HIDS
 
I went with the Sylvania 9007SU BP SilverStar Ultra High Performance Halogen Headlight. I've had the Standard Silverstars in there for about 4 years now and noticed their quite an improvement over the stock bulbs.

I will do some before and after shots and testing..... :props:

If these disappoint I'll try the GE's....
 
Bobby, those look really good, a huge difference from what the stockers looked like. Sometimes with older cars its little things that can really improve the look of the car. On my 02 explorer I painted the old faded black/gray grille gloss black and it looks like a totally different car.
 
I think you'll like those Ultras Bobby, I'm on my second set of lows and have them in highs also. They dont seem to last as long as the reg. silverstars, but the light you get is a good trade off to me. Can't wait to see your pix.
 
I has Phillips Crystal Vision in my Mazda 6 and they were a great looking and performing bulb.

I have HIDs in my new car and they make the stock fog lights look yellow!

I read reviews SilverStars were barely making it 6-9 months with daytime running light cars.

Hope they turn out the way you want!
 
The average life span for the Ultra's is about 1-2years, again depending on use.

I'm going on about 2.5years with mine and I still love them. They have dimmed a little compared to when they were new, but still brighter than you normal halogen.
 
Chris's FX4 said:
The average life span for the Ultra's is about 1-2years, again depending on use.

I'm going on about 2.5years with mine and I still love them. They have dimmed a little compared to when they were new, but still brighter than you normal halogen.
Click to expand...
I got almost 3 years out of mine. :iagree:
 
BobbyG said:
I went with the Sylvania 9007SU BP SilverStar Ultra High Performance Halogen Headlight. I've had the Standard Silverstars in there for about 4 years now and noticed their quite an improvement over the stock bulbs.

I will do some before and after shots and testing..... :props:

If these disappoint I'll try the GE's....
Click to expand...

Silverstars that are 4 yrs old.....a world record for sure, congrats Bobby!

The new, clear lights look great!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
It's a great day here in Southeast MA, bright sunshine with temps hovering about 50 degrees right now. :coolgleam:

This is a near picture perfect day to install these new lights and the only thing holding me back is all the bulbs are in route. Even though I'm tempted just to show them off, it would be sort of a waste of time installing everything just to do it all over in a day or two....:laughing:
 
Chris's FX4 said:
How are your new lights doing Bobby?
Click to expand...

I do owe everyone an update and this has been quite an ordeal....

The initial pair posted above didn't arrive "exactly" as pictured on their site.

The Good :)

  1. Packaged well
  2. Tops in looks from the front

The Bad :(

  1. These were not SPYDER trademarked lights
  2. Once installed they left a 3/4" gap between the fender and the side of the light.
  3. Lights were not adjustable in order to meet state inspection criteria
  4. They were sent back at a tune of $17.00


I found another pair from carid.com. The price was $50.00 more but when I spoke with a customer service rep she informed me that these included PIAA high performance bulbs. I placed the order and in 8 days or so they arrived.....


The Good :)

  1. Packaged well
  2. Were adjustable
  3. Fit well
  4. Looks good from the front


The Bad :(

  1. These were not SPYDER trademarked lights as advertised
  2. Plastic housings cheap unlike the factory units
  3. No bulbs were included
  4. A call to customer service and I was now told that bulbs are NOT included
  5. Many apologizes for the misinformation....Misinformation new word for an OUTRIGHT LIE
  6. I used several colorful metaphor's describing the tactics they use in order to deceive the customer.
  7. I had to drop the front bumper in order to access the mounting screws due to the 1-piece design
  8. Bulbs difficult to install and lock in place.
  9. Low beam light location good
  10. High beam location low as if the wires were reversed.
    1. Stock wiring, no changes
    2. Bulbs cannot be installed backwards
  11. Concluded that the reflector design is flawed
  12. Very disappointed in much of the component quality from these "custom suppliers"
  13. Very disappointed with more and more of these online stores

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THE DIRT-BAGS AT CARID.COM
 
Oh man, sorry to hear about all the trouble Bobby. :(

Have you ever looked at the ones from LMC Truck?
 
The whole online shopping experience can be trying to say the least. We as the consumer are most of the time at a geographical disadvantage to start.
I recently placed an order for some car parts...that's a whole other story. Cherish the Auto Geek experience! Good luck Bobby. I'm sure you'll get a good hook up. Look forward to seeing them.
 
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