need my "bright" lights to be brighter or is that

[Lorfjord]

for hella lights?

I've been daily driving my 02 and I need brighter "brights" because I need to drive thru the mountains to get home, If no ones on the road, they just dont light far enough to see an animal on the road.

They work great in an alley, but theres not much difference on a dark road between the regular and brights.

AAAAnd is the defrost button just for show or is it supposed to defog the windows? it doesnt seem to defog in the rain.

[f1reverb]

(nt)

[Mike Self]

1. Make sure your current headlights are aimed properly...I think there are instructions in the owners manual for aiming headlights. If not, check the archives. When you state the low and high beams offer about the "same light" it makes me think they're aimed too low. They can also be aimed so they shine slightly to the left and right of dead ahead, to illuminate more of the shoulder and the left lane.

2. Make sure your headlights are getting their full ration of volts. They both ground via brown wires that are fastened to the bodywork in the vicinity of the headlights. If this ground is rusty/corroded, you won't be getting even close to 12 volts at the lights. Test by checking volts at each headlight with a voltmeter, then after they've been on for awhile, trace the brown ground wire and see if it's warm to the touch at its grounding point. If so, clean the ground wire terminal & replace the screw with a stainless steel one.

3. If you still have the car's original headlights, you can change 'em for either sealed beam halogen headlights or Euro separate bulb/reflector headlights, such as Bosch, Hella, Cibie or Marchal. All of those will be brighter than the OEM tungsten sealed beams. Euro headlights will give you a sharply cut off low beam and a much longer range high beam but with less side illumination than an American style headlight.

Good luck with your canyon carving...

mike

[Lorfjord]

Thanks for the tips. yeah my 02 doesnt light as well as my Honda, especially in the rain.

I wasnt canyon carving...I was Mr Tudball-ing it (Tim Conway-Carol Burnett show refernce) I was going too slow, my speed was between 2nd and too low 3rd gear with the fear that somebody was gonna come up behind me too fast. I kept switching the lights back and forth and saw too little change.

I'm not a fan of roadkill, and will stop, get out of my car, and tell the squirrel to get out of the street. I just want to see him first.

[Durango_Dave]

Just get the Hella H4's, I think that you'll be very happy with them. Great cutoff in traffic on low beam, and very good 'down the road' illumination on high beam. I wired my yellow fog lights so that I can use them with the high beams when no one else is around - good for spotting wildlife even when moving briskly down the highway.

[mixamson]

The Hella ECE h4's have a great highbeam! I was very impressed with it when I first converted from sealed beams.

[jp02ti]

My main lights are a Euro version - much brighter. However, I though they could use a boost so I added a new wiring system and extra swtiches with relays and fuses - this is what I ended up with. VERY BRIGHT all over - good shoulder coverage, good distance and a nice medium range spread.

Might be overkill, but I was driving outside of the city all the time and found them very helpful. Still had to hide the wires though and integrate the switches better.

Jon

[ingraham]

(nt)