Blowtorch

Why does a high performance car have such crappy stock headlights? I started driving my car more at night recently and the headlights SUCK.

I tried the Silver Stars....a little better but not much.

What's the most inexpensive least time consuming way to get some decent headlights on a 98 coupe?

Bill Baird

I used to have a 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII. I loved that car, but its headlights sucked. I think that my C5's headlights are great compared to those!

wwashing

The first thing you should do is have an eye exam. I'm not trying to be a smart a..!

JoshVette

I've heard of some on here doing a bulb switch using there high beam bulbs in the spot where the low beams go???

See if you can find something out about that, I think they had to use a drimel to shave away a little space to fit the high beam bulbs in, but should be a huge difference and only cost a couple bulbs and the time it takes to retro fit it.

Hope that helps.

striper

What a coincidence. I, too, had a Mark VIII before owning a C5 and that car had to have the worst headlights I've ever had the displeasure to drive behind. Even with extreme wattage headlight bulbs the lights still stunk. You could drive with the hi-beams on and no one would flash back at you. They make the stock C5 headlights seem like torches in the night. BTW, just putting in higher wattage bulbs in tne C5 made them acceptable to me.

Humanoid 2.0

The Mark VIII headlights did suck until mid year 1995 when it was the first North American car to offer HID factory lights. I have a 1997 2nd gen Mark VIII with a much bigger light housing, they are the best headlights I seen.

ericdwong

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...76&forum_id=53

1998 GTR

I did the bulb replacement (high beam bulbs in low beam sockets). A decent improvement, pretty simple, and cheap. I got the Silver Star high beam bulbs for under $40 for the pair (available at most auto supply chains). It took me maybe 30 minutes to pull them out, grind off a little tab on the new bulb housing, and stick 'em back in. Then maybe another 30 minutes in a dark parking lot aiming the headlights. Make sure you take the time to aim them properly. Otherwise brighter bulbs aimed into the ground don't help much.

There's an old thread (a few months back) here on CF where someone did a great job of posting detailed instructions with pics. Try a search. Not sure if it was in the General Section or the Tech Section???

I think the low beams are 1,000 lumens, and the high beams are 1,700 lumens. So that's a 70% improvement! Well worth the cost and time.

HID's are better, but very pricy!

DeeGee

http://www.pfyc.com/store/merchant.m...ode=VTLIGHTING

Z28STYLE23

My HIDs only cost $350 and the light output is SOOOOO much better.

http://community.webshots.com/user/z28style23

Shane_S

Was that one of those eBay kits?

Shane

Var

spent 300 bucks on my HID's. I was sp happy with them that i made my friend get them too. And his brother. And then i bought a high beam kit for myself afterwards.

CorvetteSteve

Whatever...long as they work!!

Shane_S

lol why do you think i want to know? haha so i dont have to be scared to buy one.

Shane

CorvetteSteve

LOL..haha..I hear ya!!

FiberglassFan

You don't need an eye exam, you need real headlights!

Brighter bulbs, HID or otherwise is a waste of time because the plastic lens of the stock headlight is so poorly designed and executed. The light just sort of slays out all over the place. What you need are GM factory parts for Europe, the T-84 code headlights that use H4 halogen bulbs, available in a huge range of wattages. They have a precision reflector and beautiful lead crystal glass lenses with beautiful beam shaping and control. Best price in USA is at www.cibieusa.com The guy there is a C5 driver, and really know real high performance lighting. My T-84s with standard wattage H4s put more light on the road, wider and farther away, than a stock lamp housing with expensive HID bulbs. The T-84s also have a sharp cut-off to keep the light down on the road, but NOT in the eyes of oncoming drivers. Halogen light is also easer to 'see' than HID arc light, because it is wider spectrum bandwidth more like natural light, this giving the color receptors on you retina more to see. HIDs tend to skew the spectrum blue, with very little in the yellow region, just where the eye is MOST sensitive! Its all wrong!
One other place to check out is....www.danielsternlighting.com He is a good informational resource about lighting, bulbs, harnesses, relays etc, and may possibly also be a good source for the T-84 lamps.
Hope this helps
Jennifer

Tigershark3

JohnTheStigGalt

See my thread here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...3&forum_id=103

I did the 9005 mod, but apparently 9011 is even better. I'm happy with mine for $60...

DSOM Z06

Real happy with my Breathless Performance Units. Nice and bright and when I turn on the PIAA equipped fog lights....Watch out....Bright but not blinding

Mad_Maxxx

T84's! (hopefully with HIDs after xmas!)
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