YJ Headlight Conversion...or not?

[RockyRaccoon]

Hi all,

I've got a 1989 YJ that I bought used almost 8 years ago. At the time, it had two Marchal cat face fog lights installed on the ends of the front bumper. I presume these were added on by the previous owner rather than stock. At any rate, over the past year, both of these bulbs have burnt out. I considered just buying new bulbs but I can't find these fog lights anywhere online. Furthermore, one of the units is cracked and some rust has started to appear. I spoke with two guys in an auto parts store, both of them Jeep owners, and they recommended that before replacing the fog lights, I should upgrade the original stock headlights.

Do I need a conversion kit (e.g. "Delta Tech H4 Headlight Conversions Kits", Quadratec) or should I just buy halogen replacement headlights (e.g. "Sylvania Halogen Headlamps", Quadratec)? The conversion kits appear to be significantly more expensive and I don't understand the potential advantage there. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome!

-Michael from Ithaca, NY

[Captoman]

An advantage might be a slight custom look, about 15-20% increase in brightness, longer bulb life, and easier bulb replacement. If you wanted, you could even put in some of those annoying blue-bright as hell, instant migraine bulbs that the ricers have. This was often a upgrade request back when I did customs. You can get them about 15 bucks cheaper at a local parts store rather than those delta techs here at QT. Good Luck!- Jim

[OhioYJ]

I looked at the conversion kits for a while, but I ended up just getting some SilverStars for mine.

[fatoldfool]

X2 silverstars

[matts88yj]

I ran the SilverStars as well for a while until I came upon a set of Projector housings that a friend of mine was selling. I put those in with some IPF H4 bulbs and they are awesome! Very defined beam pattern and it puts the light where you need it and not in the peoples faces coming the other way. You can't go wrong either way with either the SilverStars or the H4 upgrade.

Matt

[RockyRaccoon]

Hey guys,

Thanks alot for your advice.

I'm not looking for anything too blue, too fancy, or too annoying. smile.gif I think I'll give the Silverstars a try. They appear to be bright, easy to install, pretty popular and Auto Zone has them in stock for $19.99 each.

I'm really excited to see the difference!

-Michael from Ithaca, NY

[Rit]

Silverstars are still only 55 watts, just whiter so they appear brighter. I use the 80/100 watt bulbs with no problem, no "burned" wiring in 6 years and yes, they are much brighter.

With YJs, the plug sockets have to be absolutely CLEAN or your brightness really diminishes.

[fyrfyter4393]

I ran the Silverstars for about 2 years. They were a noticeable improvement over stock.

I recently upgraded to IPF H4s with IPF Fatboy bulbs. The difference between these and the Silverstars is incredible. I have much better visibility without blinding oncoming drivers.

[dailey]

went from factory to the ipf with fatboys and wow... those babies light up everything. well worth the money.

[Bada-Bing.]

Silverstars like everyone else said, also add 2 Hella driving beams to the front bumper and you will be very happy.

[Caribic Martin]

IPF or other H4 conversion head lights with fatboys are great. Another solution is normal H4 bulbs and 2 extra lights.
Have fun in the dark!
Martin
www.offroad-pirates.com (http://www.offroad-pirates.com) :cool:

[dailey]

besides you can easily have a spare bulb with you in your glove box. Since everyone with a jeep knows carry spares and space is kinda limited to say the least.

[luckeeluke]

silverstars. Had them in my TJ before and have them in my Hyundai now. Good stuff. Decent for the money.

[Ryan Van Tassel]

If your going to buy new headlights get clear ones. www.trucklite.com (http://www.trucklite.com) . Truck-lite sells clear 5x7's and then spend $40 for silverstars and you'll never need fog lights. Clear headlights on a yj make a great improvement over the yellow stock crap.

[Knuckelhead]

When I first bought my TJ I installed Silver Star headlights. What I found with a 4” lift is that when the headlights were adjusted properly on low beam the high beam was just about useless. Same thing for the low beam when I adjusted the high beams properly. I tried 3 sets of headlights. Just my opinion, I took them back…