Jeep headlights are substandard tech that barely passed DOT standards in the 1970’s much less today. As slow as a Jeep Wrangler is it can outrun the power of the stock headlight at crawl speeds.The easy answer is to upgrade to an LED headlight. Low power draw, tons of light output, and expensive. you can buy Chinese imports for a few hundred dollars, but the better lights run from around $500 to $1000. That’s a pretty steep price for a lot of people.
We decided to give the KC HiLiTES H4 Halogen headlights a shot. Retailing right around $120 they offered the promise of being a better light than stock for a fraction of the cost.
KC HiLiTES History
Since 1970, KC HiLiTES has been designing and manufacturing auxiliary performance lighting for off road vehicles. As the original manufacturer of off road lighting, beginning with the Daylighter®, we have a rock solid reputation for quality and performance. Specializing in Jeep, Truck, SUV and Off Road lighting, our products are always designed with innovation, performance, quality and customer service in mind; and are always backed by our 23 year warranty. We offer the most balanced lighting portfolio in the industry, giving customers flexibility and choice across size and technologies including Halogen, HID and LEDs. Usable light is something that definitely has to be seen to be understood.
Details
Straight from their description: Replace those dim “old school” sealed beam disposable Jeep headlamps with KC HiLiTES custom hi-performance H4 55/60 watt headlamps. These 7″ round headlamps feature clear Lexan® lenses that are virtually unbreakable with advanced reflective style optics. Powered by modern, replaceable H4 capsule type bulbs that outperform conventional sealed beam technology. The H4 capsule type bulb is serviced from the back of the lamp without tools and is sealed with a weather tight boot. These JK headlamps are DOT and SAE approved for safe and legal highway use.” H13 to H4 Wiring adapters are included.
In the purchased configuration these lights offer zero improvement over the factory lights. They are easier to service and we have not tried an upgraded bulb to see how that works, but as delivered expect to pay more money to make this worthwhile.
The Plan
Well the plan is to try to replace the H4 bulb that comes in these with something brighter. We will see if we can keep the cost as close to $200 total as we can and if this is truly a viable alternative to LED lights.
