riddle me this

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:

> what I need are something to supplement the low beams, for the most
> part. I have a 97 Ford Ranger and the headlights suck, esp. on rainy
> nights. I would run them separately from the factory lights.

Well, yeah, the headlamps on a '97 Ranger are very poor. So is the
headlamp wiring (Ford has been installing marginally inadequate headlamp
wiring for decades). The headlamp units themselves have bad optics that
yield poorly-focused beams with too much upward stray light (=backdazzle
in bad weather) and not enough road-surface light (="Help, I can't see" in
the rain). And the too-thin wiring starves the bulbs.

Your first investment of time and money should go to installing the
2001-up headlamp assemblies and matching front corner sidemarker lamps.
They are MUCH better than the earlier lamps and, if you install them with
relays and large-gauge wiring (see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html ), your overall
seeing will get vastly better. This is especially so if you pick your
bulbs thoughtfully (GE Night Hawk, Sylvania Xtravision, Philips Vision
Plus, Narva Rangepower, Wagner BriteLite: YES. Sylvania Silverstar,
Philips Bluevision, PIAA, anything else blue, white or silver: NO).

As far as aux low beams: There have been a few over the years. The best
one in recent memory was the Hella XL, which is now discontinued but shows
up on Ebay from time to time. But from your description ("especially in
rain") it sounds like you're primarily after more foreground light, not
necessarily more distance reach, in which case a thoughtfully selected,
properly mounted and properly aimed set of fog lamps would help counteract
the tendency of wet roads to "soak up" the light.

But really, put in the better headlamps, first. That's far and away your
best bang for the buck.

Find good used ones via www.car-part.com, searchable used auto parts
nationwide.

DS

thanks, DS, for the good info. To the rest of you, who couldn't be
bothered to make a positive contribution - STOP THAT!
STOP THAT SILLINESS RIGHT NOW! Thank you.

Tom
Seattle

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 00:51:37 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>On Thu, 16 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:
>
>> what I need are something to supplement the low beams, for the most
>> part. I have a 97 Ford Ranger and the headlights suck, esp. on rainy
>> nights. I would run them separately from the factory lights.
>
>Well, yeah, the headlamps on a '97 Ranger are very poor. So is the
>headlamp wiring (Ford has been installing marginally inadequate headlamp
>wiring for decades). The headlamp units themselves have bad optics that
>yield poorly-focused beams with too much upward stray light (=backdazzle
>in bad weather) and not enough road-surface light (="Help, I can't see" in
>the rain). And the too-thin wiring starves the bulbs.
>
>Your first investment of time and money should go to installing the
>2001-up headlamp assemblies and matching front corner sidemarker lamps.
>They are MUCH better than the earlier lamps and, if you install them with
>relays and large-gauge wiring (see
>http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html ), your overall
>seeing will get vastly better. This is especially so if you pick your
>bulbs thoughtfully (GE Night Hawk, Sylvania Xtravision, Philips Vision
>Plus, Narva Rangepower, Wagner BriteLite: YES. Sylvania Silverstar,
>Philips Bluevision, PIAA, anything else blue, white or silver: NO).
>
>As far as aux low beams: There have been a few over the years. The best
>one in recent memory was the Hella XL, which is now discontinued but shows
>up on Ebay from time to time. But from your description ("especially in
>rain") it sounds like you're primarily after more foreground light, not
>necessarily more distance reach, in which case a thoughtfully selected,
>properly mounted and properly aimed set of fog lamps would help counteract
>the tendency of wet roads to "soak up" the light.
>
>But really, put in the better headlamps, first. That's far and away your
>best bang for the buck.
>
>Find good used ones via www.car-part.com, searchable used auto parts
>nationwide.
>
>DS


Thanks. Are there any problems fitting 2001-and-up headlights in a 97?
Or do they just fit right in?

thanks
Tom
Seattle