Tremelune

I just picked up a '96 Chevy Astro van (hold the applause) and the lights are for ****. The electrical system seems to be in pretty good shape (wires, etc), and I know the car has a 100 amp alternator and what looks like a new battery, so I honestly think this is the way the lights were designed to look. They're just as crappy as the lights in other American I've owned...

Now, I could mess around with the stock lights, but my guess is that I'd spend $100 bucks to go from ****ty lights to pretty ****ty lights. Also, this van isn't worth a damn, and I'd like to be able to move these lights to another car if/when the van dies.

The high beams I've got taken care of--A set of monster driving lights (either some bigass Hellas or a set of 130W KC's). I'm having trouble augmenting the low beams though, which are the real problem. I could go with a set of fog lights, but, in my experience, they really can't take the place of the low beams. They are useful--wide--but again, they can't take the place of low beams, which is essentially what I'm trying to do.

I don't much care about legality, but I do NOT want to be blinding people. I want to be able to drive around the city/highway/suburbs and not have people flashing me and running off the road. What I'd like is the Iceshark full boat kit, but in an external housing...and for an Astro van...Again, I really don't want to mess around with the stock lights. Does anyone have any ideas?

I saw the Sylvania Xenarc kit, but it's ugly and $500. I'm looking at more like $100-200.

VaSteve

I had Hella 530 driving lights on my Jeep. I just drilled them into the bumper. You may want to see if the lenses on your van are clouded up from age or the bulbs lost the reflectivity. I had a 99 Jeep I bought new. After 5 years the lights were so dim, I thought I was going blind. Turns out they just age without burning out. I spent $30 on new bulbs and was good to go (until I wanted the driving lights ).

IXLOR8

The biggest problem with headlights is voltage drop at the lamp. If you could get 13.8 to 14.1 volts to the light it would be brighter.

One low cost solution is using a relay kit. I have seen them in Summit for less that $50. This kit takes the power directly from the battery or the + voltage from the alternator. The ground goes to a solid ground or - battery. It uses the original wiring as a signal source, than it goes to two relays.

Using Hella or high quality headlight housing you can use the stock bulbs or use higher watt units.

The key is the relays and heavier wiring in the kits to handle the higher wattage.

Jfrahm

These plastic lamps need to be replaced from time to time. The reflective coating burns off and you lose light. Start with new lamps and go from there.

Tremelune

I'm not much interested in improving the existing lights, I'm looking to add in such a way that it can be transferred to another car...I don't want to replace stock wires or replace the ****ty, square, mid-90's US headlights with newer, slightly less ****ty, square, mid-90's US headlights.

How can there not be an auxiliary low-beam light on the market? All I really need is a housing for that Cibie or a 6" round Hella that can mount on a bumper and get wet...

IXLOR8

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/ISO...ms_Driving.asp

This is a page showing patterns of driving lights. I but you could find something you would like on this website.

Hella Externally Fitting Auxiliary H4 Headlamps are just the ticket for vehicles with poorly performing OEM Headlamps

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Ext...g_Headlamp.asp

Tremelune

IXLOR8 - You nailed it, thanks.

Tremelune

Man, this site seems pretty sheisty...Has anyone ever purchased here? I'm having a great deal of trouble finding info on the HL87165 lights...$130<i>ea</i> seems pricey...