razrburn

I have a 2011 jku with oem headlights, my headlight adjusters were well engineered to fail during my post lift adjustment, and I noticed my headlights have signs of excessive wear and cracked plastic lenses. So I'd like to avoid oem replacements because of the shall I say, "quality"?

I've read a bit, but not quite enough I guess. it seems the states follow some federal book on what makes legal headlights.
I'd like to stay away from hids, led, colored, ect. While I've been blessed with the freedom of required annual safety inspections, and life in a policing for profit society. I'd love to avoid getting assigned court dates over headlights, and I doubt the courts would believe european housing are better especially if the county wants to pay itself.

I've heard h4 bulbs can improve beam focus better then h13 bulbs. so I'd love to find a cheap option to do that. but what do I look for to see if the housing is legal, anyone with some experience in identifying such a creature? required markings on lense?

as for the adjustment part I can tear it apart and probably glue it, or i've seen a aftermarket part on ebay made of metal im not sure how good it is vibration wise. has anyone else had to fix the headlight adjuster?

I didn't really mention it but it like to stay away from a 400$+ headlight pair.
kc headlights sound impressive with their warranty, till you read reviews on some of the led headlights they make. you'll notice suddenly kc doesnt stand behind it . Im sure when they work they are great, but I'm not going to buy a kc product just to give me something else to work on.

razrburn

I sent a email to a company that does state inspections, for my state. Texas follows federal guidelines on headlights I'm just going to assume most states follow the same. If they respond. I'll add what they said into the thread.

razrburn

seems like anyone considering a headlight upgrade might as well bypass the pwm output on the oem harness, I'm not just going to copy the instructions. idk the fourm rules here, but you'll need 2 diode, 2 capacitors, 2 relays to do it right. by bypassing you will go from around 8v to the bulbs to around full battery voltage

I'm personally considering a hella #70477(has dot, sae markings and a glass lens, a popular offroad mag found it to be slightly better then oem tj. update: apparently dot and sae markings are worthless and dont really have any legal proof that they meet federal standards

between a new lens without cracks, and bypassing pwm I'm figuring i'll get about 40% more light hitting the road without breaking any state laws. the only negative is the bulbs wont last as long as a stock jk's bulb. but it just may last longer then a new kc headlight assembly.

Every few months i'm finding a night where someone with a death wish that doesnt see my black jeep. a few months ago a guy went half way into my lane and we both locked up our brakes on a 50mph road, taking up a lane and a half. he didnt have much room left till my steel bumper would have carved out a new feature on his passenger side. it might not have mattered to him cause he doesnt use his turn signals

razrburn

I'm going with the hella's, I had more of a response on a fourm that specialized in all things light. dot and sae stamps dont seem to have anything proving they meet federal standards. but they should be marked on the box as legal for highway use or something similar, if not its a good chance they are illegal, some issues in running a non compliant light would be blinding on coming traffic due to improper cutoff, or poor design can send light in odd directions. Dot and sae marks may give you less hassling from state inspections ect.

hids or xenon , incase anyone is wondering in the states they require automatic leveling. you understanding you wont find a legal one in a box. I've heard stories of official jeep xenon being found on a beta jeep found on a used car lot, but I dont know if jeep officially ever made a xenon equipped wrangler that followed federal guidelines in the states. I'm not talking about the ones built for europe. maybe on a limited edition? note projectors are smaller then reflectors and might hide a headlight while driving from certain angles by the bull bar or stinger

led, terrible with snow but 2017's have them, im sure some legal aftermarket ones exist but my lack of interest in led's leave this area short

resharp001

Have lived in the DFW area since '88, and the inspection places in Tarrant, Denton, and Dallas counties are a joke. I'm just to the west of Fort Worth now in Parker county, and they take inspections a lot more serious out there. That said, outside of turning the lights on and verifying that they work, I can't imagine anyone failing an inspection due to "illegal" headlights. Are they even more stringent down in the San Antonio area?

razrburn

never seen it in person, but ive heard of it. I do see so many rice burners with tinted bulbs, hids tossed in halogen housings. i'm sure it can be done.
then again I also see alot of vehicles registered to mexico, while the owners live here. Im assuming the cost of mexico's registration is much cheaper, or a one time fee.

my main reason is usually when I get pulled over im already paying for my address not being current on my license long story but mail from social security, the state of Michigan, and the IRS didnt meet dps standards to update the address on my license, all my bills are emailed. if I get a cop on a bad day I might already get fined for some other mods depends on the state im in. my third brake light assembly has been swapped into some red high output leds in the spare tire, I believe the bottom of the assembly is to low to meet standards while the top is okay at least for my state.
my license plate light can be arguably to bright, tx law is written that it must be viewable from 50ft away, but not shine light back, the plates are reflective, light hits the ground due to that. head unit runs full on android idk every state law, I know one time palm beach county went by pixels decades ago lol. tires extend beyond fenders(not tx). mud flap laws I didnt look into that yet? tint seems dark, probably tx legal but 50 state probably not, uncovered off road lights(some other states).

in the wrong state I could have a very bad day, some of it is easy fixes to increase compliance but the android head unit, makes a better cheaper spod setup, engine diagnostic tool, better then oem navigation, dvd, multiple camera inputs, dash cam recording. no way thats coming back out

Cajun JK

Razrburn, did you pick up the Hella's yet? If so how is the light output?

razrburn

didnt get a chance to order then yet, but if you checkout this page they review a bunch of different headlights for a tj, but these will also fit a jk, only thing is the wiring plug is different on a tj, Jeep Headlight Shootout - Jp Magazine. if your stock headlamps are still good you could just bypass pwm and trade brightness extra for life of bulbs, hella's will get you a glass lens which is great. I bought some cheap fog lights in the past and the plastic lenses yellowed in a month. they yellowed before I had time to finish wiring a switch. stay way from a questionable product