I blacked out my head lights so now my lights straight up suck. I replaced them with the best bulbs advance auto had to offer and nothing improved. I live in the city so I don't really care because I can see just fine anywhere with no lights at all. I'm just looking for some better lights for off roading because last time I went I ended up turning all my lights off so I could see better and that was scarry.
A couple different places (including walmart) have these $15-$25 100w "off road" lights that to me look pretty good for the price. Im also looking at the Hella 500. If anyone can show me a picture of how bright the walmart lights are that would be appreciate or if anyone can persuade me to buy different lights thatll work too. I just want somewhat cheap good bright lights (under 100 for 2). Thanks

 

blacked out lights will do that to ya

 

Blacked out tail lights and/or headlights are something you should do to a parade or show vehicle only. Some states the cops will actually enforce the laws and write tickets for them, actually, as they are a very real safety hazard.

The best thing would be to buy new headlights, and not black them out. A new set of headlights should cost you under $200, depending on your model year (you didn't list it). You can even buy black trimmed units off of eBay or other sites that have everything blacked out except the reflectors that the bulbs use. After that, add all the off-road lights you want, but until then, your truck blacked out bad enough that you can't see is a hazard on the road at night.

I don't mean to come off as a jerk here, but I like to give the straight up truth.

 

I have NEVER understood why people want to black out headlights or even taillights for that matter. Why would you want to increase the chance that someone won't be able to see you?

 

Smoke my friend smoke your tail lights or just buy LEDs with black housing... But get a pair of HIDS and what i did to my girlfriends brothers truck was sprayed his turn signals on his 97 ram 2 dark they could barley been seen with the brightest bulb advanced had so i took a rag and some gas and i think it came out better than having it blacked out i can get pics for you if you want you can see the bulbs perfect in the day and still get the smoked look

 

Ok well they aren't "blacked" they are smoked, and they are bad but they illuminate very well (very bright housing) so I'm not worried about someone not seeing me. I wouldn't mind getting hids but aren't they bad in stock housings? And I live in south Florida where every other car has purple lights, blacked out heads and tails, black tint all around, and everything else illegal. The cops don't, as far as I can tell, care.
I do wish I never bought the blacked out headlights (didn't know they were illegal) and I didnt expect them to be so bad.
My real question though was how the wal mart brand lights preformed and if anyone could persuade me against Hellas.
Thanks again (sorry for the sloppy paragraph)

 

The walmart lights are cheap enough you could buy a set and try them. If you don't like them you know you need to move on to something like Hella lights. If you decide you don't like them up front you could always hook them up as reverse lights.

 

My local Wal Mart was just blowing out Hella 500s and 500FFs for $39 a pair in the kit box. I picked up a set just to have around as a spare but used them on a friends truck. Went back to get me another set but they were bye-bye. They were blowing them out because they are now carrying a chinese made clone of it. Looks identical to the Hellas but they are some BS brand. They are around the same price they were selling the Hellas for.

Quite a few guys on one of the Jeep specific forums are buying a Harbor Freight kit with a pair of 100w Halogens with wiring, switch, stone guards, etc. for something like $25 and are swearing by them. In the last thread I read I think about 20 guys responded they were using them and only one guy reported a problem and it was just a blown bulb after about a year of use.

It's amazing they don't do ANYTHING for illegal lights in south Florida. I live about half the time in very rural Georgia and the other half in central Florida and they'll stop you for the slightest infraction in central Florida!

I had a buddy (a former Site Moderator here actually) get stopped and given a written warning for not having his 55W Hellas covered - DURING THE DAY AND THEY WERE OFF. Had he not had the covers in the truck and put them on with the cop standing there, the cop told him he'd have ticketed him!

 

Driving on the street with 100w "off road" lights is illegal in almost every state I can think of. I'm sure the first cop you blind with 'em on will tell you that after he writes you up.
Here in OK we are supposed to keep off road lamps covered....but as long as you're not running them most cops are fairly lienient. Would hate to catch one on a "bad day" though...the fine is 250.00!

 

Ya that would be horrible, alright you guys convinced me to get some new light fixtures. Would any eBay brand or cheap brand do? Or should I buy some expensive ones? I like the hid whites.