Lighting upgrade

[lespaul1021]

Hello I was interested in upgrading my headlights on my 2009 Suzuki SX4, specifically the low beams. The headlight bulbs are 9007 and I have already put in Phillips extreme vision which made a significant improvement but I still have trouble seeing at night. The housings are clear and they are correctly aimed. I have auxiliary high beams on a bar attached to the frame in front of the bumper so I can mount additional lights there. The stock low beams are not very bright nor do they have a particularly wide beam , both attributes which I would like to improve with auxiliary low beams.
My first thought was to get a pair of hella bifocal 5.75in lamps mounted in a grote housing which from all accounts would perform ideally.
My other thought was to use some of the hella 90mm halogen modules or even the 60mm ones but I haven't been able to find much about their performance. I like this option for the reduced size and weight and I believe they may even cost less. I am not sure on the cost of the bi focal reflector units. I could get the hella classic 90mm low beams for about 65ea or the premium ones for 100.
I also considered the 90mm bi-halogens for 110ea if they perform well since having some extra hi beam performance would be welcome.

I was hoping someone would be able to recommend which of these lamps would perform best and whether the modules would perform as well as I would prefer them from a size and ease of mounting perspective. I appreciate any feedback , thank you!

 

[-Virgil-]

Hello

Hi, welcome to this board.

I was interested in upgrading my headlights on my 2009 Suzuki SX4, specifically the low beams. The headlight bulbs are 9007 and I have already put in Phillips extreme vision which made a significant improvement but I still have trouble seeing at night. The housings are clear and they are correctly aimed.

Good. Have you checked the voltage drop in your headlamp circuit, to see if the bulbs are receiving an appropriate amount of power? Light drops off fast with small voltage drops, and so you might want to consider adding headlamp relays.

I have auxiliary high beams on a bar attached to the frame in front of the bumper so I can mount additional lights there. The stock low beams are not very bright nor do they have a particularly wide beam , both attributes which I would like to improve with auxiliary low beams. My first thought was to get a pair of hella bifocal 5.75in lamps mounted in a grote housing which from all accounts would perform ideally.

I agree. That is a very, very good low beam with a super-wide beam pattern.

My other thought was to use some of the hella 90mm halogen modules or even the 60mm ones but I haven't been able to find much about their performance.

Harder to mount those to a bar such as you describe, in a way that will let them be aimed properly. Also, their beam pattern is not as wide as the Bifocus lamps.

I am not sure on the cost of the bi focal reflector units.

There are actually two different bifocus units: the regular one for about $110 and the heavy-duty one for about $140. The heavy-duty one has a much harder (toughened/tempered) glass lens that is much more difficult to crack, break, or pit. Dan Stern has the heavy-duty units; I don't know if he has the regular ones.

I also considered the 90mm bi-halogens for 110ea if they perform well since having some extra hi beam performance would be welcome.

Not a bad lamp, but again, hard to mount those modules externally.

 

[lespaul1021]

Thank you very much for the information. I haven't checked the loaded voltage drop of the stock wiring yet and I had planned on upgrading the wiring and adding relays but I noticed the stock wiring uses some sort of ground switching with the power wires to the bulb always hot and a switched ground I think. I need to take a look at schematics for the headlamp circuits to see how I can most easily upgrade them and what I need exactly.
I realize I didn't explain I was planning to mount the module's flush in the bumper. It is easily removable and I think it would be fairly easy to mount the modular units so they are rigid and easily aimable rather than fabricating an external support housing to mount them on the lightbar.

Is the price for the bifocus lamps each or per pair? Because I also have to consider the cost of the housings with those. That being said if the bi focus are significantly better performing lamps , I feel it may be worth it.

 

[-Virgil-]

I had planned on upgrading the wiring and adding relays but I noticed the stock wiring uses some sort of ground switching

That won't be any obstacle. You can install relays in the usual manner; the relays don't care if they are ground-switched or positive-switched, they'll be happy to turn on and off for you (and thus send power to the headlamps on demand).

I realize I didn't explain I was planning to mount the module's flush in the bumper.

If you can do that and have them mounted rigidly to metal, then that takes care of that issue.

Is the price for the bifocus lamps each or per pair?

Probably "each"; you'd have to send an email and inquire.

 

[fastgun]

The Hella low beam is within $150 per pair of TruckLite led.
Considering just the low beam, how does the Hella Bifocus compare with these?

 

[-Virgil-]

The Bifocus is going to be much better in fog-rain-snow conditions (wider and less backscatter), but that's probably moot because where in the world are we going to mount a pair of Truck-Lite LED headlamps on a Suzuki SX4?

 

[fastgun]

Put them on a lightbar such as lespaul1021 has on his SX4 in a par 56 light housing.
"I have auxiliary high beams on a bar attached to the frame in front of the bumper so I can mount additional lights there."

 

[lespaul1021]

I could certainly mount almost any lights especially with a permanent housing available. However I don't particularly need high beam help as I have two hella rallye 4000 halogen aux high beams that I am very pleased with I really just need a better low beam. We have very windy back roads in NW CT where I live so width of the beam is critical to me. I had inquired a few weeks ago about purchasing the bi focus lamps from stern but they were on order at the time but I shall check back and see if he has them yet and order the grote housings from Amazon. Thank you for all the help.

 

[fastgun]

Good luck with your search for the low beams. I currently have a 7 inch Cibie h4 hi/lo beam set up and find it OK but the low beams are not as good as the Hella Bifocal or a top tier LED would be.

I really like those SX4 cars. They have a growing popularity as a rally/off-road car set up with lift kits and auxilliary front lights.

 

[lespaul1021]

Just to update I was able to purchase a pair of the hella bi focus 5 3/4" lamps from Mr. Stern, who was excellent to deal with, and install them in in the grote 64231 chromed brass housings. The housings look great and were very easy to install on my front bumper mounted lightbar. I wired them up using 10 and 12 awg wire , fuses and Flosser relays. I used thd philips xv H1 bulbs and aimed them as per the instructions on Mr. Sterns website . I couldnt be happier with the performance. Comparing them to my stock 9007 low beams ,even with new xv bulbs in those as well, the bi focus' s are so much better. While my subjective observations admittedly mean little , the beam pattern is noticeably wider and higher intensity and I have seen the objective data on mr sterns site to back up my assertions.

In any case, I am extremely pleased with the results and am exceedingly grateful for advise here (especially from Virgil) which helped me affirm my proposed upgrade to the bi focus lamps.
My most sincere appreciation,
Brendan

 

[fastgun]

Great! Now, not only do you see well you also look good. Have fun.

 

[-Virgil-]

Terrific! Sounds like a good result. And those housings, being brass instead of steel, should last a very long time even when used in corrosive (road salt) conditions.

 

[lespaul1021]

Yes that is why I selected the chromed brass housings even though they were 100 for the pair vs. 50 for steel versions. Those with the extra tempered glass bi focus lamps(which also cost more) and they should hold up quite well. Its unfortunate there are so few auxiliary low beams available but the results are so much better than the Yahoo's who throw fog lamps in for the same purpose.

 

[calflash]

While my subjective observations admittedly mean little , the beam pattern is noticeably wider and higher intensity and I have seen the objective data on mr sterns site to back up my assertions.

First - Congratulations on your success and thank you very much for sharing your impressions!

Second - Do you have access to the info you found on the performance of the bi-focus lamps? I'd love to see it because I am interested in doing something similar to your project, but had been considering JW Speaker 8630/8631 lights. I'd be interesed to know if the bi-focus units would produce a better auxiliary low beam. Thanks.