2006 Dodge Magnum upgrades

My in-laws just obtained a 2006 Magnum. The car is in pretty good shape for it's age but as expected all the exterior lamps are pretty much garbage.

What options do we have to improve the lighting when replacing the headlamps, tail lamps and fog lamps?

It looks like I can get an OEM Mopar set of black housing headlamps on ebay here https://www.ebay.com/p/Headlight-Right-Mopar-4805754AG/217939186?iid=321648067506&rt=nc They look like they take the dreaded 9006XS and 9005XS but the Sylvania & Philips bulb guides I'm looking at say 9006 & 9005. I'd obviously use the Philips XTV 9006 & 9011 bulbs if they fit.

It appears the fog lamps are shared with the JK wrangler so there are unlimited useless options there, haha. Are there ANY useful options? OEM LED? JW Speaker? Baja Designs?

I'm hoping there may be a European tail lamp option or any other neat Mopar options that would offer improvements similar to the success we had with their PT Cruiser upgrades.

As always, thanks for your input and expertise!

Mr. Merk said:

They look like they take the dreaded 9006XS and 9005XS but the Sylvania & Philips bulb guides I'm looking at say 9006 & 9005. I'd obviously use the Philips XTV 9006 & 9011 bulbs if they fit.

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They do not look like that: Image of the rear of the lamp, showing standard HB4/HB3.

Don't spend a cent on front fog lamps. If you MUST have a fog lamp (and in some cases, indeed you must), a rear fog lamp is much better bang for your buck.

For the high beams in your new headlamps, use the HIR1 (which will require a base trim). I usually err on the side of caution when it comes to recommending the HIR2 in the low beams.

Be sure to get your new headlamps aimed properly!

Mr. Merk said:

My in-laws just obtained a 2006 Magnum. The car is in pretty good shape for it's age but as expected all the exterior lamps are pretty much garbage.

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Replace with new OEM parts. That Ebay auction looks like a hot deal if the items are as described; I'm seeing street prices of around $320 for the left lamp and $370 for the right lamp.

Upgrading is pretty straightforward: the good HIR2 in the low beam, and HIR1 for the high beams. Of course, this is assuming the lamps will be aimed properly using the right equipment (optical aiming machine, not "shine it on the garage door or convenient wall").

Tail lights are already more or less worldwide items; the Magnum body with 300C front end was what was sold in international markets (which means there's no European headlamp that will fit the US Magnum front end).

Fog lamps really aren't worth spending money or effort on, but if you want to do it anyway, and the fog lamps are really the same units as on the JK Wrangler, there are some good options. I'm not fully up to date on them; you might kick sand in Dan Stern's face about it and see what he says when he's done coughing

-Virgil- said:

the good HIR2 in the low beam

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And good it is. I mean, my subjective impression-- I installed a new set in an RX300 to replace one dead and one very well worn Philips HIR1 from 2015. Granted, most *any* new bulb will appear to outperform the nearly-dead bulb it replaced, but still, I'm quite impressed by them.

Please don't kick sand in Dan Stern's face, I'd hate for him to suffer corneal scratches and the like

These Wrangler fog lamps from JW Speaker seem to be their latest iteration: Model 6145

Alaric Darconville said:

They do not look like that: Image of the rear of the lamp, showing standard HB4/HB3.

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:facepalm: I obviously was not drinking enough coffee this morning.

Mr. Merk said:

:facepalm: I obviously was not drinking enough coffee this morning.

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That new 90° straight base bulb!

I had a similar lack of coffee or oxygen last night; I was working on that RX300 again, removing interior panels and stuff to get to the sunroof, and had disconnected the common ground point for the rear fog lamp and auxiliary reverse lamp and the trailer wiring controller, but didn't reconnect it. This afternoon Mike complained that neither auxiliary lamp was working and he'd found that ground point disconnected. I remember yesterday thinking I didn't really need to connect it and now I feel like an idiot.

Hopefully the people that go with him tomorrow to an LKQ are more attentive than I was.