Suggestions for my Ford

Purchased the wife a new 2018 F150 a little over a year ago and despite the fact that we love it, the headlamps suck. After the previous few vehicles I wanted to spend extra on HID or LED headlamps but that just didn't work out so it has the basic H11 halogens. Looking for suggestions on upgrades without spending an arm and a leg. I already tried swapping bulbs to a non-cpf friendly alternative and that made a significant difference... but I want better.

Based on my 2011 relay upgrade I don't think that will get me what I want. Figure there are three options...

1. Factory led or hid swaps. Out of the question as even junkyard parts are $$$$

2. HID projector retrofit. Is this still a thing? Has LED taken over? How's the cost these days and who is the go-to?

3. Auxiliary lights. I would have no issue adding some driving lights relayed up to the high beams. Would have to find a low profile mount solution... and they wouldn't address the poor low beam performance in 99% of driving (unless I found some fog lamp substitutes which could replace the factory fog, probably not a very good solution).

So there ya have it. Running Non-H11 low beams in my H11 housing and they suck a little less than stock. What can I do?

Buck91 said:

Purchased the wife a new 2018 F150 a little over a year ago and despite the fact that we love it, the headlamps suck.

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Yeah...the problem is real. The IIHS ratings for the headlamps on the '18 F150 prove it out, though given the short beam reach and lack of glare, the ones on the test truck were probably aimed too low. That said: have you had your truck's headlamps aimed correctly? I mean really correctly, using an optical aiming machine with your usual load in the truck bed...not just shining them on a wall somewhere up ahead.

After the previous few vehicles I wanted to spend extra on HID or LED headlamps but that just didn't work out so it has the basic H11 halogens.

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Just as well. The LED headlamps available on that truck are even worse. Apparently Ford decided the best thing to do with that enormous headlamp housing was to put teeny-tiny little miniature LED headlamps in it. Result: poor seeing and high glare.

Looking for suggestions on upgrades without spending an arm and a leg.

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How much is an arm and a leg? Seriousl question; there's a range of lights available at a range of prices, but good lights generally tend to cost money.

I already tried swapping bulbs to a non-cpf friendly alternative and that made a significant difference

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You put H9 bulbs in place of the H11s, right?

Based on my 2011 relay upgrade I don't think that will get me what I want.

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Plus, the '18 truck will likely fight back if you try it.

1. Factory led or hid swaps. Out of the question as even junkyard parts are $$$$

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Also pointless because the LED headlamps suck worse than the halogens. There aren't HIDs.

2. HID projector retrofit. Is this still a thing? Has LED taken over? How's the cost these days and who is the go-to?

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Read this. On top of those caveats, if you avoid a complete waste of money and time by ignoring the kids (of all ages) fooling around in the garage and hyping the end results as "retrofits", and instead you go to a headlamp retrofitter that's actually run by adults using big-boy tools and materials, such as clearcorners.com, you are certainly looking at at least one arm and one leg to get the job done properly.

3. Auxiliary lights. I would have no issue adding some driving lights relayed up to the high beams. Would have to find a low profile mount solution

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That's this or this or this.

and they wouldn't address the poor low beam performance

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Yeah, that can pretty much only be done with low beams. So you'd probably wind up mounting a set of carefully chosen low beam lamps (or high/low beams) of one kind or another, onto the truck's bumper.

(unless I found some fog lamp substitutes which could replace the factory fog, probably not a very good solution).

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At least you've got a fairly big rectangular space to work with there, though I don't know how deep the available space is on that truck. What's the height and width of the fog lamp lens?

I don't know your budget, but I added aux LED low and high beam lights to my 2017 F150. I used JW Speaker lights and am very happy with them. I also tied them to my factory wiring harness so they duplicate my factory lights. If the factory lights are on low beam, so are the auxiliary lights. When I turn on my high beams, the auxiliary light goes to high beam too. I detailed my installation on here, you can search it by posts made by me. I did include a master override for when I want the aux lights completely off. These are units with both high and low in them, so you are only adding two lights to the front of your truck.

Check out Diode Dynamics SS3 fog light pods. They are available in white and amber in a variety of lens configurations to fit your needs. I've got a set of amber SS3 Pros and the output is amazing.

boo5ted said:

Check out Diode Dynamics SS3 fog light pods. They are available in white and amber in a variety of lens configurations to fit your needs. I've got a set of amber SS3 Pros and the output is amazing.

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There's been no indication the original poster needs or wants fog lamps, which are not auxiliary low beams, but are essentially useless in most conditions.

-Virgil- said:

There's been no indication the original poster needs or wants fog lamps, which are not auxiliary low beams, but are essentially useless in most conditions.

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It was in the original post.

Buck91 said:

(unless I found some fog lamp substitutes which could replace the factory fog).

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boo5ted said:

It was in the original post.

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No, take another look. He's asking about lights that would do what he needs and would go in place of the fog lamps, not about replacement fog lamps.

-Virgil- said:

No, take another look. He's asking about lights that would do what he needs and would go in place of the fog lamps, not about replacement fog lamps.

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Something going in place of something is replacement.

Never mind.

Running those amazon special morimoto knock offs from a few years ago in my 2011 F150 fogs. They are worlds better than stock and marginally useful (though I suspect they glare despite getting no flasheds). I'll have to check out those SS3 fogs.

Location is pretty crappy for a driving light though maybe it's worthwhile still? Anybody know of any that would mount up?

"Driving" lamps are auxiliary high beams -- not the aux low beams we were talking about.

Got those lens dimensions on your fog lamps yet...?