If you drive an older car or a classic, chances are you’re using sealed headlights. I once did and I wouldn’t forget how terrible the headlights illuminate the road while I drive at night. The low beam always seems like my headlight bulbs are burned out while the high beam shines like the low beam. So, if you still make use of a car with sealed headlights, and you are asking why you should upgrade your sealed headlights to a more advanced headlight like HID, LED, Xenon, or Halogen, I believe the right question would be “what are the advantages of upgrading your car headlights?
Headlights are like the eyes of your vehicle in terms of visibility, function, and style. The brighter the eyes, the clearer it’s able to see. This is why when your headlights are oxidized, the first recommendation you get is to restore your car headlights. But aside from headlights being a tool for visibility, they also beautify the looks of your car. While stock sealed headlights might give your car an arcade look, upgrading to an advanced modern halogen or LED would portray a modernized classic. Trying these headlight upgrades on your car or truck is like giving it a fresh set of eyes with improved nighttime vision or a more customized look. Amazing isn’t it? Now, let us look at the advantages of upgrading your car headlights from sealed glass to Halogen polycarbonate plastic headlights.
Advantages of upgrading your sealed beam
Energy efficiency:
Advanced modern headlights have the most efficient bulb for converting electricity from your car into better lighting output. In fact, it’s offensive by the U. S. A. headlight laws to drive bad headlights. Headlights like LED or Halogen are known to be incredibly bright while consuming less energy than xenon HID bulbs. This way, the battery life of your car would be lengthened while also keeping your environment safer. According to statistics, LED bulbs use 40% less energy than xenon high intensity discharge (HID) bulbs and over 65% less energy than halogen bulbs. That is why having LED headlights can help reduce your car tax.
Durability:
Modern headlight bulbs like LED have longer lifespan than every old sealed headlight bulb in the market. They can last for about 12,000 to 22,000 miles or more. This means that when properly maintained, LED bulbs can last the entire lifetime of your vehicle.
Performance:
In terms of performance, there is no doubt that the old sealed car headlights are no match for the emerging new advance car headlight bulbs like Halogen, HID, or LED. In fact, they offer the most over the direction of a light headlight beam. This helps prevent drivers from blinding oncoming cars by helping the driver avoid projecting his or her car light’s beam at steep angles.
Now that you are aware of the different advantages of upgrading your sealed headlights, would you still like to upgrade your headlights? If yes, follow the instruction below and upgrade your car headlights with ease.
NB: In our previous post, we talked about the DIY steps to upgrade your headlights from stock to LED. For this article we will be looking at upgrading to Halogens.
How to upgrade your sealed headlights to halogen
Upgrading your sealed headlights doesn’t have to mean replacing the entire headlight housing of your car. In fact, you can simply purchase your preferred headlight bulb which is compatible with the fuse and headlight sitting of your car and do the swap! Sounds Interesting right? To get started, follow the simple steps below.
Step one: remove the haze on your car headlight
I know what you are thinking! “Aren’t we supposed to be unscrewing the headlight housing and taking out the bulbs?” Yes, of course we are going to get to that part but before then, we need to get rid of any oxidation or haze buildups on the car headlight lens. This is because no matter which brand or type of headlight bulb you switch out, if your car headlight lenses are oxidized, your headlight will still not be able to illuminate as it should.
To get rid of any haze or oxidation from your car headlights fast, you can polish your headlight lens using the CLT restoration kit. We have tried it on older cars with great results. Not only did the headlight beam illuminate better at night, they made the car look amazing and new. The clear light tech (CLT) Headlight Restoration Kit is an ideal DIY solution: quick, easy and cost-effective. For an easy guide, check out our article on how to clean plastic headlight covers using a restoration kit.
Step two: replace your headlight capsules
Replacing your car headlight capsules might sound like a fret but it’s easy and optional. You choose to jump to the next step which is to upgrade your bulbs. But if you would like a more advanced look in addition to an advanced beam, then you can consider replacing your headlight capsule. Halogen headlights are the standard for modern cars and light trucks but their capsules can be easily replaced with premium ones like NAPA lamps if you are being unique or in-vogue. There are three options available for this choice; LongLite, WhiteLite and SafetyLite capsule.
Between each of these capsules, LongLite are 80% brighter and illuminate up to 120-foot than the stock halogens. WhiteLite capsules provide a much cooler light that’s similar to HID headlights but match the output of the LongLite capsule at about 1,500 lumens. SafetyLite is NAPA’s ultra-premium capsule that uses a tri-color coating to reduce glare and provides about 1,600 lumens while effectively lighting a wide area with bright, white light. Would you like to learn more about car headlight lumen? Check out our previous article on headlight lumens.
Step three: upgrade your bulbs
Another way to upgrade your car sealed headlights is to simply upgrade your headlight bulbs. Headlights, especially the ones that come with most old and classic cars are outdated and give a dim view when turned on. But, if you should upgrade your stock headlight bulb to a modern car headlight, the results would be different. It’s true that most times, price is a factor when considering a bulb upgrade but the Street Glow White Xenon capsules bridge the gap between costly HID conversions and conventional halogens capsules.
The look is similar to HID headlights but illuminates relaxed blue lights. However, if you choose to go with the NAPA Premium Halogen, then upgrading your headlight bulb is as simple as unplugging the old capsules and fitting in new ones.
Step four: replace your old bulbs
Lastly, you can simply replace your classic car’s headlight bulb with a newer bulb. Although this would greatly depend on the type of bulb in your old car’s headlight housing, you can purchase new HID bulbs if your old car makes use of HID. But how would you know when to replace your headlight bulbs? Because you need to know when to replace your headlight bulbs to get started. HID headlamps have been around for over 15 years so there could be a chance that your old car makes use of HID headlights. So, if you drive an older car with HID bulbs and they appear dim, it may be time to replace the bulbs and fix new ones.
