First, I am not interested in replacing the pop-up lights, I merely want better lighting from the pop-ups.

A few weeks back I was driving through a construction zone on an interstate feeder lane. There was no yellow line, no white lines and I was driving in the early morning (in other words, dark...) The road had a curb along it (its a Texas thing, I don't get it) and I curbed my magnesium wheels just a tad. I barely touched the curb but totally rashed my wheels. The bad part is, I couldn't even see the curb!!! A few months ago I spent a lot of time working on aiming my headlights and bought new bulbs. The bulbs were of the Autozone variety, they are the sylvanias that are one price level below the 'blue' ones. That improved my night lighting a tiny bit, but it is still borderline dangerous.

I want better lights. I see that there was an ACA setup that had projectors but i can't find anyone selling them. The eBay HIDs don't seem to be very, um, well designed. Does anyone make a decent pop-up headlight for the C5? I would love to have a projector, it doesn't even need to be HID! My wife has a new 4Runner with non-HID projectors and her low beams seem to light up the whole road! I see people have custom made headlights, but is there nothing available through the aftermarket???

I would feel foolish telling my I am trading my paid off C5 for a loan on a C6 only becuase I want to see at night...

(P.S. I am somewhat satisfied with the high beams, but the low beams are my major concern)

 

I would love to see some of the options out there also. I haven't actually messed with mine yet, but i can totally understand the lack of lighting.

 

Below is the 4 runner bulb
.
http://www.drivewire.com/products/to...t-bulbs/28867/
.

 

Well, there is a GP going with Jhonathon in the C5 parts for sale section - $95 for low beams, $95 for fogs. These are HIDs (with slim ballasts) that replace your current bulbs. They are plug and play. I just installed mine on Saturday. I'll try to get a pic later this week. They make a good bit of difference!

There are more expensive lights ACA (I think it's ACA) has a really nice HID setup, but that's closer to $800. Then there are some non-popups that can be had that give better lighting.

I installed the fogs and low beams from the GP. They are HIDs in the stock head/fog lights. I think my fogs are now better then my headlights were before - if not better then pretty darn close to it.

 

Ok, where can I order the projector housing to fit in a C5 headlight?

 

Reading some of the more recent posts on HIDs I thought that there still were issues with headlights going up/down and that the stock lens was not effective with HIDs.

I was really hoping someone would mention an alternative to HID kits, I bet the Aveo has better headlights than the C5.

 

The other option is Euro headlights. Better quality glass light units and you can go for a high wattage kit. With the facets it gives you a shaped beam with better cut off.

Here's the link:

http://www.pfyc.com/pc/VT1003/VTLIGH...+Corvette.html

 

Thank you! This seems to be a good place to start. Maybe with an item like this and some upgraded fog lights I may be able to see at night.

Do I dare ask the foglight question in this thread? From what I gather, they have lenses that can benefit from HIDs (and no popup issues) and they can also be swapped outright for PIAA's. I may need to research the fogs further...

 

Go HID and be done with it. The opening/closing issue is easily solved by adding a small 194 bulb and socket inline with your headlights. Puts enough extra load to fool the computer and open/close the lights normally.
Even with the design of the headlight lens(halogen usage) you will get a much brighter light with the HID's. After I replaced my low beams, and fogs, with HID's, I can see so much better. Plus, it lights up the right hand edge of the road nicely. I have seen animals, and LEO's, standing by the road, that I never would have seen with stock lights.

 

Take a look at this HID lighting kit for C5's at Motor Sport Image & Performance in Roseville Ca: http://www.motorsportimage.com/news.aspx?showarticle=48

 

The HID bulbs in your stock housings will make a believer of you instantly. There have been numerous threads on here about them. There are the 'naysayers' and the staunch proponents.

Personally, I tried with the "silverstars" and was dismally unsatisfied. Then the next rage going around was to put HIR bulbs (available ONLY on the auction place) and doing a bright light bulb conversion to fit in low beam sockets. Those were better, no doubt, but expensive and had fairly low lifetime on them.

Then along came the HID kits for stock housings. For awhile here it was the one of the biggest and most long running threads on the forum. The mod's though saw some conflicts with those selling on the auction site and a Vendor here selling approximately if not the same thing. So, a lot of really good pics and info got deleted when the thread was locked.

Doesn't matter if vendor purchased or however you get them. You will have an ear to ear grin first run at night with them - guaranteed! Some adustment may be needed with them but that's not to bad.. Just make sure to oil up the adjusters really good before trying to re-aim them (if at all). The fogs are a perfect! Has a great vertical cutoff and lights a lot on either side of the car.

 

I found a set of euro lights with the H4 HID kit here so I bought it. I hope it works as good as I expect. I still have to receive them and install them, hopefully they show up this week. They sure look to be a better light housing than the stock ones and combined with the HID should throw a lot of light.

I also took apart the adjusters and got everything working. Be careful of that long rod (the golden rod) on the outside adjuster. It breaks easily. I got the adjusters unthreaded and wire wheeled off the rust and crap before using some anti-seize and reinstalling them. I highly recommend you spend the time to do this and get the lows aimed correctly even if you stick with the stock housing.

Hmm, low beam only? Seems real expensive and not a sponsor here either. FYI, I purposely modified the link to not work. There is a sponsor here Jonathan I think that sells a low beam kit for around $100. Just check the C5 parts section.

Peter

 

MSI is a forum sponsor. Take a look at their website. They are the best Corvette shop in the greater northern California area.

 

ON and OFF high beam and Low...

Unless you have twilight sentenal then you just have high and low beam.

Mike,
Portland OR

 

HID H4 bulbs + Euro T84 lights give you the best performing, Most OEM looking option.

 

jdmvette is the HI guru

Heres a thread that may help:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1647998

 

http://www.pfyc.com/pc/VT1003/VTLIGH...+Corvette.html



I tried the Silverstar Ultra bulbs in the stock housings. (hardly noticed any improvement)
I went with the Euro's, high wattage harness kit with 90/135 bulbs.
VERY happy with the lighting performance.
Good luck with your decision.
Silverbird

 

I have lined up my 'first attempt' at this issue. (well, second counting the replacement bulbs)

I have ordered the HID fog light bulbs from JW group purchase. Also, I have ordered the Euro kit but I am not putting the HID bulbs in them. At least not right now, if I am still unsatisfied then maybe I will.

Yeah, it may be cheaper to just buy HID bulbs and forget about it but that is not the route I wanted to take. Hopefully higher wattage H4's and HID fogs will be a big enough difference.

I appreciate all replies, the search results seem to focus simply on HID everything and that is not what I wanted to do.

 

I got the order. I am just waiting on one more purchase to get these going.

 

Trust me you will be very very happy with the Euro headlamps and the higher wattage bulbs.
I went with the 85/80W and it is perfect, if you are going with the higher wattage expect a shorter bulb life.