Modern Headlights

Pawned said
I had to purchase Sylvania H6024 headlamps for the Duster. These are god-awful.

Yes, they are. Almost all sealed beams you can buy today are godawful; they're sloppily made on decrepit tooling that should have been scrapped and replaced years ago, but there's no money in sealed beams any more, so the retool cost wouldn't be made back. China-based company Eiko recently came out with a line of newly-tooled sealed beams that are also garbage (surprise). The one and only readily-available 7" round sealed beam that's not complete junk is this one. But by and large, sealed beams don't work well. The 7" round is the world's most common headlamp size, even still today despite very few new vehicles using it; believe it or don't, there are now more good options in 7" round headlamps than there ever have been before. Unfortunately, there are also now more bad options than ever before, and they're all hyped as an "upgrade", so you have to be skeptical and get well and truly educated before deciding what to put in.

The H6024 looks to be a 2 piece setup. the front lens attached to the reflector and a bulb inside.

Yes, the lens is epoxied to the reflector and the bulb is integrally manufactured with the reflector.

I am going to attempt to separate the two pieces and put in a different bulb.

Wellno, you're not. You're going to destroy the headlamp in trying to do so. And even if you could pull a Samantha Stevens and magic a different bulb in, there is no different bulb that would make this lousy headlamp into a good one.

You've already been pointed at this article; also see this one. The photos of the headlight beams on the road in both articles are very poor (because photos of beam patterns are useless even if the photographer's really trying; see here) but the text is very descriptive and accurate.

Even if you ignore the enormous amount of overhyped junk on the market, even if you stay within legitimate headlamps that genuinely meet recognized technical standards, you can have whatever you want. You can have replaceable-bulb halogens, you can have BiXenons, you can have LEDs. It's all down to how well you want to see at night and what you're willing to spend. Legitimate BiXenons will cost you about $1500 for the pair. The best LEDs are the J.W. Speaker units in chrome or black. Less-expensive and still quite good are the Truck-Lite and Peterson units. The fun part: all these LED headlamps are made in America! There's a lot of private-branding/PFR, too; the Truck-Lite lamp is also sold as a GE Night Hawk and as a Philips, and the Peterson lamp is also sold as a Sylvania and as a KC.

When you're figuring costs, keep in mind you need relays and better wiring for halogens, but not for BiXenons or LEDs because of their low current draw (lower than the original sealed beams).

Steer clear of suspiciously cheap HID headlamps that amount to a halogen headlight (usually an H4) with an "HID kit". "HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps or fog/auxiliary lamps (any kit, any lamp, any vehicle no matter whether it's a car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) do not work safely or effectively, which is why they are illegal. See here for full info. Same goes for "LED conversion" headlight bulb kits. They are not a legitimate, safe, effective, or legal product. No matter whose name is on them or what the vendor claims, these are a fraudulent scam. They are not capable of producing even a fraction of the amount of light produced by the filament bulb they supposedly replace, let alone producing it in the right pattern for the lamp's optics to work.

And whatever headlamps you put in, it's imperative to aim them properly.

There are other good upgrades to bring an old vehicle's lighting up to snuff for use in modern traffic; see Allpar articles here and here, for example (featuring A-bodies!), and here. And there are (finally!) legitimate and very affordable LED upgrades for the brake lights and back-up lights; see here.

Previous discussions on this board about upgrading lights: here and here.

Full disclosure, I'm the Daniel Stern mentioned in the Allpar articles. Yup, I do sell lighting upgrade equipment, but not on the board here; we've got a board member who offers real nice headlamp relay setups.