Guys, I have an '02 Accord SE sedan (leased) as my daily driver. I'm not interested in spending big bucks on the car; I'm not a car freak (see sig.). However, I like being able to see where I'm going. I find that while the low beams on the Accord are OK as far as halogens go, the high beams leave a lot to be desired.

On my previous car (99 Jetta) I retrofitted ECE-spec (e-code) OEM headlights for a great improvement. No need for overwatt bulbs.

I drive weekly on a winding rural mountain road at night with little oncoming traffic and lots of deer. Hence the desire to improve lighting and the need for good high beam performance.

Being a leased car, I don't want to spend a fortune, nor do I want to do a chop job to improve the lights.

I've done the math and at 20 amps a side the lights can easily handle up to 100 watts on all 4 bulbs. I've ordered some 80w lows and 100w highs. Anybody try this (I've done this on other cars and as long as the wiring and fuses can handle it, it should work).

Any other ideas on lighting improvements? HID is out of the question, too expensive. The lights in my wife's '98 Odyssey (basically DOT-approved HB2/9003s, very close to H4 Eurospec in pattern), are way better even though only single bulb per side. Are there eurospec (e-codes) available for the 6th gen. Accord that are plug-and-play (ie, take 'em out and sell 'em when I turn in the car at lease end)? Keep in mind, I'm not interested in looking "cool", I just want to see well.

Thanks

PlaneCrazy
'02 Accord SE
'98 Odyssey
'76 Piper Cherokee 140E, IFR-certified

 

The OEM fog lights improve lighting greatly. I felt my '02 Accord EX's headlights were a let-down after owning a 95 Ford Probe SE for a few years (had fog-lights and of course the flip-up headlights are mounted high). I bought the OEM foglight kit from http://www.handaaccessories.com and installed them myself (took about an hour or so). That did the trick for me... and it doesn't blind other drivers.

 

9005 conversion is about your best bet if you don't want to spend a lot of cash. HID kits can be had for less than $400, and you can remove the kit before you turn the car in and either sell it or transfer it to your new vehicle.

 

I think a set of driving lights like PIAA offers (the 80w-120w variety) would offer him greater lighting out past his car. The OEM fogs only kind of illuminate the general area infront of the car, which is good for bad weather but not for a dark mountain road.

I would definetly check out PIAA's fog lights at www.piaa.com and see if there's anything in your price range that you like..just remember to shut them off on the highway and on the streets, as they are gonna blind the hell out of people

 

some folks swear by hella micro DE. they have a wicked beam pattern and a very compact unit, if I didn't have my OEM fogs I'd go with those, or for some serious driving lights, the hella FF50s, DE xenons or micro xenons

 

get 6th gen ecodes. i have ecodes on my 4th gen. a couple of people have them (namely "cforez" as an example). i think he was the 1st 6th gen in the States to get a pair.



oh, btw. last i heard, 6th gen ecodes retain the 9006/9005 configuration. so pretty much plug-n-play. i love ecodes.

 

Well, a lot of you didnt read his post... he said his HIGH BEAMS needed improvement... to start with, the factory fog lights are not on when the high beams are on, so they are no help there. A 9005 conversion?? The high beams are already 9005.

PlaneCrazy: the higher wattage bulbs may help out... but they have a tendency to melt the housings, or darken the reflectors, due to the high amount of heat output. Honda will definatly notice something like that when you turn the car in, and charge you for a new pair of headlights... which are gonna be very pricey! Also, the wirring in the car is not meant to carry the load of two 80 watt bulbs and two 100 watt bulbs... its just not phisically large enough to transfer the power. You may want a wirring harness upgrade kit... these are plug in kits, that integrate another relay and larger gauge wirring with a seperate fuse, thus there is no way of damaging the stock wirring. Then when you get rid of the car, just un-plug everything, disconnect it from the battery and put the stock bulbs back in. If you're going to use the higher wattage bulbs, I HIGHLY recomend these kits (I believe they are bulb specific, so you'll need a 9005 and a 9006 kit.). Just be aware of the possibility of melting the housings/reflectors.

Also, one more thing to try... park perpendicular to a wall... (brick or concrete block works well, as you have reference lines) and adjust your headlights... in your car, the high beam adjustment should be independent of the low beam adjustment.

 

SumAccordGuy94, what you don't know about ecodes is that the high-beam on them are spot-like. only a 15-degree spread.

refer to attached photo...



with a more concentrated beam, naturally distance lighting is much improved. and my ecode high beams are halogen (in case there was any doubt)

 

USC: I do understand what you are talking about (and no, I am not familiar with e-code lights) I was just trying to help him out with what seemed to be his desicion already. If he goes with the e-codes, more power to him... from looking at your pictures, they seem like they make a big difference.

How could I go about getting them for my 5th gen? And what do you have for low-beams? looks like HID... is it just a "kit"... I know you're the one that hates when people have blinding HID's (me too!! )

 

yeah, i've gone to hell-n-back w/ this retrofitting HID crap. the most important lesson i learned? don't be the 1st

anyhow, had HID's since 1998. first with crappy stock headlamps, and then going to ecodes in 2001. not sure if you want to get a set of ecodes. 1) there are no used ones available, and 2) they're not like jdm's. the lens are actually frosted (more like 98-00 TL's). anyhow, a pair of them new would be ~$500-$600.

i forget who it was but someone actually got a pair. let me dig through my photo archive to see if i can find out who...

oh well. found the pic of the pattern but i didn't credit it w/ the owner's name.