Best headlight / HID options for poor headlights on 2007 Focus?
 

Hey all - My GF and I have a 2007 SES for about 5 years and the headlights are pathetic...it's actually been a running joke for us, and we decided we should finally do something about it as its really a safety issue. Don't want anything ricey or fancy, just want to actually see at night and not break the bank. Suggestions??

PS - Put in Silverstar Ultra's a few years back but it made little difference...

There must be something wrong with your headlight assemblies, voltage regulation or you're expecting them to throw rude levels of light like somebody running an illegal bulb or genuine HID system. The '05 to '07 headlight system throws light with "the best of them" unless the reflector is somehow corroded, filled with condensation or the plastic has discolored or faded. The plastic can fade in 5 yrs if the car is parked outside in sunbelt. If you're expecting them to throw more light than any other conventional system, that can only happen with illegal wattage off-road only bulbs. If you aren't the original owner of your car, it's possible that you have aftermarket headlight assemblies that often have inferior optics.

Silverstar is stock wattage. They design the element to squeeze out a few percent more brightness, but this costs bulb life with very little more brightness. The Silverstars throw max lumens for a given wattage, so the usually only last a couple years while standard bulbs last about 4x that.

Idiots with illegal (rude) bulbs are typically running something on the order of 100w high beam and 80w low beam. Generally speaking you will need to run relays and larger wire or the harness will melt. I have good vision so stock is fine. I see no need to blind other drivers.

PS: My headlights are 100% stock with original bulbs. They are not much dimmer than my BMW.

I'm thinking there must be something wrong. Any other car I've driven even with regular headlights is brighter then these. For example I had an 09 Honda Accord with regular headlights and they were wayyy brighter then these. Now my mustang has factory HID's so its not a fair comparison of course, but the difference is like a candle vs my Fenix TK45 flashlight, lol. I hate going to stealerships but maybe I need to take it to a Ford dealership to look at...But my mindset was yeah watch them charge me $200 or more to fix it whereas maybe instead I should take it to a performance shop and have them install HID's? For example: http://www.movinon.com/HID.asp

Got some pics of the lights?

Go to retro solutions I got a hid kit from them for my 2007 ses zx4 and won't go back there amazing and really good customer service my buddy just installed them on his ford flex and has the same love use the code lite4u and it will save you 10% now these are expensive bulbs but they are worth every penny of it and will last you a long time I would highly recommend the 55watt digital kit with bulb capping is a must get the ballast extension wires you will need them. This kit is far superior than most from what I have seen this will definitely take your head light issue away I never use my brights any more I got the 8000k there white with a slight tint of blue there the brightest you can get you go into 10k and up and it's more for color you can go with 6k but that's what my buddy got for his flex and they weren't nearly as bright anything less than 6 and once again your going more for color there still damn bright don't get me wrong on that just not as bright hope this helps

A HID conversion for your car would be quite expensive and they are most likely not DOT legal. Very few HID conversions are actually legal unless they are an upgrade using an optional factory HID setup like Focus S to Focus SVT. Since Ford didn't offer HID for '05 to '07 cars, the aftermarket HID's are likely not certified legal. Frankly if you're not DOT legal, you might as well run illegal $20 off-road bulbs with higher wattage and save several hundred dollars. Your stock headlights should be just as bright as the Honda Accord. I would suggest looking into new headlight assemblies if they are not totally clear or you can see something wrong with them. There are one or two aftermarket brands that are nearly good as stock...all the rest of the aftermarket cheapos are far worse than stock optics. You'd need to research that to avoid going from bad to worse.

How do I add a pic I will attach some to show you the difference and what I missed in the other comment is these headlights are street legal and are around the same brightness as a new BMtroubleyou or an Audi this is a very nice kit it does cost more but you have to look at it as an investment to prevent yourself from a collision at night wether it be a deer or car or whatever is up ahead you will see it much sooner than you would with a stock kit the difference is night and day I am stationed In Germany and live out in the country no street lights none of that and it's like it's not even dark out and let me tell you it was not fun with the stock bulbs they were garbage but just my opinion

Omg, there was no comparison. In fact the Accord headlights were close to the output of the factory HID's on my 2012 mustang. It was an 09 Accord EXL coupe, and I think the headlamps were some kind of high output or whatever but they weren't HID's. Thanks for all the other info and suggestions though.
I'll have to post pics soon, and a video...

Best way is tapatalk, but photobucket works too. I believe flikr and a few others do as well

The words street legal and DOT are not found on the retro solutions website. You may have assumed otherwise, but those headlights are not legal for highway use in the USA. If you're going illegal, the 9007 80/100W off-road bulbs are about $15 ea and just as rude. The stock DOT lighting pattern is maintained, unlike aftermarket HID conversions:

http://www.got-chrome.com/p-10634-h8...FQP0nAodIjMAkw
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9007-3500K-W...24f7a0&vxp=mtr
http://www.headlightplugs.com/4.7.ht.html

PS: a $5 ebay relay with 12or 14 ga power feed wire will be necessary. The stock 16 ga wiring will melt and the switches may fail unless you run a relay with proper cable fed from adequate amp fuse.