Bad replacement headlights assembly

Replacement headlight assembly. 2003 Expedition I purchased the DWVO brand from Amazon. They look nice on the SUV but the light beam is horrible. See the circled spot on pic. The beams does not fill the area. It’s concentrated in two areas no matter how they are adjusted. Makes for bad driving conditions on really dark roads. Anyone had this problem before with replacements. Any suggestions on a quality replacement at a reasonable price replacement at a reasonable price.

LED bulbs and LED projectors in the fog lamps might help a lot

Tocster said:

Replacement headlight assembly. 2003 Expedition I purchased the DWVO brand from Amazon. They look nice on the SUV but the light beam is horrible. See the circled spot on pic. The beams does not fill the area. It’s concentrated in two areas no matter how they are adjusted. Makes for bad driving conditions on really dark roads. Anyone had this problem before with replacements. Any suggestions on a quality replacement at a reasonable price View attachment 71546 replacement at a reasonable price.

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Tocster - Did you find a good solution for your headlight issue? I find myself needing a new front left headlight assembly for my 2003 Ford Expedition and was thinking of sourcing it from Amazon. I read somewhere many years ago that one way to sift / sort the good from the bad options, is to look for products that are CAPA Certified (Certified Automotive Parts Association). Has anyone else purchased a new head light assembly lately and have any good intel to share?

I recently replaced the OEM faded headlights on my 03. Got cheap-o aftermarket from some web site. You get what you pay for. The light beam was junk.

Found an OEM replacement off-road package from Ford Parts Giant. Ordered both sides. Only one showed up. Apparently it was the last one on the planet, because the other side was no where to be found.

Ended up getting the other side matching off-road light from the Amazon. Headlightsdepot was the brand, made in Taiwan for about $50. Made a very thorough comparison to the OEM new one for the other side. Virtually identical. After installation, the beam coverage, adjustability, and light emittance / color were spot on. I can highly recommend them.

Bear in mind, the adjustment procedure for the headlights is incorrect in the owners manual. The adjustment is actually from the 4mm (IIRC) horizontal screw. I used my thru-ratchet to make quick work of it.

I got DEPO brand CAPA certified from RockAuto after one of the headlights on mine exploded. My wife challenged a Mitsubishi and the headlight didn't fare well, LOL. Anyway, these are okay. I'd say they are somewhere between the factory light pattern and what you have now. Truth is I'd prefer the originals that I had to sand and polish every few months to keep the oxidation at bay.

The trick to keeping headlights from oxidizing is waxing them every week or 2. My wife waxed the entire 2003 Monte Carlo front to back and I mean the entire car 3-4 times a month. At 20 years old it still looks new. I rarely wax the Expedition and the headlights started to oxidize :-(.

I've given up on LEDs for my low beams. The LED pattern always sucks, doesn't matter the brand. I'm using good ole HID bulbs in the 4300 temp range, so they look exactly like the stock halogens, only stronger beam. Good pattern and overall road illumination. I still have LEDs in the highbeams, because with highbeams I'm less concerned with traffic friendly beam pattern, and just want quick overall large blast of light. The LEDs are great for that.
So I would say keep the aftermarket headlights you already have and try some 4300 HIDs in them and see what you think.

HID Bulbs on Amazon




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Hamfisted- Where do you have the electronics for the HIDs mounted? Do the HIDs generate a lot of heat?

Texasroadlawyer said:

Hamfisted- Where do you have the electronics for the HIDs mounted? Do the HIDs generate a lot of heat?

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They're mounted nearby ( just 3M double sided taped...) , but outside the headlight housing. You have to cut a pass-through hole and use the included grommet to pass wires through the rubber housing cap. I don't notice any heat ( other than ambient heat...), and I can keep my hand on the ballast when they're on.

4300 Degree 35w 9006 HID Kit on Amazon The 4300 degree bulbs are closest to normal halogen color and don't blind oncoming traffic ...

I recently bought some TYC replacements for a non Ford vehicle, CAPA certified, the beam patterns are horrible! If the lights had a horizontal adjustment they would be much better but they don't. What brilliant engineer thought a vehicle only needed vertical headlight adjustments? SMFH!

Randy-IA said:

I recently bought some TYC replacements for a non Ford vehicle, CAPA certified, the beam patterns are horrible! If the lights had a horizontal adjustment they would be much better but they don't. What brilliant engineer thought a vehicle only needed vertical headlight adjustments? SMFH!

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Agreed, I was also surprised by horizontal adjustment. That said a washer or two behind one of the upper bolts will help turn the headlight assembly a bit if needed. Then the vertical alignment will need to be adjusted slightly again.