Headlight Replacement Suggestions Please-2000 XLT 4X4 Sport 5.4L

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My headlamps have fogged over. I had them polished two years ago, but they look terrible again. I would like to replace them with something more modern looking-similar to the pics below (I have not purchased any of these for fear they are junk). I would like to know if some of you could share what type/brand you used or any pros/cons I should consider. The prices, brands, types are all over the place-LED, HID, Halogen, etc. I do see a similar post, but it is from 2018. Hoping to revive the topic. Thanks in advance.

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doodlebugs-93

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hello, my name is Patrick, I was in the same situation with my 02 Eddie Bauer expedition the factory headlights were so badly cloudy I couldn't get them looking decent so I went to ebay and ordered Mar 02, 2019 me a set of the 1997-2003 Ford F150 Expedition Black LED Strip Projector Headlights Left+Right and they only cost $95.38 and they even had free shipping, I liked how they looked so I ordered them and I am very pleased with how they look and perform, I just recently upgraded the headlight bulbs in them to high output led headlights and I'm happy with my headlights, you might want to check into these headlights as well, good luck Patrick.










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jkroten

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I replaced mine with a set of lightning style that I got on ebay. I believe I payed 60.00 for the pair. Really like the clean look of these and the quality for what I paid is great.Headlights.jpg
 

knewblewkorvett

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I too am in desperate need of better headlights but never pulled the trigger on buying some as we all know too well that a lot of the headlights out there are simply Chinese junk. I'll be watching this tread closely. Mine is a 1997 but I believe they are all the same from 1997-2002? Everyone have a great week!
 

Old Guy

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I have a gen 2, 2003 XPY. I replaced the factory headlight bulbs with Sylvania Silver Star ultra bulbs and the difference is very noticeable, especially for the low beam city driving. Cost about $50 for the pair and all you have to do is simply replace the existing bulbs.
 

Bruce Mitchell

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Got these on ebay last year. Price was right; had my local mechanic install and aim 'em when I was in for other, routine service.
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rjdelp7

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Stay with OEM type. Those cheapo fake, projector lamps, usually are not as bright and blind on coming traffic. I bought a pair of new OEM(included bulbs) on EBAY for under $40. They look and work great.
 

tekrsq

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Yeah, stay something close to OEM style. I've had these for about 3 yrs, and still look good. I forget where I got them, but they were about $100.

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knewblewkorvett

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That front end is sharp and I have to ask, are those corner driving lights stock? I'm thinking not as I seen some driving lights before on a 1st Gen Expedition and their's were flat.
 

rjdelp7

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That front end is sharp and I have to ask, are those corner driving lights stock? I'm thinking not as I seen some driving lights before on a 1st Gen Expedition and their's were flat.
That front end looks better than 2020s
 

Tom Aldridge

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+1 on keeping the OEM style. Some of those housings with rows of LEDs or other 'bling' just look silly, IMO....but, to each their own.
I have used DEPO brand housings for years with good luck. They're not the least expensive but they are generally much less expensive than the factory housings and I have never experienced a problem with them.
A couple times I tried some of the cheap aftermarket housings found on eBay and Amazon but quickly sent them back.

The oldest DEPO housings that I have are 12 years old and on my 2001 Suburban that has been outside all the time. They have no noticeable clouding or cracking of the coating.
I bought a pair for my 2004 Eddie Bauer a couple years ago and like them fine.
I was fortunate enough to find a pair to replace the OEM HID projector housings on my 2007 GMC Sierra Classic Denali....that saved a huge amount of $$
All of the DEPO housings that I have were made in Taiwan, not mainland China, and have been almost identical in build to the OEM housings for both Ford and GM.

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tekrsq

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That front end is sharp and I have to ask, are those corner driving lights stock? I'm thinking not as I seen some driving lights before on a 1st Gen Expedition and their's were flat.

The clear corner signals were bought with the headlights, but like I said, I don't remember where I got them.

The "projector" driving lights came from "ProTuningLabs" and are absolute junk. They look good, but the lights are crap. They are only good as a DRL. When I turned them on at night, I couldn't tell they on with my headlights on. AND I cannot recommend ProTuningLabs as a company to buy from. When I tried to return the lights, they refused to refund my money. Said they could not refund money on "parts that were mounted". How the hell do you know if you like them if you don't mount them? And, they were only mounted for literally about 100'. I pulled onto the street to adjust them, found out how crappy they were, and backed into the driveway. Not a scratch on them. Anyway, I've gone back to stock style driving lights, but with "crystal clear" lenses. They're on order, and hopefully will be here soon.

EDIT: After seeing Tom Aldrige's post above, I'm pretty sure my headlights and clear corner signal lights were bought from Depo. That company sounds familiar.
 
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Aspen03

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I've used Depo on a few cars in the past. Always quality housings that stood the test of time, though the longest I had a set was about 5 years. If I ever replace the expedition lights I'dook for them if OEM was outrageous
 

Maximus

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Stay clear from the 'one piece' projector lights and really all projector lights for 1st gens. Take it from me, I've owned several sets of aftermarket headlights from the Spyders to the ANZOs and all in between, and I would say without a doubt that all the Projector headlights on the market for the 1st Gen Expedition are complete and utter junk. Don't get me wrong some of them look cool but the components are cheaply made, the LED 'DRLs' on the 'CUSTOM' headlights need to be wired into your parking lights by splicing them in which is a pain in the ass, not to mention how temperamental the LEDs and CCFLs are as they'll stop working at random because of the terrible gauge of wiring throughout the headlight and not making contact, not to mention the LEDs aren't bright at all and are barely noticeable during the day. And lets not forget about the Projectors, they are cheap unfocused and often times you cant raise or lower the beam pattern without raising the whole headlight which is just dumb for a projector headlight. In addition you get to swap your tried and true dual beam 9007s for H1 bulbs which produce possibly the most woeful amount of light I've ever seen... Seriously even after adjusting the headlight for maximum light I could only get around 17 feet of light out of these projectors ahead of my Expy, so i ended up ******* everyone off by driving with my highbeams instead. And god forbid you put HID's in these cheap ass headlights because the sheer amount of heat will warp the cheap plastic interior of the lights and possibly the lens of the headlight and lens of the projector which f***s you completely. And then finally we get to the fitment, oh boi... which is downright terrible as don't fit flush with the grille because they bulge out the sides and weren't sized correctly by the idiots at 3d Modeling, its as though they never did a test fitment at all while designing them and as such they are an absolute pain in the ass to get the locking bolts in place. Those projector lights are a shit show, don't buy them.


That being said if you're dead set on projectors I would suggest buying a set of the Lighting Style headlights, the same ones that jkroten and tekrsq have on their Expys (which are great reflector lights in of themselves), and having a shop retrofit Quality Projectors into them with HIDs or LEDs to get that clean cutoff line great output and fantastic down-road light.

All that being said again, I still would highly recommend DEPO and REPLACE as they make great 'OEM' and 'Lightning' style lights for the Expy.
As for myself, I have the 'Diamond Cut' reflector headlights by REPLACE with LEDs as opposed to Halogens and they work fantastic for me. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.


TL;DR
Don't buy projector headlights for your Expy, they look cool but they suck.
If you really want Projectors have someone professionally Retrofit them into some solid headlights, Be warned it will cost $$$.
Stick with Reflector headlights from good companies like DEPO and REPLACE and put some solid bulbs in them and they'll work great.
 

craig sargood

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Hello, i also have pretty much had every set, I’m so far satisfied with the newest set I just put in. The first 2 pictures with chrome on the corner, shook like a mo fo when hitting the smallest bump, DROVE ME NUTS. I decided to try the black all black ones, and they are constructed different and look just slightly different. But most of all, no shake so far, still need to aim them a bit, but they are the better set I’ve had.

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TheFlyingDutchman

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This was a super helpful post for me--I'm looking at replacing my headlights because they are so fogged up and I was wondering if I should bother spending $50 to have them restored or just replace them with new ones. Couldn't find any that decent reviews on Amazon but now I know exactly which ones I will be getting and found out some good LED bulbs--definitely going to go with those Hikaris!
 
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