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Truck-lite's new LED headlight for XJ's

Darky said:
I googled them. Came up with $500, didn't say per pair or each.
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The Chrome Shop in Arkansas usually has a good price on JW Speaker products. Their website is under repair at the moment.

River Raider was also putting together packages; not sure if they carried the whole line or just round ones though.
 
oooooooo; the 8900s just arrived and we can install them in Stump's Teal B!tch.

We'll see how the beams look in them. They're really cool looking lights...
 
I looked at getting a set of these as soon as I heard of them being available. The price was definitely a shocker, but the real deal breaker was the lack of a glass lens. Yep, glass breaks, but it doesn't deteriorate like plastic lenses. The headlight housings on my wife's '03 intrepid were so bad that the reflectors could barely be seen. Even after 45+ minutes of sanding and polishing each lens, they're not much better. The housings on the '05 civic are starting to show the same deterioration. By comparison, the 15+ year old glass sealed beams in my '77 pickup are still bright and clear.

Sorry trucklite, but you fail on this one. At that price point you could have put in a glass lens and a replaceable polycarbonate protector lens in front of it.
 
machinisttx said:
I looked at getting a set of these as soon as I heard of them being available. The price was definitely a shocker, but the real deal breaker was the lack of a glass lens. Yep, glass breaks, but it doesn't deteriorate like plastic lenses. The headlight housings on my wife's '03 intrepid were so bad that the reflectors could barely be seen. Even after 45+ minutes of sanding and polishing each lens, they're not much better. The housings on the '05 civic are starting to show the same deterioration. By comparison, the 15+ year old glass sealed beams in my '77 pickup are still bright and clear.

Sorry trucklite, but you fail on this one. At that price point you could have put in a glass lens and a replaceable polycarbonate protector lens in front of it.
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The manufacturer claims their lens is highly durable unlike other plastic lenses :dunno:
 
jeeperjohn said:
The manufacturer claims their lens is highly durable unlike other plastic lenses :dunno:
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To play Devil's Advocate, show me one who doesn't. Polycarb generally is quite shatter resistant, although it is subject to yellowing from UV.

If you spent 45 minutes sanding and polishing on a polycarbonate lens, you probably did more damage than good. I'll bet you took the hardcoat & anti-UV coating off which will leave the lenses subject to scratching easier and more yellowing. Anything more abrasive than toothpaste should probably be avoided.
 
ChiXJeff said:
To play Devil's Advocate, show me one who doesn't. Polycarb generally is quite shatter resistant, although it is subject to yellowing from UV.

If you spent 45 minutes sanding and polishing on a polycarbonate lens, you probably did more damage than good. I'll bet you took the hardcoat & anti-UV coating off which will leave the lenses subject to scratching easier and more yellowing. Anything more abrasive than toothpaste should probably be avoided.
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I'll get a pic of the intrepid housings. I didn't even get all of the hazing out. There just isn't any way I more damage than good. They were that bad(and still are). For what it's worth, I used a polishing kit, Meguire's I think. Next time I'll use 2000 grit and polishing compound.
 
Funny... We run these on a lot of our tactical vehicles. Anything from your run of the mill Humvee turtle back to an MRAP or LHS. They are stupid bright and even after being cooked in the Iraq and 'Stan sunshine they are still fine. Not to mention taking the beatings from IEDs. A direct hit...nah, prob. not gonna survive. But blast pressure and light shrapnel don't seem to bug 'em. Whenever I can get around to affording some I will happily put them in my CJ and XJs.
 
Polycarbonite will yellow with age as the UV coating deteriorates. On the other hand, it can and usually does takes many, many, years for the damage to occurr. Some say that one should apply a good carnuba car wax to the lense on a regular basis. As a preventative measure.

It is a neccessity to wax the lense after a repolish. Leastways, the Kit I used to correct the lenses on my Son's '90 Subaru said to wax after the polish to provide UV protection. His lights are original to the vehicle and we needed, finally, to polish them last summer. So, it took 21 years for the subi's lenses to go off to the point of needing a polish.

To reject the headlamp in it's entirety for the lense material appears a tad off to me.

But, what do I know?

If these lights were not so bloody expensive, I would buy a set. For the price, on the other hand, I can fit a set of Commander Halogens and have a ton of bucks left over. One can find new housings for around a buck and a half for the pair. Not the projectors (starting with the '10 model year), just the halogens.
 
I think they look great and likely no doubt have fantastic performance... but again, I just can't see dropping that kind of $$$ for my daily driver XJ. If I was in a place where replacement bulbs were few and far between, then perhaps a good investment, but I can get replacement bulbs if needed pretty easily. I am still wanting to see some comparison pics of the lights thought... :)
 
Brent T said:
Uh, did you look at the first page of this thread?
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Redsnake said:
Yes I did... Have read all 8 pages and unless I missed it have not seen any pics of the JW 8900's lights (those are the ones I'm curious about)
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In his defense the beam shots in t his thread are of the Truck-lits LEDs, not the JW 8900.

I haven't seen a beam shot of the 8900, but they are brought up in these two threads:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=940046&page=6
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1050092&page=7
 
Redsnake said:
Yes I did... Have read all 8 pages and unless I missed it have not seen any pics of the JW 8900's lights (those are the ones I'm curious about)
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I've got a set of 8900s and we're going to install them in Stump's Teal B!tch this weekend.

We've also got a set of JW Speaker's new 8700s with smaller heatsink and plastic face. I preferred the glass, but what can you do?
The new 8700s will go in a TJ.

Stay tuned...

155233_121420116822_ExhibitPic.jpg
 
Hmm... those are funky! Cant wait to give them a try! They have a lot to live up to compared to the Trucklites, which I absolutely love in my daily driver. Pics and data to come shortly.

~ Stump
 
these things look awesome, anyone found them for a good price yet? the best I've found is 239 ea from a local truck/trailer shop
 
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