My DD is a 2014 CR-V. It's a decent car and meets my needs nicely but has one nagging shortcoming- The headlights pretty much stink. I can't figure out how to aim them. With the fogs on, the low beams are adequate (but no better). The high beams are awful - poor focus/pattern, lights just puked out there. I know the LED bars are popular, but they seem to do the same thing.
I'm running decent bulbs - Any ideas for upgrading the lighting without ending up looking like a bad pre-runner?
I recently upgraded my Focus headlights with some Morimoto Mini H1 retrofit bi-xenon projectors and am quite happy with the results. They also have a slightly larger D2S version that opens up the options on OEM bulbs. They install inside the stock headlights with a threaded shaft through the stock bulb hole and while they require the lens to be removed, overall it's a bit time consuming, but not too difficult. Worth a look, or you may also have a factory HID option that you could use.
If all you want is better high beams, then a set of driving lights works well too.
I've also never found that fogs actually help, they always seem to just add foreground lighting, making your eyes adjust to more light, making distance vision worse.
Please do this and post photos.
The CR-V is largely ignored by the performance aftermarket (for obvious reasons, I guess), so the pickings are pretty thin. There's only one light bar I've found and it looks like a bro-runner push bar. Regrettably my fabrication skills are largely absent. Ideally, I'd like a simple light mount that's rigidly attached, that doesn't require surgery on the body work, and is reasonably unobtrusive. Enough room and strength to mount a couple real driving lights with decent optics. Wiring I can do, but I'm not certain about the alternator capacity.
Back in the early 80's my Datsun 510 ran a rally light setup like the one pictured above - Cibie e-codes in the stock locations (55/60 watt in the lows and 100 watt in the highs). A pair of 180 "Oscar" driving lights and a single "Super Oscar" pencil beam on a simple bumper mount. That was amazing lighting, but required an entirely re-engineered electrical system as the stock 510 lights were on a positive ground circuit. That was fun. MOPAR truck alternator and regulator, all new wiring, truck relays, none of it cheap even then.
Good optics are crucial. Lumens without control do more harm than good. The hunt continues...
If you're looking for focused, but not blinding to incoming traffic light, the retrofit hid kits are your answer. I've been thinking of doing the same, and all in it looks to be about a 350-400$ project. Considering capability, I'm consistently surprised how poor the halogen headlight systems are in vehicles today. It's as if they said eh...good enough...you should have bought a higher trim level if you wanted to see at night.
No oem HID option for crvs. On the 16's, the touring models have projector halogens vs reflector halogens on all other models. If you can figure out what 14 models came with projector halogens, you could always try those headlights. 12-16 is considered 4th gen, check to see if headlights are interchangeable between years.
AFAIK, there were no OEM lighting upgrade options for the 2014s and the 2016 headlight assembly is a different shape - not readily interchangeable...
My DD is a 2014 CR-V. It's a decent car and meets my needs nicely but has one nagging shortcoming- The headlights pretty much stink. I can't figure out how to aim them. With the fogs on, the low beams are adequate (but no better). The high beams are awful - poor focus/pattern, lights just puked out there. I know the LED bars are popular, but they seem to do the same thing.
I'm running decent bulbs
In reply to Sanchinguy :
I'm considering running a 1/2 wave [canoe] combo, however after reading your posts, I'm having a hard time not going for the simpler head
Please update with finding. Gf has 2013 CRV. Runs with fog lights on despite (or to spite me) my warning they will burn out. So, my choices of cheap eBay interior LED drop in bulbs have eventually been they work OK for a time, then start having defective LEDs/blink. Haven't done any root cause analysis or tried resoldering inexpensive lamps. So, if you have BTDT on fog lights LEDs, please share.
Did have to upgrade lame OEM battery a couple of years ago on single digits winter night.
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