Ford Explorer: Higher power lighting

I've seen several posts about using higher power headlights. I have a 2003
and the standard lights, especially the high beams seem more than bright
enough.

Sy Cohen

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 01:53:58 -0700, "Justin Keller"
<com> wrote:
 

Would it?

There's more to headlamps than brighter or whiter light. You have to
consider the beam pattern, too.

The best headlamps I ever drove behind were Hella E-code replacement
headlamps. H-4 bulbs with 55 watt low beams and the European beam
pattern gave me a solid fill of light in front of the vehicle with a
very sharp upper cut-off that kept me from blinding on-coming traffic
with a kick-up on the right letting me see signs or pedestrians along
the side of the road. Too bad the U.S. DOT and the SAE think this beam
pattern is A Bad Thing for automobiles (though it's OK for motorcycles
<sigh>).

HIDs are a fad and a styling gimmick. Yeah, sure, the light is
brighter. But if that light isn't well-controlled, it dazzles and
blinds on-coming traffic. Unless the reflectors and lenses in your
headlamps are designed for HID, please forget about the conversion.
The people who have to face you in traffic will thank you for it.

It's interesting that the beam pattern from my stock '03 Explorer
headlamps on low beam is the same as my old Hella E-code headlamps on
HIGH beam. What I see when I shine my headlamps on a wall is an X
pattern with as much light going above the horizontal center line of
the lamps as below. Apparently, Ford's headlamp engineers don't get
it.

Anybody know where I can buy E-code replacements for a third gen
Explorer? Do they make them for the European market (where U.S.
standard headlamps are generally banned)? Now, that would be an
improvement.

Bob...