What Are The Best Automotive Lights? How Headlights, Tail Lights & Fog Lights Work - Style Benefits & Install Tips

Lights Tech Center

Other than your brakes, no other safety feature on your vehicle is as important as your lights. Without them, everyone's drive time would be limited to the brief period between sunrise and sunset. Workers wouldn't be able to get home in the evenings, semis would take a month to haul their load cross country, and drive-in movie theaters across the nation would be forced to close their doors.

Why Should I Upgrade My Automotive Lighting?

Other than your brakes, no other safety feature on your vehicle is as important as your lights. Without them, everyone's drive time would be limited to the brief period between sunrise and sunset. Workers wouldn't be able to get home in the evenings, semis would take a month to haul their load cross country, and drive-in movie theaters across the nation would be forced to close their doors.

A quality set of lights gives all of us the freedom of movement to venture out onto the road no matter what the driving conditions are. Moonless nights, foggy mornings, or stormy afternoons are no match for an arsenal of bright lights safely guiding you to your destination. Besides improving the safety of your vehicle, automotive lights give you the chance to redesign its overall look by adding new lights or altering the style and color of your existing ones.

Upgrading your automotive lighting lets you:

• Revamp your stock lighting system to reflect your own personal sense of style
• Add auxiliary lights to enhance your visibility for just about any driving condition
• Mount a heavy-duty set of protected off-road lights for your outdoor adventures

The Basics of Revamping your Stock Lights

Let's face it: most stock lighting systems are about as visually appealing as an old brick. What's worse, this lack of design flare is an epidemic in almost the entire automotive industry. New cars, trucks, and SUVs may have imaginatively shaped bodies, but their lights are usually just bland rehashes of old styles. Of course, you have the power to break free from this boring OEM world. Add an edge of excitement and a personal touch to your vehicle's attitude by upgrading your factory-installed lights. We make it easy to brighten up your front with a slick set of headlights or to outfit your rear with the hottest European-inspired tail lights.

An Overview of Auxiliary Lights

Certain driving situations call for special lights. When you're feeling your way through a dense patch of fog or a nasty blizzard, your low beams and high beams can actually make your visibility worse. Even on clear, star-filled nights, your headlights might not have enough juice to completely illuminate the unknown road ahead. AT has plenty of auxiliary lights, such as fog lights and driving lights, to add safety and style to your vehicle.

An Introduction to Off-Road Lights

When you're slogging across rocky badlands, shredding down the face of sand dunes, or heading out on a wild camping expedition, you need all the light you can get. Not enough lighting could mean the difference between getting home safely or being stuck in a ditch with a snapped axle and dwindling food rations. Before you hit the dusty trails, equip your rig with a powerful set of off-road lights. They're specially designed to withstand harsh environments. Take a look at our Guide to Off-Road Lights for more details.

A Quick Word on the History of Automotive Illumination

In 1886 the world's first gasoline-powered automobiles rolled out of the European workshops of Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegffried Marcus. Besides lacking such modern amenities as air conditioning and in-dash DVD players, these early automobiles also lacked electrical lighting. Instead, their lamps were fueled by oil or acetylene, both of which could be quickly snubbed out by a strong gust of wind or rainstorm. Needless to say, navigating across winding mountain roads at night could be quite precarious.

Quick Tip: Getting the most from your lighting

Think about it: a dirty window doesn't let through as much light as a freshly cleaned pane of glass. The same is true for your lights. If your auxiliary lights get covered in dirt, you can lose out on as much as 80% of their power. The solution is simple. Just give them a scrub when you wash your car, and you won't lose out on all those precious watts.

The Guide to OEM Light Upgrades

Whether you're looking to brighten your vehicle's appearance with a sleek new pair of headlights or stand out from traffic with a European-inspired set of tail lights, AT has just what you need to personalize your stock lighting. Let's take a closer look at all the lights that you can modify, including:

• Headlights
• Tail lights
• Corner lights and side markers
• Bumper lights and parking lights

Headlights

When it comes to your vehicle's lighting system, headlights are the leader of the pack. They have the most important job of all the lights on your vehicle: to light up the road and guide you safely on your way. Auto manufacturers, however, usually do not spend a lot of creative time designing imaginative headlights. Squares, rectangles, and triangles may have turned heads back in the 80's, but they hardly even get a raised eyebrow from us modern, cultivated motorists.

If you're fed up with the unimaginative headlights that came with your vehicle, AT has good news for you. We have total replacement headlights that you can hookup in the place of your OEM headlights. And, you don't need a degree in electrical engineering to make the trade. A few twists of your screwdriver, a couple of loosened nuts, and some wire swapping is about all it takes to install a new set. The total time it takes to transform your front end should be no more than 20 minutes for most novice handymen (and women).

When you're perusing our headlights, keep in mind that there are two basic types:

Reflector Headlights

Reflector headlights have been around for a long time, and they have a proven track record. They're design is simple: take a small light source and magnify it into a powerful beam. The housing is curved and covered with a reflective material, like mirrors. A bulb is mounted at the focus point of the housing. The light emitted by the bulb gets reflected by the mirrors, which produce a strong, unobstructed beam.

Projector Headlights

Projector headlights are just like reflector headlights, except they use a halogen bulb to focus the light. They're called projector headlights because they are equipped with a convex lens that produces a focused light pattern. The light produced by the bulb is captured and aimed forward by a "projector" lens, which is used in place of a reflector. This lens is made of hardened glass and is extremely heat-resistant.

Tail Lights

If you're rolling with the stock tail lights that came with your vehicle, chances are they're very plain. If you drive a European car, you know what we're talking about. These European-made cars are sleek and stylish, and their lights should match. You can upgrade the look of your vehicle by trading in those stock lights for modernized LED or Euro tail lights.

LED tail lights are the popular trend in the tail light market. They're the most powerful type of tail light on the road today. If you've got a busted tail light, it's important to replace it as soon as possible. Not only is a damaged tail light an unsightly feature on any vehicle, it's also a safety issue. If you've been rear-ended by another vehicle while driving at night, you know the importance of good tail lights. At AT, we have both the best LED tail lights and Euro tail lights on the market available for your vehicle.