Driving vs Spot Beam Pattern for A-pillar Lights

[Whiteout]

I have the SS3 Max fogs and driving lights in the bumper and SS3 Max in driving pattern on M-to-M brackets on the A pillars. I leave the fogs on at all times and they are great. On country roads I only use the bumper mounted driving lights as the pillar mounts reflect back the road signs too much for my liking. Once I get to the trails, the pillar lights in driving pattern work great as its more technical and not high speed. I don't really notice the glare from the hood so I cannot address that for you,

Appreciate your feedback/experience with these- super helpful and sharp looking setup there!

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[Whiteout]

I'd do a COMBO light as it's both a driving and a flood pattern. The Diode Dynamics spot pattern is very defined wheras the Comb's Driving portion is a bit wider so it's better for "supplemental high beams", especially since it has flood in it.

I'd recommend the SS3 over an SSC2 as it's a bigger light and will have more light down range.

We've got some amazing sales happening right now and our ditch kits include the upfitter harness

https://www.4x4truckleds.com/vehicl...onco/auxiliary-lighting/ford/a-pillar-lights/

Appreciate the recommendations and I've been eyeing the deals--will likely be placing an order today! Think I will go with just the SS3 with the driving pattern and I can always add different lenses if a change is needed.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

yup that works. We stock the lenses so you can always change the lenses later to another pattern

 

[Callelk]

Appreciate your feedback/experience with these- super helpful and sharp looking setup there!

No problem, be sure to look at the MAX if you go with DD's. I'm not sure you would be happy with the pro's.

 

[bryan@blumak3d]

2 major issues with A pillar mounted lights that rule them out as a feasible product.

•Hood glare.

•Illumination of airborne dust right in front of your eyes.

Both of these issues make night driving worse with the lights on regardless of the angle setting.

 

[Sparkherd]

Hoping to get a few opinions on which direction to go here. I am planning on adding some lights for the a-pillars. I am looking for these to primarily supplement my headlights/highbeams when driving on open country roads and such. The factory lights are not impressive here.
I'm also adding a low profile M@R 40 inch lightbar to my capable bumper which should be good for low speed/flood lighting and I already have some amber fog lights in the bumper. Just looking to fill out the gap for higher speeds/down road lighting.

Likely going with diode dynamics SS3 pros but exploring some others as well. I want a clean look/lower profile light with functional output. Am I best going with a somewhat broader driving beam pattern or should I get a focused spot pattern which may give more distance and less hood glare?

Appreciate any thoughts/experiences here!

I've got the DD SS3 Pro combo lights on mine, and they're gggggrrrrreat!!!
Also have the SS3 Pro spots on the roof for long ranging.

 

[Sparkherd]

2 major issues with A pillar mounted lights that rule them out as a feasible product.

•Hood glare.

•Illumination of airborne dust right in front of your eyes.

Both of these issues make night driving worse with the lights on regardless of the angle setting.

I angle mine off to the side so they only light the ditches on the side of the road.

 

[bryan@blumak3d]

I angle mine off to the side so they only light the ditches on the side of the road.

Same here. With a nice housing too.

 

[The Beaz]

Thanks for this and the hood glare doesn't look bad at all. Do you find that these S2 lights provide enough light to make a significant improvement over the headlights and high beams?

Definitely a huge amount of light over the headlights and highs. With these and the triple pockets, tons of light!

 

[RallyGorgo]

I just don’t understand putting lights anywhere behind the plane of the grille, it seems like all they would do is add glare making it difficult to see. I just added these Cibie Apollo Turinis in the “spot” pattern. I had 4 on my rally car years ago, 2 spots and 2 pencil-beam, but 2 spots will work great on my Badlands, I just need to figure out how to use Forscan to program the switch to power them with high-beam on only.

 

[ThunderFlash]

If you go with a forward pointing blaster light and plan to use them on the road, make sure to turn them off if you have on coming traffic. Otherwise the flashes you get back from others drivers might be from a muzzle.

I have Rigid SAE lights mounted low in a bumper recess and angled pretty far down and I still get vigorously flashed down by about 20% of on coming cars.

 

[Whiteout]

Following up on this thread to share the outcome after I finally got around to installing my lights!

Installed the M&R Slim Lightbar on my capable bumper- it's low profile and puts out a good amount of light in what seems to be more of a flood pattern.

Installed Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro's in the "Driving" beam pattern. These are mounted by the a-pillars and provide excellent output in a very usable pattern that lights up the road into the distance but wider and seems more usable than a dedicated spot beam.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

 

[Pariah]

Following up on this thread to share the outcome after I finally got around to installing my lights!

Installed the M&R Slim Lightbar on my capable bumper- it's low profile and puts out a good amount of light in what seems to be more of a flood pattern.

Installed Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro's in the "Driving" beam pattern. These are mounted by the a-pillars and provide excellent output in a very usable pattern that lights up the road into the distance but wider and seems more usable than a dedicated spot beam.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Nice!
The lightbar is about invisible.
Post up a pic with them on if you are able.

 

[Whiteout]

Nice!
The lightbar is about invisible.
Post up a pic with them on if you are able.

Sure thing!
Here are several photos with the lights on- the last couple were taken in different location but gives an example of just the additional lights with headlights off. The photos don't do the a-pillar/driving beams justice and are brighter than the photos suggest.

 

[Pariah]

Sure thing!
Here are several photos with the lights on- the last couple were taken in different location but gives an example of just the additional lights with headlights off. The photos don't do the a-pillar/driving beams justice and are brighter than the photos suggest.

Impressive!

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