HELLA Vision Plus 165mm 12V Conversion Kit

My wife’s 2004 Jeep Wrangler TJ had absolutely atrocious factory sealed beam headlights, and her Jeep only has 40000km on it, so it wasn’t even that the headlights were worn out or faded. They were so bad, one very foggy evening we had to have her headlights and fog lights on, and could still barely see the pavement marking lines 50 feet in front of her car. It was truly scary and we were crawling along roads we normally drive at 90km/h during the day.

Fed up with her terrible OEM Sylvania headlights, I went searching for an upgrade that would install cleanly and not be insanely expensive. After looking at some very expensive and cheesy looking LED headlights, as well as some cheap plastic lens equipped conversion headlights, I settled on these Hella conversion housings. Hella is a very well known and respected automotive lighting brand, and I really liked that this kit included everything we needed and had glass housings, rather than cheaper plastic housings. Of note, this kit is correct for left hand drive vehicles sold in Canada and the USA, this is not the right hand drive kit that would be used in England or Japan.

Installation is very easy
-pop out the old sealed beam bulbs
-being careful not to touch the glass of the new H4 bulbs, place them into the new housings and secure them with the spring clips (a wiring pigtail is NOT needed, H4 bulbs use the same connector as sealed beams)
-firmly press the included rubber cover over the end of the bulb connector until the prongs stick all the way through it (you must press firmly, you DO NOT need to cut the cover, it is meant to fit snugly and is made properly)
-connect wiring to prongs on H4 bulb
-reinstall bulb housing into vehicle grille and reinstall trim ring if your vehicle has one

I wish I had taken a before and after picture, because these new bulbs blow the only headlights out of the water! The conversion housings and provided bulbs put out WAY MORE light than the Sylvania sealed beam headlights my wife’s Jeep originally came with, and we now feel much safer driving it at dark. Previously, we would tend to avoid driving the Jeep at night and use my car because it is newer and has much better headlights, but now the Jeep can safely light our way. I also like that the conversion headlight lenses are flat, compared to the domed lenses over her old sealed beam headlights. The flat lenses look more modern and update the classic Jeep Wrangler styling a bit.

1972 Chevy C10 headlight upgrade. These fitted perfectly into the Stock headlight buckets & with a replacement H4 harness installed it was a” plug & play “ swap

It isn’t everyday that something so simple as a set of headlights can bring me sheer joy. These Hellas did just that! I’ve owned my 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport (XJ) for about three years now and for some reason or another just drove it daily with the standard halogen headlights that came with it. I rarely contemplated looking for something brighter or better and to be honest with you, I didn’t even know this HB2/HB4 conversion kit even existed.

If you are a Cherokee XJ owner, you know that the headlights are barely bright enough and I frequently would flick on my brights while driving to work so I could safely see. A fresh paved road, during any kind of precipitation, rain/snow would usually result in me using the high beams. Anyway, I thought I would give these a shot. I wanted to buy a brand I recognized and wanted Amazon’s ease of return just in case I wasn’t happy, so I went with these Hellas. I’m going to explain what I did for my XJ install in a minute, but to sum up my experience now that I have had the opportunity to test them out in the pitch black, I’m happy to report that they are absolutely fantastic.

They remind me of the H4’s in my Kia Spectra. They fill the road up with light and have some pretty distinct, strong beams that you will notice that light up the center. Another big difference that I noticed was that road signs and the reflectors people put on their road sides to mark their driveway (anyone who lives in a small town/rural area or has ever ventured out into the country knows what I am talking about) are lit up way brighter than they were before. I was even thinking about changing out my wiring harness for the headlights, another $125 investment but for now I am going to hold off as I am completely satisfied with this conversion set.

Yeah, $80 stings the wallet a bit, especially for Cherokee drivers that tend to be frugal and drive their XJ because they are dirt cheap to maintain, always start and are very easy to fix, but the safety factor should not have a dollar sign put on it. They work great and you can replace the bulb itself (a standard Hella HB2/H4 type) for around $8 each here on Amazon. I was paying at least $14 at my local Walmart for each lamp (Sylvania or Wagner Halogen) when they would burn out, which has only happened once but when you go to buy a replacement, there really isn’t much in terms of on the self selection.

Here is how I changed my old lamps for the HELLAs on my 2001 Jeep Cheorkee…

1. In your tool box, I would recommend one of those multi-bit screw drivers with an extension bar to make it easy to reach the screws on the unit as they are set back just a bit.

2. Remove the two black screws from both the left and right side molding that surrounds the headlight and front amber lamp. Pop out the molding, it is held in place by two tabs on the bottom.

3. Shoot each screw (there are 4 of them which keep the aluminum trim piece around the front of the headlight) with some WD40, silicone lubricant or something that you will actually be able to remove the screws out of the aluminum trim that surround the headlight. My screws were slightly rusted and took a lot of force to get to unscrew. DO NOT USE A TORX SCREWDRIVER TO REMOVE THE TORX SCREWS ON THE TOP AND SIDE OF THE HEADLIGHT MOUNT. If i am correct, those two torx screws are what keep your headlights pointed in the correct direction when you re-mount the headlights. I did notice on the drivers side, the bottom left screw (in the aluminum trim) had some wiring that was running in front of it blocking the screw itself but all I had to do was push it slightly to the left and I could reach the screw.

4. Remove the aluminum trim that surrounds the front of the headlights. The lamps should basically fall out but will be held in place with the plug on the back of the bulb. Mine were an absolute pain to remove. I have a gray/black headlight plug and I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to un-click something or squeeze the sides but after about 5 minutes of wiggling the plug back and forth, mine came off and the three prongs on the back of my headlight were freed from the plug.

5. My Hellas came with a rubber cap over the back of the headlight out of the box, but you can remove that cap and it will expose the three prongs that will plug into the wiring harness on each side of your jeep and they should plug right in. Also, if you take a look at the back of the Hella headlight you can see the wire support that keeps the headlight bulb itself inserted into the lamp. Aside from having to remove the entire lamp from the Cherokee, the bulbs should be a piece of cake to remove. I am going to order a second set of bulbs to keep in my vehicle just in case I need to do a bulb change. I don’t know what kind of life I can expect from these new bulbs but I want to be ready should one burn out.

6. To finish instillation, screw the 4 screws back into the aluminum trim that keeps the headlight in its mount.

7. Put the two tabs from each molding piece back into the holes and screw the two screws in on each side of the molding and you are done.

I would recommend that whatever screwdriver or tip you used to loosen the screws from the aluminum that you toss it into the back of your jeep and just remember it is there. It took me at least 6 different phillips heads before I found one that would grip the screw tight enough for me to turn the screw without the risk of wearing off the grooves the screwdriver head goes into. Keeping this tool in my Jeep itself will make headlight changes that much easier in the future.

8. Take your Jeep out someplace really dark and enjoy your new lights. Like I said, I really noticed a big difference with the low beams and the high beams definitely projected down the highway longer than with stock halogens.

I am very happy with this purchase.