Lighting - Roof Rack - Glare off Hood

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Filmpros

10 Year 15 Year
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I am looking to finish my build...getting close to being done. One of the last things I want to do is add some lighting on the Roof Rack.

Originally, I was going to install IPF or HELLA HID's up top. However, in speaking with a few folks ... I was quickly informed that I would get a terrible glare off the hood with HID's.

I have a champagne colored 1997 Lexus LX-450 which I was told would make matters even worse.

What type of lighting is best suited for this application? I was looking for a pair of very high output spots beams for the center positions and a pair of driving beams for the left and right corner for the roof rack.

Also, how can I best protect the lights on the roof rack from tree limb damage?

Does anyone have any advice on these topics?
 
Don't have much of advice, but as far as the light pattern goes it might be good to know if we knew what you would be using the vehicle/lights is/are for (on a dark backroad driving high speed or out driving at low/medium speed on dirt or rock crawling.

I would probably not put spots on, but probably do driving lights in the center and fogs/floods on the outside. But that's just me.

Can't remember if you have any spots on your bumper, but I guess if you don't have either driving/spots on the bumper then I would probably put a pair of driving lights on, if not putting fog/driving or driving/spot on the bumper (one of each).

It's just that I like flipping on my Light Force (spots) on my bumper when there is no traffic around, even in town sometimes. That would be less obvious (to others) that I get turn them on than turning the ones on the roof on in the similar situation (Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention from cops, etc...).

ANYWAY, hope this makes some sense and also that it might help you make well informec decision!

As far as the hood goes I've seen some black out the (center) of the hood which supposedly helps some.

Also, Bill (photoman), I believe, has(had?) a rather unique covers on his roof-top lights.

Good luck, Rich!!

Mot
 
Blacking out the hood is one option to reduce glare. It just depends if you like that look or not.

Also, you can use the roof to block the amount of light hitting the hood by setting the lights further back. However, this also depends on your roof rack setup.
 
Your best bet is to fabricate something like these out of aluminum or steel and paint them flat black. You may be able to fab them for less than the purchase price.

7302.gif


Glare Shields (Black)<br># 7302
 
I had four IPF 868's on a 3/4 rack. Because they sit back just behind the sunroof they didn't glare the hood much. They worked OK but I found them better suited to the bumper due to the mixed spot/wide light pattern. I haven't decided what I'm going to put up there as a replacement. I like the 2 spots in the middle, floods at the sides idea.
 
We have a hood black out on our hood. It works good.. we had sign shop order in a roll of Italian vinyl flat black that's supposed to last like 10 years.



To protect the lights, the rack has a built in stone guard.

The one problem we still have specifically with our setup is our rack is long. The HELLA's sit over the windshield and our dash board is illuminated. This being said, i've become used to it and have learned how to drive with the dash lit up. Some glare shields would solve this problem, just haven't really thought about it lately since we use the HID's much more on the bumper.
 
Hi,

I currently have the3 IPF 900XS HID Driving pattern lights in my front bumper with a set of IPF Fogs as well.

Why would you not put spots on?

I would think a focused Spot with a Free Form Reflector that throws very little stray light would be a much better choice than a driving light on the roof. That surely would throw less light on the hood than a reflector that is not as well designed and has a broader "throw" of light.

The blackout idea is good. I could not find anyone who makes them for teh Land Cruiser. The company in the link below makes them for Rovers...so I e-mailed them and they said it would be easy enough to make a custom one for me.

WHat does Photoman have on his lifghts? What type of covers?




Vigg Designs, LLC 732.683.9400

mot said:
Don't have much of advice, but as far as the light pattern goes it might be good to know if we knew what you would be using the vehicle/lights is/are for (on a dark backroad driving high speed or out driving at low/medium speed on dirt or rock crawling.

I would probably not put spots on, but probably do driving lights in the center and fogs/floods on the outside. But that's just me.

Can't remember if you have any spots on your bumper, but I guess if you don't have either driving/spots on the bumper then I would probably put a pair of driving lights on, if not putting fog/driving or driving/spot on the bumper (one of each).

It's just that I like flipping on my Light Force (spots) on my bumper when there is no traffic around, even in town sometimes. That would be less obvious (to others) that I get turn them on than turning the ones on the roof on in the similar situation (Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention from cops, etc...).

ANYWAY, hope this makes some sense and also that it might help you make well informec decision!

As far as the hood goes I've seen some black out the (center) of the hood which supposedly helps some.

Also, Bill (photoman), I believe, has(had?) a rather unique covers on his roof-top lights.

Good luck, Rich!!

Mot
Click to expand...
 
Where did you find these? My concern with this approach is vulnerability to branch limbs.



IBCRUSN said:
Your best bet is to fabricate something like these out of aluminum or steel and paint them flat black. You may be able to fab them for less than the purchase price.

7302.gif


Glare Shields (Black)<br># 7302
Click to expand...
 
Photoman made a pneumatic solution to the lights but it wasn't for glare per se, it was to protect the lights. He put them all on a bar that rotated 90º and use am air-powered actuator to move the lights up and down. Way slick. He didn't start a thread on it, I just checked, but its on one of the light posts on here somewhere.
 
On the vinyl note, my friend owns a sticker shop and can do pretty much any wrap, pieces, etc. I can easily drop my truck of to him so he could make a template to cut from and ship off a cut piece for the hood. He can get pretty much any vinyl color, type, thickness material.
 
I've blacked out the hood of all my Cruisers, it's a great cheap mod. For my 100 I just hosed it down with Satin Black:
Memorial Day Dump 177 (Medium).webp
 
Filmpros said:
Why would you not put spots on?

I would think a focused Spot with a Free Form Reflector that throws very little stray light would be a much better choice than a driving light on the roof. That surely would throw less light on the hood than a reflector that is not as well designed and has a broader "throw" of light.
Click to expand...

The reason why I mentioned that I would not put spots on the roof was that I do not think I would be using the lights when I'm on pavement (Gets too much attention from other drivers , as well as law enforcement officials even if I try to use them only with no one around).

So, if I only use them for offroading, I doubt that I would ever be driving fast enough to warrant the long and the narrow beam pattern, but rather would want to have something that light (lit?) up closer and wider since I would be going MUCH slower on dirt/rocks.

So, that is my logic in thinking that if I didn't put four fogs on the roof I might put two driving ones in the middle (In case I want use them on the dirt road, with further lighting than the fogs) and two fog/flood lights on the sides.

I think, for driving offroad mouting the lights farther back and/or blacking out the hood should be sufficient for most of us since we would not be driving the vehicle fast enough that some glare on the hood "should" not hinder our peripheral(sp) vision too much, but it would be more critical (to me) when driving at relatively at high speeds when we want to look out for objects/animals farther down the road. In that situation, I want absolutely zero glare on/off the hood.

Just my 2 yen. ;)

Good luck!
 
I agree with the Penciles in the middle and wides on the sides... Here was my rally car set up! Sorry, just wanted to show off those - HELLA's!
62664987_8721bf4e77.jpg


For my ADV-80, once I get the roof rack on, I'm going with the same plan for the roof-rack. I will consider the placement of the lights over roof/windscreen.

My plan is to just flat-black the hood as vinyl is HARD TO REMOVE!!! I've done it too many times.

Also you might want to think about a vinyl sunscreen visor to block the light from coming down from the top plus it will block that bit of sun that sneaks in between the sun visors and the rear view mirror - pesty bright light!

I'm sure I will also have some big lights or nice filler lights on the front bumper..

ahhhh-the dreams!!!!
 
Filmpros said:
Where did you find these? My concern with this approach is vulnerability to branch limbs.
Click to expand...

I just googled off road lights glare shields. The KC Hilites brand is the most commonly available.

I agree with you that they can be limb grabbers. Depending on your intended installation you can fab something similar but angle them down so it stays within the area protected by limb risers (if you have).

I'm not big on roof mounted lights for nearly all of my wheeling because I don't need that much light and also the same concern you have with limbs on tight trails. I do have the middle section of my hood painted flat black to cut the glare of normal driving and it works well just as the other guys have mentioned.

I'm certain you'll find the best solution for your application and it may be a combination of different ideas. Good luck.
 
SOCALFJ said:
We have a hood black out on our hood. It works good.. we had sign shop order in a roll of Italian vinyl flat black that's supposed to last like 10 years.



To protect the lights, the rack has a built in stone guard.

The one problem we still have specifically with our setup is our rack is long. The HELLA's sit over the windshield and our dash board is illuminated. This being said, i've become used to it and have learned how to drive with the dash lit up. Some glare shields would solve this problem, just haven't really thought about it lately since we use the HID's much more on the bumper.
Click to expand...

Your rig is perfect.
 
Good idea on the windshield tint....I have hear about the dashboard lighting up and becoming distracting when the roof rack light are turned on.

I too believe 2 pencil and 2 driving lights will serve me best. I already have a pair of IPF 900xs HID's on the front ARB. Plenty of light there.

I think the spots will give me what I want for range and the driving beams will fill in the rest nicely.


GCRad1 said:
I agree with the Penciles in the middle and wides on the sides... Here was my rally car set up! Sorry, just wanted to show off those - HELLA's!
62664987_8721bf4e77.jpg


For my ADV-80, once I get the roof rack on, I'm going with the same plan for the roof-rack. I will consider the placement of the lights over roof/windscreen.

My plan is to just flat-black the hood as vinyl is HARD TO REMOVE!!! I've done it too many times.

Also you might want to think about a vinyl sunscreen visor to block the light from coming down from the top plus it will block that bit of sun that sneaks in between the sun visors and the rear view mirror - pesty bright light!

I'm sure I will also have some big lights or nice filler lights on the front bumper..

ahhhh-the dreams!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Here is a picture I found that shows what I did with the Hella 4000’s on the rack. I made the grid from round stock I bent up for protection and I lined the bottom with black plastic. The most irritating thing for me was the glare on the dash and the plastic eliminated that.
With the new rack I was making out of aluminum I made covers that would flip forward so some of the glare would be blocked by them. Also I was moving the lights and the rack more forward so the lights were over the windshield a bit thus eliminating some of the glare on the interior and the dash. Just fwiw, in the rack thread I switched from the air cylinders to electrical linear actuators. I was worried about moisture in the air lines freezing in winter.
Good luck with your project.

Bill
Snorkel-Both.webp
 
Thanks for all your posts and information on this topic. I went with HELLA 4000i Compact HID Lights with internal ballasts and a Free Form Reflector. These are the best lights I could find for the application in my opinion.

I am having my Auto Detail guy and 3M Installer do a 3M Matt Black Vinyl product for the hood black out. The 3M product is very durable and removable. I think this will work out best.

I do have limb risers being installed and I will install the HELLA Protective Shields in oder to help prevent damage to the lights.

I think this setup will serve me well.
 
Does anyone have pictures of the glare from the Drivers seat? And is there any real difference in glare between HID and halogen offroad lights?
 
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