One of the simplest upgrades you can do on your vehicle is upgrading your lights, and after you see the benefits and instant results you will be wondering why you didn’t do it years ago. On the Land Rover build this was something we had planned to do for ages, and with the build project underway, we finally got round to it.

The aftermarket lights industry continues to grow from strength to strength, and with this increasing competition this has seen a reduction in prices for light upgrades allowing 4WD enthusiasts to easily acquire these upgrade kits that just make the open road a lot clearer at night. Vehicle light technology has come a long way since the Halogen light bulb was introduced over fifty years ago. The Halogen lights are still the most widely used headlights but over the last few years we have started to see some new innovations entering the market such as HID, LED and the latest LASER technology. HID headlights are now brighter, cleaner and more energy efficient than their halogen counterparts, and with easy-to-install kits readily available we are seeing a lot more HID’s being installed on vehicles. HID also headlights work in a way that is entirely different from regular, halogen headlights. There is no filament inside HID bulbs, instead, a combination of an electrical charge and gas is used to produce the light. When the gas is lit by the electrical charge, it emits a much brighter, whiter light than that produced by halogen bulbs giving the driver a much wider range.The real advantage of High-Intensity Discharge lights is that they draw very little wattage/power.

In recent years LED’s have also become very popular as an effective light source for recreation and four wheel drive racers around the world.LED technology is not a new one in fact the technology has been around for nearly 45 years but in recent years this technology has improved rapidly and become popular within the 4WD industry. The good news about this advancement in technology is that the availability of a number of aftermarket products has led these lights to become more affordable. On the build we have installed the Bearmach 73mm clear LED light upgrade. These were very simple to install, pretty much click and go, and they also just happen to look the business. Remember after you install the Bearmach light kit, don’t forget to also change the provided relay, this new relay will reduce the fast flickering of your indicator light speed. Like all Bearmach products, the quality is very good and overall this is a huge improvement in comparison to what was there previously. The Bearmach 73mm LED clear lights have a waterproof rating IP67 and come with a generous 3 year warranty.

As part of the build we had planned to install a pair of Bearmach front LED lights but unfortunately the spec we wanted to install was not in stock at the time so we went with the Original Cafe Racer basic 7 inch Land Rover Defender LED headlights. Also pretty straightforward to install.You don’t need the Wipac Mounting Bowls if you are fitting to an existing Land Rover Defender.A H4 H13 plug is also provided for easy connection.