Highest quality aftermarket headlights?
 

I was in an accident and need to replace one headlight. My car has 50,000 miles on it. Therefore the headlights are pitted somewhat. Ideally I would find an OEM BRZ HID headlight in about the same condition as my one remaining good headlight, but that is proving difficult. Therefore, I am considering just buying a new pair. However, a new OEM pair is something like $1,500. That's just not a price I'm willing to pay. Other than cost, my major concerns are quality and light output. Knowing how cheap many aftermarket HID options are, I'm skeptical they will be as good as OEM in terms of quality and light output. Can anyone share with me their first-hand experiences with this? What are the highest quality aftermarket options, and how do they compare with OEM?

In all honesty, I've had both Spec-D's and Winjets and both didn't seem like good quality. Output on the Spec-D's wasn't good. It felt more like they spread light to the peripherals and left a darker spot in the center of the road. And the Winjets, while fine output, the DRL eyebrow burned out in less than 6 months. So I just bit the bullet and bought some OEM monogram headlights.

Did you put a WTB ad on here?

Yep. And bumped it. Twice.

Do you remember how much the monogram lights were?

I bought them off a member here for $900 and it was totally worth it.

Coplus LED will be about $1100 shipped. Light beam is better than OEM and simply non-comparable with Spyder, Spec-D and likes.

Thanks, Efferalgan. Is there anything else you can tell me about them? Build quality? First-hand experience? Preferred distributors?

86Speed just got in the Valenti headlights. If you're ok with investing $900 into them I'd say go with them. My girlfriend and I both have the taillights and fourth brake light and they're amazing quality and have amazing output. Haven't had any issues what so ever with them. From the reviews I've read, the headlights get just as much if not more praise. In my opinion, Valenti is the way to go when going aftermarket front/ rear lights.

IMO there is nothing as good as oem. The closest thing would be retrofitting a housing with a known high quality projector. By the time you've done all that, you could have just bought an oem and not waste your time.

Cheap, fast(bright), good(reliable). Pick two.

There is nothing in the market that I know of that is better than the oem brz headlights because most of the manufacturers are aiming for a price point for the frs owners, and the oem halogens aren't that great so almost anything is better.

Thanks, swarb. A big part of me thought this. I was (am?) holding out hope for being proven wrong, but am growing ever skeptical.

your best bet is going to be getting a set redone by a custom shop!

I'm listening....

I just got some Spec-D headlights and theyre great if you dont like the output you can get some hids. But id definitely recommend them theyre sick. You can look at them on my member journal.