Crappy headlights

ok I know I am not the only one who has this opinion of the 1996 PA headlights as far as brightness is concerned. This have to be the worst that I have ever seen. I also had a 93 whos headlights ALSO sucked. So I am looking for a couple things here. 1)Does anyone know of ANY other year(s) from any other model(s) that might just fit the 96, maybe even with a little modification or not ? 2)For those of you who also experience this what have you done ? I cannot stress my disspleaure with the garbage headlights

I agree that the PA's headlights are the worst. I have a 2001, which have completely different headlights, which one would think should have been improved since 1996, but they aren't. We're now getting into shorter days and our rainy season and when the roads are wet at night, my headlights may as well be off. They simply don't work.

I have searched high and low for a reasonable answer to this problem. I have tried those "hyperwhite" light bulbs you see everywhere on eBay (promising to be twice as bright as regular bulbs) and have been sorely disappointed. I've tried GE NightHawks...still no improvement. I've even researched a conversion to HID's, which can get expensive, but have found that unless you do a serious modification to your headlight housings, you will not get a proper light distribution pattern (factory HID's have certain cutoffs and light patterns), resulting in not much improvement, plus blinding other motorists (including oncoming police officers :nono: ).

A light (pun intended :lol: ) at the end of the tunnel. Last winter, I bought Sylvania SilverStar Ultra bulbs (for $50/pair!!!). They made an improvement. My headlights still suck, but they're a little better...the improvement was noticable. I was hesitant to buy them because of the cost and from consumers reporting that they burn out quickly. So far, they haven't burned out. They get turned on everyday (I park in the garage, so they come on every time I start my car and back out of the garage and turn off after I've been in the daylight for about a minute). Because they supposedly have a shorter bulb life, I only got them for my low beams and did not spend another $50 on the high beams, which are on all the time as Daytime Running Lights.

My next plan of attack is to replace my headlight housings (very expensive...low beam/high beam/cornering lamp all in one housing)...but my headlamp plastic is starting to fade on the tops. I don't know how to fix that problem.

The only other option is installing separate driving lights, which I just don't think will look decent on my car.

Hope this helps.

Some good info. Why am I NOT surprised that they did NOT improve from 91 to 96 lol. I am currently trying to track down info regarding the housing. you would think that there has to be another housing out there that is remotely close OR simply another head light assy that will mount to the original housing. I mean we are only talking two top end thumb screws that are holding this headlight in for God's sake lol. May have to give a shot to these Sylvania SilverStar Ultra bulbs. I will keep this updated. Good luck in your search

Do a search on the web or ebay for the Toshiba HIR lamps (the seller also has a website hirheadlights.com). Don't know if they work for the 1996 (do they have the 9005 and 9006 bulbs?). I am using them in a 97 and 99. I think better than OEM and the other aftermarket but they are expensive.

The only difference between the '91-'96 headlight housings is some have a black border around the outer edge, and others with no black border at all, they simply a clear edge. My PA has the black edge border and my dad's LeSabre has the clear border headlights. Whether this makes any lighting difference or not, I do not know, but in my opinion it's mainly meant for outside appearance. No other headlight housings will fit this car unless you're looking into changing the front end, also.

Knowing Gm there has to be abother mounting bracket that is at least close to the 96. Naturally there is going to have to be some modding involved but for Gods sake these headlight only mount with two thumb nuts lol.....

Same as '95 LeSabre and Park Ave. One place (among many, I'm sure) to find new housings is ZBRA.com. One lens was cracked on my '95, and the other had a leak somewhere. The new ones are a lot clearer/brighter.

I just install a new set of headlights on my 96PA. I purchased them from ZBRA.com, based on the recomendation below, and some quick research. Very reasonably priced when compared to the local auto parts places, or the dealer.
One bit of trouble I had was with the adjustments. The new brackets fit into the old space, but the headlights pointed way up in the air. I had to place the old brackets on the new headlights to get it close enough to drive at night without blinding everyone else on the road.:uhoh:
Still fine tuning them at this point, but much better then holding a flashlight out the window at 60mph
The new headlights are glass, and I was very pleased with the speed in which they were shipped out to me.