There’s more to setting up and correctly aiming your driving lights than you realise.

Technology has come a long way over the years, and although we head bush to escape it, there are a few things that make heading off-road that much more enjoyable. Like a quality set of Adventure Kings 9” LED Driving Lights, for instance.

Driving lights are one of those mods that you won’t fully appreciate until you invest in a set that is capable, and practical. Not only do they make driving at night less fatiguing, but they also make it easier to see low-range obstacles like rocks and ruts, and wandering livestock before they pose a real threat to you and your passengers.

Affordable and cutting edge, the Adventure Kings 9” LED Driving Lights are proving popular thanks to their light-weight design, super-strong IP68 Alloy casing and polycarbonate lens and 35x bright white 6500k LEDs.

LEGALITIES

For best performance, minimal wiring and ease of installation, your best bet is to mount your driving lights in the centre of the bullbar just in front of the grille. It’s also the only legal spot on many 4WDs as most authorities impose maximum height limitations (which rules out mounting them on your roof rack) as well as specify that they’re mounted symmetrical to the centre line of the vehicle and don’t block the driver’s field of view.

Here’s a quick tip – make sure your chosen lights will fit within the centre hoop before handing over your hard earned, as some bullbar hoops can be smaller than others, if this is the case then check out the Adventure Kings 7” Round LED Driving Lights.

SELECTING THE RIGHT MOUNTING BRACKET

Quality lights like Adventure Kings 9” LED Driving Lights will often come with a choice of mounting brackets. Both are stainless steel which means they won’t rust, and each provides at least two mounting provisions for the space available. In our case we’ve got either a base mount that bolts to the bottom of the light housing which is ideal if space is limited, or on the sides which enables easier adjustment and further reduces vibration.

WATERPROOFING YOUR LIGHTS & WIRING

Before you buy your next set of driving lights, check to make sure they’re actually waterproof. As basic as it seems, a surprising number of them aren’t, which means the first water crossing you hit or any decent downpour has the potential to wreck your new lights. We went with the Adventure Kings 9” LED driving lights because the housings are IP68 rated and the Adventure Kings 9” Wiring harness takes advantage of quality waterproof Deutsch plugs.

UNDERSTANDING IP RATINGS

The IP rating of a light is a clear snapshot of how weatherproof that light is. The term ‘IP’ stands for Ingress Protection, and the follow table explains what each number means.

CORRUGATIONS ARE KILLERS

Another difference between a quality set of lights and a cheap set is how they behave off-road, particularly over corrugated roads. Adventure Kings 9” LED driving lights use a unique adjustable dual locking mounting system so once the lights are aimed and tightened down, even the roughest of roads won’t shake them out of alignment.

SPOT VS SPREAD BEAM

Traditionally, you’d have to choose between spot or spread when buying your lights. But what we like about Adventure Kings 9” LED driving lights is that Adventure Kings also sells a pair of polycarbonate flood covers that are not only super strong and crack resistant, but they provide a practical alternative to a highly focussed long-range beam and lights up both the centre of the track and off to the side of the road.

BUSH-PROOF WIRING

For many, the hardest part about installing driving lights actually has nothing to do with the lights themselves – it’s to do with running the wiring. Adventure Kings has made this child’s play by offering an easy DIY wiring kit for step-by-step installation for your new driving lights.

AIMING YOUR NEW LIGHTS

Once you’ve got the lights powered up, you’re ready to aim them. To start with, nose your 4WD up to the garage door and turn your high beam lights on. Flick on your driving lights and centre them at the same height as your high beam lights.

To ensure you’ve got them spot on, you’ll have to recheck them next time you’re out in the bush. Find a long straight stretch of road and carefully pull up smack bang in the middle of the road. Use common sense here, and only do so if no one else is around and it isn’t going to cause an accident.

Turn the driving lights on and make final adjustments so that the centre beam illuminates the track just ahead of the reach of your headlights. For horizontal adjustment, aim the left light slightly to the left of the centre line of the road and the right light to the right side of the centre line.

These fine adjustments will give you the best of both worlds; a long throw of light with a decent spread off either side of the road ahead.