Jeep Wrangler KC Lights 1987-2017 Review

Jeep Wrangler

This is my review and installation of the KC  hi li tES  slim lite lights, fitting all  1987 and up  wranglers.  These are available in a few different beam patterns.  You can get these in a long-range, a driving pattern, or a fog pattern light, and you can also get them in the black housings that you see here or a chrome housing.  So you have a couple of different decisions to make, but you can get the exact light that you need for your  jeep.  Today, we're going to talk through the installation of these lights, which is a very simple one out of three-wrench install, thanks to the wiring harness that's included with your lights.  This is going to be something anyone can do in their driveway in about two hours, but we'll talk more about the install in just a second.  We're also going to talk through the construction, a few of the features of these lights, the light output, and the beam pattern that you can expect.

There are a couple different reasons to want to add auxiliary lighting onto your  jeep.  Now, one of those is you plan on actually using that light.  You are off-roading at night, or you're driving down dark backroads without oncoming traffic and you want some additional light so that you can more easily spot animals.  The other option is you just think that the lights on the  jeep look good.  You like the rugged look that they provide, and either school that you fall into is absolutely fine and there are going to be a lot of different options for you. I would say that these lights from KC are more for the people who are going to be using them, because they are a very well-built light, a very bright light, which also makes them a little bit more expensive than some of the other options on the market.

If you are just looking for a light to give you that off-road look, you could probably get away with something cheaper that isn't going to function as well as these are.  Now, these are the KC  slim lite, which means that they are very narrow when you look at them from the profile view.  There's also the KC  daylighter which is you're more traditional light that has a little bit more of a back on it.  There's also the KC  apollo lights, which are very similar to these.  But instead of being a metal housing, they're a plastic housing and they don't put out quite as much wattage as these ones do.  So again, you have a lot of different options from KC.

They've been around for a long time.  They make really high-quality products. I really like these  slim lites in long range for up on you're A-pillars. A long-range light is really nice for the A-pillar manual location, because you don't get a lot of light bouncing off the hood and back into your eyes as the driver, which can ruin your night vision.  These are going to be a pencil beam that can be positioned really far downrange, even further than your headlights can reach.  Again, that's what I run on my  jeep. I really like them in that location.  If you are going to get the driving or the fog beam, you're going to want to mount them a little bit lower down, probably on a bumper or a bumper hoop, and have them aimed appropriately so that you're not blinding oncoming traffic.

These are not a light that can be run while you're driving with oncoming traffic.  They do scatter a lot of light.  They're very, very bright, and you're probably going to mount them up a little bit higher.  But of course, the driving and the fog beam, if you aim them properly and have them mounted in a nice lowdown location on the  jeep, you can run those while driving down the road.  So these are a six-inch, round light.  As I said before, the housings are a little bit slimmer, which make them ideal for that A-pillar mounting location, or anywhere else on your bumper where you just prefer to have a little bit of a slimmer design.

I like the fact that this has a metal housing that is either black powder-coated, or of course you can get it chromed, because I feel like the metal is a little bit more robust.  Of course, the plastic has its own benefits in the way that if you scratched it, it would rust.  However, the  apollo  series, which is the plastic version of these, is also a lower wattage light.  So if you want maximum light output and you want a nice, durable, metal housing, I think this is definitely the way to go.  Again, a couple different theme patterns to choose from.  These do include the stone guards. I just have one installed just to show you what the light looks like without them.

These are just there, because this is a glass lens, to help deflect any stones and protect the light from being broken.  As with most other KC products, this also comes with a housing.  Each of these lights does have a weatherproof connector on the end of it.  Your wiring harness will plug directly into both of these lights.  You're going to pick up power at your battery, and you're also going to have a switch to pull through the firewall to operate these lights.  You also have an additional leg, so if you wanted to, you have your  on/ off switch.  But you can also wire these into your high beams or a secondary switch if you choose to.  You have some options.  But either way, the housing that comes with these lights makes it very easy to get these wired up, even if you don't have a lot of experience with automotive wiring.  So as for the install, again, one out of three wrenches, about two hours, and all you're going to need is your traditional hand tools.

The first step is figuring out where you're going to mount your lights.  Whether it's a light mounting tab on a front bumper, whether you purchase a bolt-on bracket to put these on you're A-pillar, or you decide to drill a hole in your bumper or really anywhere else in your  jeep.  These do mount with a traditional single-post mounting bracket, so you can really put these anywhere.  Once you have them installed, you'll just stretch your wiring harness out, plug it into the lights, pick up power at the battery, and pull the switch wire through the firewall and mount that switch on your dashboard.  Again, a very, very simple process.

 All you need to do is follow the instructions.  The harness is going to have your fuse, your relay, your switch, everything you need, making this very, very easy to install.  These lights come in at right around $ 160, and I think that is a very fair price for the light output, for the build quality, for the fact that this comes with a wiring harness that makes getting them installed very, very simple.

I think $160 is a very fair price for these lights.  So if you're looking to add some auxiliary lighting onto your  jeep, you're not interested in the more modern LED cubes, you want something that's a little bit more old-school, a round halogen, off-roading light, I think these are going to be a really nice option.  Because they're going to hold up well, they're going to throw a ton of light, and they're fairly priced.