Converting headlights to HID

[danimalmax]

I recently bought a 2003 Tahoe and am looking to convert all the lights in the front into HID or some kind of equivalent. The only lights i have on now are headlights and fog lights. Any suggestions for conversion kits or things to watch out for?

The only thing is i cant really find a conversion kit for the fog lights, only light bulbs

also, im not sure about the high and low beams for the HID headlights, seems like they only have low beam kits?


here's a pic

 

[Rollin Thunder]

DDM tuning is a great HID site. You need a 9006 kit for your low beams, 880 for your fogs and 9005 for your highs. I would not reccommend HIDS for your highbeams though. Get some HIRS, nice and bright but still have the capability to flash and you dont need to wait for the warm up. IF you do HIDs I highly reccommend also doing the 6 high mod, see my right up. Here.

http://www.tahoeforum.com/showthread.php?t=12905

 

[danimalmax]

DDM tuning is a great HID site. You need a 9006 kit for your low beams, 880 for your fogs and 9005 for your highs. I would not reccommend HIDS for your highbeams though. Get some HIRS, nice and bright but still have the capability to flash and you dont need to wait for the warm up. IF you do HIDs I highly reccommend also doing the 6 high mod, see my right up. Here.

http://www.tahoeforum.com/showthread.php?t=12905

thanks for your reply, im definitely going to look into that 6 high mod thing, those pics show a big difference

im assuming that i would have to buy separate kits for each light (high beam, low beam, and fog) right?

does this mean that the same hid kit works for all three, or do they make different kits depending on the light? and just get the right bulbs for each, 880, 9005, 9006 like u said?

also, i shop on ebay, so here's one of the listings i was looking at, whatcha think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=390023907992

 

[Rollin Thunder]

thanks for your reply, im definitely going to look into that 6 high mod thing, those pics show a big difference

im assuming that i would have to buy separate kits for each light (high beam, low beam, and fog) right?

does this mean that the same hid kit works for all three, or do they make different kits depending on the light? and just get the right bulbs for each, 880, 9005, 9006 like u said?

also, i shop on ebay, so here's one of the listings i was looking at, whatcha think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=390023907992

Yes you need a seperate kit for each. But I would run from that ebay add. The DDM tuning kits are the exact same price, and their an american company based out of Socal. member on here went in to their store and bought one. Plus they have a life time warrenty on them too. Highly reccommended.

But it will be 6 ballests, a kit is two bulbs, two ballests and the wireing to hook it all up. So if you want to do it all you need 3 kits. But it will have the same brand ballest, just different bulb base.

 

[danimalmax]

Yes you need a seperate kit for each. But I would run from that ebay add. The DDM tuning kits are the exact same price, and their an american company based out of Socal. member on here went in to their store and bought one. Plus they have a life time warrenty on them too. Highly reccommended.

But it will be 6 ballests, a kit is two bulbs, two ballests and the wireing to hook it all up. So if you want to do it all you need 3 kits. But it will have the same brand ballest, just different bulb base.

here's my shopping cart from the DDM website, i selected the 55w for each one, i got 9005, 9006, and 880

or do you think im better off with a smaller kit for the 880 because fog lights are smaller?

whatcha think?

 

[Nnaboy]

I suggest you don't get HID's for your High beams at all because they will fail quickly!
Also don't get 55W HID's for the fogs either, too bright, too much glare and too hot for the housings. Get 35W HID's for the fogs.
55W HID's for your lowbeams are fine

 

[danimalmax]

I suggest you don't get HID's for your High beams at all because they will fail quickly!
Also don't get 55W HID's for the fogs either, too bright, too much glare and too hot for the housings. Get 35W HID's for the fogs.
55W HID's for your lowbeams are fine

thanks for your reply, this makes sense, i was wondering about that

what about these "HIRs" for the high beams? what are those exactly?

 

[Sepiroth]

I suggest you don't get HID's for your High beams at all because they will fail quickly!
Also don't get 55W HID's for the fogs either, too bright, too much glare and too hot for the housings. Get 35W HID's for the fogs.
55W HID's for your lowbeams are fine

The 35watt HIDs for the fogs, will the still be as bright at the 55watters. I mean if you can get 35watt HIDs in say 8000K.

 

[Nnaboy]

HIR's are almost liek regular bulbs except their way brighter and perform better and won't be effected by being in the High Beam and the flash function.
Www.automotivelightingusa.com is where I got my High Beam bulbs. I went with Luminics over a year ago and their still fine and bright ass hell. You should go with them too, choose either Xtreme White or Pure White bulbs for the best output.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

HIRS are just brighter than halagons but dont have the fail life of HIDS, not as good as HIDs but much better than stock.

I also agree with the above comment that 55W is way to much for the fogs. it will just melt your housings like crazy. But IMO HID highs is a personal thing. I had HID highs on my 06 yukon and LOVED them. But Lost my flashing ability and it took about 10 seconds to warm up. But I frequently travel dark unlit roads.

 

[danimalmax]

The 35watt HIDs for the fogs, will the still be as bright at the 55watters. I mean if you can get 35watt HIDs in say 8000K.

thanks for all your replies!


its my understanding that the 5000k is the brightest white in terms of performance, wouldnt 8000k be more of a light blue and slightly less performance?

HIR's are almost liek regular bulbs except their way brighter and perform better and won't be effected by being in the High Beam and the flash function.
Www.automotivelightingusa.com is where I got my High Beam bulbs. I went with Luminics over a year ago and their still fine and bright ass hell. You should go with them too, choose either Xtreme White or Pure White bulbs for the best output.

this is very helpful, i'll go ahead and get a pair of these

HIRS are just brighter than halagons but dont have the fail life of HIDS, not as good as HIDs but much better than stock.

I also agree with the above comment that 55W is way to much for the fogs. it will just melt your housings like crazy. But IMO HID highs is a personal thing. I had HID highs on my 06 yukon and LOVED them. But Lost my flashing ability and it took about 10 seconds to warm up. But I frequently travel dark unlit roads.

considering my situation, i'll go with the HIRs since i'll need the flashing ability over using brights for extended periods of time

im also wondering about the size of the conversion for the 35w foglights, will the standard kit fit or do i need to go with the slim size?



im gunna take a pic of the front of my tahoe and point out some other lighting ideas i have, i want my tahoe to appear stock in the front, but light up like a spaceship whenever i turn everything on at once

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Well 5000k is good. But 4300k is the brightest. But 5000k is only slightly less bright. 8000k IMO is a waste as its so blue its useless.

I would reccommend slim ballest all the way around. 55W 5000k lows. 35w 5000k fogs 880, which needs no modification. But I would also reccommend a wireing harness for your low beams if you go 55w as to avoid a strain on your stock system.

HIRS can be purchased here. You want the ones that fit the 9005 socket.

http://www.hirheadlights.com/

 

[danimalmax]

okay here's an update on the plan, and some questions/opinions from you guys

YELLOW: i'll be going with Apexcone fullsize ballast HID kit, 4500k or 5000k for the 9006 socket (low beams)

for the high beams i think i'll go ahead and get 9005 socket HIRS from www.hirheadlights.com

RED: for these fog lights, i will be getting 880 socket 35W with 4500k or 5000k

GREEN: any idea what i can do with these lights?

BLUE: is it possible to put lights here? right now it feels like i can pull off the cover on these slots, also it seems like an led light kit would fit here?

WHITE: can i put lights here also? or do these openings have to remain open for ventilation of some sort?


so far i can't decide on 4500 or 5000k lights, i think i'll also be doing the 6 high modification on the HIDS after i put them on

 

[danimalmax]

 

[danimalmax]

here's an update on my plans and i also had questions about some other lights, wanted to get opinions on this

YELLOW: For the low beams, i will get 55W 4500k or 5000k Apexcone HIDS (9006 socket)

for the high beams i will be getting HIRS from hirheadlights.com (9005 socket)

RED: for these fog lights i will get 35W 4500k or 5000k, possibly slim ballast kit (880 socket)

GREEN: any ideas what i can do with these lights? im assuming these are the running lights

BLUE: these slots appear to have covers that can be removed, could i put lights here? possible LED lights, those seem like they would fit?

WHITE: can i put lights here as well? or do they need to remain open for ventilation of some sort?


im still undecided about 4500k or 5000k lights, im really going for brightness and performance here, not color or show

also, ive seen pics on people "polishing" their light covers, how can i go about doing this?

 

[jgiguere17]

wow

thats a lot of work, just do a 6 mod with hids and you will have plenty of light

or do a full projector conversion with hids and you will have more than enough light to shine down the road.

 

[danimalmax]

wow

thats a lot of work, just do a 6 mod with hids and you will have plenty of light

or do a full projector conversion with hids and you will have more than enough light to shine down the road.

lol i know it will be enough light, but i just want to light up everything possible for that freak factor, i remember seeing sidemirror kits that have lights in them as well

edit: whats a full projector conversion?

 

[Nnaboy]

A projector converison is a kit with both HID's and headlight assemblies with a projector lens insteand of reflectors.
If you've ever look at the new Escalades and wondered what the blueish/purple cirlce lens in the low beam area of the car is its a projector like all OEM cars with HIDs have.
And then for those circles you have going the blue and white circles can not be replaced with lights, they're just holes.
And yeah the Green cirlce are running lights, can't really do antyhing with those either!

 

[danimalmax]

A projector converison is a kit with both HID's and headlight assemblies with a projector lens insteand of reflectors.
If you've ever look at the new Escalades and wondered what the blueish/purple cirlce lens in the low beam area of the car is its a projector like all OEM cars with HIDs have.
And then for those circles you have going the blue and white circles can not be replaced with lights, they're just holes.
And yeah the Green cirlce are running lights, can't really do antyhing with those either!

can't is a pretty strong word, my dad bought an led kit for his trailer, and it looks like i could make it work in those holes if i got some too

anyway with a projector conversion kit, would i still have to get the hid kit as well?

 

[Rollin Thunder]

projector conversion kit is very time consuming and very hard. I would reccommend you just stick to the DDM kits right now. Plenty bright.

What could be done with your DRLS and what I also did to my 06 was I fabed some H3 bulbs in the DRLs and they were jumpered to come on with the highbeams. They no longer functioned as DRLs but added some great forward ground light with the highbeams. Parking lights could be changed to LEDs. But you gotta keep them orange to keep it mildly legel. Even though the HIDS are technecally illeagle, when put in right they are fine. But no parking lights means no proper turn signals which can be bad.