Has anyone changed to HID headlight?

[DRTYFN]

I'm very curious to hear some feedback from anyone that has swapped out their OEM headlights for HID's.
I've been looking at the set at Breathless and also the system at the Sylvania site.

[valkolton]

JCJ,

So how do they look? Do they have that blueish tint?

What is the bottom line of what/where I should buy some bulbs that have the blue tint to them. I have been studying wheel/tires too much to learn all the details on the headlamps.

Thanks!

[JCJ]

Okay, so MAC wants his brains picked.

Replacement Head light bulb: Herrero & Sons Corp Automotive Accessories, Item # 15.BH9007/1X. Xenon Halogen Bulb, 100/80 (high/low) watts 12 volts, X-treme white.

Replacement RDL bulb: LUKS BX-523 Xenon/Krypton+ Blue, 12 V 35/5 watts.

Bon apetit!

JCJ

[DRTYFN]

NO HIGH BEAMS!!!! I spoke with the Breathless phone-monkey and specifically asked if they were high and low beams. I was told they were. Which company manufactures the lights?

[MAC]

Wonderful, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. $30 or $60 iceWhite is all I need. I would think lower temp the better. I will absolutely go with your suggestion and visit the auto stores. Do you have any brand and parts numbers for the ones you are using now? Why pay $600 when I can pay $60, why pay $60 when I only have to pay $30? Best value for a truely useful product.
Not sure DRL needs iceWhite, its daylight anyway. Or maybe not, iceWhite shines even during the day, will look nicer.

I have been eagerly searching high and low and want to add something to my Hummer, but personally I have not seen anything I need nor want. Its like a kid with fresh holiday money standing in a toy store looking for the right toy. I see all these other kids walking out of the store with 1000 watts stereo, GPS, 4 LCDs, exhaust and inflatable dolls.

[MAC]

Nope, I didn't think about eBay. I'll just pay a little more and buy them online, save me a trip to those auto parts joints, don't know why people work there are always so rude and impatient. Sent an email inquiry to that online outfit about DRL bulbs, see what they say, or buy the eBay ones at $60. Good enough for me, why mess with balast, wires or whatever you call it. Maximum benefit for the least cost & energy.

[BEST 4x4xFAR]

Hey Guys,

Dr. P., Yes, the high beam is an H3, sorry I meant to make that correction, and forgot to go back and do it. The Quad Lamp replacement uses and H1 for the high beam.

JCJ, Yes they are a direct replacement, pull the old head lamps out, put the new ones in, mount the HID's Ballast, and plug in the harness, that simple. As for the Day Time running lamps, they would be unaffected. You may want to use some of the Coated bulbs just to match the color temperature, or you could probably convert them to real HID with one of the standard Bulb kits, I don't know what type of bulb they take. At any rate, I doubt they really work as much of a lighting source after dark, and would think it would be a waste of money to convert them to true HID, but I could be Wrong....

While we are on the subject of lighting, if you don't want to lay out this kind of money, big, big improvements can be had from fitting e-Code Hella/IPF/Cibie replacement headlamps, with high power H4 Bulbs and a Wiring harness, as another poster has suggested. The beam pattern is much improved over the DOT headlamps, and if you use a quality bulb, and a wiring harness to get it full power the light can be very good, and quite white in appearance. Just another recommendation for something someone else has already posted...

~Scott T.
'95 D-90 (JEEPETR)
'96 Discovery (Not Stock)

[BreathlessPerformance.com]

We are a WD for FET and have tried there HID unit. It will not fit the bulb extends too far towards the radiator and bumps your radiator support. The overall length is about 8", there is not enough room.

Thank you, Ernie
BreathlessPerformance.com

[JCJ]

This one HAS high beam and you get also a set to replace the day running lights included!
BTW folks, check your DRL bulbs. I found mine were quite dark/burned at the base on inspection.
Maybe they need replacement before burning out, say like every 6 months?

[BreathlessPerformance.com]

This is for DRTYFN

First you can get the HID kit as a low and high beam but here are the problems.

They use a motor to move the bulb up and down on the reflector to cause a different beam pattern but not a higher output. This does not really act as a low/high beam. Second the motor used to do this function is relatively new and has not been fully tested over a course of time. Some manufactures have told us that they have had some problems with the motor cycling back and forth. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

My opinion is to use a system that has been tested and proven for years to work correctly then to use a system that has not proved itself. Maybe you might want to buy a low/high beam version and give it a try over the long haul... good luck. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Thank You, Ernie
BreathlessPerformance.com

[BreathlessPerformance.com]

The only problem is when you are calling one of the girls a phone monkey, that is not called for. The girls in the front sales dept work really hard to try to help each and every customer and do take personally when they are called names (Phone Monkey) Maybe you would take it personally if someone called one of your employees an uncalled for name. If they made a mistake answering your question I apologize but they are only human and try to do the best they can.

Thank you, Ernie
BreathlessPerformance.com

[MAC]

These are what I found. Aruba's $30 a set of is still the best price by 50% less.

HIGH INTENSITY AUTOMOTIVE LIGHTING

HID lights are a hot option offered on some of today’s high-end luxury cars. These new type of lights offer significantly better long-range vision because of the “ultra white” light that they produce.
Unfortunately, true HID lighting is still very expensive and only available from the factory on a few vehicles at this point. While there are some aftermarket kits becoming available, these kits require custom installations (inclusive of ballasts and special wiring) and still run in the $1200-1800 range. There is an inexpensive alternative:
“ Xenon HID-White” Light Bulbs!

“Xenon HID-White” bulbs have a special blue glass that actually increases the color temperature (4000K) of the bulb closer to that of daylight, thus producing a significantly whiter light beam, resulting in greatly improved night vision. This special process dramatically increases the whiteness of the light with only a trace of blue hue at the headlight periphery. The improvement in night vision provided by these light bulbs is dramatically illustrated below: (Not shown on this posting)

“Xenon HID-White’s” utilize a Halogen/Xenon/Krypton gas mixture to cool the light filament, thus allowing the bulb to process higher light output resulting in a 30 percent increase in perceived light. These high-end “Xenon HID-White” bulbs cost just about the same as any standard good quality regular replacement bulb!!
While this type of bulb is not completely equal to the light output of a true HID system, It’s a very viable alternative at about 97% savings!
"Easy Installation and a Great Price!"

EASY INSTALLATION
The installation of “Xenon White’s” is VERY easy. Just replace your current regular light bulbs with these. It’s just that simple!
Your brilliant Xenon Replacement Bulb
Sets (2-bulbs) cost only: $ 15.95 - 28.95

We also carry a brand new DOT-Compliant (street legal) “Platinum Series” (3800K) version of our Xenon HID-White headlight bulbs that are “100% street legal”. These bulbs feature a pale lavender colored glass that provides a significantly brighter and whiter light beam than standard halogen bulbs. These bulbs also utilize a high-performance gas mixture of Halogen/Xenon/Krypton gases for increased performance while still keeping the operating temperatures low.

http://www.autostockinc.com/xenon.html

[buddy]

I just finished installing the HID kit from Ernie at Breatheless Performance. These HID's eliminate the high beam, but still illuminate the road better than stock high beams.

The install is very easy. Just one of those plug and play deals. No cutting of any of the factory wiring, splicing, or soldering. Easy upgrade..
Sounds like I work for Ernie doesn't it..but I would like to say, "Thanks Ernie". Now I can see again at night without running my high beams all the time.

Now, if we just this beast to run like the Z06.

Buddy

[Happy Hummer]

I bought the kit from breathless and install took about 20 minutes. The lights are VERY BRIGHT. The only thing is that you have no high beams. I just aimed my brush fog lights up higher and use them. I really don't need the high beams since these are about 150% brighter than stock lights.

ROB

2003 Hummer H2, Lux. Black
2002 Porsche 911 Twin Turbo
2003 Honda Odyssey EX
2003 Harley V-Rod 2 Tone

[JCJ]

By checking out http://www.autostockinc.com/bulbs.html
I guess your best and comparable choice would be to order a set of the 9007 (HB5; including license to kill?) 110/80 watts HID bulbs for $ 24.95 (+ S&H, battery not incluided [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]). However I don't see the DRL bulbs.
Good luck. I'm sure you'll like it too...

[DRTYFN]

THANKS BEST!! I was too lazy to type out that info. In my opinion, that does look like the Best system for HID conversions. I'm waiting to hear from someone about how good they actually are.

[JCJ]

Yup: I paid (the equivalent of) $ 30 for 4 (four) HID bulbs, 2 head lights and 2 DRL lights ($ 7.50 each). Of course they might not be the REAL HID thing, but right now I don't think I would see the difference (yet) if I could compare them with the (much) more expensive thing with (real?) Hella Xenon gas in 'm and ballasts etc.
Now I know you're thinking: Hey, sell 'm on E-bay. I am sorry, I don't have that much time.
Just enough to sit and semi-chat here on the H2 forum.

[dr p]

Hi- I took delivery of my h2 in July and no replacemts were availible accept bulb repl. I replaced them with 100/80 hella halogens low beam improvement was obvious, however b/c of the american made lenses the high beam improvement was nil. I have had hella replacemts in cars for over 15 years--its the first thing I replace I always go 100/80 or better with Euro lenses they have much much better light because the lens is so much better with the accurate cut off people dont flash high beams and highs are incredibly better. legal?? who is going to know as i said i have been doing this for 15 years and how many years have they been doing this in europe?? until the last post, i have been unable to get replacent lenses. I had one bulb burst and the residue ruined my right lamp. I am going to look into aformentioned replacement lights tonight. As soon as Stinger Mac comes out with a good looking brush guard I'll add that and then two hella rallaye 4000 hid's attached to high beam switch along with 100 watt/euro lenses this really works well on back country roads.

[valkolton]

Let us know how it goes...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MAC:
I just ordered the Xenon bulbs online, will let you know how they work out. For the DRL, I ordered amber(yellow) LED bulbs, have no idea what they are, no risk no gain.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[buddy]

If you want light on the road, the HID's are the way to go. These are low beams only...I have Hella Black Magic's aux lights already mounted on the brush guard for high beams. But, these low beam HID's illuminate better than the Hella's.The Black Magic's are only 55 watt halogen's.

Anyone who wants some intense flame throwing high beams, should check out the Hella 4000's HID's. They come in driving or and pencil beam. I've had the driving versions on my Z-71 PU for over 3 years. As soon as we can made some mounts, we'll be putting them on.

Us old guys need good lighting too.

Buddy