HID VS LED in OEM projector headlights???

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Pupi305

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Good evening!

Hope everyone is doing well! I just bought my 2017 Ram Longhorn edition about 3 weeks ago and I have upgraded the foglights but can't stand the yellow low light from the factory bulbs. I would love to go LED however, I have been reading a lot that I should go HID what are your suggestions? On a side note, do I have to drill a hole on the factory cover to make the lights fit in the housing? Is there no other way around it? Thanks in advance for your anticipated help!
 

16laramie4wd

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Hid in the projectors only... went with enlight in mine and yes you have to drill cover... no big deal

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MADDOG

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Every LED headlight I've seen used, whether in a projector or reflector housing, sucked. The light is terrible compared to HIDs.

The factory projectors are not the best, say compared to Morimoto lenses, but they work well with aftermarket HID kits.

I'd suggest you contact Jeremy at Retroshop, one of our supporting vendors here, and see what he can do for you on a Canbus compatible HID kit for your new truck.
 

mpress2570

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You will not getting anywhere near the light output from led that you will from hid. Led is brighter in appearance but hid reaches way farther. I have led fogs and 50w morimoto hids in my projectors and I was mind blown at how bright they were. Pictures don't do it justice. But here's low beam. 36e2673a9be08d7a6075a5dcc8fcbaa8.jpg

Here's high beam 33a4318ba48901e434cdd7874daf91af.jpg5c319f86d241a7bbd185876f84be251b.jpga512f3b5a6879f314d74ed6bf26f693e.jpg


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mpress2570

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Every LED headlight I've seen used, whether in a projector or reflector housing, sucked. The light is terrible compared to HIDs.

The factory projectors are not the best, say compared to Morimoto lenses, but they work well with aftermarket HID kits.

I'd suggest you contact Jeremy at Retroshop, one of our supporting vendors here, and see what he can do for you on a Canbus compatible HID kit for your new truck.



50 watt morimoto hids are plenty good in the stock projectors. The only thing you're really going to get by throwing in aftermarket projectors is the removal of dull spots in your beam.


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Pupi305

Pupi305

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Wow a lot of light output! Ok ok I will go the HID route lol... one last question, will the factory high beam auto sense still work with the HID's?
 

mpress2570

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Good evening!



On a side note, do I have to drill a hole on the factory cover to make the lights fit in the housing? Is there no other way around it? Thanks in advance for your anticipated help!


There is no way around it, but I promise it's a lot more scary than it sounds. The kit you buy will come with a rubber grommet to plug the hole you drill. If you go with a morimoto (which I highly recommend) they will have a very detailed set of directions for you including drill bit size. Just to be safe with mine I also got some high heat gasket maker and sealed the grommet even more.




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mpress2570

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Wow a lot of light output! Ok ok I will go the HID route lol... one last question, will the factory high beam auto sense still work with the HID's?



Yes they will, but be warned the lights are so bright that the reflection off the street signs will sometimes trick the high beams into thinking it's an oncoming car. Mine only does it sporadically not with every sign


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ramportin1

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As everyone has already stated lol HID hands down

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MADDOG

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And if you don't want that light output to reflect off signs and trigger the auto beam function, go with 35W ballasts and then adjust your headlights down a bit. You'll find the HID light won't be compromised by doing so.
 

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Good evening!

Hope everyone is doing well! I just bought my 2017 Ram Longhorn edition about 3 weeks ago and I have upgraded the foglights but can't stand the yellow low light from the factory bulbs. I would love to go LED however, I have been reading a lot that I should go HID what are your suggestions? On a side note, do I have to drill a hole on the factory cover to make the lights fit in the housing? Is there no other way around it? Thanks in advance for your anticipated help!



There is no way around it, but I promise it's a lot more scary than it sounds. The kit you buy will come with a rubber grommet to plug the hole you drill. If you go with a morimoto (which I highly recommend) they will have a very detailed set of directions for you including drill bit size. Just to be safe with mine I also got some high heat gasket maker and sealed the grommet even more.




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This is so far from the truth. I am building a set of custom 13+ projectors and they are done being built and I've already tested them on my truck. They are finally being installed for good tomorrow.

While doing the build, I asked Jeremy questions about drilling into the dust cap. He answered them, but told me that they (him and his company RetroShop) do not drill the covers anymore and simply run the wires out the bottom of the cap and just tighten the screws. As I did not want to drill into my cap, I did what he said and they fit along the seal and there is no gap or opening.

So no, you don't HAVE to drill into the dust caps, it's not the only way.

Straight from the mouth (or keyboard) of the one guy who knows a thing or two about these projector headlights:

c80c47ae70cfe393bd863f8fb84c3b4d.jpg

So there ya have it. And id take his advice on headlights and how-to install/run wires over anyone else on this forum.

• 2012 Ram 1500 RCSB Hemi • 22" SRT-10 Wheels Plastidipped Black w/ Bridgestone Tires • Smoked Taillights • Custom Quad Headlights • Opt-7 FluxBeam-X 6000k LED Lows • MicTuning 6000k LED Fogs • K&N 63 Series CAI • Flowmasters Muffler • Line-X Bed • OEM Black Badges All Around • 20% Tint All Around • Lund Tri-Fold Tonneau + plenty more coming soon...
 

mpress2570

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This is so far from the truth. I am building a set of custom 13+ projectors and they are done being built and I've already tested them on my truck. They are finally being installed for good tomorrow.

While doing the build, I asked Jeremy questions about drilling into the dust cap. He answered them, but told me that they (him and his company RetroShop) do not drill the covers anymore and simply run the wires out the bottom of the cap and just tighten the screws. As I did not want to drill into my cap, I did what he said and they fit along the seal and there is no gap or opening.

So no, you don't HAVE to drill into the dust caps, it's not the only way.

Straight from the mouth (or keyboard) of the one guy who knows a thing or two about these projector headlights:

c80c47ae70cfe393bd863f8fb84c3b4d.jpg

So there ya have it. And id take his advice on headlights and how-to install/run wires over anyone else on this forum.

• 2012 Ram 1500 RCSB Hemi • 22" SRT-10 Wheels Plastidipped Black w/ Bridgestone Tires • Smoked Taillights • Custom Quad Headlights • Opt-7 FluxBeam-X 6000k LED Lows • MicTuning 6000k LED Fogs • K&N 63 Series CAI • Flowmasters Muffler • Line-X Bed • OEM Black Badges All Around • 20% Tint All Around • Lund Tri-Fold Tonneau + plenty more coming soon...



I've thought about that, but over time I see it becoming a problem when the wires and seal get old the wires getting hot and cold expanding and contracting. Then cold and hot weather. I don't have to be an expert on lights to feel like that's risky business. I too did not want to drill the hole. But I did. I inserted the rubber grommet which was a nice tight fit. Then got high heat gasket maker and sealed inside of the cover and outside of the cover. Think that is a much safer and fool proof option.


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OnSale

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I've thought about that, but over time I see it becoming a problem when the wires and seal get old the wires getting hot and cold expanding and contracting. Then cold and hot weather. I don't have to be an expert on lights to feel like that's risky business. I too did not want to drill the hole. But I did. I inserted the rubber grommet which was a nice tight fit. Then got high heat gasket maker and sealed inside of the cover and outside of the cover. Think that is a much safer and fool proof option.


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I can see arguments for both sides, but Jeremy has made a couple hundred, if not over a thousand, sets of these oem projectors so if he thinks it's good enough that way, I'll take my chances.

• 2012 Ram 1500 RCSB Hemi • 22" SRT-10 Wheels Plastidipped Black w/ Bridgestone Tires • Smoked Taillights • Custom Quad Headlights • Opt-7 FluxBeam-X 6000k LED Lows • MicTuning 6000k LED Fogs • K&N 63 Series CAI • Flowmasters Muffler • Line-X Bed • OEM Black Badges All Around • 20% Tint All Around • Lund Tri-Fold Tonneau + plenty more coming soon...
 

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I highly suggest HIDs from Jeremy at retro shop! They work flawlessly. I had a set of HIDs from Enlight before that and they sucked ass! And good luck getting any customer support from enlight.

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mpress2570

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I highly suggest HIDs from Jeremy at retro shop! They work flawlessly. I had a set of HIDs from Enlight before that and they sucked ass! And good luck getting any customer support from enlight.

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He uses morimoto right?


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He uses morimoto right?


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Yes

• 2012 Ram 1500 RCSB Hemi • 22" SRT-10 Wheels Plastidipped Black w/ Bridgestone Tires • Smoked Taillights • Custom Quad Headlights • Opt-7 FluxBeam-X 6000k LED Lows • MicTuning 6000k LED Fogs • K&N 63 Series CAI • Flowmasters Muffler • Line-X Bed • OEM Black Badges All Around • 20% Tint All Around • Lund Tri-Fold Tonneau + plenty more coming soon...
 

Golden cobra

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Can't remember off the top of my head I would have to look

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mpress2570

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Yeah that's what I have and love them. e7ab9e2dbf97318ae594e8964f501486.jpg


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Here is my Morimoto XB35 9012 6500K HID Kit from RetroShop. 672734f3c0177298fb558b6274118c36.jpg1adcfdbf70a4927e00d7eb52b0d25e05.jpg61916802d13826e7e492680c98cfbb56.jpg

• 2012 Ram 1500 RCSB Hemi • 22" SRT-10 Wheels Plastidipped Black w/ Bridgestone Tires • Smoked Taillights • Custom Quad Headlights • Opt-7 FluxBeam-X 6000k LED Lows • MicTuning 6000k LED Fogs • K&N 63 Series CAI • Flowmasters Muffler • Line-X Bed • OEM Black Badges All Around • 20% Tint All Around • Lund Tri-Fold Tonneau + plenty more coming soon...
 
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