RETRO HID Review and Install (PICS)

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Steen

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Hey guys,

Just wanted to write a little review about the RETRO-SOLUTIONS HID kit for my 2008 1500.

First off, let me say that their customer service is first class. Emails are responded to generally within hours, even on weekends. My kit was ordered on Tuesday and was at my house on Friday. Pretty Impressive.

The kit comes in this pretty cool looking briefcase. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you be able to use it for anything as it is "cheap", but then again a lot more expensive than a cardboard box. So kudos to them for the appearance factor.

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All the wiring was nicely protected with both heat wrap at soldered joints and flex tubing to hide all the wires. Looked good.

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I like to install everything with a factory and 'consistent' appearance the best I can. Finding somewhere to mount the ballasts and resistors were the biggest challenge. I decided to mount them on the side fender walls inside the engine bay. But I couldn't see anywhere where I could use the nuts and bolts. I used what is called a HELI COIL.

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So after I got the HELI COILS set on both the passenger and driver side. Here is what they look like.

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Ok, now I need to find out where to put those damn little resistors that can't get mounted on or near plastic. I decided to mount them behind the driver side headlight. The headlight will have to be removed to drill pilot holes.

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The wiring harness seems to be about 6"-8" short. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes the difference of being able to stealth all your cables underneath, over, behind and around things in the engine bay to hide everything neatly. I don't want to have cables going directly to my battery + and - terminals when I can get the same power from the TIPM block. I would like to mount the relay to the firewall but there is not enough cable to do it in the manner how I want the cable ran, if that makes sense. I had to extend both the ground wires from the resistors 6" to reach my ground location and extend the 12v power 6" to reach the underside of the TIPM with 16ga stranded wire soldered and heat wrapped. I really don't hold RETRO-SOLUTIONS accountable for this since all the mounting locations were MY choice but another 8" in wire could be easily concealed in their approach of installation. In other words, it would be better to have a little more than not enough here.

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Here is closer look of both ballasts installed into the HELI COILS on both sides:

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An overshot of the engine bay after install.

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Now here is where my review takes a turn. Everything is mounted and I am getting ready to plug everything in with this "Plug N Play" kit. Everything goes fine until I get to the connector that plugs into the stock headlight plug. In other words RETRO has a connector that mimics the back side of a H13 bulb. It plugs into that and gets the signal from the truck for the headlight to come on/off, brights, etc. Their plug will not lock into place. I couldn't believe it. Believe me it will not go in...

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So after expecting these kinds of obstacles from a eBay kit or Hong Kong fuey I had no choice but to improvise with this:

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Which I was VERY VERY disappointed in. I spend a lot of time taking pride in my work and I don't mind paying good money for something. But to have connectors zip tied together is not something I would expect from a $170 kit. Now unless I am Completely missing something, RETRO has got to get the connection right.

Otherwise, the lights are awesome.

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Cheers!
 

MegaMouseGW

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A lot of people are going HiD now and there are a lot of write-ups about it. What I like about yours is that you gave some very detailed pics. I have a question though: Why did you not go with the slim Morimoto ballasts?? They are much better and work great.

OOps I answered my own question. I will say this though if you have any problems with the kit get in contact with Jeremy of
http://shop.retroshop.us/default.asp .

The Morimotos he sells are extremely good and Jeremy is extremely helpful.
 
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Steen

Steen

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A lot of people are going HiD now and there are a lot of write-ups about it. What I like about yours is that you gave some very detailed pics. I have a question though: Why did you not go with the slim Morimoto ballasts?? They are much better and work great.

OOps I answered my own question. I will say this though if you have any problems with the kit get in contact with Jeremy of
Retro Shop Online Store .

The Morimotos he sells are extremely good and Jeremy is extremely helpful.

Honestly, I didn't hear of them before now. I seen and read a bunch of Retro Solutions kits on a bunch of threads and they seemed to have a pretty good reputation. Had I known.. or should have I asked here.. I would have went with them after running into the harness issue. Oh well...
 

MegaMouseGW

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What harness issue are you having?? If you re having any harness issues then go through Jeremy to get the correct one. Dodges are real picky with any electrical mods.
 

blackout11

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Most will tell you different about the place you got your lights lol lets just say hope you dont have a problem with them or you wont be so happy with there customer service
 
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Steen

Steen

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Great! There goes $170 down the tubes.. lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
 

MegaMouseGW

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Great! There goes $170 down the tubes.. lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

??? The bulbs and ballasts you have may be perfect and work properly, but this is the harness you should get: Mopar Specific HID Relay Harness

I have the one for my truck and it works flawlessly. I would not replace anything unless you were having problems first. Start with the harness because most problems stem from the incorrect one, or one that is not designed for our trucks. Contact Jeremy by e-mail first to be sure you get the correct one that you need and you will be very happy.
:grd:
 
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Steen

Steen

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10-4.. thanks MegaMouseGW. Everything is working ok.. its just that damn connection from the stock dodge headlight connector plugging into their connection. I had to zip tie it in order for it to hold. See the pics above.

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MegaMouseGW

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10-4.. thanks MegaMouseGW. Everything is working ok.. its just that damn connection from the stock dodge headlight connector plugging into their connection. I had to zip tie it in order for it to hold. See the pics above.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

Sometimes companies will cheap out on parts. Connectors especially. You can get the connector through a few auto parts suppliers but just gotta watch their quality.

:big_banana_Dance:
 

emjohn4

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Great! There goes $170 down the tubes.. lol.

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I like my Retro-Solutions ballasts better than my Morimotos.
 

EWC88

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Thank you for this write up! I have had HIDs sitting in their box for months now because I have been to busy to install. I was always wondering where to install resistors and now I know! Can you show a pic of your TIPM install part? Also where do you mount the wire that runs to your passenger side? It's hiding perfectly and I want it like that!

Edit: also did you prep the metal you drilled into so rust doesn't form?
 
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