HID Conversion Questions

I'm probably stupid, but I've read as much as I could find on headlight conversions to replace the candle and reflector type lights my truck has from the factory. I am not grasping the separate High and Low bulb thing. I understand they exist, just not the idea of changing the low vs the high. If my high beams suck as well as my low beams, (And they do!) what will changing just my low beams to HID's accomplish? As it is I have found myself driving with my high beams on and not getting flashed by a soul. The truck has no record of accidents on the CarFax when I bought it in July. I can understand that changing the low beams will improve my lighting, but is this enough so that the highs become unnecessary? I've determined that HID's are the answer and am ready to commit, but if it entails taking half the front of the truck apart to install, I need to understand why only doing the low beams will resolve the problem.

Or won't it?

The headlights suck almost as much as the ones on my '01 Dakota did which I find extremely annoying. On a rainy night I feel as though they aren't even lit even though pulling up to a wall I can clearly see they are. This will be a spring weather installation so I've got time to research.

It won't resolve the high beam issue and you can put HID's in the high beams as well if they are a separate bulb.

Folks tend to shy away from high beam HIDs because they take some time to warm up and produce their design output. Also, they don't work well in reflector capsules with no projector.

Some upgrade ways to consider:

1. You can upgrade the capsules to OEM projector style units, add HIDs for the low beams and a good quality halogen or LED bulb in the high beam. The LED units will need to be "CANBUS compliant" so they don't fail to light off.

2. Retrofit your existing units with projectors, low beam HIDs and a good quality halogen or LED high beam bulbs.

I assume you have quad reflector capsules at the moment?

Being ignorant to that description I have no idea how to answer. And it's already dark here on the east coast so going outside to check them is not an option!

And I've read enough about LED's that I'm not going that route for anything. Since there is a possibility of just upgrading the highs to Halogens I may look into that as well.

High beam hids are not recommended because of the need to turn on and off...

Because of the capacitor... there is a delay before the light gets to temp and in some cases when it shuts off..

A projector housing is a must for proper hid cutoff otherwise you are blinding oncoming traffic

Hids in projectors are low beam and high beam in the same bulb, and there is also another bulb that turns on with the high beam in the stock projectors

I was referring to the Quad Reflector comment.

Yes you can go with a better halogen bulb than what was originally provided. Putco, Sylvania SilverStars, etc...would be good choices.

Dmopar74 said:

Hids in projectors are low beam and high beam in the same bulb, and there is also another bulb that turns on with the high beam in the stock projectors

Click to expand...

When you drill the hole in the back cover for the harness, do you add some sealant on the rubber bushing to prevent moisture getting inside?

Oem projector or retrofit a bixenon projector are the best solution. Each use a single bulb for lo and high beam. A solenoid makes a shield drop inside the projector to make a high beam. There is no turning on or off a bulb. Pricey but well worth it imo. Those aftermarket halo ones on ebay cant compete. Retroshop.us is the pro for rams.

JB1 said:

When you drill the hole in the back cover for the harness, do you add some sealant on the rubber bushing to prevent moisture getting inside?

Click to expand...

I just put in some aftermarket projectors and HIDs:

After I drilled the 7/8" holes, I used RTV on both sides, and even under the rubber grommet. My HID bulbs are H7 (different than factory projectors), and the wiring plugs into the back of the bulb, so if I have to replace the bulbs, I dont have to change the wiring:

JB1 said:

When you drill the hole in the back cover for the harness, do you add some sealant on the rubber bushing to prevent moisture getting inside?

Click to expand...

I didn't drill anything, used the ddm canbus + kit, everything fit inside the factory projector, no extra harness

Ok thanks, do you have a link to the exact kit you bought?

The first upgrade I did to my 2013 quad (reflector style) headlights was switching to Sylvania ZXE halogen bulbs. I switched the low beams(H11), high beams(9005) and fog lights(9006) to ZXE's and they were a solid upgrade over the stock bulbs. I ran this setup for over two years with zero problems until I finally decided to try HID's in my low beams. Being a college kid that could not afford a proper, full-on projector upgrade, I used the 50W 6000K H11 kit from Jeremy @ RetroShop. Now, I always thought the ZXE's were bright but man oh man was I blown away when I fired up the HID's for the first time.

To answer your question about upgrading low vs. high beams, I have almost no need for my halogen ZXE high beams now. The only noticeable light they output now is in the far distance which is really only beneficial to me at highway speeds. I rarely even use them anymore because the HID low beams are just THAT good. I'm planning to upgrade my high beams to LED in the future, so maybe I will use them more then.

As far as your high beam options, I'm kinda curious as to what you have read to steer you away from wanting to go the LED route. I'm guessing you've read the many horror stories on this forum of using cheaper LED brands? There are plenty of higher quality brands recommended on here that have rave reviews and are just as reliable as halogens. I would recommend LED over HID for the high beams because LED's are instantly on at full brightness while HID's take anywhere from a few seconds to closer to 30 seconds or more to heat up to full brightness, depending on the ballast used. I'd also recommend them over halogen for obvious reasons (increased light output).

To address your concerns on "taking half the front of the truck apart to install", the headlight removal process is nowhere near as complicated as some make it out to be. There are quite a few threads on this forum that detail and simplify the process. Hell, it takes me less than five minutes now to pull the grill and both headlights because I've done it so many times...

And for those who cast stones at us peasants who use HID's in reflector housings, the low beam bulb has a small cover directly in front of it so there is minimal glare and I have yet to be flashed ONCE by oncoming traffic since I installed them over 7 months ago. It's the ignorant guys who lift/level their pickups and don't properly re-aim their headlights that do all the blinding...

MoreOvalteenPlz Great write up and explanation. Not bad for a "punk kid" LOL! Thanks for your clearly stated input.