Bulb replacement for factory HID's

[Babydon]

So my bulbs went out on me and I contacted my GM dealer for an estimate .

I gave him my vin and he said that my vehicle has the HID option and will cost a small fortune to replace.

Over $700 a bulb not including labour... Wow... That's at least $1700 for sure.

I did a bit of research and with the Cadillac god's smiling down on me I found a cool guy with his own lighting business in my area.

Turns out the guy is a veteran at Mercedes Benz - electrical tech and MB specialist. (too bad he wasn't GM)

Anyway, he runs the lighting on the side since so many people are converting to HID.

I explained my problem and he said we may have to do some cutting and modifications to have the HID conversion fit my car.

After removing the head lamp and pulling out the giant ballast, turns out no mods were needed, the bulb fit like a charm and the ballast I got is much smaller than the GM/Philips that was there originally. The new ballasts I got are also digital, whereas the orignal are magnetic.

Installation was a breeze and now my lights are bright white with a slight tint of blue. (6000k)

3 months parts & labour, 1 year parts - he even through in a beer when we were done.

He also educated me a bit during the installation.

Total cost after we finished our beer - $260!!!

Will be doing my fog lamps soon same lights to match.

On top of that he referred me to his buddy who went to the same school as him but took the GM route while he took MB - nice guy.

[Texas Jim]

So my bulbs went out on me and I contacted my GM dealer for an estimate .

I gave him my vin and he said that my vehicle has the HID option and will cost a small fortune to replace.

Over $700 a bulb not including labour... Wow... That's at least $1700 for sure.

I did a bit of research and with the Cadillac god's smiling down on me I found a cool guy with his own lighting business in my area.

Turns out the guy is a veteran at Mercedes Benz - electrical tech and MB specialist. (too bad he wasn't GM)

Anyway, he runs the lighting on the side since so many people are converting to HID.

I explained my problem and he said we may have to do some cutting and modifications to have the HID conversion fit my car.

After removing the head lamp and pulling out the giant ballast, turns out no mods were needed, the bulb fit like a charm and the ballast I got is much smaller than the GM/Philips that was there originally. The new ballasts I got are also digital, whereas the orignal are magnetic.

Installation was a breeze and now my lights are bright white with a slight tint of blue. (6000k)

3 months parts & labour, 1 year parts - he even through in a beer when we were done.

He also educated me a bit during the installation.

Total cost after we finished our beer - $260!!!

Will be doing my fog lamps soon same lights to match.

On top of that he referred me to his buddy who went to the same school as him but took the GM route while he took MB - nice guy.

Where are you located? Any place close to Texas?

I want to get my fog lamps converted to HID.

[Babydon]

Sorry Jim, waaaaaay up in Toronto, Canada.

I'm sure there's plenty in Texas.

I found him through kijiji.ca - but I just did a quick search for you on kijiji.com in Houston, TX.

http://houston.kijiji.com/c-Cars-vehicles-...QQAdIdZ54289483

I searched for HID.

[Texas Jim]

Sorry Jim, waaaaaay up in Toronto, Canada.

I'm sure there's plenty in Texas.

I found him through kijiji.ca - but I just did a quick search for you on kijiji.com in Houston, TX.

http://houston.kijiji.com/c-Cars-vehicles-...QQAdIdZ54289483

I searched for HID.

Thanks,

I just read his ad. I am in Fort Worth Texas. I may give him a call if I can't find someone closer that can do it. Sounds interesting, but he is 300 miles from me. Might make a good weekend trip.

I will look around and find someone to do it.

I am getting too old and stiff to be crawling around on the concrete floor any more.

Well... maybe I could... but I don't want to.

[Babydon]

Found one for you Jim.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/pts/705590514.html

Says they have kits for Foglights too.

[Texas Jim]

Found one for you Jim.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/pts/705590514.html

Says they have kits for Foglights too.

Very cool.

Thanks a lot. I will contact him.

[JasonA]

Jim, I would respectfully suggest you do NOT convert your fog lamps to HID. The lamp housing optics were not designed for that amount of light, and as you may know, the actual position of the light source is very important to proper aim. An HID bulb does not have the same characteristics as a halogen bulb -- which is why HID light housings are designed as such from the onset. There's no such thing as a "proper" conversion from halogen to HID. You just can't design a light housing that works well for both. Converting your fog lights to HID will overpower the light housings and will produce a lot of down-road glare to other drivers. Your main headlights were designed as HIDs from the onset, and can properly handle the 3200+ lumens they put out. The little halogen fog lights are only designed for 1000 lumens, give or take, and cannot properly process the light from an HID bulb.

[Babydon]

Jim, I would respectfully suggest you do NOT convert your fog lamps to HID. The lamp housing optics were not designed for that amount of light, and as you may know, the actual position of the light source is very important to proper aim. An HID bulb does not have the same characteristics as a halogen bulb -- which is why HID light housings are designed as such from the onset. There's no such thing as a "proper" conversion from halogen to HID. You just can't design a light housing that works well for both. Converting your fog lights to HID will overpower the light housings and will produce a lot of down-road glare to other drivers. Your main headlights were designed as HIDs from the onset, and can properly handle the 3200+ lumens they put out. The little halogen fog lights are only designed for 1000 lumens, give or take, and cannot properly process the light from an HID bulb.

Very good point Jason! I didn't know that.

What if you somehow replaced the housing itself and not just the bulb?

I'm gonna ask the lighting guy about that and see what he has to say.

Thanks for the heads up before Jim and I went forward with the fog lamp conversion.

[Texas Jim]

JasonA,

Thanks for the heads up. I kinda knew that ... but hadn't really thought it thru.

I will not do it unless I can find "PROPER" HID housings.

I hate meeting cars that blind you and I sure don't want to do that to someone else.

[JasonA]

I'm sure you can find stand-alone HID light housings/bulbs. They certainly wouldn't be shaped like the stock fog lights, nor would they fit the contour of the bumper openings, but they'd have the proper optics.

Some EXCELLENT reading regarding HID lights: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

[Texas Jim]

I'm sure you can find stand-alone HID light housings/bulbs. They certainly wouldn't be shaped like the stock fog lights, nor would they fit the contour of the bumper openings, but they'd have the proper optics.

Some EXCELLENT reading regarding HID lights: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

Thanks for the link. I will read it.

If I can't find housings that FIT and look RIGHT for my bumper... I won't do it.

The front of the car is too pretty to mess up the lines with some cobbled together junk.

THAT ain't gonna happen.

Thanks again.

[Babydon]

I'm sure you can find stand-alone HID light housings/bulbs. They certainly wouldn't be shaped like the stock fog lights, nor would they fit the contour of the bumper openings, but they'd have the proper optics.

Some EXCELLENT reading regarding HID lights: <a href="http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html" target="_blank">http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html</a>

Thanks for the link. I will read it.

If I can't find housings that FIT and look RIGHT for my bumper... I won't do it.

The front of the car is too pretty to mess up the lines with some cobbled together junk.

THAT ain't gonna happen.

Thanks again.

Just got this back from the lighting guy...

"Hi, yes this is correct, I will be ordering high power LED bulbs for this application.

The Led bulbs are bright and is within 1000lumins, so you will have color as HID, bulb light will be same brightness. This is new technology that I am working on importing.

This will be cheaper ten HID, I will get them for you at cost to test out for me.

If you get a chance, let me know what bulb type it takes..."

What do you think Jason?

[thaghost87]

Do you know what company makes your HID headlights are? or model number?

[JasonA]

Interesting. I love the idea of LEDs, and would like to see more auto makers use them in forward lighting as they have in back lighting. I think Infinity is the only one yet who has used them for headlights. I know the new CTS uses them in accent lighting on the front, but that's not real lighting.

If they produce around 1000 lumens, they certainly won't overpower the optics of the light housing. That said, LED lighting is very "directional". The halogen bulb has a filament that burns and light is obviously emitted in every direction, radially around that filament. LEDs are very directional by nature, which makes their use in automotive lighting not without compromise. I've seen examples where folks installed LED retrofit bulbs in their taillights, and side lighting (specifically, the lack thereof) became an issue. Because LEDs don't light in all directions like halogen bulbs do, the side lighting he got was almost gone.

So it'll be interesting to see how those work out for you. What you need, by the way (I'm sure you already know) is an #880 type bulb. The car came with #880s, which are only 540 lumens with a 27W draw. I've installed #885s in my car (same as yours), and those put out about 1200 lumens with a 50W draw. Forward lighting is good. I have the HIR bulbs in my low beams, and they boosted the otherwise poor factory lighting pretty well. I'm not impressed with the projector lights in these cars. And the fog lights provide the forward-side lighting that the projectors lack, especially with the added lumens. And in both cases (low beam and fogs), a halogen bulb is retained (though at higher outputs), so the positioning of the filament with respect to the housing remains the same.

Let us know how the LED bulbs work in your fog lights. They should certainly be more efficient if nothing else. I'd be surprised if they drew 10 watts.

[jking220]

The Led bulbs are bright and is within 1000lumins, so you will have color as HID, bulb light will be same brightness.

HID bulbs put out more than 1000 lumens. The lowest output of an HID bulb I have seen is around 2500 lumens, more than twice the output of a halogen.

Do you know how the guy will change the housing? LEDs give off directional light compared to halogens/HIDs

[jking220]

Did you have the LED treatment done to the fogs?

[JasonA]

The Led bulbs are bright and is within 1000lumins, so you will have color as HID, bulb light will be same brightness.

HID bulbs put out more than 1000 lumens. The lowest output of an HID bulb I have seen is around 2500 lumens, more than twice the output of a halogen.

I think he was saying the fog lights will be 1000 lumens, which is near equivalent to the stock halogen bulbs.

And halogen bulbs can put out a lot more than 1250 lumens. The Toshiba 9012/HIR2 low beams in my '01 put out 1900 lumens, and the 9011/HIR1 high beams put out 2400 lumens, which is getting awfully close to HID territory. These bulbs also don't have the short lifespans that standard overdriven bulbs (like Silvania SilverStar) experience. See more here:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...bulb_types.html

And here's a page specifically about the Toshiba HIR bulbs. I recommend these bulbs to anyone with 9005 and 9006 bulbs:

http://www.finemotoring.com/

They're not gimmicks. They're expensive ($50 for the pair), but I think well worth it. Another website (forum) on the topic:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=916504

[JasonA]

Here are two pictures of the HIR lights in my '01 STS. One bulb is the standard Silvania 9006 and the other bulb is the Toshiba 9012/HIR2 bulb. The first picture is at normal eye level, above the cut-off. There appears to be absolutely no difference.

The second picture is crouched down, below the cut-off. It's blindingly obvious now which bulb is which.

I said earlier that I wasn't really a fan of these projector lights. I say that with a caveat. They subjectively are poor lights, in that you can't see a lot of your beam on the road, or to the sides of the car, as you can in some vehicles. Subjectively, a light that throws a lot of light on the road is a "good" light. But I've found that if you have too much foreground lighting, it can actually hurt your distance vision because your eye focuses on what's 75 feet in front of you rather than 750 feet in front of you. If I turn my fog lights on, I have a LOT of foreground lighting ("good"!), but when I turn them off, it appears that my distance vision is indeed brighter because of the lack of foreground lighting. I think these lights really do perform like lights are supposed to perform -- putting a lot of light down the road, sharply focused straight ahead, possibly at the expense of side lighting. I guess the theory there is that if you have too much side lighting, you may be blinding others, and if there's no other traffic on the road, you should use your high beams, and get a lot of light everywhere.

I should also say, though, that with the 50W fog lights turned on, there's a noticeable dimness to the regular headlights. I've seen that in the car's reflection parked in front of a store window for example. Turn the fogs off, and the headlights get noticeably brighter. I doubt this is as much of a problem running the stock 27W fog light bulbs.