(real) HID headlight education

[Sydwayz]

I've got three vehicles that I'd like to upgrade to REAL HID lights, with ballast and everything. Obviously, there is a lot on eBay, and most of it is cheap imitation "blue" "xenon" bulbs.

My headlights are as follows:

H13 Ford Superduty (integrated hi/lo in same bulb)

9006/9005 GMC Yukon (separate hi/low bulbs)
want to convert foglights too, but not sure of bulbs

H7/H1 Mercedes Benz (separate hi/low bulbs)
H1 foglights

I am pretty certain that I want to covert ALL of them, hi/low/fogs to HID. I want to make sure I get a quality setup. I want to make sure I am not going to melt any housing.

Can anyone offer advice? Does anyone have experience with aftermarket conversion setups? Is there a preferred/dominant vendor?

Thanks in advance.

 

[phragle]

do your research, I did a conversion a couple years ago, and all the ebay stuff was junk. they dont line the arc up in the same place as the filament which throws off the lights focus. unless there is something new they dont have a hi/low bulb. there are also multiple different systems/ bulbs out there. gen 1 used a seperate ballast seperate ignitor and seperate bulb. gen 2 uses a seperate ballast and combines the ignitor with the bulb. there are also bulbs that are clear and bulbs that have a shaded area to be used with reflector. After trying a bunch of different stuff I ended up using lincoln navigator ballasts with standard clear bulbs, than I machined some some alum mounting adaptor rings to get the arc spacing correct. I used Cibie europeon rally lights. your easist route is going to be to get oem stuff. Also, unless laws have changed, there are no DOT approved kits, so unless its oem, it wont be legal, but when was the last time we worried about legal..
if you need more help let me know and I will dig out my notes.

 

[johnlomant]

Go to DDM tuning They have the best kits and they are real cheap.

 

[jhenrie]

As Phragle said none are dot approved. Aftermarket kits will not auto level and that is the main problem for on road use. If you buy some , look for a digital ballast with a capicator , preferably made in germany or japan. Stay away from the korean and tiwanese junk on ebay as they won't make it through the warranty period. ddm that john mentioned is offering a lifetime warranty , that sounds good. I looked at their ballast pics and see they do have the caps , just not sure as to the origin of the ballast. Overall I have had bad luck with every brand I have tried.