# HID Lights are they worth it?



## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Considering HID lights for my 2007 GMC Yukon XL after going through 3 bulbs in 2 months. They are warrantied by NAPA but tired of changing them. Lets hear some pros and cons

Thanks


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## allseasons87 (Nov 29, 2011)

campkd6;1568485 said:


> Considering HID lights for my 2007 GMC Yukon XL after going through 3 bulbs in 2 months. They are warrantied by NAPA but tired of changing them. Lets hear some pros and cons
> 
> Thanks


I have 10000K's in one of our trucks. Awesome. No better vision at night. I wanna get them in all our trucks. Only downfall is that they are blinding since the truck does not have projectors, just standard headlights 
Every once in a while, someone will flash their lights. Always makes ya feel bad


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

allseasons87;1568516 said:


> I have 10000K's in one of our trucks. Awesome. No better vision at night. I wanna get them in all our trucks. Only downfall is that they are blinding since the truck does not have projectors, just standard headlights
> Every once in a while, someone will flash their lights. Always makes ya feel bad


Are the 10,000k lights just about pure blue?

I'm running 35 watt, 4500K in my low beams and fog lights and I'm very happy with them. I'm considering going with 55 watt, 5000k in my high beams and then wiring the truck up for the 6 hi mod. I hate going back to a vehicle with just normal lights, feels like I have a flash light taped to the hood to drive by.


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## WilliamOak (Feb 11, 2008)

I have the exact same lights as mark in the exact same truck (from the front lol) and liked them so much I put them in the gf's car since since she has trouble with night driving. My brights seem less effective now than these in my low beams / fogs. Not so much in the amount of light but the quality/clarity is literally night and day.


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## allseasons87 (Nov 29, 2011)

Mark13;1568521 said:


> Are the 10,000k lights just about pure blue?
> 
> I'm running 35 watt, 4500K in my low beams and fog lights and I'm very happy with them. I'm considering going with 55 watt, 5000k in my high beams and then wiring the truck up for the 6 hi mod. I hate going back to a vehicle with just normal lights, feels like I have a flash light taped to the hood to drive by.


I wouldn't say they're pure blue, but sort of a bluish, whitish, purpleish????? They don't look like a rice burner Honda with that ugly pure blue.

I got them off eBay 4 years ago for $125 and have worked perfectly since then with no problems.

Lol I know what you mean. It feels like there's 2 cheap flashlights on the front of a vehicle when you go from a HID vehicle to a halogen equipped vehicle.


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Sounds good guys I will get them ordered this morning. 

Thanks


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## scott3430 (Dec 28, 2010)

Camp - post up some pics when you get them installed!


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Will do. I will have them tomorrow Mr Elite is coming out to install my new alarm and remote start in my Duramax and tint my windows in my 1989 Peterbilt 379 and is bringing the HID's with him


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## William B. (Jul 22, 2004)

I have 5000K in my high lows and fogs. With the all high mod on my truck its like day time at night. I will never own a vehicle without them.


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

I got the 6000k for the Yukon. Gonna start with the headlights get the fogs next.


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## crazyboy (Feb 3, 2009)

Running 35w 6000k in lows and highs with 4 hi mod. Awesome!


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## Greenmtboy (Jan 22, 2011)

The higher the number the bluer the color right?


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

Greenmtboy;1569946 said:


> The higher the number the bluer the color right?


Correct. I believe 4300k is the purest and most useable amount of light. My 4500k's are almost pure white and very easy to drive with.


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## MR. Elite (Nov 24, 2012)

Mark13;1569954 said:


> Correct. I believe 4300k is the purest and most useable amount of light. My 4500k's are almost pure white and very easy to drive with.


Technically 6000k is the ones ur thinking of. Anything after 8000k is way to many lumens for the human eye to detect, so in turn its more color than anything else. 
I personally like to have the hint of blue in there so I put 8k's in everything..

3000-4000k usually a yellowish color 
6000k is very white, some may have a very light hint of blue...
8000k has a bluish tint 
10000k is either very blue or purplish 
12000k and up is VERY purple in color and way overkill on the lumens!!!

BJ, post a pic of the Yukon when U get a chance!!


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

If your saying 6-8k is the best temp rating for the hid's, then why does everything I read say OEM lights on the high end cars are almost always 4300k and that is the most useable amount of light available? After 4500k the useable light drops off but a 5000k still does pretty well, 6,8,10k etc are usually chosen for the appearance and the blue tint but are not the brightest available.


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## allseasons87 (Nov 29, 2011)

My 10,000K's are bright. Not really that blue at all.


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Pic is in the Chicago weather thread


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## Greenmtboy (Jan 22, 2011)

Mark13;1570030 said:


> If your saying 6-8k is the best temp rating for the hid's, then why does everything I read say OEM lights on the high end cars are almost always 4300k and that is the most useable amount of light available? After 4500k the useable light drops off but a 5000k still does pretty well, 6,8,10k etc are usually chosen for the appearance and the blue tint but are not the brightest available.


I'm with you on this!


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## MR. Elite (Nov 24, 2012)

Mark13;1570030 said:


> If your saying 6-8k is the best temp rating for the hid's, then why does everything I read say OEM lights on the high end cars are almost always 4300k and that is the most useable amount of light available? After 4500k the useable light drops off but a 5000k still does pretty well, 6,8,10k etc are usually chosen for the appearance and the blue tint but are not the brightest available.


I dont remember saying 6-8k is the BEST, in my statement... I also never said that ur statement of 4300's being the purest color was WRONG either, I hope wat I said didnt come across that way...
From my education and experience (10 yrs) in aftermarket/custom industry.. simply put.. cost. Factory HID lights are considered more of a Xenon type (bulb) witch is a bulb with a ballast on the end of it, HID lights on the other convert there power thru a secondary ballast, both are usually right around the same power rating yet they are both Xenon Gas bulbs, It would cost a manufacturer significantly more to produce actual HID setups on vehicles!! Its more cost effective to go with the Xenon Bulb (ballast built on to the end of a bulb) then to have separate ballast/transformer in line to the bulb, I would have to lean on the fact that warranty issues or claims would come into play upon manufacturer decisions as well...? 
As for color..... have U ever noticed that a 4k bulb has a yellow color to it..?? Any idea why that is??
Now U are also correct to a point on the usable light... It does have alot to do with the amount of of kelvin/lumens the human eye can detect, the higher the kelvin #, the hotter the gas burns, witch in turn predicts the overall color of the bulb... And yes.. at a certain point its unusable to the human eye... So I would have to say we are both kinda dancing on the fence of fact and preference on parts of this topic.... I understand completely wat ur saying, but the statements Ive made are purely based upon the amount of information I have come across studying these types of lights for legality reasons in my industry.


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## Greenmtboy (Jan 22, 2011)

I installed a Xenon HID kit (6000k) in my motorcycle and it had more of a blue tint then white. I wish I had gone with the whiter 5000k's.


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## StormRanger (Oct 15, 2009)

I run them on everything, I have never been flashed with them on, its easier on the eyes than the halogens. any color temp higher than 4500k is worthless unless your buying them to look 'cool'. A lot of HID suppliers bastardize the color temps, like 10,000K for instance....back in the day, there was 4300k (white) and 6000k (blue tint). Your eyes can't see the blue light as good as they can the white.

You can go to DDM tuning and buy the $40 sets, the ones in my plow last about 6 mo before I have to replace balasts, but they're all lifetime warranty, so they just send you new ones, no big deal. My truck i've also replaced a couple times. In my car, I have the real deal, Phillips, $350, they've been in there for 12 years, and I haven't touched a thing on them. So I mean, you get what you pay for.


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## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

StormRanger;1575400 said:


> You can go to DDM tuning and buy the $40 sets, the ones in my plow last about 6 mo before I have to replace balasts, but they're all lifetime warranty, so they just send you new ones, no big deal. My truck i've also replaced a couple times. In my car, I have the real deal, Phillips, $350, they've been in there for 12 years, and I haven't touched a thing on them. So I mean, you get what you pay for.


The newer DDM kits from my experience and everything else I've heard are crap. Not that they were great to start with but the kits from a few years ago are significantly better. Seems the ones made within the last year or so are constant problems.


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## StormRanger (Oct 15, 2009)

Mark13;1575457 said:


> The newer DDM kits from my experience and everything else I've heard are crap. Not that they were great to start with but the kits from a few years ago are significantly better. Seems the ones made within the last year or so are constant problems.


being shipped directly from China, im not surprised.


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

So far so good with the lights I got from Dave (Mr. Elite). Love how much better the visibility is vs. Sylvania ultra visions I used to run. Going to put these in the Pete, my pickup and the X-Treme V. No sense getting the hi-lows dont need high beams. When following cars it's funny to see there yellow light in front of them and my white light all around them and lighting the signs and ditches ahead of them.


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

The lights for the rest of my vehicles will be here this week. Gonna be so nice to see clearly in everything.


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## the new boss 92 (Nov 29, 2008)

I noticed that the last set I got from ddm were shipped from china, it kinda angered me but they still work and have been in 3 different truck in the back year so no problems ill buy them again


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## wilsonsground (Jun 29, 2012)

Www.intensehid.com. 6000k are your brightest or look into 55watt kits with the 6000k 5000/6000k kits are your whitest light being your brightest.


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## mikes-plow (Feb 26, 2011)

campkd6;1584773 said:


> The lights for the rest of my vehicles will be here this week. Gonna be so nice to see clearly in everything.


where did you find them for the pete? would like to fimd some for my boss' pete!


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## campkd6 (Dec 7, 2007)

I have the JJ brackets and run the 7" round headlights switched to lens that take the h1 bulbs i believe. In The chrome catalogs you can get replacement bulbs for sealed halogen lights for the 5" round 7" round and the 4"x6" bulbs that have a clear lens work great. there are pics in my other thread about repainting the pete


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