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Help With Up Grading Head Light's Please LED's 2012 Sierra


diyer2

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Now that we are rural mountain living I thought of up grading my head lights.

 

The stock head lights aren't bad but more light is better.

 

Looked at upgrading the stock halogens to Sylvania Silver Stars or Phillips Extreme Vision or something similar but longevity is the problem.

 

I have looked at a lot of different products for LED's and HID's. There are kits and LED bulbs. Just putting in bulbs would be great if they do the job.

 

I have decided to go LED due to the longevity compared to HID bulbs.

 

My first concern is putting LED's in my stock head light housings. I've read this is not the best because LED's distribute light different than halogens. This can cause the light beam to be more in front of the truck instead of down the road further.

I want distance improvement for seeing wild life. I know the LED's will be brighter.

 

I'm partial to Morimoto products for kits but open to others if someone has experience with that product.

Anyone put LED bulbs in a stock head light? What brand? Did it improve the distance coverage?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

:happysad:

 

 

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I've done both LED and HID kits in my two trucks. And I've been using HID kits for almost 10 years. I've yet to wear out a set of HID bulbs, so I'm not sure I agree with your lifespan comment.

 

I bought a set of LED heads and fogs from Superbright LEDs. Nice improvement in the amount of light and pattern. But after about six months, one of the LED headlight bulbs started flickering and wouldn't stop.

 

Both trucks now have HID lights from DDM tuning . They're $35, so I just bought a third set as a spare. Completely happy with them. I went with the 35W units, but they also sell 55w units that I'm sure throw even more light.

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I've done both LED and HID kits in my two trucks. And I've been using HID kits for almost 10 years. I've yet to wear out a set of HID bulbs, so I'm not sure I agree with your lifespan comment.

 

I bought a set of LED heads and fogs from Superbright LEDs. Nice improvement in the amount of light and pattern. But after about six months, one of the LED headlight bulbs started flickering and wouldn't stop.

 

Both trucks now have HID lights from DDM tuning . They're $35, so I just bought a third set as a spare. Completely happy with them. I went with the 35W units, but they also sell 55w units that I'm sure throw even more light.

Thanks for the info.

The DDM Tuning I hadn't found. Best warranty. It seems to be a real lifetime warranty.

Still thinking about it.

:happysad:

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As far as brightness and total lumen output LED bulbs have not caught up to HID's yet. That's not saying that installed in the proper type of projector housing that they won't outperform but installed in OEM assemblies that were not designed for them they will not perform as good as HID's. I helped a friend install a set of LED bulbs in his 2014 Silverado with the projector housing for the low beams. They did not provide any more light than the stock halogens did for down road visibility. He ended up taking them out and putting in HID's and it was much better.

 

Have you considered installing an LED light bar in the open slot on the front of your truck? There are a few bars that will fit inside that void space and would be large enough to throw enough light to improve your down road visibility. You could also wire it to a relay so that it comes on when you switch to high beams and add a secondary switch to disable it when you did not want it on.

 

I have seen people mount them behind the grille as well (depending on the grille that you have) and they put out more light than you would think from behind the grille.

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As far as brightness and total lumen output LED bulbs have not caught up to HID's yet. That's not saying that installed in the proper type of projector housing that they won't outperform but installed in OEM assemblies that were not designed for them they will not perform as good as HID's. I helped a friend install a set of LED bulbs in his 2014 Silverado with the projector housing for the low beams. They did not provide any more light than the stock halogens did for down road visibility. He ended up taking them out and putting in HID's and it was much better.

 

Have you considered installing an LED light bar in the open slot on the front of your truck? There are a few bars that will fit inside that void space and would be large enough to throw enough light to improve your down road visibility. You could also wire it to a relay so that it comes on when you switch to high beams and add a secondary switch to disable it when you did not want it on.

 

I have seen people mount them behind the grille as well (depending on the grille that you have) and they put out more light than you would think from behind the grille.

Agree with the HID over the LED. HID bulbs similar to halogen so no beam issue.

I think if I do up grade it will be HID.

My truck with the DRL seems to limit doing the low beams.

:happysad:

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Agree with the HID over the LED. HID bulbs similar to halogen so no beam issue.

I think if I do up grade it will be HID.

My truck with the DRL seems to limit doing the low beams.

:happysad:

 

You can install the HID's in your low beams with no issues because of the DRL's. You would want to (and most of the "better" HID kits come with this) install the HID's using a dedicated wiring harness to provide clean continuous voltage to the HID Ballasts. This harness has a relay that connects to the stock headlight inputs for activating the headlight circuit. There are anti flicker/error correcting capacitors that "smooth" out the DRL voltage so that the HID's operate correctly. There is a field on the Retrofit Source's website on the Morimoto elite kits that are vehicle specific for adding capacitor links. These capacitor links are what correct the issues and sometimes they are not even needed. I'm sure DDM has something similar they can send with their kits as well.

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You can install the HID's in your low beams with no issues because of the DRL's. You would want to (and most of the "better" HID kits come with this) install the HID's using a dedicated wiring harness to provide clean continuous voltage to the HID Ballasts. This harness has a relay that connects to the stock headlight inputs for activating the headlight circuit. There are anti flicker/error correcting capacitors that "smooth" out the DRL voltage so that the HID's operate correctly. There is a field on the Retrofit Source's website on the Morimoto elite kits that are vehicle specific for adding capacitor links. These capacitor links are what correct the issues and sometimes they are not even needed. I'm sure DDM has something similar they can send with their kits as well.

Thanks

I'm still thinking about this.

I have used stock lights for the most part but did try an upgraded halogen.

:happysad:

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Keep an eye on amz for silverstar ultras. I know they have shorter life but they work good with no retrofiting (got a set for my aftermarket projectors for $18). I put some LED bulbs in fogs, and they work great for lighting up signs and stripes beyond the low beam reach without blinding other drivers...

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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I notched some HID kits come with relays and some don't.

The Morimoto's come with relays.

The DDM kit does not.

I,m looking at 35 watt kits.

 

I've done both LED and HID kits in my two trucks. And I've been using HID kits for almost 10 years. I've yet to wear out a set of HID bulbs, so I'm not sure I agree with your lifespan comment.

 

I bought a set of LED heads and fogs from Superbright LEDs. Nice improvement in the amount of light and pattern. But after about six months, one of the LED headlight bulbs started flickering and wouldn't stop.

 

Both trucks now have HID lights from DDM tuning . They're $35, so I just bought a third set as a spare. Completely happy with them. I went with the 35W units, but they also sell 55w units that I'm sure throw even more light.

Do you use the relays?

:happysad:

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