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Hid Kit Problems

leverlution

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leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

Posted
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Just got my new HID kit installed last night. Ugh, what a nightmare. GM wiring was backwards. Popped 3 fuses before my dumb $%# figured it out. The bulb bases in the kit were too thick and broke one prong during install, the other never locked all the way in. After letting the bulbs burn in for 2 hours, they are BRIGHT BLUE. Both the bulb itself while on, as well as the light output on the road. I ordered 4300k. I got a long trip to the mountains next weekend and I am REALLY concerned about reliability. I had to take the air box, grill, and headlight out just to change the bulbs. Really don't want to do that again. I don't wanna say what kit it is until they email back and see what they do. Here are some pics.

 

 

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leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

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Oops, forgot my actual question. You guys think I should switch back to stock bulbs before our trip or do you all think it will be ok? Is there any way to change the lights without removing the grill, and capsul, or the washer bottle/tray/computer?

leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

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Update: Ended up just removing them. Light out put was abysmal. Less than the stock halogens by a long shot. Light pattern was a joke. They just threw light everywhere, with more shadows than light on the road. The shadows seemed like there were 100 penny's in each lamp. Somewhere between the 3 miles drive to aim the lights on a wall, and back to the house, one of the tabs on the other bulb broke off.

 

Between the horrible output, and questionable reliability, I wasn't chancing. Talking to the company owner now. He thinks the bulbs got mixed up or wrong mold or something. The bulbs are stamped H11 but aren't even close to the pictures he sent me of what an H11 should look like. Mine look more like a cross between an 880 and H13.

gregrocks89 Senior Enthusiast

gregrocks89

Posted
Posted
Update: Ended up just removing them. Light out put was abysmal. Less than the stock halogens by a long shot. Light pattern was a joke. They just threw light everywhere, with more shadows than light on the road. The shadows seemed like there were 100 penny's in each lamp. Somewhere between the 3 miles drive to aim the lights on a wall, and back to the house, one of the tabs on the other bulb broke off.

 

Between the horrible output, and questionable reliability, I wasn't chancing. Talking to the company owner now. He thinks the bulbs got mixed up or wrong mold or something. The bulbs are stamped H11 but aren't even close to the pictures he sent me of what an H11 should look like. Mine look more like a cross between an 880 and H13.

 

thats shitty man hopfully they can hook you up, i love my hids

  • 2 weeks later...
travis55 New Member

travis55

Posted
Posted

Yea man i had the same exact problem i my 2007 sierra, i ad hids in my jeep commander and they were so nice and relected perfectly, nut i got this truck and they were horrible in it. the fogs didn't matchmy low beams at all and i was just pissed off and upset that they looked so bad in there.

 

 

 

Update: Ended up just removing them. Light out put was abysmal. Less than the stock halogens by a long shot. Light pattern was a joke. They just threw light everywhere, with more shadows than light on the road. The shadows seemed like there were 100 penny's in each lamp. Somewhere between the 3 miles drive to aim the lights on a wall, and back to the house, one of the tabs on the other bulb broke off.

 

Between the horrible output, and questionable reliability, I wasn't chancing. Talking to the company owner now. He thinks the bulbs got mixed up or wrong mold or something. The bulbs are stamped H11 but aren't even close to the pictures he sent me of what an H11 should look like. Mine look more like a cross between an 880 and H13.

 

 

thats shitty man hopfully they can hook you up, i love my hids

 

leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

Posted
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I'm not saying what kit it is yet. The company has been AWESOME so far. I sent a simple email letting them know that their mold is messed up or something. Since then, we have exchanged in excess of over 15 emails, and I was informed that the product was in fact faulty. Something about the design of the base, and the placement of the gasket. A new bulb as been designed, that looks exactly the same as an H11 (except for the actual glass and isolator). That new bulb is being shipped now, but only in 6000k. They said in a week or two they should be getting the 4500k and I will have a new set as soon as they arrive. I'm going to give them one more shot. Really hoping the light pattern was thrown way off because the bulbs were not locking in correctly, causing them to reflect different than people have experienced on here so far. If not, there will be a "2 hour used" set of 35Watt, 4500k, H11, digital ballast with internal ignitor for sale here soon.

 

This kit was plug and play as well. I also added a relay harness, so a little more "plugging" but it was connector to connector plug and play. But, and this is also stated in the support section of their website, chevy silverado wiring is backwards for the headlamps. In other words, the black wire is positive, the yellow/black is negative. With halogens, polarity is irrelevant, as long as positive goes in one way, and neg comes out the opposite, because it's just running from battery to a wire in the bulb and back out to negative. Why it is backwards even though it doesn't matter is beyond me. So, after some fussing and blowing a few fuses, I read that on the support site. Ended up turning every connector backwards (the kit accounted for this and used connectors that could go either way) and swapped negative with positive at the battery and they turned on.

 

We will see what happens when I get them, but as far as light output and light pattern goes, I am 1,000 times happier with the OEM Osrams that came with my 2010 than I am with the HID kit that are mentioned A LOT on this forum as a good bang for the buck.

leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

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Yup yup. Only thing that didn't have a connector was the 2 spades that plug into he oem H11 plug but there is ZERO cutting of wires unless you wanna extend the harness and even then its not the oem wires your cutting.

leverlution Enthusiast

leverlution

Posted
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I appreciate the offer, but I think im going to pass. Really not happy with the light pattern, range of throw, and color output problems (contrast etc) that come from the lack of HID optics. Don't think th difference in who makes them is going to matter when it comes to their reaction with the stock halogen reflector. Certainly not willing to throw more money away proving that point to myself. :-)

KBcarstuff Enthusiast

KBcarstuff

Posted
Posted

No problem at all. While your headlights are ultimately what determine the beam pattern, a low grade HID bulb that has been improperly rebased will also result in a poor beam pattern and range of light output. HID bulbs and ballasts are not manufactured equally these days. Generally speaking, we have had very good feedback from our customers that are installing our HID kits in their newer GM vehicles.

 

Steve

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