HID Headlight Bulbs / HID Projector Retrofit

[Waterfowler41]

2014 GMC Sierra 1500-

35w hid kit in factory projectors versus 35w hid kit in Retroquick projector housings.

Morimoto HID ballast, lamps, and igniters.




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[SFry27]

So I've finally thrown in the towel on my Morimoto 55w kit. I've cooked two ballasts and an igniter - when the igniter literally caught fire I felt obligated to post. I've been through  numerous Ebay, Amazon and countless group buys in my nearly 20 years of doing dumb stuff with vehicles and the Morimoto is not only the most expensive kit I've ever purchased but also the first to light itself on fire. It's got a lot of parts,  pins that don't seat, unreliable essential pieces and ultimately an overcomplicated kit that is apparently a fire hazard after a year.

 

With that said, I'm ditching it and moving into the Hylux kit as suggested by FastWS6TA. I will eventually be moving into the complete retrofit post holidays which brings me to my question-

 

Does anyone have photos of the final product post install of the FXR or similar projector in a Sierra? Specifically I'd like to see what the back of the housing looks like after its been put back together using the hot knife method. I'm sure I can handle the project but with this truck being my weekly daily I'm looking to take a few notes to come up with best practice to share with the community in an eventual write up.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight! 

[Chev-mekanik]

1 hour ago, SFry27 said:

So I've finally thrown in the towel on my Morimoto 55w kit. I've cooked two ballasts and an igniter - when the igniter literally caught fire I felt obligated to post. I've been through  numerous Ebay, Amazon and countless group buys in my nearly 20 years of doing dumb stuff with vehicles and the Morimoto is not only the most expensive kit I've ever purchased but also the first to light itself on fire. It's got a lot of parts,  pins that don't seat, unreliable essential pieces and ultimately an overcomplicated kit that is apparently a fire hazard after a year.

 

With that said, I'm ditching it and moving into the Hylux kit as suggested by FastWS6TA. I will eventually be moving into the complete retrofit post holidays which brings me to my question-

 

Does anyone have photos of the final product post install of the FXR or similar projector in a Sierra? Specifically I'd like to see what the back of the housing looks like after its been put back together using the hot knife method. I'm sure I can handle the project but with this truck being my weekly daily I'm looking to take a few notes to come up with best practice to share with the community in an eventual write up.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight! 

Don’t have much to say other than you have made a good choice. I am running the same truck and installed the 35w hylux kit over a year ago without any issues. Incredible output the way it should have been!

[sailor]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:24 PM, SFry27 said:

So I've finally thrown in the towel on my Morimoto 55w kit. I've cooked two ballasts and an igniter - when the igniter literally caught fire I felt obligated to post. I've been through  numerous Ebay, Amazon and countless group buys in my nearly 20 years of doing dumb stuff with vehicles and the Morimoto is not only the most expensive kit I've ever purchased but also the first to light itself on fire. It's got a lot of parts,  pins that don't seat, unreliable essential pieces and ultimately an overcomplicated kit that is apparently a fire hazard after a year.

 

With that said, I'm ditching it and moving into the Hylux kit as suggested by FastWS6TA. I will eventually be moving into the complete retrofit post holidays which brings me to my question-

 

Does anyone have photos of the final product post install of the FXR or similar projector in a Sierra? Specifically I'd like to see what the back of the housing looks like after its been put back together using the hot knife method. I'm sure I can handle the project but with this truck being my weekly daily I'm looking to take a few notes to come up with best practice to share with the community in an eventual write up.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight! 

 When you do it take pics. I’ve had the kit for ten months in my closet and after driving 2500 miles I’m either selling the truck or installing the kit soon. Love my truck but at night it’s down right dangerous. I’m planning on baking them in the oven vs cutting the housing. Takes longer but a cleaning look imo. 

[SFry27]

I have not done the retrofit yet, but I did get the Hylux/morimoto standard kit in from FastHeadlights.

 

I really like the setup of the Hylux ballast. It's a little bulky but it has good wire lengths and is very easily mountable vs the morimoto. I really like that in the event of a part failure, troubleshooting is very easy instead of swapping part after part side to side. Well constructed and simple.

 

The Morimoto bulbs though, Jesus. Keep reading, this is important.

 

The bulbs fit well. The lengths were acceptable. The connectors though are another story. One side clipped right in, one side I had to depin and pull the terminal seals back, reseat them into the connector, make the connection then force the seals back in. One side had incorrect polarity, so I had to switch the pins On my original Morimoto bulbs, one was correct, one was not as well. 

 

In closing, very happy with the Hylux setup but I will avidly do what I can to no longer have Morimoto products in this truck or any other vehicle I work on. You're paying extra for nice packaging and that's literally it. 

 

I hope this is insightful!

 

[truckguy82]

On 12/2/2019 at 9:56 PM, SFry27 said:

I have not done the retrofit yet, but I did get the Hylux/morimoto standard kit in from FastHeadlights.

 

I really like the setup of the Hylux ballast. It's a little bulky but it has good wire lengths and is very easily mountable vs the morimoto. I really like that in the event of a part failure, troubleshooting is very easy instead of swapping part after part side to side. Well constructed and simple.

 

The Morimoto bulbs though, Jesus. Keep reading, this is important.

 

The bulbs fit well. The lengths were acceptable. The connectors though are another story. One side clipped right in, one side I had to depin and pull the terminal seals back, reseat them into the connector, make the connection then force the seals back in. One side had incorrect polarity, so I had to switch the pins On my original Morimoto bulbs, one was correct, one was not as well. 

 

In closing, very happy with the Hylux setup but I will avidly do what I can to no longer have Morimoto products in this truck or any other vehicle I work on. You're paying extra for nice packaging and that's literally it. 

 

I hope this is insightful!

 

Follow the directions fastws6 gave you, except use a hot knife instead of a dremel. I used a dremel, wasnt too happy with results. Also make sure you actually use the 2 brackets when putting the headlight back together (or use your own)

 

Most of the difficulty is getting the headlight out of the truck.  The actual headlight bench work was pretty easy and straight forward.

 

it was my first time removing anything from my truck, and my first time working on headlights. Took me 7-8 hours while following directions very carefully. Much of it was time on the bench so, so it was a relaxing 7-8 hours

Edited December 6, 2019 by truckguy82

[nate_0022]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:24 PM, SFry27 said:

So I've finally thrown in the towel on my Morimoto 55w kit. I've cooked two ballasts and an igniter - when the igniter literally caught fire I felt obligated to post. I've been through  numerous Ebay, Amazon and countless group buys in my nearly 20 years of doing dumb stuff with vehicles and the Morimoto is not only the most expensive kit I've ever purchased but also the first to light itself on fire. It's got a lot of parts,  pins that don't seat, unreliable essential pieces and ultimately an overcomplicated kit that is apparently a fire hazard after a year.

 

With that said, I'm ditching it and moving into the Hylux kit as suggested by FastWS6TA. I will eventually be moving into the complete retrofit post holidays which brings me to my question-

 

Does anyone have photos of the final product post install of the FXR or similar projector in a Sierra? Specifically I'd like to see what the back of the housing looks like after its been put back together using the hot knife method. I'm sure I can handle the project but with this truck being my weekly daily I'm looking to take a few notes to come up with best practice to share with the community in an eventual write up.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight! 

Are you still looking for pics of an FXr retrofit still? I can get some for you. You just want output pics or?

 

naybe I should’ve read your whole post lol. I had mine down by retroshop. They pulled them apart instead of cutting them open everything looks the same as far as back of the house beside the igniter coming out of dust cap. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by nate_0022

[Rock1500]

I bought a pair of lights for my truck from some here a few months back and I want to take them apart.   He already had it opened to change the DRLs and has some HIDs.   But I am wondering anyone here have installed halo lights or demon eyes and those color change DRLs?   I was thinking of opening it all back up and painting it to match the truck and then adding halo and demon eyes on it.

 

 

[LSXrex]

Quick question to everyone out there. Looking for reviews of Morimoto, Hylux, and DDM hid D5S 35w. I am having troubling finding reviews on the later two. I can find when you have to use a harness and a ballast that isn't connected to the bulb, but that isn't the exact same thing as what I want to get.

 

So of these three lights 

1) Do they ignite all the time?

 

2) Does auto work yet on them?

 

3) The Hylux I have seen are also on AliExpress for $140 CDN and I am wondering if those are the "real ones" also.

 

I know you get what you pay for, but I have been trying to research this for a while now and feel as if I am just spinning my tires. I have found reviews on the Morimoto 35w and feel as if I can trust them. But I just like to get all the info I can on stuff I am not 100% on. My last set of hids I had to get rid of cause they where pissing me off cause you literally would roll the dice if your lights would come on. So I am a bit gun shy. Granted that as 5 years ago I bought them.

[silveradosid]

these new hylux ballast make the job easier, but are not reliable. i put these in my 2014 and they worked great for 6 months and now have quit. i had to put the relay harness back in to get my headlights to work

[catpartsman]

I have the relay harness on my 15 Sierra with the Hylux and zero issues. I recently installed the hylux without the relay harness on my wife’s Acadia so time will tell with those. I’ve been through about 5 morimoto ballasts and it’s always a PITA to get them warrantied through TRS. The last time they needed replaced, I asked for the hylux and they replaced with those instead. They even said the hylux were more reliable than the morimoto a. I am still using morimoto bulbs but won’t be using or recommending the morimoto ever.


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[truckguy82]

28 minutes ago, silveradosid said:

these new hylux ballast make the job easier, but are not reliable. i put these in my 2014 and they worked great for 6 months and now have quit. i had to put the relay harness back in to get my headlights to work

I have the hylux on my ‘14 and it’s been no different than oem reliability for 2 years now.

[truckguy82]

1 hour ago, LSXrex said:

Quick question to everyone out there. Looking for reviews of Morimoto, Hylux, and DDM hid D5S 35w. I am having troubling finding reviews on the later two. I can find when you have to use a harness and a ballast that isn't connected to the bulb, but that isn't the exact same thing as what I want to get.

 

So of these three lights 

1) Do they ignite all the time?

 

2) Does auto work yet on them?

 

3) The Hylux I have seen are also on AliExpress for $140 CDN and I am wondering if those are the "real ones" also.

 

I know you get what you pay for, but I have been trying to research this for a while now and feel as if I am just spinning my tires. I have found reviews on the Morimoto 35w and feel as if I can trust them. But I just like to get all the info I can on stuff I am not 100% on. My last set of hids I had to get rid of cause they where pissing me off cause you literally would roll the dice if your lights would come on. So I am a bit gun shy. Granted that as 5 years ago I bought them.

We have a member here that owns the site fastheadlights.com

 

i believe he might have a discount for forum members.

 

Just get the hylux ballast with morimoto bulbs. Auto works perfectly as does everything else.

[LSXrex]

So are these the same or am I missing something?

 

https://esskcustoms.com/products/d5s-hylux-hid?variant=20327372324952

 

#Aliexpress C$ 159.23 | D5S Hylux Genuine  4300k 5500k 6000k 35W 12V Xenon HID Bulb Headlight Lamp Replacement
https://a.aliexpress.com/_sSyVEF

 

I realize it would be easier to get warranty from the one that is closer. But is $100 worth that?

[LSXrex]

Well I feel dumb now. I just found out why I wasn't able to find the bulb for my truck. Turns out the Denali's have LED's and apparently you can't change them the dealership told me.