HID Headlight Bulbs / HID Projector Retrofit

[Spurshot]

Russ

That looks great. I'm going to do the rear entry as well. I just need to find time. BTW I'm in Torrance too.

[Lgetz]

Sierra Spec Morimoto 4300K kit is now installed and here are my thoughts.

Overall quality of wiring, relays, and ballasts were very good.

I was disappointed in the bulbs.

You'd of thought they might have tested them first on a GMC to make sure they fit properly when screwed in.

My driver's side bulb was out of wack as it pointed down and to the right.

Made several attempts to correct until it was orientated correctly.

I'm happy with the light output vs stock.

Not impressed with the fit of the bulbs as shipped from The Retrofit Source.

[Mike1220]

I'd say the color match is very good, I can't see a differance from the DRL's. I originally was going to have a shop near me do the work but after a few minutes of explaining to them how to do this retrofit I lost all confidence in them, and they wanted $400 for the labor just for the headlight mod. I still had to get the lights out, back in , and wire it all up.

The hardest part or the retrofit, in my opinion, was keeping debris out of the housing. I learned fast that taping up everything was the way to go. If you are patient and have good jimmy-rigging skills, I'd go for it.

I'm pretty handy. My only worry is I don't want to end up messing up and screwing the $700 headlight. I think I will end up doing it myself. Shop near me wants $550 for parts and labor and a weekend to do it. And just like you, I would still be the one to pull the headlights off and put them back on the truck.

[creimes]

Just wanted to post this for anyone who has a Sierra SLT/ Denali/ AT and wants to do some work to the headlights. These headlights are pretty costly, around $700 a piece I think huh? Well while searching the interwebs I came across this on ebay! Its our Headlight with the LED strips but for only $175. How they are going for so cheap I am not sure, but if you are looking to do some work on you headlights I would probably order one of these and try working on this first. That way if you screw anything up you know that you havent screwed yourself or the headlights on your truck. You could either go this route or you could always just do the work on your driver side headlight first and if anything goes wrong, you could order this headlight.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OEM-2014-2015-GMC-Sierra-LH-Driver-Side-LED-Headlamp-Headlight-/331353610524

 

Oh man I wish they had the RH one as well and I would totally pick up a set for my SLE, when I bought my truck 3 weeks ago the salesman told me it had the LED headlights and halfway through buying it I noticed it didn't and they looked into putting them in at $800 each and would do nothing for me so I was a little peed as I love the LED DRL look, he said even if I had them put in they had to program something in the truck to change it from the headlight DRL to the LED DRL, a pair of these and some programing would be cheap enough but I see there are no RH ones for sale

 

Chad

[Mike1220]

 

Oh man I wish they had the RH one as well and I would totally pick up a set for my SLE, when I bought my truck 3 weeks ago the salesman told me it had the LED headlights and halfway through buying it I noticed it didn't and they looked into putting them in at $800 each and would do nothing for me so I was a little peed as I love the LED DRL look, he said even if I had them put in they had to program something in the truck to change it from the headlight DRL to the LED DRL, a pair of these and some programing would be cheap enough but I see there are no RH ones for sale

 

Chad

From what I've heard you would also need to change a harness to make it all work right ontop of the programming.

 

Message the seller! It's possible that they have a set for drift cheap!! Couldn't hurt to ask.

[creimes]

From what I've heard you would also need to change a harness to make it all work right ontop of the programming.

 

Message the seller! It's possible that they have a set for drift cheap!! Couldn't hurt to ask.

 

Probably should have just got an SLT or All Terrain lol, I'm sure the harness wouldn't be cheap if I would need to get it from the dealer haha

[JTWOLD]

Sierra Spec Morimoto 4300K kit is now installed and here are my thoughts.

Overall quality of wiring, relays, and ballasts were very good.

I was disappointed in the bulbs.

You'd of thought they might have tested them first on a GMC to make sure they fit properly when screwed in.

My driver's side bulb was out of wack as it pointed down and to the right.

Made several attempts to correct until it was orientated correctly.

I'm happy with the light output vs stock.

Not impressed with the fit of the bulbs as shipped from The Retrofit Source.

FWIW, I installed this same Sierra spec kit last night and had no issue with the fitment or orientation of the bulbs at all. I was actually impressed how well that part of the install went, my bulbs twisted into position easily and felt very snug. I took a pic of the stock bulb before removal and noted where the wide and narrow tabs were once I had it out, and used that as a reference to be sure I had the TRS bulb oriented correctly. I did not check to see if it could be installed in an incorrect orientation though. I didn't think that was possible with the 9012 bulbs. The return wires on my bulbs are facing downward, so hopefully that's correct. My light pattern seems consistent with others I've seen here, and so far I'm really happy with the light output. Except for the radio reception issue, I'm very happy with the kit for the price and a few hours labor. Big improvement. Edited October 29, 2014 by JTWOLD

[Lgetz]

FWIW, I installed this same Sierra spec kit last night and had no issue with the fitment or orientation of the bulbs at all. I was actually impressed how well that part of the install went, my bulbs twisted into position easily and felt very snug. I took a pic of the stock bulb before removal and noted where the wide and narrow tabs were once I had it out, and used that as a reference to be sure I had the TRS bulb oriented correctly. I did not check to see if it could be installed in an incorrect orientation though. I didn't think that was possible with the 9012 bulbs. The return wires on my bulbs are facing downward, so hopefully that's correct. My light pattern seems consistent with others I've seen here, and so far I'm really happy with the light output. Except for the radio reception issue, I'm very happy with the kit for the price and a few hours labor. Big improvement.

We installed the bulbs easily as you stated.

However once got to drive at night the light pattern was awful.

After more testing noticed it was the drivers side pointing right and down.

Very distracting since it illuminated sidewalk, curbs, ditches, and the shoulder of the road only.

Reoriented the bulb and they are good now.

Great light output and thankfully no issues with radio reception.

[ChrisNJ]

 

Thanks Chris -- Do you know the position of the wire on the HID bulb as you have them installed? My cutoff looks pretty clean on buildings. The picture was taken very close to the headlight just to capture any bright or dark spots. I have several minor shadows across the beam on the ground in the dark

Red wire is up, blue is down.

[bass mechanic]

 

 

 

For those of you with buzzing ballasts; Double check your ground integrity and your wiring polarity. Because load is highest on bulb start up, any resistance in your ground circuit can cause those issues. Also, some of these systems will function with improper polarity at the ballast input from the vehicle harness. However, the relays will buzz due to current flowing the wrong direction through the relay. Just a couple things to check.

The relays don't buzz for this reason, the BCM sends a pulsed output to the factory bulbs (unknown why) and the capacitor filters this out so the relays stay on constant.

The high frequency ring or whine you hear at the ballast is due to the high voltage AC that is needed to ignite the hid bulbs, once the halide salts evaporate the current draw is less and they quiet down some but they will always make that high frequency sound when in use.

 

Also the buzzing relays without the capacitor installed only happens when the engine is running.

 

 

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[TexasDevilDog]

 

Link please.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems/morimoto-elite-hid-system-sierra-low-beam.html#.VEVUNyLF-xq

[Jay700]

Is the sierra kit a easier install? What's different about it?

[kcorbin]

Is the sierra kit a easier install? What's different about it?

 

Looks to be the same as the TRS Mopar Low beam kit that has been referenced on here a few times. I'd imagine they just re-listed it under the Sierra name with just the 9012 bulb options available for clarity.

[Mike1220]

Hi everyone I have been in contact with my dealership and customer care and just a heads up they are getting enuf complaints about the projectors and poor light quality that gm is working on a fix I have seen the e mails from gm customer care also informed me the more complaints the get the faster a fix will happen

[Kerrslight]

 

Hi everyone I have been in contact with my dealership and customer care and just a heads up they are getting enuf complaints about the projectors and poor light quality that gm is working on a fix I have seen the e mails from gm customer care also informed me the more complaints the get the faster a fix will happen

 

Thats great news! Free factory HID kits for everybody!! haha...only in a perfect world.