Hid Vs. Light Bar

bkr · March 25, 2008

Looking at upgrading lighting on 2007 NBS Silverado Crew Cab. I ordered a Smittybilt light bar for front bumber and was planning on adding a set of Hella Black Magic driving lights (truck & light bar is black). My thought was to install toggle in cab and run relay so lights would go on if high beam on (& toggle on). It would cost around $400 for this setup.

I've been reading up on HID lighting on this forum and it appears that I can install HIDs in the stock housings for about the same cost and do away with the light bar.

Goal is to increase lighting when driving on rural highways & mountain roads.

Anybody seen a side-to-side comparison of full HID setup vs. stock headlights & 2 auxillary Hella's? I'm open to suggestions.

jnpaddison · March 25, 2008

I plan on doing something similiar - i have the Warn Transformer on the front of my Sierra - once Warn releases the brush guard, i will be placing order fro brush guard , light bar and Hella Blacks ,, like you - run a relay between lights and high beams ..

if you get the Hellas - either 55W or 100W - dont forget to get the clear stone guards

Rocco715 · March 25, 2008

It will cost you less than $400 to install HID's in both the high and low beam if you buy them off ebay. and will probably be just as effective as the the stock setup with the light bar. HID light is a colder tone that just looks better in my opinion with slight advantages and dissadvantages. I know I wouldn't want to go back to halogen though. You could always do both too, have HIDS in your highs and lows and then a light bar with some off road lights, that would be sweet.

bkr · March 25, 2008

I'm leaning towards the McCulloch 5300 HID kits w/ wire harness that powers from the battery. At least for the low-beams. Last I checked they were around $260 shipped. That would leave me about $140 for the high-beams, which should get me a basic HID kit. Going with the Putco bulb GP for fogs for now. HID + light bar might be overkill.

Got an email that light bar is on backorder, so gives me a few days to think about options and cancel backorder, if necessary.