The whole HID thing...

Has anyone put HID's in the stock headlights?

I've seen and driven a 2003 or so Tahoe that had them in there, and worked/looked great from the drivers perspective and didn't get highbeamed at all... Same goes for when I drove a 2006 3/4 ton Chev with a 3" lift, had HID's and didn't get highbeamed... Both with the stock lenses...

I guess the whole cut-off thing is built into the bulb then, or something?

I got myself a 2005 Blazer, 2 door, 4x4, and not much else, lol, as of wednesday it's mine, and it has about 30,000 miles on it!

Anywho... Now the modding starts, lol.

So, yes, back to the HID's... anyone running any in the stock housings?
 
Also, pretty much every accessory that I've seen says '98 - '04... I'm assuming nothing changes between '04 and '05... But it's always nice to make sure... No changes between those years?

I would like to know also.  I want HIDs also. Im ok with paying the $200 for the bulbs etc. but I dont really want to pay for the Projectors headlamps.

Heres where I will probaly buy from when/if I do.

http://www.ledgauges.com/

Cutoff is not built into the HID bulbs.  You have to be careful with your adjustment if you are installing HID bulbs into non-HID designed lamps.  Most of the time, the arc in a HID bulb is not in the same orientation as the filament in a standard headlamp bulb.  Because of this, the lenses in the stock non-HID housing are not going to produce the proper beam pattern.

You could retrofit in a set of projectors into the lowbeam side of the headlamp housing.  I have seen this done on many other forums with great success.  I have also seen people put projectors in both high & low beam positions.  You have to get precise with the positioning of the projectors though.  If I were to do it, I would attempt some kind of individual aiming so that each one of the projectors could be aimed independant of the housing.

*EDIT* - If you are interested in what you can do with stock halogen bulbs, have a read through these posts:
Quad Headlight Mod & 9005 Bulb Mod

I couldn't believe the difference when I did the 9005 low beam mod.

Well, I was planning on doing the quadbeam setup, once I disable my DRLs... I have a couple 85amp continous duty starter solenoids ($15 Canadian and you can run almost any amount of lights when you turn your highbeams on, can't go wrong with that! lol)

Did you have any alignment issues with the 9005s in the low beam slot? Do ya get highbeamed a bunch?
 
It's a shame you can't adjust low/high beam indipentantly...

Not once since I did it.  The beam pattern is just brighter and more filled (no dark spots).  I also think that it has a more defined cutoff than before, but that is probably due to the fact that it is a more full beam.

But again, I cannot stress it enough, you have to make sure that your alignment is spot on no matter whether stock or modified.

How did the realigning of the low beams affect your highbeam visibility? noticably lower? Or did it stay pretty much the same? After you did the mod, do 9006's still fit normal?
 
I know if I went HID, I'd prolly get these http://www.coolbulbs.com/HIDKits_body.asp

There is no independant alignment between the high and low beam.  There is no difference in hotspot location between the stock 9006 low beam bulb and the 9005 high beam bulb in the low beam location.  The quad beam mod allowed both the high beam and low beam to be on at the same time and the 9005 swap in the low beams made for a much more full and brighter low beam.

I can go back to 9006 low beam bulbs at any time.

I did the same mod as swartllk. Luv the difference. Gonna add off road lights next summer(hopefully)

I have installed the 9005 silverstars in lows on my moms subruban. I have also done an HID conversion kit for my dad's 06 Honda accord. If you don't want to deal with a bullshit light pattern from HID's then listen very carefully to my post.

Don't mess around with 6000k, or any of that crap. It looks stupid and doesn't put out as much light as the standard OEM 4300k. Also on a housing such as ours you want to use a D2r type bulb. the r denotes reflector. D2s is for a projector housing and there is no reflector on the bulb.

IIRC the standard bulb type that these trucks take is 9006.
Basically, buy this type of bulb: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/9006-Rebased-Xenon-HID-bulbs-D2S-D2R-ACURA-TOYOTA-HONDA_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ36476QQihZ017QQitemZ270075481765QQrdZ1

I bought this very kit for my contour over the summer:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270076971413&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_RCRX_BIN_IT&refitem=270075481765&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&usedrule1=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

Which now resides in my dad's Accord.
Here is a picture of the beam pattern on my contour, which I might add was really ****ty, because the contour's headlamps are ****ty to begin with.


I know the pictures make it seem as though the HIDs are blinding, trust me when I say it's simply bad photography.

And here is my Jimmy with factory HIDs.



I hope this post helps to serve you on your HID quest.

Don't go on the BS hype of some websites and their pictures of 5000k being yellow. Trust me, it's not!

Lastly the 4300k over a long period of time will color shift to 5000k. Anything higher than 5000k and you lose light output.

Thanks for all the info, folks!
Though, I know what color temp is all about
 
Now, if I decide to get fancy tail lights, or a brush guard for an '04, it'll work on an '05, correct? Since hardly anyone seems to list an '05... Hell, even the Haynes manuals stop at '04, lol

Alrighty, so I've figured out what I'll be doing headlight wise once finances are compatible for it... I'll snag me a set of Click Here these, then I'll do some retro fitting and stick an actual HID projector in there...

Does anyone have these projectors? Or the chrome ones? I'd like some measurements on the projector part if possible, so I know which HID setup to get...


Now if I could only remember how to do short linking...
 
 
edit: I learned short linking! yay me, lol