[Alaska]

Hey guys,

Been a long time since I've been on this. I have a 2013 Ram 1500 Express with reflector headlights and fogs. I live way out in the sticks in Alaska and spend many stormy, dark nights driving backroads. I'd like to have more light, and I'd like to switch over to HID's. I've read a million threads on HIDs and still am not convinced either way. I'm either going Morimoto mini stage III (H1) projector retrofits or I'm going XenonDepot Xtreme PnP HIDs. Here's where my debate lies. Will doing just a straight swap over to HID's cause too much glare? I;ve been told that laser aligned HID bulbs have the same focal point as the stock halogens so that should reduce glare. On the other hand, projectors are obviously the better bet, although more expensive than I'd like to go.

Who has HID's in their stock reflectors? How do you feel about them? Any death threats?

If I retrofit projectors into the stock housings, do I need to do both headlight and fog?

I assume I'd leave the high beam as a halogen, and that I wouldn't have to mess with the high beam reflector since they're quad headlights. Anyone swap a quad headlight over to a single projector full headlight replacement?

 

[blackhemi4x4]

Of course a proper retrofit is ideal. But, I'm currently not running a proper retrofit either.

I have a set of Morimoto 5Fives DSP ballasts powering a H11 Morimoto XB35 5000 K bulbs. The glare is pretty minimal, and I have not be flashed yet.

 

[Alaska]

Great. Thanks for the response.

I guess I'll just go with the easy route for now. If I don't like the pattern I'll have to get some projector replacement headlights like some Spyder's and get different bulbs to fit the new housing.

 

[Gold5th]

If you're going to do a proper retrofit down the road talk to http://shop.retroshop.us/ they have proper fxr projectors retro fitted into TYC housing, with all the wiring you'll need and you'll get a nice proper cut off with insane (in a good way) output.

I know how you feel. I did a 2.5" stage II projector retro fit into my motorcycle with a morimoto 3Five bulb and ballast into my bike.. so a single projector... and that one projector puts out more usable light than my '12 ram with quads and fogs (all 6 bulbs on). I live rural Northern Alberta. My plan is to do a 3" stage III retro into quads with OSRAM CBI bulbs.. so HID projector low beam and hi beam on the same projector..then I'm not sure what I'm putting in the stock highbeam bulb cavity.. I'm thinking either LED or PnP HID... probably LED.

In my Neon and old Durango I did the PnP kits, once you re-align them I don't get flashes. On the Durango the light beam pattern was the same for the HID and halogens, but if you read the Daniel Stern pages they show pictures of how supposedly you get more glare. The issue is the SAE and DOT housings are designed to light up over head signs... so you'll get glare when comparing to the ECE (what the projectors with the sharp cut off use).