Brighter headlights?

[ryangt]

I need some brighter headlights and searching these forums hasent given me the info ive been looking for so maybe yall can help. Im not looking for cheap ***** hid's or halo's or any other gimmicky rice rocket sort of junk for my rig. Im looking for some serious bright driving lights to upgrade from standard. I looked into the HID style but cant seem to find much info that leads me to think its what i need. Im in an 04 yukon and i drive in some pitch black conditions in the aussie outback and i need to be able to spot the kangaroos at night before i plow into them...again...

 

[ActSwedish]

You need som extra lights m8! If you have a bullbar on your truck that´s a perfect place to put em. The bigger, the rounder, the better. Or so I have heard. Hella does some good lights here in Europe, don´t know what brand is leading in Australia.


Something like this:

 

[NJ04HOE]

Get HID's! You will not be dissapointed
Check out DDMTuning.com I think they're having a sale right now. They've got quality kits

 

[nytahoe]

it pays to go with hids the 1st time.

 

[Tdub]

Is that $30 35w kit all you need then?

 

[NJ04HOE]

Is that $30 35w kit all you need then?

yeah

 

[ryangt]

You need som extra lights m8! If you have a bullbar on your truck that´s a perfect place to put em. The bigger, the rounder, the better. Or so I have heard. Hella does some good lights here in Europe, don´t know what brand is leading in Australia.

i have a pretty bright set of KC lights mounted on the bullbar already, they are spot beams tho and arent really capable of giving me the broad field of vision im looking for.

---------- Post added at 09:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 AM ----------

Get HID's! You will not be dissapointed
Check out DDMTuning.com I think they're having a sale right now. They've got quality kits

30 bucks for an HID kit? That seems like you arent getting what you pay for. Does anyone have that kit to be able to vouch? How would those stack up against the toshiba 911 912's? Which is what ive been looking at but are much pricier.

---------- Post added at 09:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 AM ----------

it pays to go with hids the 1st time.

exactly my thought, i hate spending money on the same components multiple times, so i dont go cheap anymore. If i cant have it done right, it dosent get done untill i can. Anyone else have input on this? I dont want to be paying money for a cheapo part, im looking for quality.

 

[tx07tahoe]

I would go with HID's they go wider and farther. You could also get them in your Hi's instead of the low's if you don't pass people much. But if you get HID's make sure to get a relay some trucks have problems without it and they go out. Two weeks ago I was coming home from a football game and was ddriving done a dark road and spotted a possum far off the car behind me didn't and lets just say they had some possum soup.

 

[ryangt]

what kit are you using?

 

[kickitandholdit]

i have silver star ultras with the quad light mod and if you cant see something with that setup you dont need to be driving got them from advance real easy change only a few minutes

 

[ryangt]

i have silver star ultras with the quad light mod and if you cant see something with that setup you dont need to be driving got them from advance real easy change only a few minutes

quad light setup? im assuming thats some mod to get hi and low on at the same time?
I have to ask a billion questions and be sure of what i want, as you can see i cant exactly pop into pepboys or something to get a set of lights, it takes a month for anything i order to reach me out here in the outback so i need to be sure.

 

[DenaliAK]

i

30 bucks for an HID kit? That seems like you arent getting what you pay for. Does anyone have that kit to be able to vouch? How would those stack up against the toshiba 911 912's? Which is what ive been looking at but are much pricier.

I just put that kit in my fogs a few days ago. So far so good. I got the 55w version, and they are ridiculously bright. I've got 35w HID's in my lows, so when I run them both I can see both wide and far.

I've had both HID's and the Toshiba HIR bulbs, and HID's are considerably brighter. HIR's are great for a halogen replacement, but nothing out there beats the output of HID.

That said, for your purposes I might run HIR's in the highs, and HID's in the lows, then do the four-high mod which makes them all light up when you hit your brights. It's a lot of combined light that penetrates well but also gives you a wide beam. Hell, I'd recommend doing an HID retrofit with real HID projectors in your lows like I did. It's about 6 lanes wide and throws a good half-mile of useful light.

If all else fails, and you're a rich man, get some of the new Hella HID off-road lights; the best of both worlds.

 

[ryangt]

I just put that kit in my fogs a few days ago. So far so good. I got the 55w version, and they are ridiculously bright. I've got 35w HID's in my lows, so when I run them both I can see both wide and far.

I've had both HID's and the Toshiba HIR bulbs, and HID's are considerably brighter. HIR's are great for a halogen replacement, but nothing out there beats the output of HID.

That said, for your purposes I might run HIR's in the highs, and HID's in the lows, then do the four-high mod which makes them all light up when you hit your brights. It's a lot of combined light that penetrates well but also gives you a wide beam. Hell, I'd recommend doing an HID retrofit with real HID projectors in your lows like I did. It's about 6 lanes wide and throws a good half-mile of useful light.

If all else fails, and you're a rich man, get some of the new Hella HID off-road lights; the best of both worlds.

well im looking to get as bright as possible, i dont care what color the lights are and too many of these HID companies are marketing this "blue look" which makes no sense to me, it makes your lights less intense because they are pentrating thru colored glass or even worse the ones with blue sleeves on them..lame. Im not sure what you mean by "real HID projectors" if you can point me in the direction of quality stuff, im all ears. I have a set of KC spot lights on the front that are really bright but they are "pencil" beams for offroad driving so i can find the trails at night.

Where can i get a quality quad light kit or is it a mod? If its a mod, is there a sticky?
Where is a a reputable seller for quality HID lights?

 

[DenaliAK]

well im looking to get as bright as possible, i dont care what color the lights are and too many of these HID companies are marketing this "blue look" which makes no sense to me, it makes your lights less intense because they are pentrating thru colored glass or even worse the ones with blue sleeves on them..lame. Im not sure what you mean by "real HID projectors" if you can point me in the direction of quality stuff, im all ears. I have a set of KC spot lights on the front that are really bright but they are "pencil" beams for offroad driving so i can find the trails at night.

Where can i get a quality quad light kit or is it a mod? If its a mod, is there a sticky?
Where is a a reputable seller for quality HID lights?

You're right, there are too many HID companies out there selling "blue" because it's cool. I run 4300 Kelvin in my headlights because it's as non-blue as you can get without actually being yellow. It's the brightest, most closely-resembling-the-sun color.

HID projectors are lamps/lenses designed to focus all of that light into a useable way, all while not blinding on-coming traffic. Some cars have halogen projectors, which use the same concept, but they aren't designed for as much or as intense of light as HID's. Look here http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6151 in the Tech section...I've got a write up on my headlight build.

For a cheap and mostly reliable HID source, many of us on here use http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=85&pg=1
.

I'm not sure about the light bars, although a simple and fairly cheap one is actually Australian: http://www.eagleproducts.com.au/products_unibar.php

I also don't know that you could mount 4 lights on that one...probably depends on how big the lights are.

I could go into a lot of detail about HID's and projectors, but take a look at the Tech link above and maybe visit some of the linked vendors in there. Any more questions feel free to PM me.

 

[ryangt]

thanks for that link, sweet setup your running but a bit out of my range as far as what i want to modify to fit the rig, im looking for something to fit the stock lights without much modding. I like that DDm site, they have alot of good looking stuff, i still have no idea as far as needed parts to order.
What do i need to order from DDM to have a complete setup ready to install? Ballasts and all that, it seems like alot of things i would forget to order. I see they sell kits, but is that a complete kit?
Are the HIDs alot of toruble or what? You mentioned that they need to "warm up" which seems sort of a pain ya know. Sorry for so many questions, im really handy with cars can make most anything, but ive not messed around with the yukon that much.

 

[DenaliAK]

thanks for that link, sweet setup your running but a bit out of my range as far as what i want to modify to fit the rig, im looking for something to fit the stock lights without much modding. I like that DDm site, they have alot of good looking stuff, i still have no idea as far as needed parts to order.
What do i need to order from DDM to have a complete setup ready to install? Ballasts and all that, it seems like alot of things i would forget to order. I see they sell kits, but is that a complete kit?
Are the HIDs alot of toruble or what? You mentioned that they need to "warm up" which seems sort of a pain ya know. Sorry for so many questions, im really handy with cars can make most anything, but ive not messed around with the yukon that much.

No worries. To make it simple, order a DDM kit in 4500K. I'm guessing there isn't much traffic to worry about around you, so I'd go with 55w for maximum light. Each kit is for one set of lights: highs/lows/fogs. Not sure what you'll want to run, but a good start is lows. I would also order a wire harness/relay for each kit, especially the 55w kits as they draw more power.

Installation is pretty simple. The make bulbs to be direct replacement bases for whatever bulb your lights already run, like 9005's or 9006's. Just pick that as your bulb type, pick your wattage, pick your "color." Color is Kelvin, and the best light is 4300-5000K. It's the brightest and whitest.

Get the kit and harness, and you have everything you need: Bulbs, ballasts, wiring. Installation instructions should come with it, but is simple and will require no modifications other then mounting the ballasts somewhere.

The "warm up" period typically takes about 10 seconds. They turn on, but gradually increase in brightness for a bit as they warm up.

 

[ryangt]

nah, not much traffic in these parts, even if there is its usually stupid hippy backpacker types and ill gradly blind the hell outta them.

Ok so the "kits" are individual for fog high low? or is it all lights in one kit? I want to do all the lights up front so its bright as hell.

The wiring harness/relay, is this just a plug n play sort of deal to add a relay incase something overdraws the elec system?

Thanks for the help, this is becomming very informative. Im going to shoot DDM an email and hopefully they get back to me with some useable info so i can get ordering.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Yeah, he is saying that one kit will cover either the Hi's, Low's, or the fog's!! I would personally do a kit at least for your lows and another for your fogs, it's crazy the difference in brightness with the HID's, and with the 55W kits it will be insanely bright!!

The wiring kits with relays should be plug and play as well, all of it should, just will have to find a place to mount the ballasts but at least all the wiring is easy!!

 

[tx07tahoe]

The ballast mounting could be hard if you cant find a place. But choose a good spot. I just found a existing hole and screwed it in. But it will be a world of difference when you get them you wont want to go back.

 

[kickitandholdit]

quad light setup? im assuming thats some mod to get hi and low on at the same time?
I have to ask a billion questions and be sure of what i want, as you can see i cant exactly pop into pepboys or something to get a set of lights, it takes a month for anything i order to reach me out here in the outback so i need to be sure.

yea your basically wiring your brights and your dims together but you use a diod which is a wire that only lets current flow 1 way. so when you have your dims on, it lights up your dims but the current cant flow through that diod but when your brights are lit up, the brights light up then it can flow through the diod and will light you dims up at the same time. you can also do this with your fog lights too so your fog lights brights and dims are all on at the same time. this mod is one of the best mods i have seen. it only took a few bucks for the diods and 10 minutes to do and it lit up twice as much. you can pull back on the light stick that you use to chainge bright/dim and it will put on the dims and brights if you dont want to wire it but holding that stick is annoying haha. do some reasearch on this for your year vehicle and you can find peoples wiring diagrams and step by step how to do it. its real simple and i sujest it, its a great mod especialy in the outback i know how those damn roos and walabees like cars well at least mine i was dodging them left and right

---------- Post added at 12:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

also living in the outback if you oder a bunch of stuff and then order something cheap and over night it or something they will usualy put all your other orders on the over night too with no cost so the shiping company only has to make one trip. just a little loop hole some buddys i have told me about. so it might be worth trying i havent done it myself but it might be worth a try