Headlight Projector Retrofit

jcsswix said:

How much did it cost to have them done?

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before I retrofit my yukon I messaged lightwerkz about my headlights and they wanted $1000 just to start and I had to buy new lights and send it to them

HACK BLOCK said:

before I retrofit my yukon I messaged lightwerkz about my headlights and they wanted $1000 just to start and I had to buy new lights and send it to them

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Well labor isnt free. They supply bulbs ballasts igniters and wiring harness? I know some guys pay hundreds for the projectors alone. If they use top shelf stuff that is more than reasonable

HACK BLOCK said:

before I retrofit my yukon I messaged lightwerkz about my headlights and they wanted $1000 just to start and I had to buy new lights and send it to them

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TheAutumnWind said:

Well labor isnt free. They supply bulbs ballasts igniters and wiring harness? I know some guys pay hundreds for the projectors alone. If they use top shelf stuff that is more than reasonable

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^^ So much this. Labor isnt free and I dont see why its such a bad thing that people want money for their time. I also talked with Lightwerkz about the retros before i decided to try it myself. Yeah they start at around 1K plus you send them lights. You will get back a perfectly installed set of projectors in headlights of your choosing. So 1K + 150 bucks for OEM styled headlights, thats not terrible considering the AlphaRex LED units are 1k. My retro cost about 500 bucks, and 6-7 hours of my time. Most automotive shops are going to bill around 100 bucks an hour so yeah..im right at that same amount. They use all morimoto parts and supplies, and I have had excellent customer service from them, I see no issue with that. Obviously @TheAutumnWind doesnt want to say how much he spent and thats fine, he hit the nail right on the head. Im also jealous those MLEDs ended up fitting without having to cut any core support haha. Maybe I will have to redo mine later.

Geoffsfas10 said:

^^ So much this. Labor isnt free and I dont see why its such a bad thing that people want money for their time. I also talked with Lightwerkz about the retros before i decided to try it myself. Yeah they start at around 1K plus you send them lights. You will get back a perfectly installed set of projectors in headlights of your choosing. So 1K + 150 bucks for OEM styled headlights, thats not terrible considering the AlphaRex LED units are 1k. My retro cost about 500 bucks, and 6-7 hours of my time. Most automotive shops are going to bill around 100 bucks an hour so yeah..im right at that same amount. They use all morimoto parts and supplies, and I have had excellent customer service from them, I see no issue with that. Obviously @TheAutumnWind doesnt want to say how much he spent and thats fine, he hit the nail right on the head. Im also jealous those MLEDs ended up fitting without having to cut any core support haha. Maybe I will have to redo mine later.

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I have not retrofit myself, but I have spent a decent amount of time researching options.

Stock style aftermarket HID D1R headlamp replacements for my '05 Escalade are $600+.

With no upgrades, no bulbs, no projectors. It is a Reflector style HID setup.

Mine are starting to haze on the inside (appears to be only cosmetic) so I cannot buff them out. At some point I intend to retrofit with a more modern setup, but for now I upgraded with Osram CBI 5000k bulbs (~$150). This is acceptable from a safety standpoint, and was not much more $ than replacing the failing bulbs that were in it when I purchased the vehicle with a quality stock type replacement from philips or osram.

I suspect that I could retrofit for around $500 shopping deals with free labor, tools, and skills that I have already acquired over the years. But I've spent many hours reading about different options and I have not even spent a minute actually working on the thing. If I applied a reasonable value to my time & tacked on markup to the items I'd probably be in the $2000 range...

TheAutumnWind said:

Well labor isnt free. They supply bulbs ballasts igniters and wiring harness? I know some guys pay hundreds for the projectors alone. If they use top shelf stuff that is more than reasonable

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there was no mention of the bulbs, ballast, ect so I'm assuming it wasn't included. also that price wasn't for top shelf stuff.

I'm not complaining about the price. I was just giving an example of my estimate.

This video is exactly what I would do if I had it to do over again

@ATLPPV it's been about 8 months since your OP. Care to share to your thoughts on the retrofit now that you've had more time with them?


I thought the stock Suburban lights were adequate but that was just based on in town driving + a road trip that was primarily done through WY & MT (long straight rural highways where you can use brights 75% of the time). Last night I drove up to the mountains so we could ski this AM, and wow, the stock low beams are dull! To the point of unsafe even. It's scary easy to outdrive them on a fast mountain highway.

NOSOK said:

@ATLPPV it's been about 8 months since your OP. Care to share to your thoughts on the retrofit now that you've had more time with them?


I thought the stock Suburban lights were adequate but that was just based on in town driving + a road trip that was primarily done through WY & MT (long straight rural highways where you can use brights 75% of the time). Last night I drove up to the mountains so we could ski this AM, and wow, the stock low beams are dull! To the point of unsafe even. It's scary easy to outdrive them on a fast mountain highway.

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I will piggy back onto to his reply. The OEM headlights on these truck SUCK. I have had my retrofit in for almost a year now, will be a year in March, and i 100% do not regret it at all. It even pains me to think of going back to stock or even a drop in LED. I have driven it in some DARK places and had rarely been using the high beams just because the lows are just that good. Now when out in the country and you throw on the brights, its basically like driving in the day time.

Geoffsfas10 said:

I will piggy back onto to his reply. The OEM headlights on these truck SUCK. I have had my retrofit in for almost a year now, will be a year in March, and i 100% do not regret it at all. It even pains me to think of going back to stock or even a drop in LED. I have driven it in some DARK places and had rarely been using the high beams just because the lows are just that good. Now when out in the country and you throw on the brights, its basically like driving in the day time.

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What did you use for your retrofit?