New 2014 Yukon Denali owner - Need help on headlights

[madmanhiker]

Hello all. I needed to ask a basic question here... is it really true that in order to change a light (in this case the h13 bulb) that you need to basically remove the front bumper???

Is there a DIY on this somewhere?

I am in the process of changing the halogen lights to HID and I'm no stranger to this type of work. I went out in the garage to get started thinking I could just pop the hood and get to work, but the back of the headlights are not accessible.

Taking the front bumper off isn't difficult, but jeez........ really??? What does the average joe do? Take it to the dealer?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post before and after pics of what I am planning to do, I think some folks may be interested. Tasteful and extremely practical.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Goodinblack]

Yes..... but can be worked around.

I think so.

Please don't put hids in halogen housings....... Papa Sergio will be angry

Yes more or so about it

Welcome to TYF

 

[madmanhiker]

Yes..... but can be worked around.

I think so.

Please don't put hids in halogen housings....... Papa Sergio will be angry

Yes more or so about it

Welcome to TYF

Thanks. I'd be interested in what that workaround entails......

+1 on the HID in halogen housings, however, there are new HID systems out there that are half the length than what most install. The "sparkle" feature which blinds people is caused by the lamp extending further than an OEM halogen bulb which causes irregular beam pattern. There are mini-HID bulbs out there, more expensive but they solve this issue.

Also, 35w is the maximum that should be used. They are low heat, cause virtually no clouding to the interior of the poly lens of the headlight itself, and emit more light than a standard halogen with less power.

Lastly, the color temperature used should NEVER go over 5000K. 4350K is OEM (yellow/white) and 5000K is pure white.

The aftermarket headlights available to are made by two vendors - 1. Spyder and 2. SpecD

Both have issues with condensation (or so have been reported on many sites). If anyone here has a personal experience with either of those aftermarket headlights, I'd love to hear from them.

In the meantime, I will work on the mini-bulb HID conversion and show my results to the forum. I'll post before beam and after beam.

I'm not a fan of installing HID in a halogen housing anymore than the next guy, but there is really not many projector based aftermarket headlights available for the 2007-2014 Yukon market... which is utterly surprising to me considering how many are on the roads.

 

[soulsea]

Welcome aboard Robert ... you are misinformed on a few things, probably from the way vendors advertise their products in order to make buyers feel better about purchasing them. Some of the things you state are simply impossible from an optical engineering and physics point of view. There are some links in my signature highlighted in yellow, red, and green, if you want to learn more about it.

 

[Goodinblack]

Papa Sergio ^^^^

 

[madmanhiker]

Papa Sergio ^^^^

lol. yes, I see that. I'm reading and watching the videos. It's all good.

It's just a shame that this 62K beast I just bought has terrible headlights.

Are there any headlights (complete headlight - perhaps projector designed for HID) that I can buy to give my wife BETTER light for driving at night? Money isn't an issue.

 

[Goodinblack]

Contact blackflamecustoms.com

 

[madmanhiker]

Contact blackflamecustoms.com

thank you sir.

 

[soulsea]

Give BFC a shout and they will build you a custom setup according to your budget and what quality components you want to use. http://blackflamecustoms.com

You can also contact Bjorn at customlightz but I'm not sure he's doing that many retros these days.

And you can also research more on the hidplanet forum and on theretrofitsource website where there is a lot more introductory information.

And I can always try to answer a question if I know the answer.

 

[Goodinblack]

I did a retrofit myself.... see my SIG

 

[soulsea]

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php

http://customlightz.com

---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM ----------

Or you can go by NathanJax's house in Jacksonville and steal the retro off of his Yukon.

 

[madmanhiker]

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php

http://customlightz.com

---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM ----------

Or you can go by NathanJax's house in Jacksonville and steal the retro off of his Yukon.

lol, hell yea, now we're talkin!

I sent an email to Black Flame Customs already - this is exactly what I am looking for (tricoat white denali photo) on the left.

http://blackflamecustoms.com/gallery/gmc/07-gmc-yukon-xl/nggallery/page/3/

anyone know the pricing on these, and do I have to send him mine for a core and the truck is "down" until return or is there a cross-ship?

thanks for the tip btw, I never came across this site in my searches!!

 

[soulsea]

That setup is about $1000 if I recall correctly ... that's about where they start with Morimoto H1 projectors and Morimoto ballasts. The Denali retro linked in my sig in blue was about $1500 because it uses OEM parts ... it's the one that's on Nathan's Yukon now.

If the money is there I highly recommend using OEM projectors, bulbs, and ballasts. I'm happy to talk you through the options but BJ over at BFC will likely be a better source.

 

[NathanJax]

Or you can go by NathanJax's house in Jacksonville and steal the retro off of his Yukon.

 

[Goodinblack]

In my experience...... go with OEM stuff if you have the cheese

 

[madmanhiker]

funny... Nathan I got a Crystal Red tintcoat as well with the GMC 22" chrome wheel upgrade. I was thinking about dropping as well. We have similar tastes and live in the same city... how strange is that??? lol

---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------

That setup is about $1000 if I recall correctly ... that's about where they start with Morimoto H1 projectors and Morimoto ballasts. The Denali retro linked in my sig in blue was about $1500 because it uses OEM parts ... it's the one that's on Nathan's Yukon now.

If the money is there I highly recommend using OEM projectors, bulbs, and ballasts. I'm happy to talk you through the options but BJ over at BFC will likely be a better source.

I'm good for 1K for a set built and ready. Nothing special, just the right optics, no halo's, no led's.

 

[yates ™]

Careful Robert, Nathan will stalk you if given the chance.

 

[NathanJax]

funny... Nathan I got a Crystal Red tintcoat as well with the GMC 22" chrome wheel upgrade. I was thinking about dropping as well. We have similar tastes and live in the same city... how strange is that??? lol

Nice. Mine are 24" replicas of the 22" ck375's and I was lowered almost 2 years before I went ahead and bagged it. It's on air ride now.

Where in Jax? I'm in Mandarin.

Careful Robert, Nathan will stalk you if given the chance.

 

[yates ™]

I vote you copy Nathan's air ride and I know just the guy that can help you with that...

 

[madmanhiker]

Nice. Mine are 24" replicas of the 22" ck375's and I was lowered almost 2 years before I went ahead and bagged it. It's on air ride now.

Where in Jax? I'm in Mandarin.

wow... now it's just getting weird.... I'm in Mandarin too... bartram springs area. I like the bag idea... hmmmmmm. ok.. focus.... lights. I need the lights first! lol