Whats the difference between 07-12 and 2013 headlights?

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Jonah52

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Ok, so I have the MH1 6.0.....I like it a lot seems great no complaints, what's better. Is it even worth changing?
 
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Ob1hybrid

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Ok so I went against the grain and bought those spec d headlights. I actually purchased them in January form amazon for $120 in "like new" condition which when received had zero issues. I installed them last weekend when it was hot in an autozone parking lot, lol. Let me say. THESE LIGHTS FIT, PLUG UP CORRECTLY, AND LOOK BEAUTIFUL. I love them, my friends like them and strangers compliment them. Sometimes it's best to try things out yourself, and when I saw them for such a steal I pounced on them. The lens are crystal clear my original pic. Yes, certain things are a little cheaply made like the projectors but any half skilled diy'er can make it right. Haven't had any issues yet but I'm sure if and when that day come, it won't be an issue.

Only thing so far is it uses H1 bulbs and I tried some led H1s and it wouldn't hold so I'm trying to find a fix. Even though the light project out better than stock as far as the low beam, they could of sold it w 6000k bulbs instead of 3500k.

I have a set of kensun H11 HIDs for the stock headlights that for some reason died on me during the winter storm in NY last week. I'll order up some H1 HID bulbs after they replace the set and see how it works. Overall , I'm more happy.
 

NGAneer

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Ok so I went against the grain and bought those spec d headlights. I actually purchased them in January form amazon for $120 in "like new" condition which when received had zero issues. I installed them last weekend when it was hot in an autozone parking lot, lol. Let me say. THESE LIGHTS FIT, PLUG UP CORRECTLY, AND LOOK BEAUTIFUL. I love them, my friends like them and strangers compliment them. Sometimes it's best to try things out yourself, and when I saw them for such a steal I pounced on them. The lens are crystal clear my original pic. Yes, certain things are a little cheaply made like the projectors but any half skilled diy'er can make it right. Haven't had any issues yet but I'm sure if and when that day come, it won't be an issue.

Only thing so far is it uses H1 bulbs and I tried some led H1s and it wouldn't hold so I'm trying to find a fix. Even though the light project out better than stock as far as the low beam, they could of sold it w 6000k bulbs instead of 3500k.

I have a set of kensun H11 HIDs for the stock headlights that for some reason died on me during the winter storm in NY last week. I'll order up some H1 HID bulbs after they replace the set and see how it works. Overall , I'm more happy.
I'm in for output pics when you get the HIDs installed.
 

Speck

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I wonder how hard it would be to pull them apart and place a proper projector in that is designed for HID's intead of the halogen projector? To the op, @Ob1hybrid, have you checked the back to see how much room there is or if it is a 2" projector or 3" projector? I'd be curious what type would fit in there in place of it. Also, you mention having 6000k instead of 3500k, why? 3500k is going to give you more light output than the 6000k... the 6k only gives you useless blue light instead of usable white light. Just my .02... I look forward to seeing more pictures.

Joe
 
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Ob1hybrid

Ob1hybrid

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I wanted 6000k because the leds fogs are white , the leds on the headlight are white and the turn signals are white/yellow switchables. It's a good look but I prefer it to be somewhat uniform.

Kensun is sending me a H1 Hid kit. I'll see how it works out. And I'll let y'all know.
 

goldata81

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I'll throw in my 2 cents on my decision I made back in December for my '07 Yukon Denali regarding this topic...

We had moved out of town about 10 miles and into deer country and driving at night with the stock headlights was almost a death wish. I needed better light output and seriously considered the aftermarket Spec-D lights but with further research I decided to spend more $$ and retrofit some HID's into OEM housings myself. I couldn't find much info in reviews if the light output from the aftermarket Spec-D lights was decent or not.... people only seemed to comment about the aesthetics of the housings. I even thought about getting the Sped-D's and retrofitting a better quality HID kit if the light output was poor but there was no guarantee a retrofit kit would fit in the Spec-D housing. At this point I could care less if they looked good... I needed function over fashion on this. I couldn't bring myself to drop $1k on the Black Flame Customs lights since the truck was about 10yrs old with 120k on the odometer and I wasn't sure how long I'd have the truck (sadly it looks as though it is starting to rust since the paint is starting to bubble front of both rear tires) so I decided to retrofit them myself. Since I couldn't go without headlights during the retrofit, I bought new housings from rockauto and the DS2 4.0 kit from TRS. About 1-2 weeks of off-and-on working on them, I had them completed. I am kicking myself for not upgrading the lights years ago... the retrofit wasn't that hard (a dremel is a must) and the light output is a huge improvement.

There is no comparison with the light output compared to stock. The total retrofit cost me just under $500 ($310 spent at TRS) including new housings and some strip LED's I threw in the housings as well. I think the most difficult part was finding where to mount the ballasts. Here is a comparison pic with low-beams before/after(35w 5000K). I don't have any pics of the high beams but it is crazy how much light comes out of them on high.
20161216_SideBySideComp.jpg
20170403_184005.jpg
 

TravisBurrell

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I wanted 6000k because the leds fogs are white , the leds on the headlight are white and the turn signals are white/yellow switchables. It's a good look but I prefer it to be somewhat uniform.

Kensun is sending me a H1 Hid kit. I'll see how it works out. And I'll let y'all know.

What ever became of this? I have been wanting to try and throw low beam H1 HIDs and High beam h1 HIDs in this style of aftermarket set:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-2007-2014-GMC-Yukon-XL-Denali-Halo-LED-DRL-Projector-Headlights-Pair/382118370093?epid=1641972368&hash=item58f8079b2d:g:HokAAOSwLq5bF4Vt:sc:UPSGround!15101!US!-1

I know that the light output would be much better probably using other retrofits as mentioned but I was curious of the output of the crappy small projector with the H1 HID.


I already know the H1 LEDs wont fit and I know H13 LEDs wont fit in the stock housing. (Yes I also know its not best to throw LEDs or HIDs in stock housings. lol)
 
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Ob1hybrid

Ob1hybrid

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What ever became of this? I have been wanting to try and throw low beam H1 HIDs and High beam h1 HIDs in this style of aftermarket set:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-2007-2014-GMC-Yukon-XL-Denali-Halo-LED-DRL-Projector-Headlights-Pair/382118370093?epid=1641972368&hash=item58f8079b2d:g:HokAAOSwLq5bF4Vt:sc:UPSGround!15101!US!-1

I know that the light output would be much better probably using other retrofits as mentioned but I was curious of the output of the crappy small projector with the H1 HID.


I already know the H1 LEDs wont fit and I know H13 LEDs wont fit in the stock housing. (Yes I also know its not best to throw LEDs or HIDs in stock housings. lol)

I took out crappy bulbs and threw in the h1 8k HIDs just for a slight blueish tint. Looks nice. Be carefull if you decide to put switchbacks up top because oncomers would think your highbeaming. And highbeam you back.
 

TravisBurrell

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I had decided to buy a retrofit projector set that someone locally ironically was selling. Im going to be using those.
 

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