Questions with DDM HIDs

[THE YETI]

And OP, I pride myself on being a courteous person, although admittedly I sometimes fail in this regard when those that expect courtesy are the same who extend none to other drivers by slapping PnP hids.

If you REALLY cared you would given my your HID Retrofit out of concern for my safety and those driving around me. Some friend you are.

 

[soulsea]

Disregard me serge, ive just been arguing w/ folks all day. nothing against you, your a great guy, or anyone, just stating what i see.

should of never said anything.

But i do have one question in regards to housings and hids. How come the 06/05 etc NBS escalades w/ the hid option are in the same exact housings as the ones w/ stock halogen lights?

Mike, of course always say what you want to say, we're just chatting.

I'm not that familiar with NBS trucks much less NBS Escalades. However if they are anything like the oem projectors that the NBS Denalis came with, they are not HID projectors they are halogen projectors.

Putting HID bulbs in halogen projectors is a whole other conversation, but it is fair to say that in general less glare is generated. The NBS trucks are actually some of the best at converting halogen projectors into usable light. I've actually seen the Putco ones with a good and clear cutoff. This is the luck of the draw mind you cause more often than not, although they might not 'over-glare,' they will usually result in extremely poor lighting.

This is especially true with aftermarket NNBS housings with halogen projectors that folks put Hid bulbs in ... it usually results in this:

So yeah, those won't blind anyone or anything.

At the end of the day any housing that is originally designed for halogens, be it reflector or projector, will generate issues either for the housings, other drivers, or both.

This is especially true with NNBS trucks on account of their massive reflector housings. It's physics ... light from a halogen bulb gets converted into usable light under specific design parameters, which on NNBS trucks and many other vehicles require a cap in front of the bulb to block light projecting directly forward but instead directs it back to bounce off of the housing reflectors ... Hid bulbs have completely different characteristics and a beam pattern that can only be controlled by the optics of very specific HID projectors.

Ugh, I'm boring myself now.

 

[drroy]

But i do have one question in regards to housings and hids. How come the 06/05 etc NBS escalades w/ the hid option are in the same exact housings as the ones w/ stock halogen lights?

Although the headlights look identical they are different with the non-HID using a 9006 halogen bulb in a reflector designed for that bulb. They later went with a D1-R HID bulb in an identical housing but the reflector it sits in was designed with optics for that particular bulb......put simply Cadillac didnt just slap a hid kit with a re based 9006 bulb in the trucks w/ factory HIDs

 

[Tahoewhat]

thanks serge, makes sense.

Roy -- didnt know that, never have looked close, just know some have hids/ some dont, but same light. Interesting, learn something new everyday.

 

[trdhulk]

so your saying just go 4k or 6k or just stay away alltogether? i dont want to go as far as doing a retro fit or anything. just want to improve the looks a little a get a little better light

 

[soulsea]

Well the lower Kelvin is really only going to affect colorshift more than anything else.

I know everyone wants to have HIDs and I understand why, but it's just not the right thing to do imho. The usable light will barely increase because in a reflector housing most of the lumens will get dispersed as glare.

So the options are:

1. Go ahead and put hid bulbs in your housings.
2. Proper retrofit.
3. Leave as is.
4. Get the best possible halogen bulbs which are designed to work with your housings. These are the Sylvania Silverstar zXe, Osram Nightbreakers or Nitebreakers Plus, Philips X-treme Vision. Keep in mind that these bulbs last between 6 months and a year although sometimes they don't fail at all.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Coolhandmike]

Mitch,

To answer your original question; I also have DDM HIDs. I went with the slim ballast, 35w, 5000k bulbs with harness. I didn't want any blue and they look great, I also put them in my wife's C300. I installed LEDs for the fog lights. It renders them useless as fog lights but they match very well with the HIDs.

 

[trdhulk]

thats what i wanted to hear! thanks

 

[domin8]

Just because it's what you wanted to hear doesn't mean it's what you needed to hear. After reading the whole thread I can affirm that Serge is absolutely correct and that you should take what he says as truth and fact. If you want, although I don't feel it necessary, I could go into the basics of the geometry -- yes, the actual math.

Btw, I am one of those people that will flash you if I think your lights are too bright. So, do us both a favor and do it the right way.

 

[B.G.]

Omg reading this thread makes me think of females arguing about if their nail polish goes with their shoes... Come on people!

Everyone is right..8k is useless man. I threw 6k in mine and have not had any problems. 100x better than halogens, I dont even use highbeams, and one day I play on doing a retro fit so all my lady friends can get their panties out of a bundle.

Bottom line, its your car, do as you please. Heck, if you want 8k, throw it in there and keep it moving. Some of you guys (even though I love you all) talk as if you are perfect! If you guys are holding Mitchell to such strict standards of proper DOT lighting for x,y,z reasons, then remember as you drive down the road that the speed limit is set in place for x,y,z reasons... Every time you go over it be reminded that you are not as perfect as you think!