So my headlights are having some clarity issues since the car got baked in the California sun before becoming a Washington car. I bought the car with 43k on it so you can imagine it spent a lot of time sitting. I polished them up and they look a whole lot better but I would like to change. I don't want to get carried away with lights, I am planning on keeping it simple.


I was thinking just a set of black housings and running the silverstar ultra bulbs. I have those bulbs in the oem housings and they have helped a ton.


I have HID kits in my other vehicles. Including my Vrod but I am tired of them since it seems like I end up needing to carry a spare kit in stock in the garage. Since I am always on the road with this car I don't think they would last long.


Thinking between the ultras in the headlights and then putting ultras in the fog lights that it would provide good visibility.


Just wondering for anyone that has ran black housings if they have taken away light output?

 

silverstar ultra are junk. first set i had in my car lasted 8 months, the second set (luckily free replacements) lasted 5 months. they were so bad there was a class action suit about it.

ive been through a bunch of different stuff with my headlights. halogen bulbs seem to suck in these housings, hids are just annoying. i ended up buckling and bought a new set of housings and built a set of projectors. cost me a small fortune, but im happy. if you use good components and a good name brand hid ballast and bulb (not $35 ebay crap) the stuff will last. im a year and a half on my setup and no issues.

 

I'm coming up on 3 years on mine with no issues. Its been so long I can't even remember what I paid for them, but they did come from ebay.

I put HIDs in everything I drive, even without projectors, yeah, I'm one of those ********

Highbeams, low beams and foglights in my old Jimmy, all 8000k




I've got 8000k in my highs and lows on the Cobalt with 3000k in the fog lights
I just wish I could figure out how to make them all stay on at the same time, haha

 

I run 8k HIDS in everything else besides the wifes denali. Factory projectors on that one.




Have there been problems with the auto lights with the HID? I thought they had some voltage issues that were creating them to not come on?

Maybe that was some other ride I am thinking of.

 

I stock both the silverstars and the ultras at my autoparts. A lot of people like them and come in for them. I guess to each their own.


It does say on the box that they have reduced life expectancy. I wonder if that was from the lawsuit?




I always like the look of HID's maybe I will say screw it and buy another set for this also haha

 

hid's are not an issue with the auto headlights. with auto headlights the driving lights are used for daytime running lights, so your not running the highbeams at reduced voltage for drl. the only issue i ran into with my cheap hids were they wouldnt always turn on, ive had that issue with cheap ones before that you have to turn on and off a couple times to get the bulbs to light. with auto headlights, thats an issue because when they auto turn on you cant turn them back off, you have to shut the car off and start it again. again, only had that issue with cheap hids and no relay harness.

 

Maybe I've had good luck with them because I don't just plug them in and go. I use the original lights power to trip a relay, which then takes power from a dedicated power supply..

My mothers jeep liberty didn't take well to HIDs (9008 bulbs) because the high and low are the same bulb. Eventually she just got so fed up with them that she had my dad pull them out for her.

 

I have the dual bulb depo headlights and run a hid conversion in the low beams from onex and they have held up well. There is a how to on here I used for lighting both when the brights are on and it's like daylight at night. Love mine.

 

I have the depo headlights as well (gen 4 I believe they are) with a set of Kensun HID's from amazon. Between new lights and the hid's I think I'm around $250 in them. I thought about retros for a minute but I couldn't spend that kind of money on them. I kept reading where the depos with hid's wasn't that much better than stock but I thought it was a night and day difference and I'm happy. I've been running them for a little over a year with no problems.

 

Mine are tons better especially on bright with both lit.

 

I would imagine that with both lit that would be plenty bright!

 

contact me for retrofitting services

 

I will be sure to do that rice if I decide to go that route. I don't think I want to spend that much on that though. I have a lot of other upgrades in the works before I go spending a lot on lights.

 

Yeah I like lights too but like handling and speed more. To each their own.

 

Exactly how I am also!

 

You don't have to go crazy with the retros. You can just do a simple projector setup and have great light output at a solid price. Rice does great work btw.