Any Ready to Install Retrofits That Don't Suck?

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Old 05-23-2016, 10:51 PM
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Any Ready to Install Retrofits That Don't Suck?

I have a '06 super crew and in the last 10 years, I've had horrible luck with headlights. I had the blinding HID coversions. I've installed garbage from ProTuningLab.com that I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy.

In June 2015 I ordered some custom projectors from HIDRetrofit. In September I received the order. Popped them in, looked great. Awesome visibility. The next morning, my headlights were filled with condensation. Two days later the halos no longer worked. Got some story about the connectors being finicky. Long story short, after a lot of back and forth with no solutions, I cut off the connectors and soldered the halos in. Worked great... for 2 weeks. To this day one of them doesn't work at all so I just leave them off. Several times I pulled the lights, dried them out and reinstalled making sure the little rubber boot was sealed up good. Filled with condensation almost instantly.

Here's the deal... and I hate to come across like an ***, but I'm really frustrated with the quality of products being sold out there. I don't have time to pull headlights. Take them apart. Clean silicone. Reseal. Reinstall. Yada yada. I just want to buy some headlights for my truck that I can pop in and they simply work. Is that too much to ask? Does anyone make a quality projector replacement light that comes ready to install and is backed by some sort of quality guarantee?





 
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:18 AM
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I get all my stuff from the retrofit source and they have an amazing 5 year warranty..
You will get condensation usually the first week you have them but you shouldn't after that. And you shouldn't be sealing then up with silicone that should be butyl in the channels. Sounds like whoever built them wouldn't back their product which is sad and gives us retrofitters a bad name.
But some times its the cheap replica housings too. Had a customer of mine had condensation issue like that. Had him send them back to me and I sealed everything up, literally air tight except the vent on top which should be there. Did that also under warranty. He got them back and once they heated up they still had a problem. It ended up being the cheap replica. That's why I always suggest using OEM Ford housings.
But to answer your question, no. no one makes a per built HID setup for these trucks.
Now you can get the spyder lights then swap a HID projector in there but then you still have cheap LEDs and cheap housings.
I build 04-08 f150 retrofits so if you have any questions you can PM me. I could also probably fix the ones you're having problems with.
 
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Old 05-24-2016, 11:05 AM
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Originally Posted by thelariat02
I get all my stuff from the retrofit source and they have an amazing 5 year warranty..
You will get condensation usually the first week you have them but you shouldn't after that. And you shouldn't be sealing then up with silicone that should be butyl in the channels. Sounds like whoever built them wouldn't back their product which is sad and gives us retrofitters a bad name.
But some times its the cheap replica housings too. Had a customer of mine had condensation issue like that. Had him send them back to me and I sealed everything up, literally air tight except the vent on top which should be there. Did that also under warranty. He got them back and once they heated up they still had a problem. It ended up being the cheap replica. That's why I always suggest using OEM Ford housings.
But to answer your question, no. no one makes a per built HID setup for these trucks.
Now you can get the spyder lights then swap a HID projector in there but then you still have cheap LEDs and cheap housings.
I build 04-08 f150 retrofits so if you have any questions you can PM me. I could also probably fix the ones you're having problems with.
Can you really clean the condensation on the inside? I always thought you weren't suppose to touch the inside of the lens. I tried isopropyl alcohol on my first retro (aftermarket heads) but it left some minor streaks when the lights were on. Second retro thankfully had no problems.
 
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Old 05-24-2016, 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by tg150
Can you really clean the condensation on the inside? I always thought you weren't suppose to touch the inside of the lens. I tried isopropyl alcohol on my first retro (aftermarket heads) but it left some minor streaks when the lights were on. Second retro thankfully had no problems.
If sealed up right with a good one way vent It'll evaporate by itself leaving no marks. If you're careful you can clean the inside lens with a microfiber cloth and I've I've windex with no problems so far.
 
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Old 05-25-2016, 12:41 AM
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You can actually fill the inside of your housing with water and drain it out... as long as you drain all the water out and dry it, it'll be fine. I know this from experience

When I first bought my truck and tried a poor LED kit, I got water in my housing... turned out to be a LOT of water... drained it out, let it dry with a heat gun for about 20 minutes... still had some little blotches but they worked their way out over time.

It's just water afterall. Now what you DONT want to happen is to let the water touch the electronics or anything metal (if you don't dry it right away).

The inside of your housing isn't actually metal, so to speak. It's a reflective coating that's put on over plastic...
 
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Old 05-25-2016, 10:01 AM
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I wouldn't put any water in there, because tap water or whatever you have has minerals and "hard water" will really mark up those lenses when the dry.......

Rain water is mineral free unless you have acid rain or something, and shouldn't leave any spots if it evaporates.
 
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Old 05-25-2016, 12:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Hawkz28
I wouldn't put any water in there, because tap water or whatever you have has minerals and "hard water" will really mark up those lenses when the dry.......

Rain water is mineral free unless you have acid rain or something, and shouldn't leave any spots if it evaporates.
I don't think anyone is actually going to do that. Haha
 
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Old 06-18-2016, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by thelariat02
I don't think anyone is actually going to do that. Haha
I've had pretty good luck with the ones I've been building for customers. And could build something for 05 body style without a doubt.





 
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Old 06-18-2016, 08:42 PM
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Originally Posted by ctucke55
I've had pretty good luck with the ones I've been building for customers. And could build something for 05 body style without a doubt.





Why the quote from me?
 
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Old 07-07-2016, 05:27 AM
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A bit expensive but TRS has good quality HID kits. Diodedynamics is also popular.
 



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