Ordered my 8000k 55W HIDs from Retro Solutions. Todd, the owner, is also the tech and deals with customer service. 1 man show. He was very helpful with any questions i had when i ordered the kit. The kit came quick, but i decided i wanted the 6k bulbs instead. Todd went ahead and shipped me out the 6k bulbs and i would send the 8k back in.

I ended up keeping the 8k bulbs, as the 6k was PURE WHITE.
Note: This company's 55W 6K is PURE WHITE. The 8K is about 40% blue (if looking directly at the truck) The output on the road is WHITE. If you want the look that the escalades, BMWS, Mercedes, etc throw off with the xenon bulbs and projectors, this is the color you want. (Only mentioning this kit)
Install was pretty straight forward, just time consuming and tedious. I mounted my ballasts underneath the frame, which was the best spot for them.

After the install, i took a drive to test them out. The bulbs ended up being upside down. The igniter wire has to be facing DOWN. Dont be alarmed as to the bulbs will be angled a little bit. They will not be facing perfectly straight. The brightness is unreal. Perfect.

Issue: THIS COMPANY WILL NOT CONTACT YOU VIA PHONE! It doesnt seem like a big deal, but when your trying to email a conversation that should only take 2 minutes, it really gets to be an issue. -1

I am not very thrilled with the High beams on the kit. The light is not projected out. The only thing that happens is light is just flipped up on the headlight. I was hoping for the high beams to project like halogens.

There are a few little broken spots in the light on the road, but I think that is just my cheap OEM heads. Im hoping that the lightning heads, being 100% clear, will allow for the light to project more, which it should.

Not sure what else to mention here, so if anyone has ANY questions regarding ANYTHING about this kit, ask away. If i had to do this again, I might have tried DDM Tuning, just for the pure fact that they have phone service It seems like Retro Solutions (Todd Strong) is just a garage run company. Keep that in mind. But to be honest, these HID companies seem to be all pretty similar.

 

Glad to hear that you got it all worked out and working properly.

Retro Solutions is definitely a small company and ran solely by Todd but the customer service and reliability of his kits can't be beat -- very seldom do you ever hear of a bad ballast, bulb, or igniter with RS. That's the sole reason I spent the extra $$$ on the kit. I read lots of bad reviews on DDM (especially concerning customer service) and I've had my fair share of run-ins with customer service in the past. Not fun and doesn't make for a happy camper......

+1 for Retro Solutions from me!

 

How are your high beams? Do they project out like the halogens do? Or does the light simply just get get higher in the headlight, not making much of a difference?

 

you sacrifice some when it comes to high-beams on HIDs compared to halogens. the halogens are locked in place and the high-beam filament is about 1/5th" behind and 1/16th offset of the low-beam filament to strike the reflectors differently. HIDs just pull back that 1/5th" so they do go up, just not as far. I offset this by aiming my housings up a tad. Sometimes I'll get flashed but then I'll flash 'em back and they quickly lose the fight

 

YES!
Glad to see it all worked out.

 

High beams are about what my halogens were. I bet that '97-'03 OEM light housing is affecting your beam pattern.

 

Ive got 3 sets from retro-solutions, my dad has 2, my friend has 2, and I just ordered my uncle a set and installed them yesterday. We all have the 55w 6000k kits and love them. He knows his products and backs his products. I have ran into a few issues with bulbs and stuff but he has replaced everything promptly and without a single problem. Sure the email thing is a little inconvenient, but no big deal. The products are great and I recommend them to everyone.

 

Ive had no problems with him. light output is waaaayyyy better than halogen bulbs. my bights on halogen are about equal to my low beams in HID. ive got the 55W 5k kit. brights are mostly expanded to the side and a lil bit farther. but if i really need bright straight beems...thats why i installed KC lights behind my grill, i now have 4 of them..so i light up everything literly!

 

Yeah Ive got 55w HID's in Heads, fogs, and long range KC's so there is nothing that I cannot see, lol.

 

Agreed. So i just purchased Lightning heads and CLEAR corners. The corners i have now arent as clear as the Lightning heads are. Hoping for good results!