Hey everyone. Quick question...my mom just sold her 2013 ecoboost and ordered a 2016. XLT package. She ran HID's in her 13 and wants to do the same in her 16. I noticed the 16 has separate bulbs for the high/low beams, so I suggested we do just the high beams so she isn't blinding people.

My ? Is, do the low beams stay on with the high beams? I don't want to do hid's if the low beams don't stay on due to the warm up time of HID's.

Also is the bulb # for a 16 the same as a 15? I can only find bulb replacement charts that go to 15.

Thanks for the help!! -Nick

 

The lows do stay on with the highs. H11 lows 9005 highs. Don't waste your money on PNP HIDs. Upgrade the low beam to H9s and high beam to a 9011 HIR. It'll be allot brighter without blinding people and having to wait for warm up time on those cheap HIDs everytime you turn on the highs.

 

Was going to leave the low beams alone and do HID in the high beams. What is "HIR?"

Edit: nevermind. Maybe I'll look into that route and see how she likes it instead.

 

Halogen infrared. But I see you found it already. I'd switch both of i were her. Best bang for your buck. That way you can improve both beams. I find the best and reliable pricing for HIRs from http://store.candlepower.com/hirlighting.html

 

How do they compare to hid's as far as brightness goes?

 

True HIDs will be 3400 lumens these will be about 2400-2600.
But that's comparing them to OEM HIDs in proper projectors. The HIRs will be better than 90% of the cheap PNP HID kits out there that are 8000k or more. Since 8000k+ only push about 2000 lumens. And the blue is actually worse for seeing.

 

I'd be running 55 watt 4500k hids.

 

I'm going to recommend you put LED lights in. HID's are not as durable and are a thing of the past. The LED's I've been advertising on here work great. They work the best in the 2015/2016 I've found (I have a '15 myself). You'll need high and low beam OR you could just do high beam... but honestly you don't blind people with these... there's another thread on here with somoeone who was against LED's and I sent him a pair (he paid for them) and so far he's had nothing but great things to say.

I'll quote him... "you were right" regarding how they don't blind people.

The cheaper LED kits DO blind people as do the cheaper HID kits and even the expensive ones, since HID's (and honestly LEDs up until now) were meant for projection housings.

The kits I sell are unique in how the diodes are laid out and on the H13 kits, they have a redirector built in. You can also rotate the bulbs as well, which you can't do on halogen/HID lights.

PM me if you want more details or just check out my site.

 

More than likely not actual put out 50w probably like 40w. And going to ruin the wires if not you with a relay harness and could burn the reflector bowl because if increased UV radiation. Plus you still have that long warm up time. And the constant on and off is going to kill those cheap HIDs.


HIDs aren't the thing of the past. True HIDs still trump LEDs in all shapes or forms. Granted yes 4X4 has good PNP LEDs but would be rivaled by the HIRs and the H9 low beam upgrade.
Honestly the best option is a projector retrofit which will allow you to run HIDs in your low beam and act as a secondary high beam and WILL beat out any PNP LED bulb. But seeing as this is your mom's truck I don't see her going this route.

 

Warm up time is the only thing I'm really worried about. That and when it gets -50* (we live in North Pole, Alaska) there is always the problem of one light not coming on and you have to flick the highs on and off until they both finally fire. I ran a set of LED bulbs in my high beams in my 02 gmc 1500 and wasn't impressed at all. The guy that let me try them claimed he paid $110 for the 2 bulbs, so I wouldn't say they were they "cheap" PNP type. The light was bright, but they didn't shine but 1/2 the distance of the 35watt 4500k ddm tuning hid's that I took out. Which went right back in.

I'm all for retrofitting, and not blinding people. Which is why I won't run hid's in the low beam without a projector setup. I'm in a tossup. She loved the hid's in her 13. But that was a H13 bulb so there isn't any warmup time between hi/low. Than again she was that *** hat blinding people even after I aimed them down.

And I don't really want to spend $300 between hids, leds & HIR bulbs just to see what the best one is. Someone else should be the guinea pig and post some pic's 😉

 

If you get a good quality HID you shouldn't have a problem at -50°f. DDM tuning isn't considered good quality they are quite cheap. Morimoto us pretty good quality. Or if she wants to spend the money get OEM Denso ballasts rewired with amp style connections then you def won't have a problem.
If you do some searching you'll find pictures of everything you want and actually in my post "quad retrofit... Kinda" you'll see a picture of my HIRs VS my HIDs. And 2008_xl is working on output pictures of the LEDs 4x4 is talking about.
But you can't go wrong with all OEM retrofit. Ya it'll cost alot but it'll start and not flicker every time. We see -20°f here in Michigan quite frequently and my OEM setup hasn't missed a beat on over 2 years.

 

As I said, I'd recommend LED. I know some guys are HID fans, but LED's will last longer, can take more abuse (you can submerge them in water/ice/mud). Give you more lumen per bulb and you don't need to install a wiring harness to your battery. Plug and play for the most part. The HID system requires you connect the ballasts to your battery since they draw so much power.

As you mentioned, there is a slight warm up time (honestly nothing you'll notice) with HID...

I'm an LED fan. I've used HID in the past and I never quite liked them. Since I've tried LED i've loved them.

I have to say these are the best LED kits on the market, they surpass all HID and LED systems I've seen to date. Ask 2008 about the lights. he was against LED at first, even battling with me online, till he bought a kit and now he loves them. And he has a 2008 Ford... on the 2015/2016 these lights look even better (granted you have to buy a high beam and low beam kit).

If you don't like the LED's after you buy them, you can return them to me. Just pay shipping. So that's basically a money back guarantee that you'll like them.

 

I do have a full review coming of 4x4TruckLED's lights that he sells. I actually just got all the pics last night and will get the review up tonight or tomorrow after work.

Below, I have a couple comparison pics. The LEDs vs sylvania zxe halogen. The led photos are not the ones from last night. They are from the night before and there was still a little light in the sky. However, that light was not on the ground, the sun had set and it was just a tiny bit in the sky. I retook them to be 100% fair.

Halogen:



LED:



Halogen:



LED:



Halogen on left, LED on right:

 

Good pictures! Looks to me like the LEDs still have a good cutoff to avoid blinding other drivers, but that they fill in the area below the cutoff better. And, they are WHITE, not yellow like the halogens.

- Jack

 

Thanks. I do like the look of not having yellow headlights. I think it compliments the trucks appearance.