Don, not trying to hijack your thread but we have allot of guys following along so thought to drop this info here and keep it all in one place.
guys, here is the long version of the road I took with headlights to this point, It may be to much but its the facts and you should know so you dont do what I have had to go through. also some background I have owned very good lights in my younger days in my street cars and off road buggies and know what good lighting is and how to set things up right.
my '98 Ram needs new headlights, so I bought brand new Mopar lenses from ebay, stock bulbs are not that bright as we know, so I thought it was time to try out the new HID bulbs that are for sale everywhere. did my homework read posts till my eyes about fell out and found 95% of the kits are just thrown together by yahoo's and barely work,
I found a guy selling nice kits on another forum and no bad feedback and he has sold a ton of kits. so I figure this is the cat to buy from..... we talk back and forth and I figure out I want a pretty bright light almost to bright for the street, I went with the 4300K kit... ... FYI... . hid's work backwards in values, the lower the number the brighter the white light the larger number the softer and blue light comes into play... . at least that's what I was told.
I install the new Stock lenses and my neato HID bulbs and go out late to adjust them up, short story the hids enhance the lense casting/lines really, really, really bad. I have vids if your really into this thing, anyway this setup is like 10's worse than a stock setup in my opinion completely worthless garbage.
I talk with the hid bulb guy again, gee I am the first guy to ever call up and say hey these really dont work in stock lenses to well?, "really, your the first guy to ever complain" seems I here that more and more with vendors these days, its the new escape line.
we figure clear lenses may get things in order, so I order up clear lenses from ebay, they arrive go to install notice no adjusters, uh oh. . not good! . I go for it anyway, what else do you do bumper is loose and one headlight is on the bench, wait till dark... they suck also... lighting is all over and some shadows in the street from the lenses and no way to adjust them. oh and they fit like crap, mega gaps at the turn lense and the fender, like 5/8"
I think just because there bright as heck when your in front of the rig these buyers of the Hid's think there better, boggles my mind they dont see the lack of lighting on the road, and not to mention the one guy is right, if your the oncoming car at a HID converted rig they will blind you like a camera flash and leave you seeing dots, I stood out infront of my truck about 100/150ft last night with the clear lenses and it took my eyes 10 mins to comeback, I think you will see someone get sued soon over a accident caused by a aftermarket hid conversion.
I am back to square one at this point, and the bad thing is I still want good lights, so I am back into sorting some more,
I would like to see good night time pics or a short vid of Gary's clear lights on a road with no street lights to see how his clear lenses throw the light. Gary you around??
I believe a standard 9004 type bulb with 2 filaments is the way to go with a upgrade wiring harness to power both filaments when in hi beam mode. and if you can get sport lenses in your truck with 4 bulbs all the better!. ... not sure what to say about stock lenses with good bulbs or clear lenses at this point of the RD.
these HID bulbs I have, also have another weird flaw, they have one filament, there idea of the Hi beam is it actually pulls the bulb back into the socket when you go to hi beam 1/4", stupid in my opinion, the beam should pull in a brighter filament, not adjust what's already lit.
I maybe should have stayed at a Holiday Inn before starting this phase of the truck.
so far
stock lenses $100
Hid Bulbs $200
Clear lens $148 ,so $348 bucks of garbage so far,
and my dang bumper has to comer loose to change lenses, no way to wiggle them out.
my next move is use the stock lenses or go with the clear ones like Don and Gary are running and a stock type bulb preferably a tad brighter than stock with a relay kit to power both filaments when on hi beam... .
if anyone has a source for a good relay harness and bulbs post up please.
and has anyone found a source for the stock round foglight kits that drop into the lower bumper? non on ebay or anywhere I have looked, trying to avoid the dealer on this kit.
Peace,B.