HID Install +Pics - Step by Step | Page 17 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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HID Install +Pics - Step by Step

I do know that if a auto light product you buy does not have DOT approved stamped/printed on the part it is not street legal.

That said, you will find that many aftermarket parts that you can buy legally at a price less expensive than other parts is due to the cheaper cost of not having them DOT approved.

I found this out at a SEMA show about 7 years ago when the LED lights started to flood the market. I was educated by both DOT approved and NON-DOT approved manufacturers of LED headlamps/taillights. If you want DOT approved parts-you will simply pay the price!

Buzz

Curious where I can see these are DOT approved. It should be a big selling point and should be marketed that way but.............
 



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Just a follow up on the subject and my experience with the Diode Dynamics kit I installed several months back since I got an alert in my email to this thread.

No issues with the use of this kit. No problems with other drivers flashing me. Doesn't seem to have an issue with the so called 'improper' projector housings. In other words, no issues at all.

So, if you are concerned with the issues discussed in this thread, it may become a non issue for you if you go the direction I did. :salute:
 






Just a follow up on the subject and my experience with the Diode Dynamics kit I installed several months back since I got an alert in my email to this thread.

No issues with the use of this kit. No problems with other drivers flashing me. Doesn't seem to have an issue with the so called 'improper' projector housings. In other words, no issues at all.

So, if you are concerned with the issues discussed in this thread, it may become a non issue for you if you go the direction I did. :salute:
If I recall correctly, I believe that was the dealer who admitted the kits are not DOT approved when questioned about it.

Peter
 






If I recall correctly, I believe that was the dealer who admitted the kits are not DOT approved when questioned about it.

Peter

That's still true. I'm just reporting that even with that as a concern, I've had no problems running this kit. So, if someone reading this thread has the previous concerns discussed here, they may take into consideration, my experience thus far. :salute:
 






Peter
it's not worth it
all the best
T
 






Peter
it's not worth it
all the best
T
I agree Tony. But at least more members lately have realized the correct way to do a conversion. Cheers.:thumbsup:

Peter
 






Thank you Peter
 






Hi Guys
After reading this and a few other threads as well as looking closely at my 2013 XLT I have concluded a few things.
First is the OEM Halogens projectors seem to point inward slightly, as opposed to straight ahead. This explains why there is little or no lighting to the sides of the roads with low beams. Out front in dark roads it is easy to see the shutter line but to see the roadside beyond that, one wants to open to the bright setting. When done there is very bright light to the center of the road, and up high.
Roadsides are still not illuminated. I believe the bulb housing point slightly inward. I do not think this can be adjusted. It could be a illusion due to the contour of the front buy I would bet they do point inward.

That being said the fix so far has been brighter HID's with all their baggage.

Not being beaten i continued to search and found these.

http://www.xenondepot.com/9005-LED-headlight-kit-p/9005-led-hl.htm

Not as bright as HID but that may be a good thing depending on the law.

I have them ordered. They are different. I will report, possibly with pictures.

Comments are welcome.
Regards
 






I went with the kit from Diode Dynamics as well and am very happy. Since the Explorer has projector housing from the factory the install was simple and easy and the projected pattern has a very clean cutoff. Although the driver side does not have the slight decline that it would if they were factory HIDs...I don't think it makes much difference especially on an SUV where oncoming driver expect the higher headlight pattern. I traded in a Focus ST which had adaptive HIDs which I miss and my 09 335i also has adaptive HIDs...but short of having the adaptive feature I'm very happy with the Diode kit.
 






Hi Guys
After reading this and a few other threads as well as looking closely at my 2013 XLT I have concluded a few things.
First is the OEM Halogens projectors seem to point inward slightly, as opposed to straight ahead. This explains why there is little or no lighting to the sides of the roads with low beams. Out front in dark roads it is easy to see the shutter line but to see the roadside beyond that, one wants to open to the bright setting. When done there is very bright light to the center of the road, and up high.
Roadsides are still not illuminated. I believe the bulb housing point slightly inward. I do not think this can be adjusted. It could be a illusion due to the contour of the front buy I would bet they do point inward.

That being said the fix so far has been brighter HID's with all their baggage


By 'inward', I take that to mean the light being angled more to the right rather than straight ahead. If so, that's normal for any vehicle. Having them directed straight ahead would present a glare problem for oncoming traffic. That's the horizontal adjustment you can't make.

If I may be more clear, properly adjusted headlights will have the drivers side pointed further out and to the right slightly while the passenger side will be pointed straighter ahead and down more than the drivers side. This allows for good coverage while not blinding oncoming traffic. :salute:
 












I purchased the diode dynamics dual beam 5k headlights and 6k foglights. Couldn't be happier with the results. They are a huge improvement over stock. Works superbly so far.
 






Has anyone installed factory HID ballasts and bulbs on their explorer? I have a set and it looks like I have to cut out a price right above where the ballast mounts. I am lost on the mounting of the bulb though, do I need a different mount from the halogen bulb mount? Any help would be appreciated.
 






Welcome to the Forum Ddecarlo.:wave:
HID bulbs use a different housing than halogens. To do a proper conversion you have to change the internals in order to get the precise focus.
There are several threads on this topic that you can find using the Forum's 'Search' feature (top right of page). One member even took the HID and halogen housings apart to confirm that the projectors are not the same. That said, many members have done the conversion using kits with just the bulbs and ballast and while that will improve the amount of light, a proper focus will not be attained.

Peter
 






Welcome to the Forum Ddecarlo.:wave:
HID bulbs use a different housing than halogens. To do a proper conversion you have to change the internals in order to get the precise focus.
There are several threads on this topic that you can find using the Forum's 'Search' feature (top right of page). One member even took the HID and halogen housings apart to confirm that the projectors are not the same. That said, many members have done the conversion using kits with just the bulbs and ballast and while that will improve the amount of light, a proper focus will not be attained.

Peter


Peter,

So then the question becomes if I am interested in doing this, is it possible to replace the projector between housing. Or obviously the easier way is to purchase hid housing. I just want to do this properly if I am going to do it
 






Peter,

So then the question becomes if I am interested in doing this, is it possible to replace the projector between housing. Or obviously the easier way is to purchase hid housing. I just want to do this properly if I am going to do it
It can be done but it doesn't appear to be a simple task. I believe you actually have to bake, yes, bake the entire assembly in order to be able to open it up. There is a thread where this has been done but I wasn't able to find it yesterday. I'll try again.
Check out post 219 ref the baking part and start checking out the conversion beginning with post 161 on page 7 to see if you really want to get into this. Good luck.

Peter
 
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Peter,

So then the question becomes if I am interested in doing this, is it possible to replace the projector between housing. Or obviously the easier way is to purchase hid housing. I just want to do this properly if I am going to do it
Hi, DDecarlo, I had the conversion of mine done and swapped out the entire hid system of my limited. if you'd like to have the OEM hid internals you can PM me and we can work something out.
 






Long time reader, first time poster here. We have a 2015 Explorer Sport in the family, and like many here, I was very disappointed in the factory headlamps.

For background, I myself have an Expedition, F350 and F150 Lightning, which are all retrofitted, with Mini H1 7.0, FX-R, and RX350 projectors - so as you can imagine, getting out of my own rides and seeing just how bad the OEM headlights on the Explorer are was an even greater dissapointment for me, and frankly concerning for my Mother's safety, as her eyesight isn't as good as it once was.

Tony, I shared in your agony reading these last 14 pages, as otherwise well-intentioned members are repeatedly scammed by the same smooth salesmen pitching "top quality" bulbs and all hawking re-labeled, cheap components, and shamelessly telling customers that the HID retrofit is just "nonsense" to make a sale. Unfortunately, as some discovered, by the tenth time you have to pull out another cheap chinese ballast, the great customer service and good price are long forgotten by then.

Anyhow, on to my contribution here - I began the lighting upgrades on the explorer just recently, with a set of the Morimoto XB LED fogs - the performance of those fogs is impressive, the width they add to the stock headlights really makes a difference, they almost feel adequate now - but I have to confess I am apprehensive about opening up the stock housings - all of my other retrofits were done with butyl sealed aftermarket housings, and I haven't tangled with Permaseal yet. To top it off, a quick search shows that the Explorer Sport's particular blacked out housings are rare and expensive. For that reason I tried a Morimoto 2 stroke 9005 LED kit - which unsurprisingly turned out to be junk - just to see if I could get away with not opening these.

So, my questions end up being two - is there any source for the OEM Explorer Sport housings at a less than exorbitant price, and any tips or tricks for getting these housings open with minimal scarring? I don't like risking leaving my mother without headlights for a week if I damage them while trying to help her, I'd rather go over and pop in completed housings in an afternoon.

Ideally, I would like to use the OEM Ford Osram ballasts, TRS has a 40w boosted version available, take advantage of the stock mounting points for those ballasts and use the Morimoto D1S-D2S adapter to connect it to the bulb. I might be overthinking this and just go with a D2S ballast and use some 3M tape to hold it in place, and probably a set of Nightbreaker bulbs.
 






Thank you for that post MISTERgadget. By coincidence a member sent me a link to an article that may be of interest. http://isearch.nhtsa.gov/files/deetz.ztv.html
Do you still have the 03 XLT shown in your profile? If so, perhaps you can add the 2015 Sport along with the others to your signature so the members will know what you have without having to post it every time. Thanks.

Peter
 



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I just got my stock halogens replaced with Diode Dynamics HIDs..Brandon at 502 Performance did a SUPER job. Super neat and clean wiring job. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=502 performance . fast well done and clean.

The light cut offs are clean bulb installed to optimize beam and keep cutoffs in line.

Plug and play !
 






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