2012 Explorer HID Conversion Problem

Hey everybody, I just got a 2012 Explorer limited with the halogen headlamps and ordered a 35w 5000k HID conversion kit from DDMTuning and not only does the light output seem worse than my halogens its extremely scattered and blotchy, it seems like light is getting thrown everywhere except in front of the car. Any ideas??

 

[Alienman8]

Hey everybody, I just got a 2012 Explorer limited with the halogen headlamps and ordered a 35w 5000k HID conversion kit from DDMTuning and not only does the light output seem worse than my halogens its extremely scattered and blotchy, it seems like light is getting thrown everywhere except in front of the car. Any ideas??

1) Unfortunately you put HIDs in a housing designed for Halogens, so its going to scatter and not give you the clean looking cut off that was with the halogen projectors (I think all 2011's and up have projectors, correct me if I'm wrong)

2) While the above is always going to be true about HIDs in Halogen housings, you may try to re-seat the bulb and see if that helps.

If its a reflector (again do 2011's and up even have those?) then your up a creak without a paddle, if its a projector, it will be worse than halogens, but it still shouldn't be too bad.

Here is our 2003 GMC Yukon Denali (that has *projector* Halogen housings) with 5000K 35W HIDs in them:

Here is my 07 Explorer Sport Trac with a retrofit done:
It's not the best picture, but its the best one I can find.

Without any pictures of the output, its hard to put a finger on what exactly is causing the problem. So try to take a few pictures.

 

[nas0827]

I managed to fix the cut off by reseating the bulbs but DDM must have sent me 6000k or higher bulbs because the output is nothing like the 5000k I had before

 

[dreddog47]

Aftermarket bulbs aren't regulated, that goes for quality, arc alignment and color temp. 5k isn't always 5k from places like ddm or ebay.


Some halogen projectors can accept HID's rather well, others not so much. I haven't seen a fifth gen cutoff with HID's in person to form an opinion