[mynameiskoebel]

Will 9007/HB5 HID lights work on my 2003 Dakota? Thanks guys

 

[radioactive]

Yes but they run HOT. Might melt your housing.

 

[mynameiskoebel]

What u suggest I get? I’m thinking about going back to factory all clear glass as wife has hard time seeing at night with current lights. Lemme know what u suggest! Thanks

 

[02GenDakota]

What u suggest I get? I’m thinking about going back to factory all clear glass as wife has hard time seeing at night with current lights. Lemme know what u suggest! Thanks

Maybe LED or halogen in euro style headlights? Or get smoked headlights with LEDs, If I ever do anything to my headlights that's the plan.

 

[mynameiskoebel]

I have all that already.....

 

[radioactive]

You won't like the LED headlights, they look bright but none are as good at throwing a usable beam pattern as good old halogens. Get the Silverstar ZXE 9007 or Silverstar Gold ZXE 9007. Best bet for the money. Hi performance bulbs, don't expect a long life if you use your headlights every day. Guaranteed for 1 year.

 

[mynameiskoebel]

Works for me! I’ll look into it

 

[g48572]

You won't like the LED headlights, they look bright but none are as good at throwing a usable beam pattern as good old halogens. Get the Silverstar ZXE 9007 or Silverstar Gold ZXE 9007. Best bet for the money. Hi performance bulbs, don't expect a long life if you use your headlights every day. Guaranteed for 1 year.

I disagree. There are a ton of very good and extremely bright LEDs around nowadays. You get what you pay for, and if you bypass the stock wiring and feed off the battery positive you will get much brighter light. Just use the stock connector to signal the relays.


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[dave2003]

I disagree. There are a ton of very good and extremely bright LEDs around nowadays. You get what you pay for, and if you bypass the stock wiring and feed off the battery positive you will get much brighter light. Just use the stock connector to signal the relays.


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I agree, there are some good LED headlights out there. I am very happy with the ones i have. I tried going back to the Silverstars and couldn't believe how dim they appeared. Below is what i have currently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT5G6V7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[mynameiskoebel]

I have led already but cheap Canadian ones! Imma buy those and try em out. I do plan on buying new headlights just for the fact that I looked today and they started to bubble right where the shitty leds are! Buy American I always say and I didn’t listen to my own advice! LOL. So glad they make a million different headlights for our rides! The giants better win tonight against the browns or imma get loser pissed for y’all!

Thanks again guys and merry Xmas!

 

[radioactive]

I agree, there are some good LED headlights out there. I am very happy with the ones i have. I tried going back to the Silverstars and couldn't believe how dim they appeared. Below is what i have currently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT5G6V7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's not just about the brightness. Install the bulbs and aim the headlights at a white wall in the dark. Really look critically at the beam patterns.

Halogens are a single point light source. LEDs are not. They can be super bright and still not throw a decent beam pattern. Your reflectors were designed for a single point light source.

The LED can sometimes cause light to go where you don't want it -- like up or down.

 

[g48572]

I just installed projector/halos in my stock headlights and figured I’d share my experience since I regret my bulb choice.

Make sure you get the brightest possible LED you can find... you definitely get what you pay for with these bulbs.

I figured I could just go with any LED bulb that would fit into the hole in the cast metal reflector of the Amazon retrofit projectors I bought...

Well I wish I would have known... the only bulbs that fit them all say “fog lamp” on the box... but I saw other people use them so I went for it. Big mistake! And to make matters worse, I decide to tint them lol

Well darn it the bulbs are so dim, that even my existing factory LED fog lights are magnitudes brighter than these “retrofit headlights” and I had to enable fog lights with high beams because I couldn’t even see at night whatsoever unless I turned on the fog lights.

And the tint, which I didn’t expect to be so dark when I ordered it... just made it even worse.

So my advice would be to go with the brightest most advanced led chip you can get, and if you want, wire them up to a relay harness to bypass the truck’s PWM electrical shenanigans. I used a friend’s alfaOBD app and mx-plus Bluetooth dongle to go into the PCM and change the settings to HID (not led!)

Overall I’m happy with the appearance my lights but they are DIM as hell. So don’t make the same mistake I did.

 

[mynameiskoebel]

That sucks! U did so much work and it didn’t pan out! I’m going back to stock headlights with hid bulbs and ballasts. On my last Dakota I did a black plasti dip on them and it looked awesome and was still functional. The only thing was that it didn’t last more than 6 months before the dirt and rocks pitted them. Easy fix though as all u do is peel and power wash it off and redo it. What I have works for now and the aftermarket halo headlights do the job. Looks aren’t everything I’ve learned with my headlights!

 

[02GenDakota]

I just installed projector/halos in my stock headlights and figured I’d share my experience since I regret my bulb choice.

Make sure you get the brightest possible LED you can find... you definitely get what you pay for with these bulbs.

I figured I could just go with any LED bulb that would fit into the hole in the cast metal reflector of the Amazon retrofit projectors I bought...

Well I wish I would have known... the only bulbs that fit them all say “fog lamp” on the box... but I saw other people use them so I went for it. Big mistake! And to make matters worse, I decide to tint them lol

Well darn it the bulbs are so dim, that even my existing factory LED fog lights are magnitudes brighter than these “retrofit headlights” and I had to enable fog lights with high beams because I couldn’t even see at night whatsoever unless I turned on the fog lights.

And the tint, which I didn’t expect to be so dark when I ordered it... just made it even worse.

So my advice would be to go with the brightest most advanced led chip you can get, and if you want, wire them up to a relay harness to bypass the truck’s PWM electrical shenanigans. I used a friend’s alfaOBD app and mx-plus Bluetooth dongle to go into the PCM and change the settings to HID (not led!)

Overall I’m happy with the appearance my lights but they are DIM as hell. So don’t make the same mistake I did.

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That's a shame it didn't work out after all that! You gonna take it back apart and redo it or just live with it?

 

[g48572]

I’m going to live with it for the time being. I like how it looks. But it will really come together when I get my abs hex grill mod done and get my new back rack and kc lights I have sitting right here installed. Damn. It never ends


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[02GenDakota]

I’m going to live with it for the time being. I like how it looks. But it will really come together when I get my abs hex grill mod done and get my new back rack and kc lights I have sitting right here installed. Damn. It never ends


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Oh yeah that'll look awesome! Wish I could weld so I could put together a simple back rack for mine

 

[g48572]

I change my verdict. The lights are bright as heck. Turns out The tint I used was too dark... so I removed it and what a difference!!

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[02GenDakota]

Glad it worked out all right! I tried to get lighter tint for my headlights but I have a feeling it's gonna be too dark when it shows up.

 

[g48572]

I Love these lights.


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[02GenDakota]

Very cool!