HID's question

[aj]

I am going to put 8,000k hids in both my 2001 Aurora and 2003 Bravada and was wanting to know if I need to buy an hid kit first for both vehicles? Thanks in advance

[nelson480]

im wondering the saaaame thing, because silverstar ultras just arent cutting it...

[robaurora01]

if your buying HID kit's your getting the kit with it. if your just buying bulbs well they won't work ull need the full kit.

www.ddmtuning.com

I recommend 6k's and no higher in the 35 watt kits if you buy the 55 watt kit then get 8k's ( makes it look like 6k's ) and those kits come with everything you need you won't need to buy anything extra

[renaldo0613]

The higher you go in temp the more color you will have, ddmtuning.com very good place to order from, good kits, they can be a bit slow sometimes with delivery but last time i got a kit from them it took a week, when I ordered my brothers it took a month because I believe they were behind on orders. But for the price and quality well wort the wait.

[robaurora01]

yea it took 2 weeks for me once ( ordered two sets ) the last time we ordered it took 4 weeks but we also had 12 kits ordered and being shipped to canada so

[XJSman89]

Check out this link for more information. A few posts down I posted a pretty decent explanation of what an HID is. I agree with Rob though. 8000K will be a lot more blue than you think and will be obviously aftermarket. 6000-6500K has just a bit of blue. Still better and brighter than a halogen but not fake looking. The color looks the same as any stock Cadillac/Lexus/Audi/etc. that has HIDs.

Are you just getting kits to plug into your current lights? If so then you'll just need a standard plug-and-play kit. It will throw the light oddly but the illumination is a lot brighter. You'll love it. You can go with someone like DDM tuning if you want, but eBay also has a lot of kits. I got mine there.

If you want to get projectors and do some cutting and customizing check out this link. It explains projectors in greater detail. They are expensive ($200 for a kit that you install your own plug-and-play ebay kit into and $350-400 for a full kit with bulbs) but it will be more reliable and will give you a nice crisp, clean cutoff line.

If you have any more questions please ask! I have had ebay HIDs in my Aurora for a couple years now and Rob has experience with 2nd gen HIDs. I can't speak for him of course, but I would be glad to help. ;D

[robaurora01]

ive owned 3 different HID kits, my first kit was an obvious cheap kit tho I did pay a lot for it ( it was something I forget the name but had a pic of a bmw on it ) and my two other kits were from ddm, I got my 35 watts for my low beams on my alero and my 55 watts for high beams. I love my HID's and even installed a set into my girlfriends neon.

personally I like ddm because they offer lifetime warrenty with them, and on my 2nd gen the hid kit that I had wasn't as good as the new ones I have now they didn't warm up as quick and didn't put out as much light as my current ones do

[aj]

^Thanks Rob and Collins for the responses.

Dec 30, 2010 17:29:31 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

Check out this link

Are you just getting kits to plug into your current lights? If so then you'll just need a standard plug-and-play kit. It will throw the light oddly but the illumination is a lot brighter. You'll love it. You can go with someone like DDM tuning if you want, but eBay also has a lot of kits. I got mine there.

Yes I am going to get the plug and play Hids kits and I think I will order them from DDm Tunning. Ebay does have quite a few selections but just too hard to pin point which ones I want to get.Plus it seems DDM tunning a lifetime warranty on their kits. So that is a plus.

Dec 30, 2010 17:29:31 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

If you want to get projectors and do some cutting and customizing check out this link. It explains projectors in greater detail. They are expensive ($200 for a kit that you install your own plug-and-play ebay kit into and $350-400 for a full kit with bulbs) but it will be more reliable and will give you a nice crisp, clean cutoff line.

I probably will get the projectors some day. I did not even know they made projectors headlight kits for our 1st gen Aurorra and Bravadas. Too bad they did not have projectors when they came out of the factory for the 1st gen Auroras and Bravadas.I know they made them for the Pontiac Grandpri with the halo lights they look pretty cool.

Dec 30, 2010 17:29:31 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

If you have any more questions please ask! I have had ebay HIDs in my Aurora for a couple years now and Rob has experience with 2nd gen HIDs. I can't speak for him of course, but I would be glad to help. ;D

I Probably will have more questions down the road Im sure of. I appreciate your response and robs. Thanks again you guys!

[aj]

Collin I did answer your questions my answers were stuck in your quote up above. Sorry bout that.

**Fixed! No worries.**

I do have some more questions for you guys: First do I have to buy different hid bulbsand another kit for my high beams? And do i even get high beams when I install the hid kit for the low beams?

2nd: Do i need to buy an error elliminator kit that DDM offers with it?

Thanks again.

[XJSman89]

AJ, just to clarify: The kit should come with everything you need. Read to be sure but I would think that it comes with the ballasts and bulbs that you buy them for. (EX: If you buy a 9006 kit for your low beams it should come with 2 ballasts with harnesses and 2 bulbs.)

Since the 2G (like the Classic) features two separate bulbs for the lows and the highs, you would have to get two separate kits if you wanted them to be all HIDs. You can accomplish this how Rob says with a 35 watt kit for lows and 55 watt kit for highs.

HOWEVER, I wouldn't get HIDs for your high beams to be honest. I didn't get them for mine. The HID lights are very sensitive and shouldn't be "flicked on" for short periods of time. It reduces the life of the ballast and the bulbs to do so. Most of the time that you use your high beams you just turn them on for a few seconds and turn them back off. Keeping your halogen bulb in that spot would probably be the best choice to be honest.

Most higher-end modern cars use Bi-Xenon bulbs and projectors that have both a high beam and a low beam in one bulb. Because it uses the same bulb to make both beams there is no "flicking on" to be had. The bulb is already warmed up on the low beam setting; you just give it a little more juice to make it brighter for your highs. This is an option with aftermarket projectors. Since our cars aren't like this it is best to keep the halogen for your highs. (Plus it will save you some cash not having to pay for another kit.)

Rob will be able to answer the error eliminator question better than I; the Classic may be different. I don't believe so, though.

Rob, did you have a problem with DRLs? If so, how did you disable them? I had to disable the DRLs on my 96 for this to work. I don't know how hard this would be to do on the 2G. It's not bad at all on the Classic; you just remove the airbox and unhook the little white DRL module.

[robaurora01]

2nd gen's don't need the error illiminator because the high beam is what is running on your DRL.

another reason you don't need high beams is because you won't see much of a difference, I live in a rural area were most of my driving at night if im doing any is for long periods of times so my HID kit in the highs is great and serves me well.

you would need to buy a second HID kit to run your high's

[renaldo0613]

Just don't buy Xeneon kit off of eBay they run like $40.00. Very cheap kit, and are pieces of crap I've had two kits from them go bad where the ballast failed out quickly, and the bulbs were not heating up to the correct temp. Now ddmtuning very good kits great quality and like everyone says lifetime warranty. Go with 6K they woill be bright!!! And clear. No error code eliminator needed... They are usually for the dodge magnums, and for models not our good ole GMs!!!! Fog lamps(of your gonna do them) i went with yellow seeing as how yellow Is the color that cuts threw weather conditions the best... But it's all up to u. Post some pics when you get them all hooked up we love to see another roar with HiDs haha.

[nelson480]

How much (on a budget) would some nice looking blue ish bulbs cost that wont be too dark for me to see at night run me?

[robaurora01]

nelson go to the ddmtuning site and check out the stuff ( 6k's ) it says its $35 for a 35 watt kit plus shipping to whereever you are

[nelson480]

okay cool thanks rob!
I bet HIDs look good with your projection beam headlights, i thought that was stupid of GM not to put HIDs in Projection beam HLs like the aurora and Yukon Denali

[robaurora01]

actually their not that great as you may think, I see better with my alero HID's then I did in my aurora.

I think that mostly had to do with the first HID kit I bought tho more so then the projectors I mean they still worked great but nothing as good compared to how my alero is with just stock headlights.

( p.s. I don't own my aurora anymore I had to let it go awhile back in march of this year )

[woden501]

Even though I wasn't the original person who asked I would like to thank everyone for their responses to this. I had been looking at switching over to HIDs for a while now, and this topic answered pretty much all the questions I had. I ordered a 35w 6K set earlier since DDM Tuning will be raising the price $5 starting tomorrow. Since I don't really use my highs at all, and you guys don't recommend switching out the fogs I guess I'll be leaving it at that. Once again thanks for it all.

I'll post some before and after pictures once I've got it done. I'm also planning on getting the windows tinted at 50% (max in Ohio), so I should have before and afters of each.

[robaurora01]

right on, ill be waiting for the pics

[nelson480]

why no more aurora!? I cant see selling mine, although i said that about the Cutty and yet its for sale :/

[nelson480]

also rob how long will these last? Theyre so cheap! Will this work for me? (sorry but i just wanna do it right the first time)

[robaurora01]

their lifetime! so longer then ull own the car, their 100% waterproof the bulb and the ballast.

I had to get rid of her because the tranny was on its way out ( lost 4th ) and I still owed 8 grand on her so it wasn't feasible to still pay $330 a month + insurance and then find the money to pay for a tranny that was 2 grand alone

[maxheadroom]

Dec 31, 2010 3:38:18 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

Rob, did you have a problem with DRLs? If so, how did you disable them? I had to disable the DRLs on my 96 for this to work. I don't know how hard this would be to do on the 2G. It's not bad at all on the Classic; you just remove the airbox and unhook the little white DRL module.

On the 2gen the DRL is switched by the DIM module, one way to defeat the DRL is to cut one of the coil pins off the DRL relay, this is pins 85 or 86, The relay has to remain in for the normally closed contact to ground the LH Hi beam lamp.
Normally when pulled in, the relay reverses the polarity on the LH lamp and puts it in series with the RH lamp (6v across each) for DRL mode.
Max.

[XJSman89]

No problem, Woden! I'm glad you got some questions answered. If you have any more please don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks for the info, Max. Disabling the Classic's DRLs was an easy fix also. That's good to know for the 2G owners!

[nelson480]

2001 Oldsmobile Aurora Detach pin 87 from the DRL relay.
taken from
www.lightsout.org/disable.html

[maxheadroom]

Jan 5, 2011 21:49:11 GMT -6 nelson480 said:

2001 Oldsmobile Aurora Detach pin 87 from the DRL relay.

There is only one flaw I can see there, AFAIK pin 87 is the normally open contact on the relay, this will NOT stop the relay from picking up in the DRL mode, therefore when the DRL relay picks up, the ground connection is going to be removed from the LH lamp??
Max.

[nelson480]

I wouldn't know I just found it on that site

[maxheadroom]

It makes me wonder if it was a tested solution?
Max.

[XJSman89]

Jan 6, 2011 11:34:15 GMT -6 maxheadroom said:

It makes me wonder if it was a tested solution?
Max.

Apparently it was. At least we know it works!

[oldwino]

Here's the electrical diagram from the 2002 FSM.



I think you need to cut the prong of the DRL relay that is supplying the 12vdc from the FOG/DRL fuse. That way you prevent the DRL from coming on and also maintain the ground connection required for the high beams.

Or you can remove one of the prongs for the relay coil, but don't know if you'll get some sort of code if the DIM detects an open coil condition.

[dynamic1964]

I've had my low beam HID's for two years now and they've worked perfect given the price. They are mostly on half of the year because it is so dark and DRL turns them on automatically. I'm super happy! No more stock.. Now i can see the road when i driving