First post on the site, been doing a lot of reading and learning. but couldn't find much to answer my questions.

I have a 96 2 door jimmy im using as winter driver, and a light duty off road toy. I have full HID in my dd escort and haven't had any issues. I just want to be sure the jimmy can handle the same as the escort.

My first question is about the wiring. should I upgrade the wiring to the bulbs to run a 35w kit low beam and 55w kit high beam? I also plan to wire the high and low beams together for the "4 high" effect.

Second question is, has anyone run into issues running a 55w kit in the stock housing? I'm concerned the heat may damage the housing without the little deflector like my escort has.

Third question. What are your opinions on the light output after a HID conversion?

I plan to order from ddmtuning.com as I have for all my past HID kits

Thanks in advance

 

i bought my from xantec 8000k low and have no use for high beams. as for your low and high beam. id buy a kit called... quad beam power lighting #6314 from kc hilites. will allow you to run ur hids with out burning up ballast/bulbs as u would if u just hard wire them in.

 

Here's my thoughts.

Relay harnesses should be used just as a precaution.
The heat shouldn't be an issue, that little deflector is actually probably used to block light from blinding others (not that it works very well.)
Light output will be all over the place.
Don't get anything over 8000K if you actually want to see.
The high beams will take a min to heat up when you turn them on, so the quad beam is a good idea.



That said, I always support the use of HID projectors instead of throwing them in stock housings. Better light distribution and control, and not blinding others are always a good thing.

 

With the escorts 9007 bulb I'm sure the deflector is used to align the light in some way. but also with a few extra minutes care and an alignment I rarely get flashed and have even asked others. I always here mine aren't bad aside from the blue tint in the 6000k being "distracting"

The escort also has very bad beam scatter with a HID bulb but the output is far superior to the stock output so I keep them. I would like to think a 9006 would be a bit better at scatter, its designed more for a single element and the focal beam on the hid is closer to the 9006 elements location.

 

Also thogert. I have to find an aftermarket projector housing setup for the 96 GMC headlights. I don't have time or interest in fab work either so I'm making do.

 

You wont find one that will work with HID's, the aftermarket housings you will find, will be for halogens.

 

I cant find any aftermarkets that arent stock replacments. if anyone knows of anyhing, please let me know.

 

You're kinda SOL on the aftermarket lights for a jimmy. There's really only support for the blazer lights. I'm not trying to chastise you or anything, I just try to spread the word that projectors are the best way to go about it.

Any single filament bulb will do better with HIDs than any dual filament bulb. Just make sure to aim them and you should be alright. I know I get blinded by more drivers with stock halogens that just leave their high beams on all the time than from HIDs. I just feel bad flashing my 55W HIDs back at them because it's just not fair.

 

Truth, even for the blazers, I have not seen an aftermarket HID projector housing. They do make projector housings, but all I have seen are for halogens.

my buddy has some on his s10. even for halogens, they are garbo!

There are people on HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum that will retrofit the projectors into the housing for you. Obviously wont be cheap. but its your only option if you want projectors, and dont have the time/skill to do it yourself.

Otherwise, do like Thor said, put HID's into the halogen housing and aim them as proper as you can. That is what I did on my first gen jimmy. they are MUCH brighter than the halogens, and since I aimed them "right" I have not gotten flashed once, Dont get some crazy high color temp either. get yourself like 4300-5000k. I have 4300k, they are just about pure white, maybe a tiny tint of yellow that I am unable to notice.... 4300k has the most usable light out of any. no problems with the donut eaters either (popo's)

 

i was planning on 5000k lo and hi, the ddmtuning color map puts the 5000k at pure white, i have 6000k in the escort and they out a very white light, but look blue when you look at the car.

i was also planning on a set of 3000k extra bulbs. here in northern michigan, we get alot of snow, and i know the yellow light is better in snow. i would just switch over to the 3000k in winter, and use the 5000k in summer.

i would much rather spend 300+ on a good led bar than custom projector retrofits.