So I've been thinking that I want some HID headlights in my 2008 Dakota. I am starting off with (and just ordered) an HID kit for my 9145 foglights. It's a cheap kit from ebay but I figured I'd give it a try. If they fail it's not a big deal because they are just foglights, but if they work good then that's a bonus for the added light they will provide for driving on dimly lit streets and highways. Here's a link to the kit http://www.ebay.ca/itm/251353975828?...84.m1497.l2649

I ordered these in 6000k so I will see how white or blue they look and then was thinking I'd upgrade my headlights with a halogen bulb in either bright white or a hint of blue depending on how the fogs look.

I really want HIDs for my headlights but need to figure out the problems that come with it. I think there are enough solutions for the fact that I need CANbus compatible ballasts but the problem that I am unsure of is for the DRLs (daytime running lights). I have read that you can kinda get around this problem with a relay harness with a capacitor so that it will turn on the relay with the lower voltage and then supply full battery voltage but then won't it be running high beams at full power for the DRLs? That might be a little bright and annoying for oncoming vehicles. I don't know. What are your thoughts?

Sorry for the long thread but these are the thoughts spinning in my mind... and I've been drinking a bit while watching the Superbowl.

 

HIDs do not work well in the 2008-2011 factory headlights. The light is shot out at all the wrong angles. You have to adjust the headlights way up and blind everyone, with what looks likes high beams, to put the light on the road properly. The only plus is that, even when not aimed properly, the lights look very nice from outside the car.

This has been discussed in previous threads, but the main reason for this is that halogen bulbs generate the most light at the center of the filament, exactly where our headlights are designed to reflect the light out from. HIDs make the most light at each end of their arc, not the center, so the light isn't "sent out" properly in our halogen-intended housings.

I had a kit installed for a while, and that is a quick and dirty summary of what I learned from that (and a ton of research).

The only way to properly do HIDs in 95% of halogen housings is with a retrofit kit, putting a projector assembly into your factory housings.

 

Ok, thanks for the input. I read pretty much all of the threads in this forum plus a bunch on other forums and I started to confuse myself. I read somewhere that they worked ok in the 2008 housings but I don't know. After spending a couple days researching with no definitive facts I really didn't know what to think. So I think I will be ok with the HID foglights and then just get the brightest halogen bulbs I can find. And then I think I am going to change all my other exterior lights with LEDs. I replaced my reverse lights with some 3157 Cree projector LEDs and they are awesome compared to incandescent bulbs. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2x-3157-3057-...item485cd8d49b

 

I understand your confusion. Some people like them in their housings, no matter the cost to people in oncoming traffic. I know several people here on this forum that like them in their 2008+ housings.

They may even come into this thread and defend their HIDs. Thats fine, its a forum, there will always be debates and conflicting evidence. I respect their choices, and respectfully disagree with them. I can speak from personal experience and tons of research, and what you read in my first reply was my conclusion. My Philips halogen bulbs get more light onto the road than the HIDs did, despite the HIDs looking way cooler.

The CREE LEDs definitely work wonders for our back-up bulbs. They even look sharp in the fog light housings of 2010-2011 models, which don't take 9145 bulbs like the 2008-2009 models do. The 2010-2011 models take a PSX24W fog light bulb that is only 24 watts, and not as nice as your brighter 9145 unit, which I believe is around 45 watts.

The only thing I can say about the fog lamp housings is to be careful, make sure they don't melt or get damaged by the higher heat HID lamps.

 

Don't know about putting them on trucks.

I have them on my 08 KLR. I'm not impressed. On the bike at least, I have to get the burner warmed up before I start the bike or they it doesn't work (the starting circuit turns the lamp off while starting.) I got the blue/white bulbs & I find them irritating--which on a bike is a good thing, I guess. From the factory, the lamp housings were aimed way too high--even with halogens. Great for flashing overhead signs and UFO's. The high beam doesn't come immediately on--HID bulbs have to warm up before they put out any light, so much for flashing on coming ******* that won't dim their brights.

And the HID is so bright that you don't really need brights anyhow. I kinda think HID is a deadend, something for tuners but maybe not for grownups.

My plan is when the LED capsules come down in price and are more developed I'll replace the HID's with them. I may go back to halogens in the meantime.

 

So I installed HID's into my foglights about a month ago and I love em. Way more light on the road than the stock bulbs. If you get the kit that I linked in the first post you have to plug the ballast in backwards for it to work (original plug into the ballast upside down). I liked the kit so much I ordered the headlight kit from the same place. The company told me I most likely needed the "Warning Cancellers" for an additional $20 so I ordered them too. Yesterday was the first nice day since they arrived so I installed them. The kit installed nice and easy with everything I needed. I did need to slightly trim 2 of the locators on the original plug to plug it into the relay harness but aside from that it went nice and smooth. Turned em on and had no problems at all. No issues with the PWM signal for the DRL's, it works no problem. Drove around for a couple hours last night with no issues, nobody flashing highbeams at me or anything and I could see so much better, and they look cool. I also put in led turn signal bulbs all around, not any brighter but I like the instant on instant off of an led.

Here's a pic with one fog replaced. It doesn't look that blue, I think the yellow of the rest of the lights changed how the pic looks.
IMG_0005_zpsa61c8032.jpg

And here they are all done.
IMG_0157_zpsc456f1b5.jpg