Help me decide! Retrofit Headlights.

[ARH1956]

Yes, I PM'ed Dawson. My wife's 5 year old A-6 has HID's that produce more than enough light on the sides, just like my 2012 stock lights. I live on a cul de sac. I have routinely driven around it at night (say taking a left) and had no problem seeing what I was driving into. Not so last night. Leap of faith is the best description for the experience. Could just be a design weakness on these - lack of reflectors means zero light off to the side??

This beamshot may be instructive as to what is wrong - pic is upside down which sucks... My wife's A-6 on the right (on the left if the pic was not upside down) has high beam on against the low beam from my new 2014 OEM's. In case it's hard to tell, i am subjecting oncoming traffic to the same light as my wife's A-6 on high beams. My lights on low throw just as far as my wife's A-6 on high as well. No complaints about projecting light straight ahead. My wife's car does the same, plus gives off enough light on the side to see where you are going went taking a turn.

I took both for a few rounds of late night driving last night. So unless I fix this during the day tomorrow, I will be one of those ******** in a pickup truck tomorrow night.

I was talking about the fitment issues, these should fit exactly like the 2012 halogen headlights. It's possible your lights poor fit is causing beam misalignment issues, which can be adjusted up or down easily enough but the housings should fit as snugly as the originals.

 

[TheJoker]

I just installed Raptor Rettrofit Lights in my 2011 (13-14 oem hid with Evo-X 50w bulbs). I needed to bring them down about 5"-6" and they are incredibly bright. What bulb do you have.

My only problem is with RFI, I get a ton of static on my radio when the lights are on. I have to talk with Dawson about this.

 

[Shortbed]

I was talking about the fitment issues, these should fit exactly like the 2012 halogen headlights. It's possible your lights poor fit is causing beam misalignment issues, which can be adjusted up or down easily enough but the housings should fit as snugly as the originals.

Though I wish it were an issue or poor fittmemt/install, no way this is the problem. KHC did the install and told me that is exactly how they should fit. I would think their install would be the standard by which others are measured by.

Now, if I had done the install myself, then I would not be surprised if someone told me that my install looked like a Junior high school science project. Would be stunned if KHC botched the install and then told me to my face that this was exactly how it should fit.

 

[Shortbed]

I just installed Raptor Rettrofit Lights in my 2011 (13-14 oem hid with Evo-X 50w bulbs). I needed to bring them down about 5"-6" and they are incredibly bright. What bulb do you have.

My only problem is with RFI, I get a ton of static on my radio when the lights are on. I have to talk with Dawson about this.

Joker, I have the 2014 OEM bulbs at 35 watts. Don't quite get what You mean by taking the bulbs down 5 inches. Whatever you meant, that sounds like a major adjustment. Doesn't look like my lights are high? My pictures aren't the greatest but do your lights that gaps as large as mine? I've got to think that if snow gets into my gaps and freezes, could a few freeze and thaw cycles crack my lights?

 

[Raptor Retrofit]

Sorry, just saw this thread. the fitment could be a couple things...


My first guess is they are not pushed in all the way. The compression pins on that back edge of the light are very stiff when new. To check just remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the light in, pull the light out and put it back in. It does require a bit of force to push that back edge in with new lights.


Are your fenders stock? I know that some of the glass fenders are not exactly OEM spec and there is a gap.


As far as width the OEM projectors are definitely not the best performing projectors out there, especially when compared to an Audi headlights. They are a huge improvement over the halogen lights, unfortunately Ford decided to put a pretty generic, low performing projector in these lights. Again, that's compared to some of the high end vehicles with OEM HID headlights. I will say they are definitely wider than the halogen lights so if you feel they are not then they are almost certainly not pushed in on the back edge.


We have output pics on our website showing the performance, I will attach the OEM projector and the EvoX-R upgrade we offer. If you are looking for better performance you can send the lights back to us for the EvoX-R 50w upgrade.


OEM projector







EvoX-R

 

[TheJoker]

Joker, I have the 2014 OEM bulbs at 35 watts. Don't quite get what You mean by taking the bulbs down 5 inches. Whatever you meant, that sounds like a major adjustment. Doesn't look like my lights are high? My pictures aren't the greatest but do your lights that gaps as large as mine? I've got to think that if snow gets into my gaps and freezes, could a few freeze and thaw cycles crack my lights?

Looks like this thread is officially hyjacked.

As for fitment, as Dawson said, the lights are difficult to set in when new. Don't force them , just make sure that they are lined up and slowly press them in. Also, make sure that the clips are not bent, this will prevent the lights from sitting correctly and lastly, make sure that the wires from the ballast are not in the way.

Now, what I mean by bringing them down is, aiming. It is actually very easy to do. All you need is a tape measure, painters tape, and a #2 Phillips screw driver. It should be in your manual. If you look at Dawson's pics, the bottom of the light against the wall, it is round. So, if they are brought down, there will be a wider area at ground level. I think that makes sense.

 

[Shortbed]

Sorry, just saw this thread. the fitment could be a couple things...


My first guess is they are not pushed in all the way. The compression pins on that back edge of the light are very stiff when new. To check just remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the light in, pull the light out and put it back in. It does require a bit of force to push that back edge in with new lights.


Are your fenders stock? I know that some of the glass fenders are not exactly OEM spec and there is a gap.


As far as width the OEM projectors are definitely not the best performing projectors out there, especially when compared to an Audi headlights. They are a huge improvement over the halogen lights, unfortunately Ford decided to put a pretty generic, low performing projector in these lights. Again, that's compared to some of the high end vehicles with OEM HID headlights. I will say they are definitely wider than the halogen lights so if you feel they are not then they are almost certainly not pushed in on the back edge.


We have output pics on our website showing the performance, I will attach the OEM projector and the EvoX-R upgrade we offer. If you are looking for better performance you can send the lights back to us for the EvoX-R 50w upgrade.

My truck is bone stock, save for the mods on my sig line - my fenders and bodywork is OEM. So there should not be a gap. Would you agree? Because Don at KHC told me that there should be a gap, as there were slight sheet metal differences between model years. I am wondering why they told me that. Could it be that every KHC install of your lights turns out like mine, and that in all cases, the lights are not pushed in completely? Another possibility is that my lights (or my truck) is not normal. Would appreciate if you gave Don from KHC a call and see what he says. If only just to ensure that he is installing your product correctly.

If KHC did not push the lights all the way, could that mean that the lights are pointing way too much twords the center? Would snapping them into place mean that the lights would project forward, thus giving better light to the sides?

Thanks for the beamshots. Would the 2014 OEM HID's (once they are fixed) give the same performance as my 2012 OEM's on the sides? Because never once in the 2.5 years of driving with my 2012 OEM's did I find myself thinking that my peripheral night vision was sub par. It may not have been quite as good as the awesomeness of my wife's 5 year old A-6 headlights, but the difference was minor enough not to notice. Is the 2012 OEM's underpowered looking straight forward? Yes, but that was livable, especially with my 40 inch Rigid installed. For instance, last week, prior to my 2014 OEM headlight install, when I was doing a windy dirt road in pitch black conditions. Never once did myself, or my passenger (who 4 wheels often) ever think that there was a problem with the peripheral light coming from the 2012 OEM's. And we were both stunned with the awesome performance of Rigid 40 inch spot beamed ligthbar. He actually commented that the low beams on the 2012 OEM's were fine going around corners, some of which were tight and narrow. His remark on the Rigid was that is was almost too much light on the dark and narrow dirt roads - something about his night vision once the rigid was powered down.

Last Question. As I said before, the forward looking output with the 2014 OEM HID's is massive. Joker talks about lowering his beam by 5 inches. Looks like my low beam is pointing too high. I know the beamshot I posted was upside down, but what it shows is that the A-6 produces just as much light as the 2014 OEM HID's, but that currently, my low beams are at the exact height as the high beams of my wife's A-6. If the height of my lights looks fine to you, then I definitely do not want the much brighter 50 watt bulb.

 

[TheJoker]

Forget about what I said about the ballast wire, with oem projectors Your ballast are mounted to the light itself. Also, 2014 projectors will not be as wide as halogen lights 2009-2014, they will be brighter and project further than halogen lights though.

The tabs/clips will break if forced. This may be why KHC didn't force. imo.

 

[Shortbed]

Looks like this thread is officially hyjacked.

As for fitment, as Dawson said, the lights are difficult to set in when new. Don't force them , just make sure that they are lined up and slowly press them in. Also, make sure that the clips are not bent, this will prevent the lights from sitting correctly and lastly, make sure that the wires from the ballast are not in the way.

Now, what I mean by bringing them down is, aiming. It is actually very easy to do. All you need is a tape measure, painters tape, and a #2 Phillips screw driver. It should be in your manual. If you look at Dawson's pics, the bottom of the light against the wall, it is round. So, if they are brought down, there will be a wider area at ground level. I think that makes sense.

OK, I will stop posting. But before I do, I feel that:

1. my posts are exactly relevant to the thread. Not sure why you are saying this is a thread hyjck. I am offering up my real world experience here, but if what I am posting is misguided and wrong, then my bad. I will delete all of my posts if a mod asks me to. Especially if I am so far offbase as to be detrimental to another posters decision, and or the rep of our forum vendors. Nobody should have to suffer if I am being foolish.
2. KHC did the install, and by your description, adjustments are easy to do and would seem to be part of a professional install. Am I simply being unreasonable in assuming that this all would have been done at KHC as part of the install? Too far to drive to have them do these adjustments. And your description is so clear and concise that I should be able to do this myself. So that's for that Joker.

 

[TheJoker]

OK, I will stop posting. But before I do, I feel that:

1. my posts are exactly relevant to the thread. Not sure why you are saying this is a thread hyjck. I am offering up my real world experience here, but if what I am posting is misguided and wrong, then my bad. I will delete all of my posts if a mod asks me to. Especially if I am so far offbase as to be detrimental to another posters decision, and or the rep of our forum vendors. Nobody should have to suffer if I am being foolish.
2. KHC did the install, and by your description, adjustments are easy to do and would seem to be part of a professional install. Am I simply being unreasonable in assuming that this all would have been done at KHC as part of the install? Too far to drive to have them do these adjustments. And your description is so clear and concise that I should be able to do this myself. So that's for that Joker.

All that I meant, is that the OP is asking for help in deciding what lights to buy. Now the thread is focussed on fixing your specific issue(s). I'm happy to help but maybe this discussion should be in it's own thread. Your posts are relevant, but I don't think this is helping the OP with his decision making. I was not trying to imply that your issues were not important, just trying to help. (You and the OP).