'12 HID retrofit or '13 swap?
11-09-2012, 04:25 PM
#1
'12 HID retrofit or '13 swap?
Looking to get HIDs into my '12 platinum (seems whenever I buy a new vehicle the next year they come out with a significant style change I want, this case being the headlights) but am between Retrofitting the current ones vs getting a pair from a '13 (i like the F150 symbol in the bucket) and they seem to be about the same price which is why I'm up in the air about it? I'm assuming you'd have to install wiring and ballasts for the '13 like you would if you did the retrofit on the '12 or are they plug and play with the '12 halogen wiring somehow? Looking for some advice and knowledge from people with a little knowledge/experience.
11-09-2012, 04:29 PM
#3
There is a guy on here who does upgraded '13 projectors with better ballasts and lenses and shrouds you might want to look him up his name is bilvinic retrofits and he's got a website that you could check out too
11-10-2012, 12:11 PM
#4
Junior Member
Neither the '13 projectors or a retrofit will be directly plug-and-play, but are easy enough. Both of them need a harness, but the harness itself is plug-and-play (aside from having to mount some ground wires).
The '13 lights in their stock form aren't the greatest... they use a last-gen Hella projector and don't have a clear lens. From my understanding, they use the fresnel lens so that people who aren't used to HIDs don't get weirded out by the sharp cutoff of a good projector with a clear lens. The harness to adapt your stock wiring to the factory '13 lights is made by Tuxedoblack11.
As someone who recently got a set of retrofit HIDs (from Bilinvic Retrofits), these lights are phenomenal, and will be slightly cheaper even the factory projectors. The harness you use for these is made by a company called The Retrofit Source.
Bilinvic offers an upgrade package that puts a new Hella EVOX projector in the '13 housings, but that's obviously the most expensive option you have for HIDs in the new trucks. When he does this upgrade, it uses the same harness as the '12 retrofits, since he replaces the factory electronics as well.
If you want the best performing light for the price, I would go with a traditional retrofit into your stock housings.
The '13 lights in their stock form aren't the greatest... they use a last-gen Hella projector and don't have a clear lens. From my understanding, they use the fresnel lens so that people who aren't used to HIDs don't get weirded out by the sharp cutoff of a good projector with a clear lens. The harness to adapt your stock wiring to the factory '13 lights is made by Tuxedoblack11.
As someone who recently got a set of retrofit HIDs (from Bilinvic Retrofits), these lights are phenomenal, and will be slightly cheaper even the factory projectors. The harness you use for these is made by a company called The Retrofit Source.
Bilinvic offers an upgrade package that puts a new Hella EVOX projector in the '13 housings, but that's obviously the most expensive option you have for HIDs in the new trucks. When he does this upgrade, it uses the same harness as the '12 retrofits, since he replaces the factory electronics as well.
If you want the best performing light for the price, I would go with a traditional retrofit into your stock housings.
11-11-2012, 01:08 AM
#5
F150 Forum
Originally Posted by bbull55
Looking to get HIDs into my '12 platinum (seems whenever I buy a new vehicle the next year they come out with a significant style change I want, this case being the headlights) but am between Retrofitting the current ones vs getting a pair from a '13 (i like the F150 symbol in the bucket) and they seem to be about the same price which is why I'm up in the air about it? I'm assuming you'd have to install wiring and ballasts for the '13 like you would if you did the retrofit on the '12 or are they plug and play with the '12 halogen wiring somehow? Looking for some advice and knowledge from people with a little knowledge/experience.