[blackula-srt8]

My 2006 300c srt8 is starting to show some wear and tear so i replaced the foglights, put 35 watt hids in them and had the bumper repaired / resprayed. The problem I have now is that the headlights look wayyy too old. I have polished my headlights previously and restored them but now the plastic is deteriorating internally (crazing)

Because of the crazing that is impossible to get rid of, I am looking at switching out my headlights for the k2, sonar / spyder projector headlights with aftermarket 55watt hids to replace the stock d1s headlights. My d1s ballasts / bulbs have been giving me headaches of bulbs blowing, ballasts burning out, etc... for the past year and the d1s components are too expensive and there arent any 55watt d1s kits. So I'm thinking it might be best for me to rip out the old lights and start from scratch. Can the stock wiring handle 55watts vs the oem 35watts? Can the aftermarket projector headlights from spyder / sonar / k2 / etc handle the added heat from 55watts vs 35watts? I dont really care about the halos, I want good looking headlights that perform well and I feel that 35watt hids (regardless of kelvin rating) are not bright enough for my needs. Ideally I would like my 35watt hid foglights to be projector foglights (do the GC ebay foglights fit the srt8 fogs?) and my lowbeams to be 55watt hids because i drive some very dark, twisty roads at night for work. Seeing as to how I can't find much info on all of this even after scouring this forum and others, I'm thinking it might be up to me to do a full write up on all of these issues but I want to gather as much knowledge as possible prior to starting from my fellow gearheads.


- on a side note I just had surgery and am hopped up on pain killers so please excuse any rambling or nonsensical gibberish, I am simply trying to order parts from now so when I am healed I can get cracking on the lights asap.

 

[MADDOG]

I don't think you need to go 55W to get the light you want or need. A 35W system with a good reflector and a good clear lens (no crazing) will work quite well. You'll get good light and not have to worry about over taxing the stock wiring. An upgrade in kelvin rating from the stock spec DOES make a difference. My 8000K bulbs are a LOT nicer than the stock ones.

Projector HID's in the fogs is a good idea. I haven't converted mine yet so I have no comments I can reasonably make from experience. One way to make sure they fit is to retrofit a stock set of fogs with projectors and get a good HID kit. I just had my truck headlights retrofitted with projectors and they came out great! Pics below.

In summary, I recommend you go with a 35W system and do a bit of research on sizes that are needed to fit the SRT fog location. Or, get your existing fogs retrofitted. I know a guy. I'd be concerned with the constant ballast issues, though. I know you can bypass that with a set of aftermarket HID's with their own ballast but it indicates to me a wiring problem exists. I've lost one ballast on my SRT since I purchased the car 5 year ago. Regardless of which way you go, I'd look into that.

On to the truck pics...

Stock:

Retrofitted:

 

[blackula-srt8]

I don't think you need to go 55W to get the light you want or need. A 35W system with a good reflector and a good clear lens (no crazing) will work quite well. You'll get good light and not have to worry about over taxing the stock wiring. An upgrade in kelvin rating from the stock spec DOES make a difference. My 8000K bulbs are a LOT nicer than the stock ones.

Projector HID's in the fogs is a good idea. I haven't converted mine yet so I have no comments I can reasonably make from experience. One way to make sure they fit is to retrofit a stock set of fogs with projectors and get a good HID kit. I just had my truck headlights retrofitted with projectors and they came out great! Pics below.

In summary, I recommend you go with a 35W system and do a bit of research on sizes that are needed to fit the SRT fog location. Or, get your existing fogs retrofitted. I know a guy. I'd be concerned with the constant ballast issues, though. I know you can bypass that with a set of aftermarket HID's with their own ballast but it indicates to me a wiring problem exists. I've lost one ballast on my SRT since I purchased the car 5 year ago. Regardless of which way you go, I'd look into that.

On to the truck pics...

Stock:

Retrofitted:

very nicely done with that retrofit, if u have the $$$ custom like that is def the way to go. The reason i want to go to 55watt instead of 35 is also cause I want to increase the kelvin rating which in turn lowers the lumen output. I know 35watts is adequate... but i dont want adequate, lol. Our stock engines are adequate but we know how long that lasts... I want overkill!!! If i could, i'd put a 55 watt kit in my fogs as well. Since there is no getting around the crazing of the plastic headlights, I think I will start there first and since a whole new hid system that fits the aftermarket headlights is cheaper then a pair of oem d1s bulbs, or even one d1s ballast... and would carry a lifetime warranty from ddm, I figure its still my best route unless others can argue otherwise. Thoughts? warnings? I am open to constructive criticism and anything else I might be missing here.

Oh and maddog, you gotta post pics at night or at least at dawn / dusk!!! I'd love to see how it looks at night with the lows and the fogs

 

[MADDOG]

The only issue is that they need to know what car these are going on so that they can ship you the appropriate cancellers, relays and resistors necessary so you don't get flicker and bulb out problems. The set I put on the truck had a capacitor, a relay and two resistors included and they worked!

I didn't take a pic of the headlights straight on as it would have burned out my eyeballs...

 

[blackula-srt8]

Well I went ahead and ordered the new headlights. I know many people like the stock ones but I just don't like them after 3 yrs, its time for a bit of a change. Here are the headlights I ordered:

05-09 CHRYSLER 300C SEDAN HALO PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS LED STYLE CHROME LH+RH | eBay

and since I need to put HIDs in them, I'll be going with a 55watt slim kit from ddm tuning, with a 6k bulb. The only other issue I have now is determining the size of the bulbs for the hids to install in the aftermarket headlights. Other ebay auctions for the same headlight i just bought say its a 9006 bulb soooo... I guess I'll take a stab in the dark at it and hopefully when these parts arrive they will be compatible. Pics and more info once parts arrive :naughty:

hopefully they can handle the 55watt kit :eek1:

 

[MADDOG]

hmmm...they don't tell you what bulb to use? D1S or 9006 would be my guess. Good luck!

 

[blackula-srt8]

hmmm...they don't tell you what bulb to use? D1S or 9006 would be my guess. Good luck!

The size is 9006 xs....

Any clue what the xs means? I've been lookin and can't find much other than its a straight 9006 vs l shaped. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[blackula-srt8]

new headlights arrived. I'm impressed so far except that the sealant used to connect the clear lens to the body is sticky (packaging material stuck to it). Just to make sure it never leaks I'll be putting a bit of sealant around the edges. Just checked on my 55watt hids, they are in customs in NY... yayyyyy only a few more days. Maybe they will be here on the weekend

 

[Fisch]

You know we want pics after installation!

Ideally I would like my 35watt hid foglights to be projector foglights (do the GC ebay foglights fit the srt8 fogs?)

Yeah, I think they'll fit. I put them in my C and I'm pretty sure we have the same stock fogs. The V6's definitely have different fogs though. http://www.300cforums.com/forums/lighting-discussion/91989-projector-hid-fog-lights-led-halos.html

on a side note I just had surgery and am hopped up on pain killers so please excuse any rambling or nonsensical gibberishk.

^^^one of the funniest posts EVER :biglaugh:

 

[blackula-srt8]

Thanks for the info, how good of a projector are they? Is the lighting better with the hids in the gc projectors or was it better with the stock fog housing with hids? I was considering putting projectors in the stock fog housings with something from retrofitsolutions.


LMAO, on a side note I found out I am allergic to vicodin. I found out the worst way possible. Nothing like scratching your legs till you are ripping your leg hairs out and scratching your arms till they bleed cause it wouldn't stop itching.

 

[Fisch]

Thanks for the info, how good of a projector are they? Is the lighting better with the hids in the gc projectors or was it better with the stock fog housing with hids? I was considering putting projectors in the stock fog housings with something from retrofitsolutions.


LMAO, on a side note I found out I am allergic to vicodin. I found out the worst way possible. Nothing like scratching your legs till you are ripping your leg hairs out and scratching your arms till they bleed cause it wouldn't stop itching.

Yikes man. Tough way to learn about an allergy.

As to your question, the projectors are great. 1000% better than stock. I did run HID in my stock fogs for some time and IMO it's not a good idea - you blind everybody. Kind of like all the people on the road that throw HID in standard reflector type headlights. When I had HID low projectors and HID fog reflectors, I could point my car at the garage and see the clean line from the low beam projector cut-off lines, and then turn on my fogs and realize they "spray" light everywhere... well above the low beams as well as very wide into oncoming lanes. If you were outside of the car looking at it, the stock fogs with HID probably appear brighter, but they were not as functional when driving as the projector fogs are because the light is so much more focused. And the GC projectors also have the cut-off plates.

One other bonus is the battle many have with matching the HID color of their lows and fogs. I tried everything and never got a truly good match until I was running all projectors in lows and fogs. IMO, it's next to impossible to match light color when you have a projector housing vs a reflector housing.

And I'm not sure what you are talking about with the retrofitsolutions - never seen that. But the GC fogs are cheap enough, so personally I wouldn't want to try to mod the stock reflector housings to make them work. Good luck.

 

[blackula-srt8]

Yikes man. Tough way to learn about an allergy.

As to your question, the projectors are great. 1000% better than stock. I did run HID in my stock fogs for some time and IMO it's not a good idea - you blind everybody. Kind of like all the people on the road that throw HID in standard reflector type headlights. When I had HID low projectors and HID fog reflectors, I could point my car at the garage and see the clean line from the low beam projector cut-off lines, and then turn on my fogs and realize they "spray" light everywhere... well above the low beams as well as very wide into oncoming lanes. If you were outside of the car looking at it, the stock fogs with HID probably appear brighter, but they were not as functional when driving as the projector fogs are because the light is so much more focused. And the GC projectors also have the cut-off plates.

One other bonus is the battle many have with matching the HID color of their lows and fogs. I tried everything and never got a truly good match until I was running all projectors in lows and fogs. IMO, it's next to impossible to match light color when you have a projector housing vs a reflector housing.

And I'm not sure what you are talking about with the retrofitsolutions - never seen that. But the GC fogs are cheap enough, so personally I wouldn't want to try to mod the stock reflector housings to make them work. Good luck.

I don't run the fogs unless its as my daytime running lights, or if its just me on the road at night. I did notice all the road signs are much easier to see with them on, lol (whoops).

retrofitsolutions.com - they have projectors and hid kits from cars which are known to have the best hids. The foglights you are talking of - they need modification to accept an hid bulb, correct? I think I found what you are speaking of on ebay for 60 to 80 $$$ depending on the auction. If these are the ones then I'm gonna give them a try. I'm not really a fan of halos in the fogs but I guess I just wont hook the ccfl rings up.

 

[Fisch]

I don't run the fogs unless its as my daytime running lights, or if its just me on the road at night. I did notice all the road signs are much easier to see with them on, lol (whoops).

retrofitsolutions.com - they have projectors and hid kits from cars which are known to have the best hids. The foglights you are talking of - they need modification to accept an hid bulb, correct? I think I found what you are speaking of on ebay for 60 to 80 $$$ depending on the auction. If these are the ones then I'm gonna give them a try. I'm not really a fan of halos in the fogs but I guess I just wont hook the ccfl rings up.

Should be under $60. I was helping another member with the same thing recently and found them under $60 on ebay. They come with halogen H3 bulbs, so you can just buy the H3 bulb size with your HID kit. The problem I found was that the HID bulb base is a bit longer, so I just left the back cap off and used the rubber grommet from the HID wires with some tape/silicone to seal up the back of the projector. Really easy, and I've had no issues with them at all. As a matter of fact, I think I have a better seal now than what the metal cap would have provided anyway.

And if you don't like the halos, the entire bezel pops off easily. And BTW, they don't come with CCFL halos - they are actually one single LED with a textured plastic ring that tries to carry the light... junk. I kept the bezel, but replaced the plastic ring and single LED with a full ring of LED's.

EDIT: Check out this thread here to see what I was talking about... http://www.300cforums.com/forums/sr...iscussion/98634-fog-light-upgrade-wiring.html

 

[blackula-srt8]

Should be under $60. I was helping another member with the same thing recently and found them under $60 on ebay. They come with halogen H3 bulbs, so you can just buy the H3 bulb size with your HID kit. The problem I found was that the HID bulb base is a bit longer, so I just left the back cap off and used the rubber grommet from the HID wires with some tape/silicone to seal up the back of the projector. Really easy, and I've had no issues with them at all. As a matter of fact, I think I have a better seal now than what the metal cap would have provided anyway.

And if you don't like the halos, the entire bezel pops off easily. And BTW, they don't come with CCFL halos - they are actually one single LED with a textured plastic ring that tries to carry the light... junk. I kept the bezel, but replaced the plastic ring and single LED with a full ring of LED's.

EDIT: Check out this thread here to see what I was talking about... http://www.300cforums.com/forums/sr...iscussion/98634-fog-light-upgrade-wiring.html

I will definitely be switching out the fogs for the projectors in that case then, at the same time I replace my cracked / missing underbody splash guard. It's been raining here in south FL for.... well I actually cant remember the last time it was nice out for more then 2 hours, it was probablly a few days before my lights arrived. Hopefully I can get the new headlights and ddm / apexcone ballasts wired in this weekend. Pics to follow (hopefully, cause the forecast is nothing but more rain :sad

 

[blackula-srt8]

Got the new lights and 55 watt low beams installed. Pics / video to follow once I get back in town and have a chance to make it look all pretty. Huge improvement over stock so far

 

[blackula-srt8]

Only issue I am having is I would like to aim them a bit lower but because I'm dropped 3 inches in back and only 2 in front they don't quite blind people but I'd like them a bit lower since the us spec 300 doesn't have auto level hids and I def don't want to piss anyone off. I'm thinking I might have to shim my headlights a bit cause they are adjusted as far down as possible

 

[Fisch]

Got the new lights and 55 watt low beams installed. Pics / video to follow once I get back in town and have a chance to make it look all pretty. Huge improvement over stock so far

Good to hear....... waiting on pics

Only issue I am having is I would like to aim them a bit lower but because I'm dropped 3 inches in back and only 2 in front they don't quite blind people but I'd like them a bit lower since the us spec 300 doesn't have auto level hids and I def don't want to piss anyone off. I'm thinking I might have to shim my headlights a bit cause they are adjusted as far down as possible

Hmmmm... don't know what to say if you've maxed out the adjustment. Maybe you could add some washers to the top bolts to effectively tip the lights forward and down. ??? Hopefully somebody with a similar drop to yours will chime in.

 

[blackula-srt8]

Better pics to follows soon, these are taken In this crappy hotel parking lot, can't wait for the 400 mile drive home!!

 

[blackula-srt8]

 

[blackula-srt8]

As u can see she sits pretty low