2018 GMC 2500HD

[Sadden]

Well. I have a new (too me) company truck.

The oem headlamps were mutilated with an LED retrofit. Installed vosla 9012s and they were still sub par.

Realised the truck has a leveling kit and and the lamps were aimed farrrrr too high. And got that corrected.

Still sub par. Distance vision is medicore at best and theres no width. Im trying too navigate twisty oil and gas roads and cant see where the ditches and culverts are when im trying too turn onto lease.


So i ordered the rigid foglamp kit with the sae fogs for low speeds. Will be good in legitimate foggy conditions as well. Should be here this week. Along with a 20" hyperspot/spot combo for legitimate offroad use.

But none of this is helpfull at highway speeds with other traffic around.

I am eying up morimotos xb led headlamps.
I know morimoto as a company has had some real poor products in the past. Ive experienced this first hand.

These appear too be a legitimate upgrade. But i am looking for some objective feedback.

 

[Silly Rabbit]

I have the XB headlights in my Ram. HUUUGE improvement over the stock garbage. I mean I compared the stock headlights to 1979 GMC truck lights, as in how has the light technology not moved in a new vehicle leaving the plant. I had the XB fogs too, which were a nice upgrade as well, but switched out to the Diode Dynamics SS3 fogs, amazing lights.
But I love everything about my XB headlights, performance, looks, quality, decent warranty if ever needed.

 

[Silly Rabbit]

Also, Morimoto just had up to 30% off BF sales, but I think it may be over? If you want to pull the trigger on a set wait till Christmas and boxing day sales to see what % off they have.

 

[John_Galt]

Besides reports of QC problems with the replacement lamps morimoto offers for other vehicles, one noteable concern from some actual testing on another forum (for the tacoma lamps) was that they offer basically -Zero- effective uplight above the horizontal cutoff. While the low beams for these lamps are bright and wide, the lack of any uplight means they are effectively not legal (the uplight falls below required minimums), and also not very safe. That very sharp transition between light and no light has a negative effect on your ability to see things, which aren't just limited to overhead signage. The transition on a roadway as you go up and down slight grades or rolling hills means your ability to see beyond what is directly illuminated becomes restricted.

I can't offer any ideas for upgrades for your OEM lamps beyond good 9012s, which it sounds like you are already using. There was a point made, I can't remember if it was virgil or alaric a few years ago, that the control circuit for the headlamps in some vehicles was using PWM to reduce voltage to the headlamps to extend bulb life - at the cost of useful output... Could you check and see if your BCM is capable of raising the voltage the headlamp circuit sees? You may not be seeing (pun intended) the full benefit of those 9012s if your headlamps circuit is being nerfed to under 13v to extend bulb lifespan.

Edit-

Whereas before, discussion of using offroad oriented lighting was severely moderated, I'll go ahead and add my own $.02 (which as we all know due to the psst few years of inflation, has even less buying power) based on my own experience driving down lease roads all over hells half-acre in WV, OH and NE PA... Unless you plan to aim those fogs very wide and very high (vertical aim well above any effective/legal aim for onroad use) they may not be very much help. I ended up mounting two pairs (pair on each side) of el-cheapo flood light pods on ditch light brackets on my f250, for exactly the same use case you describe. I wired them so they could only trigger on with the high beams, but had a switch so I could keep them off. I dyed a pair of crown royal bags a dark color using rit dye, and would simply cover the pair of lamps while checking my truck over before leaving location/lease roads, and stop and remove the bags so I could use the lamps. I had one set of pods aimed out about 20-30* and the others aimed 45-50* so I had near 90* illumination from roughly my mirrors forward. I think you would find an arrangement such as that much more practical than any improvement from a correctly mounted and aimed fog lamp.

 

[alpg88]

Now you see why previous owner installed led kit and aimed them high, in stock form they pretty much suck

 

[EJR]

Besides reports of QC problems with the replacement lamps morimoto offers for other vehicles, one noteable concern from some actual testing on another forum (for the tacoma lamps) was that they offer basically -Zero- effective uplight above the horizontal cutoff. While the low beams for these lamps are bright and wide, the lack of any uplight means they are effectively not legal (the uplight falls below required minimums), and also not very safe.

The Sierra XB LED headlamps do have sufficient uplight according to the photometry test conducted by the manufacturer, Coplus.

I plotted the FMVSS 108 uplight test points in this image to show their angles from the drivers perspective. The data table in the corner is from the report.

That very sharp transition between light and no light has a negative effect on your ability to see things, which aren't just limited to overhead signage. The transition on a roadway as you go up and down slight grades or rolling hills means your ability to see beyond what is directly illuminated becomes restricted.

Facts. Unfortunately sharp cutoffs are sought after by the miseducated zombies who think it looks cool or thinks it provides better performance. So the manufacturers continue to design these lamps to give consumers what they WANT rather than what they NEED.

 

[John_Galt]

Glad to hear the coplus lamp has sufficient uplight.

 

[Sadden]

Thanks. I actually saw a set of these in the wild this week and they look rather good from my subjective impressions. Build quality looked good and no moisture behind the lense (given the hot/cold swings we have been having that is impressive)



If the rigid fogs arent wide enough i can always add a pair of rigid duallys in flood into the mix.



I actually remembered i have a old school 20" e series from my old car. It has like 40* on the outsides of the bar. So its going to end up with the following combo.

Classic 20" e series combo
Pro 20" e series spot/hyperspot combo
Pro sae foglamps
The morimoto xb headlamps.

Should be impressive when its all installed. Hopefully this weekend.

 

[jzchen]

I signed up for both Rigid and Morimoto newsletter. Uh, guys, recently Morimoto sent a couple of their "4Bangers" NCS and HXB to Calcoast ITL and got them SAE certified.

https://trk.klclick.com/ls/click?up...Ts-2B617bvIhezHVSe7pFw6-2B9UMV1NUh7GObTbd4mDp

https://trk.klclick.com/ls/click?up...0B24CHsNhmOckHZS0JaCzIw1THUIJ8w3wHmcD7j120NVd

I know you already ordered but maybe they have a return policy? (Depending on whether this is good or not)….

 

[EJR]

And for those interested in a "shootout" of SAE fogs, check out the attached PDF. It was a study done by Morimoto comparing some of the popular fog lamps:

- Morimoto 4banger HXB Wide
- Morimoto 4banger NCS Wide
- Diode Dynamics SS3 Max
- Diode Dynamics SS3 Max (backlit)
- Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro
- Rigid Industries D Series
- Baja Designs Squadron

They were all sent to Calcoast lighting lab for photometric testing. This lab has been the NHTSA's main source for automotive lighting compliance testing for decades now. The results of the tests are quite revealing. Some lamps, though they are claimed to be SAE compliant, are not.

 

[Sadden]

This tested the classic rigid sae 17xx lumens

Ive ordered the PRO sae. Which is 34xx lumens.

If the classic gives the morimoto that close of a race the pro should beat it. I can aim them.outwards a few degrees if necassary.

Ive had a bad run of morimoto products in the past and Definitely wont be jumping on the 4 bangers until they have some history of reliability on the board.

I have a rigid bar from.2010 that funtions like new despite powdercoat failing.

 

[EJR]

This tested the classic rigid sae 17xx lumens

Ive ordered the PRO sae. Which is 34xx lumens.

If the classic gives the morimoto that close of a race the pro should beat it. I can aim them.outwards a few degrees if necassary.

Did you even read the study? Lumen ratings have nothing to do with performance. What matters most is how well the beam is distributed.

And you would have also noticed that the Pro SAE did not meet SAE standards. It failed. The only application it's suitable for is OFF-ROAD.

 

[Sadden]

Yes i read the study.

"Rigid D-series had very clean controlled cutoff. Strong intensity in balance, lack of width but as on road fog lamp, it had most
proper intensity and control balance as SAE F fog -3 degree aim is required to use as SAE Fog"

I dont see them mention the pro series once.

 

[Sadden]

Also i am fully aware that lumen ratings dont necassarily tranlate into objective results. Thanks for the tip anyways.

 

[EJR]

Yes i read the study.

"Rigid D-series had very clean controlled cutoff. Strong intensity in balance, lack of width but as on road fog lamp, it had most
proper intensity and control balance as SAE F fog -3 degree aim is required to use as SAE Fog"

I dont see them mention the pro series once.

Whoops my bad. You said Pro and I automatically assumed you were referring to Diode SS3 Pro.

 

[Sadden]

Re reading the data the rigid doubles the xhbs intensity below the cutoff while matching the ncs for glare. Impressive.

And again this is the base model. The pro has substantially more light too work with.

I do really wish i could find some raw data on the Sae Pros from rigid.

 

[jzchen]

I do really wish i could find some raw data on the Sae Pros from rigid.

Do you mind sharing a link of what you bought please? I find the Rigid website kind of a pain to sort through their Pro vs not Pro. (Thank you)

 

[jzchen]

Came across these, just thought I'd share. Looks like they're a month out from production/shipping.

FLEX ERA® 3 Dual Mode SAE Fog Lights - 2-Light Master Kit

Flexibility radiates from the core of the FLEX ERA® Family, and the KC FLEX ERA® 3 Dual Mode SAE Light clocks in for multiple jobs at once. This kit comes with everything you'd want out of a street-legal fog light. Rock the pre-installed clear lenses for pure performance on those foggy mornings...

www.kchilites.com

 

[Sadden]

504815

D-Series PRO SAE Fog White Pair

RIGID's SAE Compliant Lights were developed specifically for dust, fog, and other low-visibility conditions while being legal for use on the street. These long-range high-intensity lights draw very little power and provide up to 50,000 useful hours. RIGID's SAE Compliant Lights represent the...

www.rigidindustries.com

 

[Sadden]

Heres some fun too look at photos
Morimoto xb led lows.
Morimoto xb led highs
Highs plus rigid spot/hyperspot in 20" mounted on my roof rack.