Aarkon's Build Thread

[Aarkon]

I finally finished my brakelight after reading blckshdws article I colormatched mine and I love it heres photos of the process

 

[TexazReece]

Awesome Looks good all led's in the back

 

[Aarkon]

It was good until I had a fight with the glass hatch to get it shut I cant wait to delete it and thank you this is the first thing ive ever done anything with cutting a light open im in love with it now

 

[dmanns67]

I love this easy mod. LED 3rd brake looks way better over OE and compliments your LED tail lights

Luckily the IPCW 3rd brake light I ordered came in black so that saved me some time.

 

[Aarkon]

Thanks man now im just waiting on my hids to go with the switchbacks and I never saw that light where did u find it

 

[dmanns67]

I did a google search for IPCW Bermuda black 3rd brake light and ended up finding it on Amazon.com. I have the IPCW Bermuda black LED tail lights and wanted to find a LED 3rd brake light that matched.

It was more expensive than others though. It ran me $120.

 

[Aarkon]

Dang lol im a cheapskate and only spent 50 $ total on this light excluding the labor but I did buy the same grill you have for $115

 

[dmanns67]

Yeah I had saved up for it plus it saved me from tearing it apart and painting. Yours definitely turned out great.

I love the Spec-D grille. I was bored with the stock grille. I did not like the billet inserts and I even changed my bowtie to an aluminum one. I think I have about $140 including the paint I bought.

Did you paint your grille or leave it all black?

 

[Aarkon]

I havent got it yet ill get it in a few days im hoping its close to my stock paint so I dont have to do anything

 

[dmanns67]

Mine was was a glossy black plastic. Since your TB is black, it might be a close match.

 

[Aarkon]

Id be so happy if it matched otherwise :thumbup: i still have paint leftover

 

[dmanns67]

Make sure you post some pics once you install it.

 

[Aarkon]

I deffinately will

 

[Aarkon]

Full hid conversion today cant wait for the grill

 

[TexazReece]

Daaamn that looks good

I went another route withe 3rd brake light as well. I bought some red taillight vinyl and cut out to proper shape and measurement. Then applied it and it's been holding up and matches perfectly.

 

[dmanns67]

Looks awesome. Wait until your drive at night. It is literally night and day between halogens and HIDs.

Make you you aim your headlights properly to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. I had to aim my down slightly.

 

[Aarkon]

Im gonns adjust them as soon as it gets dark cause I just put in clear aftermarket foglights a couple days ago

 

[dmanns67]

HIDs in the fog lights makes a huge difference as well. Post some night shots if you get the chance.

What kelvin is your HID bulbs?

 

[Aarkon]

Ill post some tonight and I went with the 6000k's cause I prefer the pure white. I had silverstar zxes before this

 

[dmanns67]

Usually with HIDs 6000k has a very light blue tint to them and 5000k are pure white. The color will vary based on the manufacturer of the HID bulbs.

If you google kelvin scale it will show you the color spectrum and what kelvin the color correspondes with. 4300k is the brightest color as it is the closest to natural light. The higher you go up in the Kelvin scale with HIDs, the lower the lumen output of the bulb. 4300k HID bulb is right around 3200 lumens.

 

[Aarkon]

Ya ur right I forgot I got the diamond white and the plain white was 5000k

 

[Aarkon]

I just took some quick pics but my visability has tripled I cant believe I never did this before!

 

[coolasice]

I just took some quick pics but my visability has tripled I cant believe I never did this before!

wish these trucks came with projectors like my gfs outlander did... I would def put in hids then...

 

[Aarkon]

Talk to smitty5150 he does retrofits im gonna have him do mine eventually

 

[dmanns67]

I just took some quick pics but my visability has tripled I cant believe I never did this before!

Those 6k look good. Looks pure white to me. Like I said, literally a night and day difference between halogens and HIDs. You definitely at least tripled the light output being that a standard halogen only puts out 900-1000 lumens. Your HID bulb is around 3000 lumens.

wish these trucks came with projectors like my gfs outlander did... I would def put in hids then...

Projectors are awesome. Have you looked into doing a projector retrofit? I was happy with HIDs in the stocking housing, but after installing a projector, light output is phenomenal.

I went through HID Illusionz out of Brooklyn, Ny. Rich is the owner and does amazing work. Here is their site, www.hidillusionz.com. They actually have a sale going on right now, $450 for all parts and labor. Also includes a lifetime warranty. All of their projectors and HID kits come from The Retrofit Source which is a great company out of Atlanta, Ga. The sale is for the Morimoto 6.0 H1 bi-xenon projector.

 

[Aarkon]

Does anyone know if the onstar antenna is just taped on or is there also a wire going through the roof?

 

[Matt]

Does anyone know if the onstar antenna is just taped on or is there also a wire going through the roof?

If you're talking about the sharks fin...wire through the roof IIRC.

 

[Aarkon]

Dang I was hoping there wasnt guess ill leave it on for now

 

[Aarkon]

But on a good note I ordered my rear drop and it should be here tomorrow!!!

 

[xtitan1]

Looking awesome man. Great choices you've made so far!

 

[Canary2323]

Need those rear lights tinted too, makes the Bermudas look so much better.

 

[Aarkon]

I know I want it paint matched and im asking for full tint for my bday

 

[Midnyteryder196]

I just took some quick pics but my visability has tripled I cant believe I never did this before!

Is this with just lows and fogs??? Looks pretty sick man! I cant believe i havent seen this thread before today, lol.. I gonna have to check em out next time im up in the dsm area.

 

[Aarkon]

Ya just lows and fogs im debating doing the quad beams

 

[Midnyteryder196]

Ya just lows and fogs im debating doing the quad beams

Even though I still have stock halogens.. the six high is amazing for the good ole 2 lane driving at nite.. I'm waiting for another month or so to get the hids... gonna do hids in all 6 I think..

 

[Aarkon]

That looks good

 

[Matt]

Even though I still have stock halogens.. the six high is amazing for the good ole 2 lane driving at nite.. I'm waiting for another month or so to get the hids... gonna do hids in all 6 I think..

Don't bother with the HID's in the high's...the warm up time isn't worth the hassle. Get a good set of HIR's or incandescents.

 

[dmanns67]

Don't bother with the HID's in the high's...the warm up time isn't worth the hassle. Get a good set of HIR's or incandescents.

Better yet buy a set of 9005 LED headlights from DFWWIZ, a member here. No warm up time. He posted a pic of his brights on and it is amazing for four SMDs.

 

[Aarkon]

Ive been unsure about the leds ive heard they areny very bright does anyone have them yet?

 

[dmanns67]

I have heard and seen the same thing, but DFWWIZ some new LED headlights that are very bright. He has a picture of his LED hi beams on in the Reputable HID Distributer thread. His LED headlights look legit and claim they are 3600 lumen which is 400-600 higher than HIDs.