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Using HID Headlights on Dodge Vehicles

Dodge has manufactured millions of vehicles over many decades, leading to the very diverse selection of Dodge cars, trucks, and more that you see out on roads today. Many of these vehicles are equipped with typical halogen headlight arrays, which provide for adequate, if underwhelming light coverage for the drivers depending on them. If you’re considering a switch to HID headlights instead of using more conventional headlight bulbs, you’ll need both a Dodge HID kit and some basic knowledge about what to expect from utilizing this new lighting technology on your car.

For starters, let’s discuss installation. The time to complete installation is generally around one hour to 90 minutes, though that may vary widely depending on your automotive tech know-how and the type of vehicle you’re modifying. Unless your vehicle was pre-equipped with HIDs, this means you can’t just unplug the old bulbs and screw in the new ones. You’ll have to arrange an interface for the new HID bulbs to hook up to, and that can involve the installation of relay harnesses and HID ballasts. So long as you have all the proper parts and know where they should go, you won’t have to worry about messing up installation. The ballast, for example, should always sit as far away as possible from the vehicle’s engine, and should also be mounted on a cool, flat surface. On older Dodge vehicles, particularly those using smaller headlight arrays, you may also need to divert additional time to physical fixes, as cuts in the body of the vehicle may need to be made in order to fit the more modern lighting equipment.

You also need to pay attention to what Dodge vehicle you own. HIDs are immensely bright headlights, and if they’re not properly aimed, they can blind drivers in oncoming traffic and increase driving risk for them. These headlights often need to be set lower than typical headlights, so if you own a Dodge Neon, the lights will aim slightly lower than you’re used to, while the difference would be even more dramatic on a Dodge Ram because it sits so high off the road.

Once installed, there are numerous benefits to using HIDs. Light brightness can end up multiple times that of what was produced by the stock headlights (up to three times as much), while the lights themselves can often last nearly 10x as long as the stock ones did. That means greater lighting effectiveness and efficiency, even if it does come at the expense of a more intensive installation process. Plus, these lights don’t expend as much energy as heat (which is wasteful) as do the stock halogens, instead focusing their available energy directly on light emission. There may be minor problems, such as flickering on HIDs installed on Dodge Magnums, which can be corrected using a couple of wire relays for amp reduction to avoid systemic shutdown of the wire by the vehicle, among others. Typically, these problems can be corrected quickly, while other apparent issues, such as uneven headlight colors, actually adjust to normal on their own over several hours of use. Issues aside, HIDs perform better as a whole and last longer too, so if you plan on owning your Dodge for a while, these are lighting replacements you should at least consider using.

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