Mark Wilson

All great info guys. Thanks! I just want to make sure this upgrade has real world benefits before I spend more $$.

swftiii

I have the Catz HID conversion like Mark does and have kept them adjusted and have never been flashed that they are too bright.

I have also put them side by side with Anir's 993TT that had the Porsche factory Xenon lights and I couldn't tell the difference from any perspective. The output looked the same and the beam control was also the same.

Skip

kkim

Do it, you will not regret it. If you do, you can always take them back out and sell them to any Rennlister, I'll bet.

Try to get the 4300k kit as that most closely resembles the stock headlight color and will help to forgo any legal hassles you may encounter with local law enforcement.

Once you have them installed, you'll be amazed at the difference they make.

Good luck

Brett - 1996 C4

I've had exactly the same experience with the Xequipped lights off eBay. 4300K.

farmerjohn

Does the HID upgrade put any increased load on the electrical sysytem?

Brett - 1996 C4

There is an initial current surge to ignite the headlights, but the steady-state load is actually less than stock (35W vs. 55W). Some people on the board have raised questions about whether this surge will eventually harm the electrical system in some way, but listers that have had aftermarket kits in place for years have not reported any problems.

You want to make sure you have adequate fuses in place before using these. I've got 15A fuses on the low beams and I haven't had any problems.

ABCar

RESURECTION!
I have 55w HID kit by DDM tuning. I really like it light but they are truly too bright. Does anyone have 35 w vs. 55 w comparison? I am wondering about converting back to stock with BETTER bulbs, or going to the 35 w HID system from DDM.
Any help?

Kika

Agreed, but technically so is jaywalking. When was the last time you saw someone get a ticket for that?

David in LA

uh, you know my post is from 4 1/2 years ago...

and btw I have been stopped for jaywalking on a few occasions but got off with warnings.

EckFe1

I have 55W HID's lo and high, with power relay harnesses directly to the battery. I've been running them for about 2 seasons and got beamed at for the first time last week. It was uphill and I was accelerating hard. I understood that one. Other then that, I don't drive much at night but when I do, I now feel that the light output is adequate and bright enough to not overdrive the lights.
I mostly drive through the mountains at total darkness, no street lights and lot's of turns with forests all around. Sometimes 20 min. with hi and lo on and I never have the feeling to not see what's coming up. Most of the times no other cars anywhere.
I used to do that driving with the stock H1's too and I would crawl home. I have 20/20 vision but never felt comfortable at all.
I don't think 55W is too bright. I keep looking for even higher output but haven't been able to find anything. I would go 70+ with the high beams.
Any leads?
I've been doing thermal investigation on the light fixtures too and sofar I found the max. heat on the aluminum fixture at 91 deg. C. quite a bit cooler then H1's. So no problems there.
I'd do the conversion again.

JimPA

I received a 35 w 5000K HID low beam setup from DDM three days ago. The supposedly simple install wasn't. I reviewed photos of bulb styles then emailed photos of mine to DDM. It looks like they sent H11 bulbs instead of H1. Of course, there are no identifying marks or numbers anywhere on the bulbs. The base is a complete circle instead of flattened on one side like H1 and it is much taller and wider than H1. I await their confirmation/resolution.

Perhaps I'll be able to answer your question in another week. My objective was to obtain a noticeable improvement in illumination over stock H1, which I think 35 w should provide.

IXLR8

And those are the key words.

My C2 came with Vertex HIDs.

From the few times I've been out after dark, they seem to work extremely well in the real world. By that I mean, where I'm going to be at the rate of speed I'm driving and allowing for plenty of stopping distance and reaction time.

I've read too many "my lights are so impressive" threads on various forums about lights that light up the road miles down it...where I won't be for another minute anyways. All they're doing is pi$$ing off oncoming drivers.

ABCar

Sorry to hear you had trouble with your parts. I hope DDM makes it right.

Kika

David,

uh, no actually I didn't look at the post date. nevertheless, my point is that there are plenty of things that are illegal, but the doesn't prevent people from doing them. I don't suppose you stay under the posted speed limit all the time either.

you are correct in stating that HIDs are technicallly illegal, which IS one of the items the OP was requesting.

David in LA

Your comment is correct but I don't think Mark (the OP) is all that interested any longer on the downsides of this mod as I'm sure he's made a decision one way or another 4 years ago. Frankly I didn't even recall making this comment/post until I was notified there was a reply.

This thread was resurrected by someone who was concerned his HID lights are too bright and was looking for advice on alternatives, so I would think addressing this issue would have been more constructive. From his posts I would have thought his problem may be due to incorrect headlight aiming rather than the HIDs itself.

Before going down this route, have you checked that your lights are properly aimed and aligned? I would check this first as depending on how you did the install the alignment settings may have been inadvertently moved and now your lights may be aiming too high. Or since the factory H1 lights are so poor it's possible that the previous owner may have adjusted the light to purposefully aim high to get better lighting.