Mark Lue

Alot of guys are driving with HIDs, some OEM some not. After market HIDs have a bad rep, they burn out prematurely,...that include those Silver Star bulbs that you can buy at CT as well. After market HIDs are all over the place in quality and prices so maybe this thread can help us to share our experiences and save a buck or two

Comment: I know guys buy the kit from Vertex for their Porsche but we use HIDs for our daily drivers as well.

Here is a link to determine what bulbs are on your car.
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...lacementGuide/



My 2 cents:

After 4 months of driving my wifes car with factory HIDs I couldn't stand driving with regular heads any more. Some car buddies have had good luck with kits from www.vvme.com (no affiliation), they indicated that the bulbs are lasting over two years so I ordered a 35 watt kit online on Monday night and it arrived tonight, courtesy of DHL from China in 3 days. Yah, I know that you're thinking... chinese piece o crap eh. I'll install them this weekend and we will see but based on friends experiences at this point I'm optimistic. The entire kit was $56 including the shipping (they work it so you pay no duty), at that price if I can get at least two years outta them I'll be happy. If they burn out prematurely I post here.

Imo000

I can't stand aftermarket HIDs, sure they are grea for the driver but they blind everyone else.

Mark Lue

Agreed, based on what I've found...OE or aftermarket if the head lights are not aimed properly you will be giving everyone retina burn, as well with the HIDs being 3 times brighter than halogen if you install the 55 watters then they will be too bright. The 35 watters are sufficient if the headlights are aimed correctly.

spcamno

That's why you need projectors for HID lighting system.

The proper way to install HID lighting in any car is to do a retrofit (install proper HID projector along with the ballasts and bulbs from a donor car and install on to the headlamp housing).

Some good read about headlights:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlights

Mark Lue

My car already had projectors for the halogen bulbs, so far they seem to be working fine with the HIDs.

Imo000

How's the pattern for the opposing traffic?

Mark Lue

The beam pattern or what ever you call it is the same as before only a bit brighter and whiter, to be honest I haven't seen it from the prespective of an on comming car.


EDIT: I asked a couple of RLs at the go kart event last night and they agree that the lights are quite bright but they weren't concerned by it.

vern1

I have a 55w kit from Retrosolutions. Lasted 18 months but then one of the ballasts went. Retro told me it was because a safety mechanism triggered and that I needed a wire harness to prevent that. They sent me a replacement but that one blew after 4 hours.

I still dont want to use a harness as I dont want to cut through the headlight housing.

Some have suggested going to a 35w system as they are more dependable so I think I will try that. Any thoughts?

Imo000

Do you have relays triggering the ballasts?

Mark Lue

From what i've learnt the 55w HID draw alot of current in comparison to a regular 55w halogen system, so they use a seperate wiring harness and relay to avoid melting the OEM wires that were not designed to carry that much curent. As well, the ballasts themselves must be located so that they can be cooled, if they over heat they cut out until the temprature decreases.

IMO 35w HID is

vern1

Imo, the ballasts have an internal trigger and they can not be reset (at least not me) so once they triggers, they are done.

I have ordered a 35w system from Gert. A bit more than some of the ebay ones but Gert has a good rep on the boards

Hopefully this will solve the issue

orangem

I found most aftermarket ballasts last only 1.5-2 years. Afterwards it will start flickering and eventually not work altogether. I had the the relay and it didn't help with the life expectancy. Generally, I think only the oem Philips ballast last.....

Imo000

Sorry, that's not what I meant. Is there a relay between the ballast and the original wiring harness or is the harness directly plugged into the ballast?

wildcat077

For what it's worth,i have an Ebay HID kit in my 98 F150 and it's still kicking three years later.I did buy a relay kit so the headlights would run as daytime lights but never installed it yet.
Although i will be buying a BiXenon kit as soon as one of the bulbs burns out ...

No issues whatsoever so far ...

Cheers !
Phil

MidnightCayman

The website you posted shows that they are from "Califormia".