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Reputable HID kits


AudiOn19s

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How do you tell good from bad these days. Market is flooded with junk $35 kits on eBay but I'm having a tough time telling if a lot of the "nicer" kits are really any better than the junk

 

I got a top of the line kit nearly 10 years ago now. Philips ballasts and Osram Xenarc bulbs. Big money back it was a great product

 

Last year a a bulb finally went out so I replaced the bulbs with a a middle of the road bulb. I constantly have issues with them staying lit lately and light output is very bad these days. In all fairness this could be the ballasts finally giving up though

 

Finally the adhesive on one of the ballasts fails, ballast falls off the car and I run over it leaving the neighborhood.

 

Despite my bulbs being only about a year old I think it's time for a whole new kit. Don't want to spend a million bucks ( car does have 200k miles) but don't want junk either

 

Andy

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What he said. I've had there HID kit for going on 4 years now in my truck and like 3 years in my Camaro. I recently had a bulb blow a few months back, called them and they gave me a claim number and address to send both bulbs back too, they warrantied both and sent me new ones.

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What he said. I've had there HID kit for going on 4 years now in my truck and like 3 years in my Camaro. I recently had a bulb blow a few months back, called them and they gave me a claim number and address to send both bulbs back too, they warrantied both and sent me new ones.

DDM Tuning FTW.

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Did you get new headlights when you installed your hids?

 

Nope everything is in factory housings. I got the 35W ballasts and 6000k bulbs. You do not want to run the stock housings with 55w ballast because they tend to get very hot and burn out fast. Here's a pic of the fogs, couldn't find a headlight one.

 

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1343/phonepics185.jpg

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Which DDM kit is everyone using? The Regular kit which has external ignitors or the slim kit?

 

The philips units on my car are all one unit, guess the ignitor wouldn't be too hard to mount though.

 

Regular kit, 4500K.

 

I just like blinding oncoming traffic and pissing off half of CR. :gabe:

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Regular kit, 4500K.

 

I just like blinding oncoming traffic and pissing off half of CR. :gabe:

 

I have proper HID projector housings for them. But my housings are e-codes (european spec) which pisses people off on the freeway at night when I pass them ( The cut-off for the beam throws light up a good bit to the right of the car but not in front. blinding people in their mirriors when you pass on the left).

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I have proper HID projector housings for them. But my housings are e-codes (european spec) which pisses people off on the freeway at night when I pass them ( The cut-off for the beam throws light up a good bit to the right of the car but not in front. blinding people in their mirriors when you pass on the left).

 

I looked at Hella E-codes for my B5 Passat, but they were hella-spensive. My stock housings are so clouded over now it's not funny...may have to look at an upgrade...

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I looked at Hella E-codes for my B5 Passat, but they were hella-spensive. My stock housings are so clouded over now it's not funny...may have to look at an upgrade...

 

My dad got the mothers headlight polish stuff and it worked pretty well. He had some left over so I did both our our cars. His were a little fogged as were mine and they are 99% clear now. The womans were pretty bad and this helped, but didn't completely clear them up. I'm sure if I spent more time and/or preped better I could have gotten them pretty clear. I may try it again sometime to see if a second pass helps anymore. The kit comes with enough polish to do at least three cars.

 

Might be worth a try before you throw money at new housings.

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My dad got the mothers headlight polish stuff and it worked pretty well. He had some left over so I did both our our cars. His were a little fogged as were mine and they are 99% clear now. The womans were pretty bad and this helped, but didn't completely clear them up. I'm sure if I spent more time and/or preped better I could have gotten them pretty clear. I may try it again sometime to see if a second pass helps anymore. The kit comes with enough polish to do at least three cars.

 

Might be worth a try before you throw money at new housings.

 

Earlier in the '00s I put some CATZ 55w bulbs in and crazed the inside of the plastic lenses. I remember washing the car during the night, spraying the hose on the headlights, and steam coming off of them...also too hot to touch. On top of that, the rubber caps were lost by a service guy years ago, so dirt has easily migrated into the housings. Plus, parking outside in Florida for 3 years baked the top edges of the lenses. They're like sandpaper and as clear as sea glass.

 

Trust me, bromingham, I've thrown some good product at these 125k mile headlight lenses with little success. :( Any improvement would require removing the plastic lenses from the housings and redoing the front and back...and I STILL would have a broken vertical adjuster on the passenger side.

 

Come to think of it...I definitely do need new headlights. :)

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I'm actually in the market as well and have been reading a lot. The g8 forums have shifted away from the DDM kits, mainly bc of a constant back order situation, to the kits by VVME - vvme.com is their website - and they swear by them. I also have a friend with the V-LED.com kit in his g8 and he loves them but they are much more than the VVME kit. The g8 guys get the digital slim 9006 kit from vvme which is 35 watt. It's what I plan to order, for 50 bucks shipped its the same price as a set of Silverstars from Autozone so I don't mind the risk.
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I've purchased multiple kits from VVME and have never had a problem. I'm running a set of 6ks from them in the 240 right now. Bright as hell, quick ballasts and easy install. Good price too. Best to go in with a few other people since they only charge flat rate shipping. Split the shipping and save some money.
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I've purchased multiple kits from VVME and have never had a problem. I'm running a set of 6ks from them in the 240 right now. Bright as hell, quick ballasts and easy install. Good price too. Best to go in with a few other people since they only charge flat rate shipping. Split the shipping and save some money.

 

Good idea. Andy if you decide to go that route let me know and I'll go in with ya.

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  • 3 weeks later...

...so I bought the DDM tuning kit. They were on sale for $30 so why not I thought.

 

One of the balasts was DOA. Hopefully the exchange doesn't take nearly as long to get here as the initial order did. Not holding my breath. Guess I'm not totally upset because I only had one side out. The DDM 5k bulb is exactly the same color as my current 6k bulb

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I've purchased maybe 10 or 15 pairs of DDM HID kits, and while they are better than ebay kits, they're not the best. I did notice a difference between 4500K and 5000K, as well as 6000K and 8000K, so I'm not sure on the false advertising thing. But one thing I do hate is their so-called "Lifetime Warranty". The customer service rep was really nice, and apologized for their returns and exchanges policy being so crappy, but the first exchange I had to initiate was on a pair of failed bulbs. I sent the bulbs in and received new bulbs almost 3 months later. That's pretty unacceptable, but at least they sent me the bulbs. On my latest dealing with their warranty, the control unit that switched between the High/Low functions on my headlights had failed within 6 months. I recognized that it was a relay issue because the bulbs would flicker on/off if I shook the control unit. I called in and received an RMA, but was still charged $40 for a non-refundable deposit and some processing fee, plus $7.50 to ship the unit to them (the entire kit was $70). Received a new unit 2 months later, and that was that. My friend then had the same issue with the DDM high/low control unit a month later in his car. I called in for an RMA, but learned that because I had cut a few of the wires going to the control unit to shorten them and not have a wad of extra wire tied off, the unit was non exchangeable because according to DDM, the unit and harness had been "modified".

 

Their prices are great for what they offer in terms of HID components, but their warranty is just about worthless.

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