You're trying to go to 35W?

 

I'd like to stock with what I already have, which is 55w. Do you have/recommend decent bulbs for 55w applications that won't break the bank?

 

A good set of american made 55W bulbs are gonna destroy your wallet. And to be honest, I could put one of these bulbs and one of those bulbs (linked below) in each of your headlights and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Unless you buy an OEM HID kit, they're pretty much all the same thing.

You can order a set like these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/H11-55W-8000...item2c62e35600

They're decently priced and if they flicker at all, you can email them and tell them that one of the bulbs sucks and they'll send you a new one no questions asked.

The only downfall is it takes FOREVER for them to ship to you

I've purchased from them many many times, and have always been pleased with them

Just remember, that with a true 55W kit (like you will have) will very slightly drown out some of the color. So a 8000K kit will be more like a 7000K. 5000K more like 4300K

 

Looks like I'm best off just ordering the ddm bulbs. The 6000ks ddm sent me with my 55w headlights still look great after a year. I was just disappointed in the color of their 4500k bulbs I had in my 35w fogs.

 

Alright so after reading all the pages of this thread and seeing the amazing changes that hids made to the light output i went and dropped some $ on some HID kits, i got the h11 and the 9005 bulbs so i will be running hids for highs and lows.....yes i know its not worth it for highs i read about that part. So jumped over the mengmotorsports.com and got me the kits both in 6000k. cant wait to get them installed!

 

^^i got a buddy that has 6 ballasts in his xB

High Beam, Low Beam, Fog Lights

lol it looks funny seeing all the ballasts in the engine bay

 

i plan on pulling the bumper off when i install them and hiding them all back there out of sight and out of mind

 

HIDs arrived today from Meng Motorsports, i got the 9005 and h11 in 6000k cant wait to get them installed, ill be sure to post pics of the whole installation since i plan on hiding the ballasts behind the bumper (if all goes to plan)

 

If you dont mind me asking how much?

 

this is right off of the invoice


Meng Motorsports Items 1 Meng Motorsports Vinyl Decal! @ $1.99 = $1.99
1 Meng Motorsports V.1 HID Conversion Kits (H11, 6000K) @ $109.99 = $109.99
1 Meng Motorsports V.1 HID Conversion Kits (9005, 6000K) @ $109.99 = $109.99
Sub-Total: $221.97
Shipping: $5.00 (Standard)
Sales Tax: $18.30
Meng Motorsports Total: $245.27

If your wondering why i paid over 2x what DDM charges is because i have seen multiple people in this thread had DDM ballasts fail and have to wait weeks for replacement (since they sometimes ship from china) I just didnt want to deal with that and here are 2 more REALLY good reasons why i went with MengMotorsports

http://youtu.be/-sEF15PrVhQ

http://youtu.be/ebWii9jwVOU

 

$245 for 2 HID Kits

Those better be amazing HID kits cuz they're two and a half times as much as we charge at my work for them haha

 

they are supposed to be some of the best. and their fail rate is like zero

 

Nice! Will eliminate the annoyance of having to wait weeks for your replacement ballast to come in from DDM

 

that is exactly what i wanted to avoid, once i install them i never should have to take them out.

 

So the new HIDs are in, like i said before i wanted to mount them to the bumper and hide them, out of site and out of mind. when i started to mock it all up and make sure the cable would reach well they didnt the cable from the light harness to the ballast was sufficient length it was from the ballast back to the head light that fell short. So it was either abandon the bumper mount and find some where else or be really daring and cut the wires, solder and make them longer. but this would involve voiding the warranty of my brand new HIDs and possibly killing them in the process so i went with the crazy stupid choice and cut the cables and extended them to the length i needed. Pretty simple, cut solder shrink wrap and then stuff the wires in split loom so they blend in with the rest of the stock wiring. The ballasts are mounted with double sided tape and 20" industrial grade zip-ties, they are not going anywhere.

here is the new extended light harness

shrink tubing close up

all wrapped up in split loom

The ballasts all mounted behind the bumper

 

pretty clean man

persoanlly i'd keep it reachable just in case i need to get to it, but is all personal preference..and ur set up is clean

now since ur bumpers is off....why dont you get it painted super white and send it to me? so i can have that honeycomb grill. kthanksbye

 

Thanks KJ, clean is what i was going for, and its not that bad to get to the ballasts if i need to i can just take the plastic cooling plate and i can get to them. That honeycomb grill will always be mine!!!!, but if i do get rid of it ill be sure to hit you up first.

 

Hmm I can't decide if I want to hide my ballasts behind my bumper, similar to this ^, or if I want to show them off and mount them clearly visible in my engine compartment. Because my ballasts are pretty cool looking

 

i would of put them in the engine bay and displayed them proudly but i could not find a place where i could line them all up and present them properly. so the next best thing was to hide them away like the dont exist.

 

I went and took some better pictures of the new HIDS. (These are the Meng Motorsports 6000k 35 watt. for those who didn't read the previous posts)

Low beam



High and Low beam