hey all, need some help deciding on a HID kit - got a few questions

I am considering going with a name brand HID kit like Philips, bi-xenon kit for just over $200 I found on ebay. Has anyone ever used the Philips kit?

I've gone through a couple cheaper ebay versions on my old 98, the last one lasted almost 2 years which was great, wasn't a bi-xenon kit btw. I just found a place in town thats offering 2 kits for $100 which is a great deal, cause I want to get my fogs done too, but I don't know if its worth the hassle of a burnt out ballast or light cause the cheap kits are unpredictable. But also, I'm under the impression bi-xenons arent worth it for our trucks; I'll also be using the stock headlights in my FX2.

First question is: has anyone used Philips brand HID or heard good things about their kits? or can recommend another name brand for around $200

Second question: I'm in Canada so I have the running lights - I don't mind the HID staying on fulltime, although it would be nice to turn them off too. Will the running lights feature have any effect on a bi-xenon kit?

thx for the help

 

First off, could you post a link? Philips are the #1 most counterfeit HID kits on the market today. It can be very hard to spot a fake versus a real.

HOWEVER, I can tell you right now that they're fake. Philips only constructs D1S/D1R, D2S/D2R, D3S/D3R, and D4S/D4R bulbs. You saying you're going to put them in an H13 base means its basically a chinese kit on a rebase, which is fake/counterfeit.

Since we have single-bulb headlamps, which have two filaments, a "bi-xenon" HID with a retractable magnetic spring isnt a real high beam. Technically speaking, when you install an HID capsule, its sitting dead center focal point where the high beam halogen filament used to sit. So basically you're driving around with the high beam reflectors being used, with a light source thats TWICE as powerful. You're basically a recipe for disaster and glare for oncoming drivers.

 

since your willing to spend 200 on PnP kits, check out the retrofit source's morimoto mini h1's. just a thought though..

for your DRL's, a harness will help keep sufficient power to the ballast but it will decrease the life of your hid kit so it'll probably be better to just pull the DRL fuse which if i remember correctly is in the engine compartment located behind the driver side headlight..

 

Just retrofit a decent set so you can have it properly done, it'll cost you about the same and will just take a little work to fit the projectors. Otherwise any hid kit will do the same thing for you in the stock housings, just produce horrible glare.

 

with mini h1's its just opening heads, removing glare cap, placing projector where bulb should be, check alignment, bolt down, put lens back on, and install bulbs ballast and harness. no cutting required..

 

For OP:

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=227

 

thx all for getting back to me

here's the link for the philips set:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/H13-9...#ht_7471wt_941

My last hid set I had in the lightning housing and I didn't find the glare to be too bad. I didn't bother checking for the drl fuse, so they were on basically as soon as I turned on my truck. Before that, I had them in a projector housing and to be honest I didn't notice much difference. Tons of cars around here have hids, from old beaters to work vans, most of which don't use projectors so I think most drivers are used to them, and they're not an issue for the cops as long as they're not too bluish/purple.

The link to the morimoto site is pretty cool, definitely got me interested. Is it really as easy as it claims to be to install?

 

yes sir. i started mine about 1 in the morning and was finished by 8 that same morning. that was going slow and double checking everything since it was my first time doing this. you will have to drill a hole for the high beam solenoid but thats no big deal. one of mine is kind of messed up so i'm getting a replacement, should be in thursday hopefully.

 

Yeah, not only are those fake, it uses one photo and claims it as a "cheap chinese kit" and to the right is THE SAME PHOTO with the brightness level changed saying its their kit

I wouldn't pay $5 for that piece of crap. Save yourself the headache and money and do a retro.

 

DW10 I was just checking out your truck and it looks good, light output is impressive.

I'm gonna do some more research into the retrofit install. I'm not a huge fan of the projector on a truck look, but done right these could look really mean.

 

You grow into it, and my truck's motto is function over form.