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Have had my Apexcone DDM’s now since April, along with the Bulb Out Warning Cancellers, and since they are on basically every time I use the car, I expected to have some issues with them by now.  I’m happy to report that they are working flawlessly.  They haven’t dimmed, moved, or displayed any sort of problems whatsoever.  

I’m very happy with the 5000K bulbs, specifically the color and clarity, as well as how well I can see at night.  Since it’s getting further along in the fall months, it’s pretty nice to see so clearly with the rain and dark mornings here in Seattle.

Hopefully everyone else is having the same good results!

steve c30 5000K, apexcone, apexcone DDM, DDM, hid, hids, xenon

 I’ve had my new DDM’s with warning cancelers installed now for over a month, and have had no problems at all.  I still have the daytime running light feature enabled, so they’re on pretty much all of the time, which concerns me a little, but I’m sure I’ll eventually forget about it.

When I installed them, I tried to jam everything into the light housing as best as possible, and ended up with a pretty big mess, but it all held inside.  I’ve been wondering lately if I should open it up and see how really bad it looks – I’m mildly concerned about rubbing and heat. 

I do notice every so often when I hit some large bumps, that the lights seem to shimmer a little bit.  I don’t remember if my previous lights did that in the Audi, but I’m pretty sure they did.

Overall, I’m really happy about the upgrade – the old halogens were simply ugly.

steve c30

One really annoying thing that seems to be growing in annoyance is the fancy key with my C30.  I don’t have the keyless entry, just the “normal” key.

First, the key itself is shaped like a traditional key, but it’s not similar to many of the other keys I’ve had recently.  My Audi key folded into itself to make it nice when it was in my pocket.  It would be much better if the thing was smaller – it’s a horrible size to fit anywhere, especially into your pocket.

Second, the key itself when it’s in the ignition is so close to the wiper control, and to the radio dash, that keys hanging with it on my keyring bang against things.  That’s not so bad for the wiper control, but it’s really not good for the radio dash – I’m afraid of wear and dents.  The other annoying thing is that the keys vibrate on the metal valet key part of the Volvo key, and that can be heard throughout the car.

I really wish they had spent more time thinking about this part of the car since it’s used all of the time.  For now, I end up swinging my other keys across things so they don’t bang, but they still vibrate.  I’m considering a keyring that will allow me to disconnect the car key from it, but then I’ll likely lose it

steve c30

I haven’t posted here in a while – too much going on at work lately.  

Have had no problems with the C30.  Still drives just like the first day, and I just hit 1000 miles today!  Just about time to take it in for it’s first oil change, I think.  

There are some annoying noises that I’ve traced down to loose seatbelts when a backseat passenger gets out, and other nonsense that could be termed user error.

I am having some issues with playing MP3 CDs but I think it may be that I am trying to cram too much onto them (126 tracks on one) and/or have a bad CD or two.

More later!

steve c30

I’ve finally received and installed my new HID headlights.  They look great!  I ended up with the following config:

• DDM HID kit, ultra slim ballasts
• H11 bulbs, 5000K color
• Bulb out warning cancellers

Ordered them a while ago from one online vendor, and they shipped me the wrong bulbs.  After going back and forth with them a little bit, I became pretty disappointed that they wanted to go through a long RMA process because of their mistake.  And I had to pay shipping to return them!

So, I ordered them from Apexcone directly.  Their site is a little weird in that they have a separate Yahoo storefront they sell from called DDM Tuning. They arrived as expected, and the directions were pretty straightforward.

After reading various posts on c30world.com, I chose to put all of the pieces and parts inside of the headlight assembly, instead of drilling out the back and having the various parts mounted to the inside of the car.

It was quite a tight fit, and the jury is still out on whether this is the safest way due to heat and vibration.  I didn’t tie everything down yet since I am waiting to see if this is the way I want things.

One interesting note – the bulb out warning cancellers don’t have the standard postitive/negative fin inside of them to show you which way to plug in the power cable from the car electrical system side of things.  I had to use trial and error to figure this out.  Both headlights I guessed wrong the first time, and the light wouldn’t go on afterwards.

So far the lights have been awesome – slight blue tint to them (this from a color blind person, so beware) and way better visibility – no comparison to the halogens.  Of course, I am a bit used to these from my previous car, an Audi TT with Xenon lights as well.

These are quite a bit better than the stock Audi ones – they seem to have more depth to them, and throw a lot better.  I do need to adjust the headlights at this point since they are facing a bit higher than I’d like – don’t want to make those other drivers upset!

For the next few days I’ll be watching them, and this weekend I will examine how the components faired inside based on vibration, adjust the headlights angle, and generally test the heat side of things if I can.

I also plan on posting some before and after pictures, as well as some detail shots.

steve c30 5000K, apexcone, apexcone DDM, DDM, hid, hids, xenon

I ordered the rubber floor mats and a few other things from myswedishparts.com a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, they sent me the wrong floor mats, and it took another week to resolve the issue.  They were nice folks, they just didn’t understand that they had shipped me the wrong thing.

To make matters worse, they shipped the replacement mats to my home address, which is hit or miss because it’s a secure apartment building.  They made it, albeit a few days late.

Installed them this morning and they look great!  Much better than the normal ones.  I especially like the little details that Volvo thought of – the small extra part sticking out on the rear mats to cover everywhere water might get in, and the extra carpet-like strip on the drivers side for your heel to stick to, even if it’s wet.

steve c30 c30, floor mat, myswedishparts.com

Today while driving in rush hour to archery practice, it started getting really warm inside. I fooled with the dials and cranked the controls all the way as cold as they could go, but never got any cold air. Tried cycling the A/C on and off, and every other combination I could think of. It actually felt like the heater was on full blast the entire time.

There were no errors, warnings, or otherwise. It wasn’t that warm outside – maybe 50 degrees F – and I was driving moderately, with plenty of air going by the car.

I arrived at my destination, and turned the car off. Went inside to eat a quick bite, and when I came out about 15 minutes later, it worked fine. Will chalk it up to something not turning on when I started the car, but it has me a bit worried. With a lot of the other owners on the c30world.com forums talking about consistency and quality issues with some similar systems, I’ll keep an eye on it…

steve c30 c30 air conditioning

Back 2, originally uploaded by stevemitchell.

Had some extra time today, and went to Matthews Park on Lake Washington to take some photos. Arrived just as the sun was going down and snapped a few. The color was noticeably darker than most of the other photos I’ve taken, and it seemed to have some more depth to it.

Really need to get a tripod so I can take some night photos next!

steve c30

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Got the new Griffin Autopilot installed and working. Quick picture shown here. Definitely nice for controlling the iPod while driving.

I was able to route the cables under the cup holder (not shown in pic) with no issues.

Line out sounds awesome – no strange noises or otherwise that folks have reported with headphone out. And no messing with volume on iPod.

When the car is shut off, it pauses the iPod, which is nice as well so you can start where you left off.  It does not turn off the iPod, or continue charging – at least not in my C30.  The 12V socket loses power when the car goes off.  Of course, if your 12V socket doesn’t turn off, then the iPod would merrily continue playing since it doesn’t know any better…

The only annoying thing is response time on the next track button.  I’m using mine with an iPhone that functions only as my iPod (long story – I don’t use my iPhone as a phone anymore, just for it’s iPod abilities), and when I hit the next button just as a new track starts to play, it doesn’t register.  I end up having to wait a few seconds, and then hit it. 

Other than that minor glitch, it’s a really easy way to use your iPod without looking at it, provides very clean and clear line-out audio quality, and it charges it as well.

steve c30 griffin autopilot, ipod

I’ve ordered a few things for the new C30…

• Cargo Mat – molded plastic - good for protecting the back area from larger scrapes and dents, as well as containing any spills
• Mesh cargo pocket - good for stowing the small stuff that tends to bounce around
• Rubber floor mats - a must for the rainy northwest

I also searched for a while on iPod adapters – hoping that I might be able to buy the Volvo provided kit and add it on myself.  It was pretty obvious after reading some of the posts on c30world.com and viewing the Volvo Install Instructions that I wouldn’t be doing this anytime soon.  No way am I taking all of that stuff apart!

I found what looks to be a pretty slick alternative – the Griffin Autopilot, which gives you a 12V charger and line-out quality 1/8″ output.  In addition, you have controls on the top of the 12V plug to manage the iPod.  Reading reviews on Apple’s Store (I found it there while looking for a 1/8″ cable for my iPhone), I found at least one person with a Volvo S40 that bought it and was very happy.  The center console, as far as I understand, in my C30 is almost exactly the same.

I ordered one online from Apple.com via overnight delivery (of course!) and will post more details when it gets in.

steve c30