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