Anyone done an HID headlight kit?

[flcruising]

I know it's way early, but there's some inexpensive kits here that I am considering maybe at Christmas. Anyone done a conversion before? I'm going for practical here - so probably in the 4-6k color range.

These halogens are already bright, but $50-60 for a kit that will help my wife's non-confident night driving would be worth it. Thoughts?

 

[Davebert]

I know it's way early, but there's some inexpensive kits here that I am considering maybe at Christmas. Anyone done a conversion before? I'm going for practical here - so probably in the 4-6k color range.

These halogens are already bright, but $50-60 for a kit that will help my wife's non-confident night driving would be worth it. Thoughts?

Here is how I did the HID conersion on my 06 M5. If yours do not have DRL you will not need the relay harness and capacitor.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123748611

 

[Dphillips]

I am running 6K diamond whites. The difference is incredible!


scroll down some for pics...http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123761085&page=3

 

[flcruising]

Thanks fellas,

So you have to run power off the battery for this? I thought the ballast just went between the stock harness and the xenon bulb. What does the factory harness become, just a switch? Doesn't the HID consume less power than the halogens?

Davebert, what do you think of the 4300k compared to stock?

Where and how much were your kits?

Questions, questions.

 

[Davebert]

Thanks fellas,

So you have to run power off the battery for this? I thought the ballast just went between the stock harness and the xenon bulb. What does the factory harness become, just a switch? Doesn't the HID consume less power than the halogens?

Davebert, what do you think of the 4300k compared to stock?

Where and how much were your kits?

Questions, questions.

I am in Canada and our cars has Daytime Running Lights(DRL) but it is not mandatory in the US. For a system without DRL you can connect the ballast directly to the stock H7 connector, no need for a wiring harness to power it off the battery. You just have to make sure of the polarity of the connection to the ballast are correct. The kit that I got was 35W 4300K and it is much brighter and whiter that the stock 50W halogen.

The biggest problem I had was taking the stock H7 bulb off and putting the new HID bulb back into the socket. That little spring clip on the socket was very difficult to operate, but once you figure it out it is pretty easy. Another problem is the spacer, the kit did not come with them and I had to cut up the stock socket to make the spacer so the HID bulb and be mounted.

This is the kit I used:

http://www.vvme.com/standard-h7-hid-conversion-kit-p-51.html?cPath=44_45_23

The installation of the kit can be done in a couple of hours for someone who has not done it before. For an experience installer, it can be done in 30 minutes.

 

[DKaz]

OMG good thing HID bulbs last up to 10x longer than halogens because I do NOT want to replace a bulb in the 5 for at least another few years, talk about pain in the butt on a stick.

I've been running almost a year on Canbus HID ballasts and no modification to the DRL system... so far it's been running great.

 

[flcruising]

Is this adapter a standard item with the stock halogens? Is it required to allow the clip to hold the bulb in the housing or something else? It looks like it's just a harness extension. I'll be checking this out sometime.

 

[wmzda5]

The first time I installed my HIDs a year ago I kept having this problem putting back the clips. Once I saw Davebert's post and pics of the adapter I did it to my HID and I easily clipped on the wire clips in under 2 min. That easy and the bulb does not bounce around. Be careful not to break / damage the wire clip, it is not available anywhere. I checked w/ Mazda and it seems that they only come with the whole headlight assy. A year after when I decided to go for 55watts, I found that the HIDs i ordered already comes with a set of adaptor. I'm not sure if you buy a standard set of Halogen (H7) if it comes with this adaptor, I will check the next time Im at CT.

 

[bryanj87]

I did the conversion in my 5 and my wifes 5. Got them from http://www.xenonexpert.com/, the DDM kit. Huge difference at night. The install was easy.

 

[flcruising]

When you say clip, are your referring to the 'bulb retaining spring'? It appears that the adaptor mod is required huh? Is there a performance difference between the $40 kit and the $200 kit? The specs look similar, so I'd assume not as long as you get a warranty. I will probably just pull the front bumper to do this anyways, as I want to hide the ballasts out of sight.

 

[Bluesideup]

I am thinking about doing this same mod with our Mazda5. http://www.theretrofitsource.com has kits designed to replace an H7 bulb for $150. I've seen the results of the $50 eBay kits and was not really impressed, I just really miss the OEM HIDs our Mazda3 had.