good choice mattie you wont regret it

+1 good choice,

I'm very fussy and I'm extremely pleased with them, I can't get my head round the poor quality comments as the lamp that comes out is no better in any area.

As Wilsy7 said I can't see a problem with the build quality of the lamp units, but I am having concerns about the light output. Anyway taken the car into my local garage today to have the lights adjusted. As I suspected they were out of alignment evidently my diy efforts were not bad thought. Both lamps a bit low and the drivers side pointing a bit to the left !. Without me saying anything about my concerns about the light output they said that they seemed a bit dim ! They reckoned that they did not seem as bright as standard halogen bulbs so I removed the lamin-x, which indeed made them a lot better.

One of the mechanics said that he has a Polo GTI with OEM Xenons and he believes that his are much brighter. So I have arrange to collect him from work this evening and take him to his house (which is where his car is) so that we can compare the both together.

Will post later tonight my findings.

Karl

Read this from the start I'm so so so so tempted to get this kit, do you run hid on low beam and bulbs on high beam? Or can you run 2 seperate hid kits. Bulbs, xenons and hid kits all confuse me. Better start reading up on what I need

Read this from the start I'm so so so so tempted to get this kit, do you run hid on low beam and bulbs on high beam? Or can you run 2 seperate hid kits. Bulbs, xenons and hid kits all confuse me. Better start reading up on what I need

You are correct HID on low and standard bulbs on high beam, if you want you can run HID conversion on the high beam, but constant on and off ie flashing the headlamps reduces the HID bulbs life.

Karl

Any news korban on how they matched up? I'm gonna get a set of 55w ballasts just for the crack lol the 55w kits on average are 1000 lumens brighter than the 35w

As Wilsy7 said I can't see a problem with the build quality of the lamp units, but I am having concerns about the light output. Anyway taken the car into my local garage today to have the lights adjusted. As I suspected they were out of alignment evidently my diy efforts were not bad thought. Both lamps a bit low and the drivers side pointing a bit to the left !. Without me saying anything about my concerns about the light output they said that they seemed a bit dim ! They reckoned that they did not seem as bright as standard halogen bulbs so I removed the lamin-x, which indeed made them a lot better.

One of the mechanics said that he has a Polo GTI with OEM Xenons and he believes that his are much brighter. So I have arrange to collect him from work this evening and take him to his house (which is where his car is) so that we can compare the both together.

Will post later tonight my findings.

Karl

Bit odd replying to my self but I thought it might make sense !

Right after taking the mechanic to his house we parked the cars facing a white wall. The result, his OEM HIDs were defiantly brighter than mine, so fair play to this guy he agreed to swap one of his D2S bulbs over. Soon as I switched the dipped beam on you could see the difference straight away, his D2S bulb was defiantly brighter than mine.

He then explained that about a year ago one of his D2S bulbs had failed and on talking to the Dealers they told him to replace both, as the new one would be brighter than the old one. The cost was 90 odd pounds each. So he then sourced some off the internet at the cost of about £45 each. The bulbs that he used as a replacement were Phillips ones.

After doing a bit of digging around on the net it seems that the quality/light output of unbranded HID bulbs is not as good as the likes of the main manufactures ie Phillips, Osram and GE.

The conclusion

If you are fitting the Xenon Headlights and want to protect them use lamin-x but use the clear version. If you use any form of the tinted versions you will lose light output. The cheap HID kits (mine was £50 delivered from HID Direct) are OK, and along as you have had 55 watt bulbs in the past you'll be very happy with the light output and the way they put the light on the road. If like me you have used 100 watt bulbs you might find them a bit lacking. If you want better light output buy a top quality HID kit with known branded bulbs (These seen to cost in excess of £110 though). Another option is if you have non branded HID bulbs you can replace them with branded items which cost about £32 and up each !. I myself will be saving up for a set of Phillips which I have seen at £32 each. Another option which should work and would be cheaper is to fit a higher wattage HID Kit (50/55watts) which can be purchased for about £60, but I can't actually vouch for this because I have not seen them in action, but it should be a viable option.

From what I have read this evening I think for me the better option is to use the Phillips bulbs, the ballast in my cheap kit have a 2 year warranty on them and after trying the Phillips D2S bulb with them I think that is the way to go.

One other thing I should mention is that on my drive home tonight with the lamin-x removed and the lamps correctly adjusted they were a lot better than before, with a nice even spread and very sharp cut off. The only issue I found was when I decided to take a slight detour through some back lanes and I stopped just before a hidden turning which has a sign just in front of it. The sign was just out of range of the HID cut off, and I could not see it at all but by switching my fog lights on which only really gives light directly in front of the car there was enough light from over spill(for want of better words) for me to see the sign. With my old lights, although you can see the cut off of the beam there was always an over spill of light which would then reflects off reflective surfaces ie signs or car reflectors which the HIDs don't pick up due to the extreme cut off of the beam, as there is no over spill whatsoever.

Hope this helps members make up their minds

Any question please ask

Karl

Do you know what k the mechanics phillips bulbs were? Weather they were 4300k or 5000k and weather you know the bulb part number as it were like phillips d2s 85122 sorry for all the questions cheers

Korban, where have you seen the 55w kits for that price? I haven't seen a d2s 55w kit for sub £100? :( as you say the Philips cost a bomb. Auto bulbs have some around the £30 mark but not sure I want to spend that. I think mine are great, bought from car mod shop

Also the Philips etc only seem to be 35w option

Edited 6 February, 201214 yr by wilsy7

Do you know what k the mechanics phillips bulbs were? Weather they were 4300k or 5000k and weather you know the bulb part number as it were like phillips d2s 85122 sorry for all the questions cheers

No problem Clappy Vrs, the bulbs had Phillips Germany D2S 35W 85........ written on them in blue and I'm sure he said they were 4100K

Karl

Korban, where have you seen the 55w kits for that price? I haven't seen a d2s 55w kit for sub £100? :( as you say the Philips cost a bomb. Auto bulbs have some around the £30 mark but not sure I want to spend that. I think mine are great, bought from car mod shop

Also the Philips etc only seem to be 35w option

Sorry wilsy7 just checked and the 50w kit for £60 does not support D2S only the £70 Kit does My link

From what I can see the main manufactures don't make 50 watt bulbs. So if you get 50 watt ones they would be unbranded ones from China so don't really know how much better they would be.

Karl

No problem Clappy Vrs, the bulbs had Phillips Germany D2S 35W 85........ written on them in blue and I'm sure he said they were 4100K

Karl

Sorry wilsy7 just checked and the 50w kit for £60 does not support D2S only the £70 Kit does My link

From what I can see the main manufactures don't make 50 watt bulbs. So if you get 50 watt ones they would be unbranded ones from China so don't really know how much better they would be.

Karl

The Philips he had may have been these then?

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/Philips-D2S-Bulb-Xenon-HID-Bulb-Philips.html

I don't fancy even paying that for them lol plus I like the idea of having 55w bulbs? They must be brighter than even the 35w philips?

I'd like to run the 55w ballasts and bulbs just to have them

More than anything lol I can get two 55w ballasts from car mod shop but they don't stock 55w d2s bulbs so I'm having trouble finding individual bulbs?

Jordan

From what I can see there is no difference between the 35w and 55w bulbs hence not being able to find any, accOrding to some things ive read it's the ballast that controls the wattage and its all in the ballast and are interchangeable, ie. running 55w ballasts with your existing 35w bulbs. I may do this

Only thing to remember Wilsy is that overpowering any bulb will shorten it's life. I parked next to my mates Merc with Xenons the other eve and mine were equally as bright. Mine are the 4300k car mod shop bulbs

Edited 7 February, 201214 yr by SimonK24

OK I've just ordered another bulb as I CBA waiting to send these back then waiting for them to test and return.

Hopefully I will get these installed on Saturday

So what colour should I get 4300k or 5000k for best match for LED sides?

So what colour should I get 4300k or 5000k for best match for LED sides?

5k would match led sides better IMO, varys from kit to kit aswel

5k would match led sides better IMO, varys from kit to kit aswel

I was thinking 5000k, ta! I can get these mothers ordered now

Mine have arrived now, they look rather good.

A few questions....

Can I run 100w Main beams with these? Is anyone doing this with Xenons?

Korbans link says "HID conversion kit contains the following components: 2 hid bulbs, 2 ballasts , 2 ballast holders, Installation guide and required wiring accessories" Will I still need d2s bulbs and connectors?

Also, " Please note: If your car has canbus then you may need to use our HID error decoders in addition to this kit." Do I need a Canbus 'friendly' kit?

Confused... :S

Do I need a Canbus 'friendly' kit?

Nope!

But you can fit one if you wanted to!

Nope!

But you can fit one if you wanted to!

Thanks

Do folks think this 55w kit would be okay? Or should I just go for 35w

http://www.hidkits.co.uk/d2s-55w-xenon-hid-conversion-kits.html

Thanks

Do folks think this 55w kit would be okay? Or should I just go for 35w

http://www.hidkits.co.uk/d2s-55w-xenon-hid-conversion-kits.html

Hi Joe,

The kit comes complete with everything you require you just need to choose the color temp and type of bulb when buying. I am using my old 100 watt H7 bulbs which were in the low beam and are now in the main beam and they are 'bright'.

As far as I can see wilsy7 is correct 50/55 watt systems use just over driven 35 watt bulbs, with a more powerful ballast. As SimonK24 pointed out they will burn out faster.

Having said that there seems to be a good argument in using premium quality bulbs which can cost more the a complete HID kit. If you look here these people are selling some HID bulbs which they claim are twice as bright as the Chinese bulbs (which I believe are the ones in most of the cheap kits) and are as good if not better than the Phillips ones. So it seems as if a good set of bulbs is as bright as a 50/55 watt kit anyway. I am unsure which way to go, either £70 for a 50 watt kit or £57 for better bulbs. Still sitting on the fence at the moment plus no money available until the end of the month.

Karl

Seen those bulbs myself Karl, if your going to spend that money on them then maybe these would be of interest to you, only slightly more expensive but the branding speaks for itself really and get them while they are reduced only think is they 4100k so standard Oem colour.

Jordan

Out with the old, no need to take the bumper off

Bought a D2S kit with 6000K bulbs from rclick, set the headlamp aim and job done!

Thanks Karl, very helpful

Kenny, what bonnet lifter kit do you have?

Thanks Karl, very helpful

Kenny, what bonnet lifter kit do you have?

Lol, this I want to know aswell!