Sick of HIDs burning out!!!

[07LeggyGT]

When I bought the LGT it already had HIDs and I was happy....about 10 months later, one of the ballasts $hit the bed, so I bought another set at a local electronics/customization shop. That was about 5 months ago, and once again, I have a headlight out. I double/triple checked all the connections with no luck:-/

Suggestions on a good quality kit that won't die on me in a year or less? Or should I just go back to stock with some good bulbs?? I love the look of the HIDs, but driving in the dark with rain is just horrible, even with good fogs, and stock bulbs are a hell of a lot cheaper to replace when needed. I need help deciding!!!

Also, the way the headlights were modified for the HIDs, the plastic in the back of the headlight housing was cut out (sorry I don't know the actual name of the part or a better way to describe it, hoping someone else with HIDs will know what I'm talking about). Is there a way for me to get this peice of the headlight housing without buying a whole new one?

 

[Flipswitch]

It sounds like someone retrofit your stock headlights.

The easy way to go back to return to stock halogen is to buy replacement headlight housings & swap them. You could probably sell the retro-ed ones to recoup the cost / make a profit.

If you want to put the original stock halogen bulbs in your current housings you will need to replace the projector assembly in the headlight housing. The cheapest way of doing it is find a set that someone cracked a tab & swap the internal bits.

Pics could help for more info

To keep the HID system I would make sure that the ballast is not plugged directly into your stock wiring & that it's going through a aux wire harness. Admittedly I run a cheap HID system this way (with retrofit projectors) & have had good luck so far. If you want OEM grade parts http://www.theretrofitsource.com/ should be able to help.

 

[Legacy06]

Also, the way the headlights were modified for the HIDs, the plastic in the back of the headlight housing was cut out (sorry I don't know the actual name of the part or a better way to describe it, hoping someone else with HIDs will know what I'm talking about). Is there a way for me to get this peice of the headlight housing without buying a whole new one?

Those are the dust caps. I believe the part number is 84953AG060 and it should be ~$7 each from the dealership. I would recommend putting the wires through the headlight grommet instead of the dust caps. Installation takes longer but it's a much cleaner look. I second buying from TheRetrofitSource.

 

[Carter]

^What Jason said. However if your dust caps are already cut out and you don't want to spend the money, might as well use the cut out ones.

One problem you might have is not enough power. You might want to get the wiring kit that provides power straight from the battery instead of relying soley on the factory wiring. Some cars can handle it fine, some can't. Also cheap ballasts are going to die on you pretty quickly. When I had non-OEM ones on my LGT I made sure when I started my car that the HID's were off, and then turned them on. For some reason if I left them on all the time, one of them wouldn't ignite when the vehicle was started. I would have to cycle the lights off and on. (Not enough juice I assumed). Do not buy from DDMTuning. The guy is a douche and a jerk, and his stuff is crap. 

 

[Jamey]

I've had my ddm kit for over 2 years I had them on my gallant for almost 3 years never proublem there cheap and life time warranty there shipping is absolutely horrible tho

 

[dsmith]

my dad, uncle, and mom, and now me have had DDM hid set ups and haven't failed or anything. my set came with the relay wiring but my headlights plug right in and I didn't need it but no problems yet. and my shipping wasn't bad. standards 5-10day shipping

 

[cwiggin]

Did you disconnect the DRL'S???? Mine work better since I did that

 

[jojo69]

+1 on the power hypothesis. I'm not sure if you have a retro based on the description, and if you do, what ballasts/bulb brand you are using. I personally stay clear of all  pnp kits as even in a 'hid' housing, output is inferior to proper oem retrofit. period.

Either way, as others mentioned, trs is a good place to start for proper retrofit and solid parts that will lead to solid performance over time... but I would agree that bulbs burning out sounds like a relay/lack of one problem... 

good luck

 

[i-wagon]

Ddm Kit on my bike has an aux power from the battery, no issue yet

 

[apkarian100]

Get a high quality relay harness to provide ample power to your HIDs.

 

[07LeggyGT]

Thanks everyone for the help! Yes they are a cheap PnP kit...get what you pay for I suppose. Didn't help that I was neglecting to turn them "off" with the car, and on after it was started. Pretty sure that helped kill these ones. I had never done much research into them, didn't realize they had such nice kits made for OEM rather than a retro fit PnP, will def. be going this route. Anyone with an LGT have experience with a good set up with fairl easy install? I'm very technically challenged when it comes to wiring n' such.....would aslo like to know if anyone has experience modding the foglights to run with just the parking lights and not require the headlights to be on? I've read some threads, but seems a little complicated for a noob like myself haha. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Flipswitch]

It should be a standard wiring harness that uses your low beams to trigger the relay. That way everything in the cabin is normal (use the headlight switch to turn on lights) but the lights get a better/direct power source



Plug the leads from your low beam to #85 & #86

 

[07LeggyGT]

So I'm thinking of going with the morimoto retro-quik complete kit...is it really worth the $300 though? Sounds like a really good quality kit, but 300 seems steep...anyone with experience with this or similar kits from TRS?

 

[Acky]

Retrofit is always going to be better than just throwing in hid bulbs in a halogen projector

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[07LeggyGT]

Pulled the trigger on the morimoto retro quik kit. Looks like it will be a little bit of work to install, and I'm $300 poorer now...but I'm sure it will be worth it when all is said and done!

 

[07LeggyGT]

If there is anyone in the augusta area with a garage and/or interested in giving me a hand with the install(mainly removing bumper and separating/resealing the housing) let me know! Figured it might be too time consuming to do at the Meyagi meet next weekend?

 

[apkarian100]

It's definitely worth it.