ssmoked

I see lots of members installed HIDs, i am looking to buy/install HID into my 250.... I need some advice please...

1. Where to find the best deals, how much usually
2. What brands should i buy
3. whats the difference between 5000, 6500, 8000k.....conversions (which will be brightest)
4. how easy is it to install.
5. whats the quality (craftmanship) of the aftermarket HIDs


Thanks in advance...

l3lkis250

1) Check the Group Buy section (Our Vendors have good deals)

2) Check # 1 (A lot of us got the same ones of these vendors)

3) Its the color temperature...4300k would be brightest...as you move up the more color you'll get, but you will lose brightness

4) I don't know...depends on your knowledge...its just a plug and play with some creative thinking

5) Check 1 again (They will have that info)

Hope that helps

kuuqi

I'm going to assume you have a non-HID 2IS for your questions:

1) HID kits are available through our vendors for about $150 if I'm not mistaken. If you were to go on Ebay, you'd still find HID kits for about $100-150 for a good kit. You can buy cheaper low-quality kits for an average of $60-80 there too. Some kits on ebay run as low as $21 starting bid. Yes there is a huge price difference but I recommend you to buy from our vendor as it is high quality and you have a warranty as well as excellent customer service. Through ebay, many kits are made in China or no-name brands. You will not know where it came from until you receive it and even then it might not be marked on where it's built. Also, cheaper kits consist of cheaper bulbs and ballasts. Ballasts that aren't high quality take longer to warm up the bulb. I have a friend who bought a $60 kit from ebay and though the packaging and build quality looks good, the kit took as long as 2-3 minutes to warm up 6000k bulbs. Cheaper bulbs like my friend's also look bluer than what it should be. Typically speaking 6000k should be white with a slight hint of blue. His cheap bulbs look closer to 8000k which are white with a deep hue of blue. Also, the base of cheap bulbs may be poorly made or rebased from a different bulb, thus fitment problems and build integrity may be compromised. I again recommend you to buy from our vendor for your safety as they will honor your warranty. Ask other members who have bought from them to vouch. I personally have stock HID's so I have not bought from the vendor but I will soon for 6000k bulbs.

2) Again to reiterate, brand is not known unless you buy from a site that specifically lists the kits brand. And again, Ebay kits are typically no-name brands. So buy from the vendor. There's another brand known as McCullough I believe. Their build quality is excellent though they are overpriced and in reality, the price premium is only because of their "brand name" as they make other products as well. Stick with our vendors on this too.

3) 4300k, 6000k, 8000k, etc are all color temperatures. They represent what color the HID will be when fully warmed up. Typically speaking, 4300k has the highest count of lumens, which results in the greatest brightness. As you go higher toward 6000k, 8000k, 10000k or even 30000k, lumens decrease and the color changes. 6000k-10000k are typically blue with 6000k having the slightest hue of blue to 10000k to being almost pure blue. Other ratings beyond 10000k tend to have colors such as purple or pink but their light output is decreased to point where you can't see very well. In fact, anything from 8000k on up lose significant light output and is technically illegal. I recommend you get 6000k's for that "exotic" look with the slight hint of blue without losing significant light output. You can also get 4300k which will be white and may or may not have a slight hint of yellow. They do not look as good but they ARE brighter. 6000k's don't lose enough light compared to 4300k's to be noticable. It's only side by side do you REALLY notice it. You can also get 3000k's which are yellow but are only legal for fog lights. They have great light output and work great in rainy weather where 4300k and up don't work so well in. In any case, 3000k to 8000k is still better than halogens.

4) HID installations are very easy. Think of it like this: You take the old bulb out of the socket that it plugs into and attach one of the HID ballast cords into the socket, then through the ballast and out the other wire is the light bulb which goes into the lightbulb housing. That's it. However, with the IS, there is a cover behind the lighthousing. You will need to drill a hole for the wires to go through. You will also need to find a place to mount the ballast. 3M tape can usually hold a ballast just fine. We have a DIY guide here in the forum FAQ if you want pictures and instructions of the full installation. Refer to that if you need anymore information on installation.

5) Aftermarket HID kits pretty much need to be vibration proof as well as waterproof. Other than that, there's not much you can look for as kits are made by so many companies that you can't compare. Technically speaking, any aftermarket HID kit is illegal unless they're OEM. Because of that, some countries I believe restrict the sale of HID kits and therefore, some companies will make HID kits under on "name", sell a couple and make others under other "names" to prevent tracing. You really won't know if your kit is good until you've installed it and used it for awhile. That's why buying from a well known vendor like ours will give you an "insurance" that it'll be good. Even if you have a defective problem, you have a warranty that will be honored.

Hope that helps.