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HID Kit

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 7:08 pm
by ilpadrino
I'm actually making some decent money now so I wanna get something I've always wanted: an HID kit.

Are there any particular brand names I should look for? I've been searching on Ebay and I've seen various names.

I know McCulloch is a reputable name but there aren't many available on Ebay.

HID guys, what're yours--and how are they holding up?

Gracias.

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:04 pm
by kirktalife
CUSTOM :D :D :D , do it custom

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:30 pm
by 03sxt
Are you buying projectors or just looking for an HID kit with the bulbs, etc?

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:32 pm
by ilpadrino
Negative on the projectors.

Just a good ol' upgrade of the lights.

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:38 pm
by 03sxt
Gotcha'! I'll let others chime in about brands they recommend, since I don't have any personal experiences with any... Yet. :twisted:

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 9:22 pm
by Anonymous User

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 11:09 pm
by scneonchic
I have heard good things about the McCulloch HID's

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 2:50 am
by refect
i have 10,000k McCulloch plug and play kit. works real nice and took like 10 minutes to install. had it for about a year now and havent had any problems since. im thinkin bout getting some new bulbs becasue they are getting old and have lost most of their color and are starting to actualy mismatch in color. hids sorta do that as they are kinda like stars. as they get older they go down in kelvin till they die out. or somethin like that....anyways if you buy an hid kit make sure they are not blue tinted bulbs or any kind of tinted bulbs. those are the cheap ones and usual will crap out on you or burn off the tint and then be all different colors. a true hid bulb is clear and produces the color by its rating of kelvin. not from it being tinted. now if you are not sure on the colors ill go ahead and explain that to you a bit. 4,000-5,000k is about the best to get for maximum light output. (i think 4300k is right on the mark). the 4,000-5,000k puts out a white light and is what rating in kelvin you find stock on most cars with factory hid since it has the best light output. anythign higher than that you you start to go down in light output and up in color.....6,000k produce a tealish color, 8,000k produces a nice crystal blue, 10,000k (wat i have) produces a nice deep blue/purpleish, and 12,000k produces a purple color. now jsut because it goes down in light output doesnt mean you loose a shit load of visability. my 10,000 light up the road so well i love it. i can see so much with them. probably not as good as 4300k would, but still a hell lot better than regular halogen. as a matter of fact i dont think ill ever go back to regular halogen. i cant stand it now. i get in the car without hids and am like damn wtf is this i cant see shit!! are my lights even on? HID > ftw haha hope this helped you out some in choosing an hid kit...

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 4:08 am
by phenomeneon21
so going by that website, i'd need a 9007 HID conversion kit right? i guess I'm kinda confused on what I would actually need, lol...

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 6:01 am
by BlackRoseRacing
^^^
Yes...9007 kit should be what your looking for....

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:36 am
by 03sxt
But make sure you buy two kits... :thumbup:













And send me one. :P

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 9:10 am
by ilpadrino
Refect, you got any pics of 'em on?

I was probably leaning towards McCulloch. This is something I wouldn't wanna go cheap on.

*Edit* This is probably what I'm gonna get. It's not bad, in terms of price, it's free shipping, the seller is reputable, and it's McCulloch: HID

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 11:26 am
by fireantz
How do HID's do in our headlamps? They are designed for halogen but do they do fine with HID...like are you going to blind people driving by you?

Here is another website to buy those mccolluch from that isn't ebay: http://www.hid-sin.com

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 12:53 pm
by refect
ill get some pics when i get home for you to see. as for how they light up and if they blind people....well it all deppends how you have them aimed. you might need to do some adjusting on how the housing is aimed...obvously retro fit projectors is the best way to go if you really want a full use out of the hid. because they are able to keep the light in one single beam rather than shooting it everywhere like a projector housing will do. all in all i dont think mine really blind people. none of my friends said they do when i drive behind them. they pretty much just light up where the halogens would, except it is much much brighter and lights up further out in front. however, i want to do a retro fit. just dont feel like spendnd the money on projectors and hacking up my headlights to do it.....

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 1:39 pm
by ilpadrino
Thanks for the suggestions thus far!

I agree with refect, I always thought that the HIDs in our stock/aftermarket headlamps will be about the same except much brighter, crisper etc.

I'll probably do my best to adjust them properly, like suggested in the chilton manual.

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 3:39 pm
by daaboots

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 4:37 pm
by ilpadrino
I've always been a fan of his work. He does great stuff. But I wouldn't wanna get a whole new front bumper.

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 2:54 pm
by ilpadrino
*Bump*

One final question for the HID people, where and/or how, did you mount the ballasts for these HIDs?

They're not "big" but they're bigger than I thought they would be.

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 3:39 pm
by marakka
I tucked my passenger one down in the hole next to the washer bottle. The drivers one is tucked neatly behind the fuse box. All mire wires are tucked here and there where I could hide em. If you have screw holes in the boxes, mount the stuff to the radiator support. Thats where I intended to mount mine, but the boxes had no holes :(

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:03 pm
by ilpadrino
If you didn't screw it in, how are they secured? What's holding them in place?

Hopefully I can do this tomorrow morning :D

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:10 pm
by 03sxt
ilpadrino wrote:If you didn't screw it in, how are they secured? What's holding them in place?

Hopefully I can do this tomorrow morning :D
Probably double-sided tape like the kit you're looking at comes with. ;)

Mmmmmmm... 12000K setup. =P~

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:20 pm
by ilpadrino
Hmmmm...that double sided tape is strong enough to hold the ballast? If you got the Mcculloch, you know how heavy it is. Sorry for being cautious--just excited to get this on :D

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:22 pm
by 03sxt
ilpadrino wrote:Hmmmm...that double sided tape is strong enough to hold the ballast? If you got the Mcculloch, you know how heavy it is. Sorry for being cautious--just excited to get this on :D
I don't see why McCulloch would recommend that double sided tape with their kits if they wouldn't hold the ballasts... Order the damn kit! :lol: Just secure it better if you don't think the tape will hold it, but I think you'll be fine. Ballasts can't be that heavy...

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:29 pm
by ilpadrino
Order it? I already did!

It's in my room ;)

*edit* I knew I uploaded the pics earlier for a reason (I'm at work)

Image

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 11:26 pm
by marakka
Mine fit in the spots that I put them so perfectly they held themselves in place. I had to relocate some wires when I changed bumpers, but other than that they haven't moved in about 2 months.

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:16 pm
by 03sxt
I know this is an old post... But I was just wondering where you ended up getting that McCulloch HID kit from, Joe.

:twisted:

I have a new mod coming up for the car and I'm just trying to scout out some prices.

Thanks, Jason. :banghead: :lol:

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:36 pm
by ilpadrino
It was an "authorized" dealer of McCullochs on Ebay. It was a good deal--I think it was like 250 shipped, or something like that. The seller was reputable and was offering basic help on installation. They were also very accommodating--I asked for another set of wire connectors and they shipped it free of charge.

If you want, I'll look up the seller in past transactions. There are other sites too that sell 'em, in case you want to avoid Ebay.

And, of course, there is no way in hell I'll ever go back to regular halogens. When I buy a new car, it will have HIDs.

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 11:41 pm
by 03sxt
ilpadrino wrote:It was an "authorized" dealer of McCullochs on Ebay. It was a good deal--I think it was like 250 shipped, or something like that. The seller was reputable and was offering basic help on installation. They were also very accommodating--I asked for another set of wire connectors and they shipped it free of charge.

If you want, I'll look up the seller in past transactions. There are other sites too that sell 'em, in case you want to avoid Ebay.

And, of course, there is no way in hell I'll ever go back to regular halogens. When I buy a new car, it will have HIDs.
Yeah, if you could get me the seller's name, that'd be sweet. In the meantime, I'll see if I can't find them myself. What setup did you end up getting? 6000k? 8000k?

Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:13 am
by ilpadrino
8000, but now I feel it's too blue. Granted, there are even darker colors but I wanted something that gave more white than blue instead of more blue with some white.

With that in mind, I would probably do 6000 or 6500 (if it's offered--not sure about the 6500).

Regardless, the light output is absolutely great.

PS The seller is zgperformance. Over 2000 feedbacks, with 4 total neutrals, 2 in the last 6 months and no negatives. They should pay me for such a plug lol.

Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:27 pm
by Neonix
I paid 213 shipped for my kit, and it's 6500k. I love the color, and the kit was very good quality for only 213. They came with a 1 year warranty too.

I wasn't going to go over 6500k because it's too blue and the higher it goes it's too purple IMO. But I wouldn't go any lower then 5000k, and 6000k was my next choice if I couldn't find the 6500k. But I did, and I'm more then happy with mine. :D Weird how it makes it feel like a completely different car. :lol: