burgoyne

So I want to install an H.I.D kit on my civic, but I haven't got a clue where to start.

Roughly how much does a kit cost? Which ones should I get? How long for an install? Where should I buy from? Is it better to get them online or locally?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Lordsin

Go with a cheap eBay kit for 30 bucks and if you later on wanna save money for a better one then splurge but I have no problem with the eBay one I bought.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

If you want the most out of your lights do a retrofit. Check out The Retrofit Source for info on HIDs and retrofitting.

If you just want HID's then just buy a kit online with a relay harness. Check out DDM Tuning for cheap kits that are decent.

burgoyne

Alright, I was looking at the cheap Ebay ones as like a starter thing, I just have a few questions. Are those Ebay kits just for the low beams? Do I need a better kit to work with the high and low beams?

What wattage do I need?

What colour bulb should I get? Does it really matter?

I believe I need an H4 bulb, am I correct? Will any H4 bulb work, I do I need Hi/Lo H4 bulb?

What are the different parts I need for a retrofit?

burgoyne

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDMHID-DeepBlue

What do you think about this kit? Should I get 35 or 55 watts? The H4 bulb says it is a low beam one, will my high beams still work?

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

35W is all you need. It actually might be better since you are putting them in the stock reflector housing to use the 35W instead of the 55W due to heat and the extra amount of scattered light. A 55W bulb doesn't last as long as a 35W either.

burgoyne

Thanks for the response GolNat.

Almost all my questions are answered now! I still would like to hear an answer to my bulb questions before I purchase a kit.

If I get low beam H4 bulbs, will my high beams still work? It may seem like a dumb question, but electrical and wiring isn't really my thing lol

burgoyne

Alright, so I narrowed my purchase down to this:
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W

It has:
~35 watt ballasts
~H4 Hi/Lo bulbs
~10000k Bulbs
~35 watt mounting brackets

All this for $52.94

Will this kit be a direct install? Will I need to purchase a relay harness, dual in and dual out harness, BOW3 error eliminator, or any adapter cables?

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

ಠ_ಠ

You must either a) like po-po attention or b) don't like seeing the road at night. JMO, but putting 10000k HIDs in reflector housings not designed for HIDs is one of those "this is why we can't have nice things" things..

burgoyne

Would 6000k be better? 5000k?

I don't know a whole lot about this, which is why I'm asking questions.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

It's a semi direct instal. You have to mount the ballast and hide your wires but the harnesses all plug into each other so there is no splicing or soldering needed.

If your car currently has 1 bulb for both high and low beam then you will need to buy an H4/9003 bi-xenon or H4/9003 hi/low relay harness. I have heard that most rekat harness are junk except for the TRS harness which is the one I have. You will not need an error eliminator unless your car has a light on the dash that tells you when a headlight is out (I don't think civics have this feature).

Here is the TRS harness:

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=14027

As far as color the higher the Kelving temperature the lower the light output. So the 10K bulbs will provide less light then the 5K and draw more attention like riceboy said. I have 5K cause its a pure white color. The 6K will give you a little less light but will be a bluish tint, which looks nice. It's up to you but I wouldn't go with 10K bulbs.

burgoyne

Thanks GolNat. I'll be ordering the kit I posted above, but with 6000k bulbs. It looks like the Hi/Lo kit comes with a relay harness, so I will give that relay harness a try. If it does not last, I will definitely pick up the TRS one you mentioned.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I had assumed you had completed your research on HIDs prior to making your decision. I apologize for being a bit harsh about it.

That said, I'll be a lot bit more informative, and pretty much give you HIDs in a nutshell.
First things first, aftermarket HIDs are technically illegal. Why, you ask? It's because people thing HIDs are awesome and want them in their cars, but do so very improperly. That's why I said the whole "this is why we can't have nice things" thing. Putting aftermarket HIDs in housings not designed for HIDs creates excessive glare and blinds other drivers.

So to explain why, I'll compare your standard halogen bulb to an HID bulb. Halogen bulbs are pretty simple: current through a filament makes it hot. It glows super bright and produces light. That light is reflected and directed in specific directions by the big *** reflector bit, creating your beam pattern. HID bulbs, on the other hand, work a bit differently. The light produced is essentially a welder's arc: i.e. an electrical arc passing through a gas filled environment, xenon gas in the case of HIDs. There's a reason why welders wear protective masks, and you don't need one when any old lamp in your house is illuminated.

To illustrate the glare, here's pic I found of some severe glare, undoubtedly due to HIDs in non-HID headlights. Note, the color temp is super, stupid blue, and is probably 8000-10,000k.


See all the light that's above the cutoff? That's the crap that gets in other drivers' eyes. It's like those asshats that put HIDs in stock housings in their lifted *** trucks. Almost along the lines of that effect. Not quite as bad, but you get the picture. Also, kinda like when someone is driving around with their high beams on. That's probably a bit more accurate.
__________________________________________________ ______________
For comparison, here are my headlights with a proper HID retrofit: TSX projectors installed in non-HID headlights.


Notice the clean cutoff with minimal glare, if you can even call that glare. It's enough for the reflective properties of street signs to catch a bit of light to be illuminated at night.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Here's also a comparison of non-HID projectors that have been heavily modified to produce a "nice" cutoff (top beam) vs an unmodified HID projector (bottom)


Notice the vast difference in light output. Recall that I had to heavily modify the projector to get that cutoff. I had to fab up a space to pull the (light condensing) lens away from its base by about 1/4" to properly focus the light, as well as modifying the shield to create the proper cutoff.
__________________________________________________ ______________


Alright, now that that's all out of the way, how do you go about getting a proper HID setup. Well, it's gonna cost you a little more up front, but will be SO much more worth it in the long run. Also, cheaper in the long run. You'll spend less time re-doing your setup.

Really, the best way to do it is an HID retrofit, or installing an HID projector in the non-HID housing. This can take a lot of creativity, but since you have a Civic sedan, there is a SUPER easy way to do a retrofit.

theretrofitsource.com (henceforth TRS) has an awesome retrofit kit that's essentially plug and play in H4 housings, the morimoto projector. I actually have 2 sets of those projectors in my possession, one for my sister's Honda Fit, and one for when I get the funds to buy new OEM-style housings to redo my setup, simply because I want to go back to an OEM look. The only non-plug and play part of the retrofit is physically opening your headlight do perform the retrofit, but that's a LOT easier than it sounds. Intimidating, yes, but not difficult, once you obtain the intestinal fortitude to actually go forth with it. With the morimoto retro, there's no cutting involved, and you still retain the OEM headlight adjustability.

Also, since TRS's morimoto retro is bi-xenon, you still retain your high beams, as pretty much any "plug and play" kit you get will remove that feature. What the morimoto kit does for your high beam is illuminates the HID bulb and drops the shield.

(not my pics) low beam:

high beam:


Downside though, is the cost of a true retrofit.. It'll run you ~$300, unless you can find coupon codes, which are pretty easy to find by quick google searches.

The morimoto retro is available in 2 different bulbs, H1 and D2S. D2S is a true HID bulb, the same used in many OEM HID applications (e.g. lexus, bmw, MB, etc), and the H1 is a re-based HID bulb to fit in H1-bulb housings. From what I've heard, the H1 projector produces a little more light, but you can get better quality bulbs with the D2S kit.

Now for color. OEM HIDs utilize a 4300k color temperature (I think). The lower the number, the "yellower" the light color. The higher, you get closer to blues, pinks, and purples, and useable light on the road is diminished. Wikipedia tells me that the sun's temp is 5780k. Personally, I think 5000k is the best to use, but that's all subjective. It's negligibly yellower than natural sunlight, thus, "brightness" on the road is (I think) maximized.

here's what the light output of my retro looks like from the bumper


I hope my post was informative and will help you make your decision. My philosophy on modding your car is this: do things right the first time, even if it means shelling out more money up front. It'll help make better decisions instead of impulse buys, and you'll end up spending less in the long run.


edit: I'll add some information about 35W vs 50/55W ballasts
So, the obvious first. 35W ballasts will product more power than 50/55W ballasts. With more power comes more light. With more power, however, diminishes bulb life, UNLESS you buy a bulb that's truly meant for 50/55W. As far as melting housings, that's not entirely true. I've had 50/55W bulbs in my housings with zero melting. The problem of melting is when you put 50/55w bulbs in HID projectors that have plastic shrouds. There have been reports of melting shrouds; enough for TRS to caution people about 50/55W HIDs in their morimoto mini projector, but, if I'm not mistaken, not so much on their larger projectors. A kinda cool thing about higher wattage ballasts, and kinda the reason I went that route, it tends to "wash out" the blue color, producing a whiter, less blue light.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

Also, a word on DDM's stuff. I have a set of their ballasts (55W) laying around that I swapped out for TRS morimoto 50W D2S ones a while back. I also had DDM's relay harness. That thing ended up failing on me after a while. The TRS one has lasted me going on 3 years now.

danwat12345

@burgoyne I think you made the right decision except you might have of wanted the 55w kit rather than 35w kit, more bang for your buck. But the bulbs do go out quicker, but, DDM does have a true lifetime warranty (as long as they are in business) and a cheap backup pair of low beam HID bulbs (~$10 on ebay) is good to have in the trunk so you never have to go back to Halogens
No, they don't melt our car's housings.
Hi/low just has a solenoid that sucks in the bulb when you want high beam. Somewhat affective, somewhat useful, nice to know it's there.

You are correct, the H4 hi/low bulb kits come with the relay harness for the +$20. No need for error eliminators or adapters of any kind.

Their 5% off deal might still be in effect, try discount code "Facebook5"

Anybody reading this thread; Don't buy the cheapest Ebay kits (Xentec)! They are super low quality with issues like flickering and possibly DC output ballasts rather than AC, resulting in shorter bulb life

localkineguy

does anyone have experience with HID projector housings from eBay? I would put the DDM 35W kit in the housing...