jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
Well I've been waiting to do this for quite some time but I finally made the purchase of my HID sets. Hope this doesn't turn into one of those impulse buys I later regret. Any way here are the details.
I've been researching for the past 2-3 weeks on aftermarket HID kits and I ended up ordering my stuff from The Retrofit Source. I didn't want to try the DDM kits as I've read that they're hit and miss online, around here though they've been pretty good it seems. A friend of mine who did a bi-xenon projector install on his Cobalt also recommended this site so I'm feeling pretty confident with them so far. His install is seemingly perfect.
We all have heard enough about glare created by putting HIDs in halogen housings; I don't plan on driving with my brights on during rush hour so I think I'll be ok. The fogs are low enough and not in the drivers direct line of vision so I'm thinking I'm safe there as well. Anyways, I'm trying to color match my hi-beams and fogs to the factory HID. For starters, I increased my D2R bulbs color temp to 6000K from the OEM 4300K. The bulbs I'm using are special order, don't let it fool you I just contacted them asking if they had any, from The Retrofit Source. They are Morimoto D2R 6000K Bulbs and they cost me $45/pair compared to roughly $180/pair for Philips D2Rs. Also, it's very hard to get a Philips D2R bulb in anything above 4300k. From what it looks like you have to get them from the Japan Amazon.com. A lot of the bulbs out there are big fat phonies (Family Guy Reference).
Next up were the equipment for the Hi-Beams. I pretty much ordered this set, but it's broken up on my invoice due to the special order. 9005 Morimoto Elite HID System with 6000K 9005 bulbs, the 9005 wire harness, and the heavy duty relay harness type. It was suggested to use the heavy duty relay to eliminate potential problems. The relay is directly powered by the battery as opposed to the Canbus system and the relay is switched from the stock headlight system. I'm hoping that I got the correct harness to eliminate any potential problems as suggested by the folks at Retrofit.
I purchased the same kit for my fogs but instead of a 9005 bulb and wire harness I'm using the H10/9145 bulb and wire harness. The bulb and wire harnesses are the direct replacements, I'm not "Retrofitting" anything except the location of these ballasts. Which brings me to my next point.
A quick look beneath the hood of my car and it looks as if I'm going to have a bit of a hard time finding a place to mount 4 HID ballasts that are not "slim" design. I'd like them inside the engine bay to avoid most of the weather, but then heat is a concern. Will have to decide later. The installation of the above equipment, minus the D2R bulbs is probably going to have to wait until my next trek home as I'm not about to accomplish this in the comfort of the garage I'm renting with my apartment.
Will have updates when they become available. I should have the 6000K bulbs as soon as Thursday next week.
Does this all sound crazy or what? Am I going to end up returning half this stuff? This is a big leap for me in terms of modifications here.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the knowledge that you guys have bestowed upon this young pup.
I've been researching for the past 2-3 weeks on aftermarket HID kits and I ended up ordering my stuff from The Retrofit Source. I didn't want to try the DDM kits as I've read that they're hit and miss online, around here though they've been pretty good it seems. A friend of mine who did a bi-xenon projector install on his Cobalt also recommended this site so I'm feeling pretty confident with them so far. His install is seemingly perfect.
We all have heard enough about glare created by putting HIDs in halogen housings; I don't plan on driving with my brights on during rush hour so I think I'll be ok. The fogs are low enough and not in the drivers direct line of vision so I'm thinking I'm safe there as well. Anyways, I'm trying to color match my hi-beams and fogs to the factory HID. For starters, I increased my D2R bulbs color temp to 6000K from the OEM 4300K. The bulbs I'm using are special order, don't let it fool you I just contacted them asking if they had any, from The Retrofit Source. They are Morimoto D2R 6000K Bulbs and they cost me $45/pair compared to roughly $180/pair for Philips D2Rs. Also, it's very hard to get a Philips D2R bulb in anything above 4300k. From what it looks like you have to get them from the Japan Amazon.com. A lot of the bulbs out there are big fat phonies (Family Guy Reference).
Next up were the equipment for the Hi-Beams. I pretty much ordered this set, but it's broken up on my invoice due to the special order. 9005 Morimoto Elite HID System with 6000K 9005 bulbs, the 9005 wire harness, and the heavy duty relay harness type. It was suggested to use the heavy duty relay to eliminate potential problems. The relay is directly powered by the battery as opposed to the Canbus system and the relay is switched from the stock headlight system. I'm hoping that I got the correct harness to eliminate any potential problems as suggested by the folks at Retrofit.
I purchased the same kit for my fogs but instead of a 9005 bulb and wire harness I'm using the H10/9145 bulb and wire harness. The bulb and wire harnesses are the direct replacements, I'm not "Retrofitting" anything except the location of these ballasts. Which brings me to my next point.
A quick look beneath the hood of my car and it looks as if I'm going to have a bit of a hard time finding a place to mount 4 HID ballasts that are not "slim" design. I'd like them inside the engine bay to avoid most of the weather, but then heat is a concern. Will have to decide later. The installation of the above equipment, minus the D2R bulbs is probably going to have to wait until my next trek home as I'm not about to accomplish this in the comfort of the garage I'm renting with my apartment.
Will have updates when they become available. I should have the 6000K bulbs as soon as Thursday next week.
Does this all sound crazy or what? Am I going to end up returning half this stuff? This is a big leap for me in terms of modifications here.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the knowledge that you guys have bestowed upon this young pup.
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