tpinsocal

Damn, just trying to hook up my HID and the plug from the car dosen't match up with the plug on the new light or the ballest inlet....off to have a second crack at it....

STARR

iTrader: (1)

Be careful with just 3m double sided tape, it will eventually come off, zip tie it also

tpinsocal

I got them in and there working...but one side is flickering!
I'll see if it needs to burn in some first, but if they shouldn't flicker let me know...

tpinsocal

Nice...I'll have to get into the wheel well again to check it out.

richmusch

Got mine done this weekend. I used stock ballasts and a D2 converter for the aftermarket bulbs. The light output is brighter, but I am not sold on the Halogen projectors using the HID bulbs.

Anyone with the stock HID's have a picture of your cutoff and the color it produces?

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

My kit came in yesterday, the quality looks pretty good. The one thing I wasn't too happy about is that the connection to the stock harness is just two exposed wires with flat prongs on them. Once I saw them I remembered back to my BMW days when I added hid fogs and had to plug the prongs into the harness holes and tape the sh*t out of them with elec tape to try to make a weatherproof seal. Not this car, I am NOT comfortable with doing that. I ordered a pair of male H11 connectors and once they get in I am going to solder and heat shrink them onto the HID lead wires. That way the whole system will be weatherproof and I wont have to worry about moisture getting inside the stock harness. At that point it really will be a "plug-n-play" kit.

Mreim769

Mine was the same way for the 300. I just taped the sh*t out of it too but yeah that isn't something I would recommend. I completely forgot about the exposed wires, it was like 2 years ago otherwise I would have given you a heads up. Sorry about that.

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

No worries, I completely forgot about it too... Besides, soldering the plugs onto the wires will be a nice little project.

CKphilly

I really want to get this done on my Max but I'm worried about the wiring now. Is it really that exposed? If so, I'd be worried about just using electrical tape.

Also, that picture above is great, but where did you put the second ballast?

Oh, and I'm planning on getting these (http://www.carid.com/product.php?pro...t=84982&page=1) in 5K and H11. I hope that's right =P

tpinsocal

Where did you get the H11 connectors?
I have the get back into my wheel wells to add a harness because both of my HID's are fluttering...so I would like to take care of the plug at the same time...thanks

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

I got them on amazon. It surprisingly difficult to find a male harness. This is more of an "extension" but a little slicing and dicing will give us exactly what we need:

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Model-Plug-...615041&sr=1-11

tpinsocal

I just found this place....not sure if its any easier...the ones you found look like they would be waterproof

http://www.innovativewiring.com/Part...tPartsPage.htm

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like it might be the ballast. If you have a relay giving them their own power then something must either be wrong with the wiring or inside the ballast. Do you have a warrantee? call up the company and tell them whats happening and they should give you a new ballast.

as for the flickering, in my experience all the kits will do that. They flash on, get dim, then "charge" up to full power within a few seconds.

nalc

iTrader: (11)

swap the bulbs. see if the problem stays on the same side. if it does, then it's either the ballasts or the harness. swap the ballasts, and see where the problem goes. if it's -still- on the same side, then it's the harness.

CKphilly

I'm now even more hesitant to do this. Did any of you mount the ballasts inside the bumper? Or did all of you go the route of "anywhere under the hood"?

Also, I'm assuming that the majority of you didn't have the same issues that gibbusoft is having? Because of my call schedule, I, unfortunately, do have to drive around late at night, and it would seriously suck pretty bad to all of a sudden be stuck waiting for the sun to rise to go home.

k757

iTrader: (1)

Another option is to buy a higher end bulb. Sylvania Silverstar comes in ~4000k. In another car, I am using a Luminics bulbs that is 5150k (white with a visible blue hue to it)

CKphilly

I like that option. Do you know which of the luminics bulbs (titanium white or hyper white) would give me the purest white with no blue hue?

k757

iTrader: (1)

I looked at the Titanium but they were like double the cost of the Hyper White. I believe the Titanium are at 5500k (but don't quote me) I know that the Hyper White are at 5150k

nalc

iTrader: (11)

all those blue-tinted bulbs are trash. Just get a pair of 65w H9 bulbs and cut the locking tabs to fit them in the H11 sockets. That will give far better output than a blue-tinted H11 bulb. The blue tint makes the light whiter, but reduces output significantly. Sylvania Silverstar, Noyka, Luminics, PIAA all garbage. Get a nice set of Osram or Narva or Philips or Sylvania un-tinted H9 bulbs. They are brighter and whiter and all-around better than H11.

2young2retire

Interesting, very interesting. First time I have heard of this idea.

nalc

iTrader: (11)

55w blacktop H11 bulb makes 1350 lumens.
65w cleartop H9 bulb makes 2100 lumens.

All you need to do is slice one or two of the bulb tabs, and it will drop right in.
http://www.tsxclub.com/forums/1st-ge...onversion.html

CKphilly

I must say, that is one of the best DIY tutorials I've seen. I think I'll give it a go on the H9 bulbs soon.

slvr_4dsc

Well, I wanna thank everyone on this thread for their useful input. I finally pulled the trigger on the HIDs lol. I must say I am satisfied with the ones i got installed. The output is just what I was looking for. Crystal white with a hint of blue. Awesome quality as well. It does not look like one of those cheap Chinese made HIDs. These are Japanese made, they look like they are made for the more expensive ones like the Lexus, Infiniti, benz etc...Check out my album for pics.

For the curious ones, I purchased 6000K bulbs with premium digital ballasts. It is a $190 kit + tax + shipping. I puchased them from maxmojo from nycmaxima.org. He hooked me up with a special discount. I paid $125 including taxes and shipping. His aim sn is PHOTEMIS. Also, below is a link to his post on NYCMAXIMA. I definitely recommend this guy. I hope this helps someone like me who didnt know the first thing about HIDs.

Click here for link

tpinsocal

I went with one of the $60 dollar kits and both are flickering...looks like I'm going to spend more money to fix that problem so maybe I should of steped up and got the better ones from the start....not fun taking the wheels wells apart to do this again....

Kmoney

on this our cars, never go with cheap products..

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

I'm surprised so many people are having problems. I've always had good luck with the inexpensive kits. Mine are sitting on my kitchen table waiting for the harnesses to come in the mail. I'll let you know how everything goes, but i'm crossing my fingers that I don't have any of these issues.

Mreim769

I had zero problems with mine in the past and that kit was around $60. Like I said before, it's not that the vvme (the company I used) kits use cheaper products compared to other websites. It's the fact that other websites are charging way more money for pretty much the exact same product (also known as markup). There is a difference between a wholesaler with cheaper prices and a knockoff company with cheaper prices. When purchasing a kit just make sure you know the difference between the two.

CKphilly

Do you have H9 bulbs in on yours? I really want the HID look but most H9 bulbs that I've seen just look like really bright (like high beams) halogens which I don't like.

I'd be interested to see pictures of some high quality H9 bulbs in the 7thgen Max.

nalc

iTrader: (11)

I have H11 projectors in my 4th gen, and I'm using H9 bulbs in them.

It won't change the beam pattern significantly, or cause glare. What it will do is give you a slightly whiter light (but still yellowish), and a significantly brighter beam.

These show it somewhat well. Keep in mind that this is from like 6 feet away, so any minor improvements in this picture translate to major improvements when the car is actually on the road.

H11


H9


As you can see, it's whiter, the hotspot has gotten bigger and wider as well. It's gone from 1350 lm to 2100 lm.

tpinsocal

I just changed my HID out and now they work fine...was told I had an older verison and they had problems with them. They hooked me up with a new kit and no more flickering!!!!
Nice to have the place I bought them from right up the street...

CKphilly

I would definitely prefer to install some HIDs, but I haven't done much DIY on my cars in the past and I'd hate to screw this up.

I think I'm leaning towards just man-ning up and doing the full HID conversion on my own at this point to get the results I want. Ultimately, I don't think I'd be fully satisfied with even the H9s.

Did any of you actually go through the trouble of installing them in the bumper?

EDIT: Anyone know of any experienced HID conversion kit installers in the Philly/Jersey area?

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

I will be as soon as my H11 harnesses come in the mail. Its VERY easy... the hardest part is finding a suitable mounting location for the ballasts. A couple beefy zip ties and you're done. The actual kit is just plugs and wires (and the bulb)

tpinsocal

The kits I got had brackets to hold the ballasts, just screwed the down and slide the ballasts into them and done....I did zip tie one as it was laying sideways and I didn't want to think about it...

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

Ya mine have those brackets too, good feature. I think I'm going to use zip ties to hold down the brackets unless I am attaching to a flat surface, then i'll use screws.

CKphilly

Pictures would be much appreciated.

2young2retire

Has anyone changed out their factory HID Xenon bulbs and if so did it change the light cut off? It seems the cut off is a bit low and I could use a little more light higher up. Also I plan to order a 5000k HID conversion kit for the high beams as I need all the help I can get for my old eyes.

ANNINO

iTrader: (1)

The rain finally stopped so I installed the HIDs. This first pic shows them installed, they look kinda yellow because of the camera - they match pretty well in person.



Passenger side ballast:



Drivers side ballast:



Harness I made by soldering an H11 connector to the end of the HID harness:



Let me know if you have any questions.

2young2retire

Very neat installation. Let us know how much additional illumination you get. I am thinking of going with HIDs for my fogs to supplement the low beams.

CKphilly

Hmmm, if I end up deciding to get matching HID fogs with some aftermarket HID low beams, I guess I'm gonna need 4 ballasts?

With 4 ballasts, I think I'm going to need the bumper to keep things clean...unless you guys have another suggestion.

xuimod

for 6000k the description is correct but the picture is not.

i have 6000k's on my Camry and they are nowhere near that blue (as shown in the pic). they are white with tinges of blue but the picture of 6000k is much more than a "tinge" of blue.