hid questions....that youve answered before!

[dnasty88]

i know these have been asked and i did search and I cant really find my answers or maybe im an idiot.

anyway. my few questions are i want both high beam and low beam HIDs. does that mean Ill have 4 balasts. 2 per side? and what if i want hid fogs? 3 per side?

whats the difference between the numbers. 5000k vs 10000k. someone said that they are brighter with lower kelvin. true false?

why do people go with 6000k low beams and 5000k fogs? wouldnt that look weird? what i want are some BRIGHT WHITE highs lows and fogs.

problem one is i have no fogs. how would I do this in this case? i couldnt splice the running lights wire and run hids off of that could I?

[phobs]

i know these have been asked and i did search and I cant really find my answers or maybe im an idiot.

anyway. my few questions are i want both high beam and low beam HIDs. does that mean Ill have 4 balasts. 2 per side? and what if i want hid fogs? 3 per side?

whats the difference between the numbers. 5000k vs 10000k. someone said that they are brighter with lower kelvin. true false?

why do people go with 6000k low beams and 5000k fogs? wouldnt that look weird? what i want are some BRIGHT WHITE highs lows and fogs.

problem one is i have no fogs. how would I do this in this case? i couldnt splice the running lights wire and run hids off of that could I?

1. If you go for high and low beams you will have 4 ballasts, 2 per side. High beams are pointless since you will barely use them. If you want HID fogs then yes another pair of ballasts are required.

2. According to the kelvin scale 4300k is the brightest most pure white output you can achieve, hence OEM manufactures use ~4300k for their HID bulbs. Anything after 4300k will output a tint of blue to purple.http://i247.photobucket.com/al...1.jpg

3. People go with whatever they like, it's all preference. Some people like that tint of blue to their lights.

4. As for fogs, there are tons of topics on this. They are all over the first page, look!

[BlackNWhite]

problem one is i have no fogs. how would I do this in this case? i couldnt splice the running lights wire and run hids off of that could I?

My lows and fogs are both 6k.

What I did... is since you should be using a relay harness for your HIDs... both lows get their power from ONE headlight harness. I used the driver's side for the lows.

That leaves open the passenger side to run your relay kit off of for the fogs. Most relay kits aren't long enough though so you'll need someone handy with electrical to extend it for you. My gf's dad did it for me.

[dnasty88]

I think i should have just got the fogs at the factory.. lol. i dont know what to do

[imdavit]

same here yo, i want some damn fogs.... they cost so much though at stealership F THEM

SOMEONE SELL ME THEIR FOG LIGHTS!!!

[Blackmobile]

I just got my fogs in yesterday. I didn't get OEM, i got the ones from Autopia, they seems kinda junky... durable but kinda ghetto. For $75 i can't really compling (shipping to canada included) Plus they're quite big, about 4 inches across while my fog light hole is only 3 inches, so they'll have to be mounted behind. I'll post some reviews of it after i have it up and running.

I hear they're really hard to mount, i'm probably going to spend most of the installation time trying to craft something out of the original fog light covers.

Would anyone be interested in pics of the install process?

[phobs]

How do the fog lights you purchased look like, they aren't OEM aftermarket replacements right?

[Blackmobile]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...photoThose are what I got, they're not OEM replacements that's for sure!

[PureviL]

Blackmobile, your signature says that you switch the licence plate light to white LEDS, how do you install them? I didnt see any screws arounf there to pull the existing cover.

[Blackmobile]

Easy stuff, you have to swap them from the inside of the trunk. Remove the carpet lining by removing some of the pins inside the trunk cover. You'll see 2 grey knob thingy's those are the lamps, turn them counter-clockwise and they come out, then you can pull out the bulb and pop in the LED. I'm thinking of doing a write-up for interior bulb swap since everyone seems to be a really common mod.

[PureviL]

Thank you Blackmobile.

[Rellz CT]

i cant figure out how to pull the plugs out

i dont want to break any

[phobs]

take a flat head and pop the middle out and then pull out the entire plug. For the rubber stoppers just pull them out from an angle

[dnasty88]

High beams are pointless since you will barely use them.

it seems to me like the job is kinda half-assed of you dont do all of them. just kinda my opinion. i mean BMW's dont just have the lows and fogs done, they have all 3.

where have you guys mounted 3 different balasts on each side at?

[phobs]

it seems to me like the job is kinda half-assed of you dont do all of them. just kinda my opinion. i mean BMW's dont just have the lows and fogs done, they have all 3.

where have you guys mounted 3 different balasts on each side at?

now which BMW models have their lows, highs, and fogs all HIDs? BMW uses bi-xenon headlights and halogen fog lights. Adding HID high beams is just overkill, waste of money, and is not good for the bulbs unless using a bi-xenon set up.

[dnasty88]

i didnt research what i said. but just my opinion that it doesnt seem but half done if you dont do it all. i dont know.

[Blackmobile]

It's not half done if it's not meant to be done that way. Having HID's in your high's doesn't make sense, you shouldn't be flicking HID's on and off, which is what most people do with their high beams.

Plus high's are usually pointed higher up which scatters light everywhere, lows are pointed much lower as to not blind people, so halogen high's are aimed higher and brighter than the lows which makes it more than good enough for that extra lighting.

i cant figure out how to pull the plugs out

i dont want to break any

Are you talking about the HID replacement or the licence plate lamps? for the license plate lamps, turn them counter clockwise 1/4 turn.

[mikegtr06]

Would anyone be interested in pics of the install process?

yes !!!! lots of pics and tips...

[dnasty88]

you say that you shouldnt flick them on and off. i was thinking about my subs. my subs make my lights dim when they hit. would that hurt these?

[phobs]

Yeah, flicking HIDs on and off is very bad and will drastically kill the life of your bulbs. You may want to invest in a better performance battery since you upgraded your audio.

[Blackmobile]

you say that you shouldnt flick them on and off. i was thinking about my subs. my subs make my lights dim when they hit. would that hurt these?

Not sure if it will hurt your lights.. Sounds like you need a grounding kit because of your extra power draw.

[dnasty88]

have thought about that also. just waiting on funds lol...

[Blackmobile]

So I attempted to install the autopia fogs, and all I can say is wow... these things suck! making a new mounting bracket isn't going to be hard, however when i do get them mounted, they're going to have a large gap at the top of the lights showing. If i put them into the fog holes flush, then they point about 30 degrees downwards.

I've mounted them so far ( i ran out of daylight to do the wiring). A few days after mounting them, i took a look at the lights and noticed there's condensation on the INSIDE! So i guess i'm going to take them off, dry them out and seal them up with some extra silicone or something to make them air tight. Either that or i'm going to suck it up and junk them and get a pair of oem, these just seem like they're not worth the trouble.

[phobs]

you get what you pay for

[Blackmobile]

With this condensation build in inside the lamps, is it possible for me to just use the fog lights anyways and maybe the heat from the bulbs will evaporate the condesation?

Or will this make my fog lights blow up from being wet on the inside??

[LongBeachCoupe]

condensation is bad, i dont believe the bulbs will "evaporate" the moisture. But if enough builds up it goes from being a cosmetic issue to being a short-circuit issue.

Try and get them dry.. then seal the crap out of them!

[CaLiLaTiN]

My lows and fogs are both 6k.

What I did... is since you should be using a relay harness for your HIDs... both lows get their power from ONE headlight harness. I used the driver's side for the lows.

That leaves open the passenger side to run your relay kit off of for the fogs. Most relay kits aren't long enough though so you'll need someone handy with electrical to extend it for you. My gf's dad did it for me.

I installed my relay for the fog HID using the drivers side...the relay I had was not long enough to reach the passenger side. IS THIS BAD? LOL. It worked fine...but I just read this and I am thinking I should extend the relay to reach the passenger side. Does it matter?

[BlackNWhite]

No. I did it that way because I didn't have the stock wiring for the fogs.

But since you did already have fogs... I'm assuming you did it off the driver's side foglight. It's perfectly fine.

[CaLiLaTiN]

Ahhhh Cool thanks for the info.

[gli liphon]

I'm not wired for fogs so I picked up a dual relay harness on ebay, since I knew I'd be doing HIDs and fogs eventually. The setup I got was kind of pricey, but I'm really happy with the quality and its long enough to reach both sides. I did the 2 ballasts off the drivers side like what is mentioned here, and now I'm wired for fogs too, I'll just end up tapping into the running light to trigger the relay. It doesn't look like they have any more up on ebay right now, but here was the one I bought. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...item= The seller was very responsive over ebay, so if you want one you might be able to just email them about getting one if you decide to go that way.