2003-04 Mach 1 Registry Owners Club

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-   -   HID headlights (http://www.mach1registry.org/forums/showthread.php?t=126306)

04comporgmach1 01-20-2013 07:27 PM

HID headlights
 
I just installed my headlight and foglight HID kit that I purchased through last call racing. I noticed a huge improvement right from the start. The kit did not have any instructions available yet, but it was pretty straight forward and easy to figure out. I searched "mustang HID install" on youtube and applied that info to my kit. It didn't take too long to do the install. I pulled the battery and cold air kit out along with completely removing the headlight assemblies to give me room to work and to be able to hide everything. I hid the passenger side ballast under the cold air and the driver side behind the battery. The fog light kit I installed behind the front bumper.

I think it was well worth the cost, which happens to be cheaper than most other kits. Yes there are a few things i would like to have been different about the kit, but I can easily make those improvements myself in the future. I did have one hickup with the install. One of the foglight ballasts turned out to be bad right from the start. But LAST CALLS customer service took care of it quickly and professionally so no big issue. With any manufacturing process you will have certain problems. The last great thing about the kit is that there is lifetime warranty on all parts.

I am now the guy coming down the road at you that you wish I would turn off my high beams... Well guess what?? those are my low beams. Hahaha

Fosters 01-21-2013 01:52 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
If it's your first install of HIDs, I'd like to caution you on a few things. Make sure the relay they use is water proofed well, electric liquid tape works well for this. Otherwise expect to replace that every carwash you go through. The ballasts are generally sealed inside, so no worries there.

Aim your headlights down a bit, there's no reason to blind anyone, and the less light you spend on blinding people and lighting up the moon, the more you'll have on the ground. There's a tool you can find on amazon, basically a 4mm wrench I think, well worth the cash.

What color/temp did you go with?

New Mach 01-24-2013 10:03 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I'm interested in going with HID's as well. What should I expect to pay for a kit, I don't mind spending money for a good kit, but I don't want to waste money either. I see kit's on ebay from $29 - $129.

My son says a local shop installs them from $145 and $245 for the better kit, now that seems high. I can do most basic mods to my car, tend to stay away from electrical work, but this is most likely a job I can tackle, just want to get a good kit to start with.

Thanks in advance,

Triple

04comporgmach1 01-27-2013 08:57 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by New Mach (Post 1530298)
I'm interested in going with HID's as well. What should I expect to pay for a kit, I don't mind spending money for a good kit, but I don't want to waste money either. I see kit's on ebay from $29 - $129.

My son says a local shop installs them from $145 and $245 for the better kit, now that seems high. I can do most basic mods to my car, tend to stay away from electrical work, but this is most likely a job I can tackle, just want to get a good kit to start with.

Thanks in advance,

Triple

I paid about 180 for the headlight/foglight combo. It was pretty much plug and play. The only thing about the kit is that it is universal fit. The only thing I had to do is move the pins around in one connector which only involved having a small flat tip screwdriver to get the pins out and then swap between some slots. It took about 2 minutes to change the pins around. It really didn't take long to to the job and just a few basic hand tools to complete. They really are a big improvement over stock. I am so happy with the results. I went with the 6000k color option on mine, which is bright white with a hint of blue. The numbers refer to color in the color spectrum and not the heat of the bulb. HIDs dont create any more heat than standard bulbs and in some cases are actually cooler in temp, so you dont have to worry about damage to the headlight housing.

New Mach 01-28-2013 03:31 AM

Re: HID headlights
 
Great information, thanks for that. Which brand/kit did you go with for the $180?

All the best,

Triple

04comporgmach1 01-28-2013 08:26 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I just got the kit available through Last Call Racing

spanky192 01-29-2013 02:18 AM

Re: HID headlights
 
You can get a good kit for under $75. I got mine from DDM tuning 4 years ago and they are still working great. I got the dual lo/hi headlights and the foglight kit for about $70 all together.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Product-Cat...hting/HID-Kits

New Mach 01-29-2013 02:34 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
Thanks for the bit of information. I've narrowed it down to DDM or Bi Xenon. One is expensive, and the other is cheap.

All the best everyone!

Triple

PS. I just called DDM and I'm most likely going with them. I called Xenon Supply twice and neither time did they answer theirs, at nearly 3 times the price they should've answered the phone, ya think? In all fairness Xenno just called me back, however I didn't leave my phone number. Hope they're not stocking me. LOLz.

DSGdmb 01-30-2013 10:45 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I got my fog HIDs from DDM. They are definitely the way to go as they have a lifetime waranty. I heard stories of them taking awhile to replace them, but lifetime is lifetime, and they are the cheapest HIDs around.

Gibs 02-07-2013 10:35 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
+1 for the Last Call Racing guys! I am personal friends with one of them, but thats not the reason I use them. Customer service is! I just bought the HID H/L and F/L 8K Bi Xenon kit from them today. Got it cheaper than I can get them elsewhere out here on the island! Before you go elsewhere on any parts try these guys, they will be competitive against everyone. 3rd order from me in the last year from them.

Oh yeah they are Mustang guys too.

Gib

suicidekings 02-07-2013 11:27 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I cant speak about customer service however I have DDM tuning, fantastic price and I love mine. No issues at all.

New Mach 02-12-2013 11:45 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
My DDM headlight/foglight kit arrived from China today. The only issue I noticed is the 9007 bulbs are a bit loose in the housing, looks to be about 1-2mm of play. If the car hit a bump, it seems they would definitely bounce around a bit.

Anyone else have the same issue?

Triple

New Mach 02-17-2013 09:09 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I shimmed the blubs so they don't rattle. I went with DDM's 35w headlight and foglight kits @ 5000K color.

Installed them today and removed the bumper to place the ballast neatly out of the way. I placed all 4 ballasts and the harness in the center grove behind the steel bumper, it the prefect place to place all the electronics.
Pretty straight forward install, taking my sweet time, it took me about 3 hours, but every thing was done correctly and I couldn't be happier with how it all turned outs. Thanks to the pointers here and my watching this great Youtube video below.

How to install HID on an 99-04 Mustang
http://youtu.be/csN5D6onzAk

How to remove 99-04 Mustang front bumper
http://youtu.be/hZpt7vttphQ

I'm going to go ahead and do all of my motorcycles and the foglights on my Wife's SUV. I've added Xenon Match fog lights to my TL.

Triple

Mach 1 B-2 02-27-2013 05:03 AM

Re: HID headlights
 
My front lights are tinted so they dont blind anybody:smokin:

03AZRE BLU 08-15-2013 01:11 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I just bought from them and so far I'm not impressed one bit. I got the head fog kit with bixenon. I hooked it up and the right side didn't work. I changed the ballasts around and found out that one ballast didn't work. I contacted them and they said they would replace it. They just called me a day or two ago and said he tested it and it did work. I explained how I moved it around to be sure it was the ballast and that I have the heads working fine now. He said he was going to charge me 35$ for a electrical test fee. I had my dad call back yesterday as I was not able to. He still would not doing anything to make it right and said that he'd have the manufacturer call us. Personally I've had enough with this crap. They already had left out a few things that they said were included but I wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Also they said its a lifetime warranty but why do I have to pay 35 to test it when I saw it didn't work and I could buy a whole new foglight kit for the same price. . Plus I had to ship it out there and ship it back. If they fix it ill update but as of now I'm very pissed off bc I bought from them thinking it'd be better and smarter than DDM tuning but now I wish I would've bought it there instead for 60 bucks cheaper. If anyone has advice let me know.

03AZRE BLU 08-16-2013 12:17 AM

Re: HID headlights
 
UPDATE: they are "waiving" the 35$ testing fee so I will receive another ballast or the same one that supposedly works. Anyway we will see if it works correctly. I am not thrilled about this as its been a hassle to get them to take care of it but they finally have.

CoolbeansMach1 08-28-2013 12:00 PM

Re: HID headlights
 
I'll share my input here. DDM is a hit or miss. You get a good kit that lasts forever, or you end up "taking advantage" of their lifetime warranty, many times. TheRetrofitSource.com is the only place I will buy HIDs after having my fair share of failed ebay kits. I even tried retrosutions.com, naturally they talk up their kits on how reliable they are. Mine was reliable for two months. They say their ballasts have a lock-out feature that disables it if it gets too much current. This is BS, basically, the lock-out is just the ballast breaking. This is their excuse when the ballast is simply crap quality. TRS deals OEM parts used by manufacturers only, aside from the Morimoto brand products, but those are truly OEM quaity, just not actual OEM. They also sell kits for a complete projector-style retrofit (the only way to go if you value your high beams). I had a Bi-xenon kit from ebay. The bulb is attached to an electromagnet that physically re-positions the bulb in the reflector. All it did was change the light pattern from ok lows to crap lows. A projector retrofit will give your headlights an OEM look, OEM performance, much more usable light than slapping HIDs in our reflectors, and never blind oncoming drivers. I'm on my phone, so I will edit ad add some more points to this post whenI get home. But for now, I will leave this excellent write-up on how to do a projector retrofit.
http://forums.corral.net/forums/gene...eadlights.html

Edit: I'm being lazy, HIDPlanet.com has all the info you can ever hope to find on HIDs. If anybody has any HID questions, feel free to send me a PM.


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