cfiiman
Viper Owner
^^^^ I'm the OP and mine work as good today as the day I installed them.
What is a good quality HID kit to purchase?
- Thread starter cfiiman
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LifeIsGood
Enthusiast
10 months and no problems so far. As info...here is a link to the Illustrated Upgrade that I did on these...
GEN II – HID Fog Light Installation
GEN II – HID Fog Light Installation
Has anyone used a high quality set of HID's ? Something like a set of Phillips HID's? I know they cost 10X more than a set of $25 HID's but I don't care. I'm also concerned about the fact that our housing is not designed to work with HID's to begin with. Are you able to adjust them so that they don't blind people? I could care less about my car looking cool, the factory got it right, I'm interested in better lighting but without ANY legal consequences. Thanks
cfiiman
Viper Owner
I don't blind anyone, and this produces no more heat at 35w I believe then the stock hot halogens. As far as legality, there is a cutoff bar inside the projector, not the best but ok so you are as legal as anyone else I think. Yes you can adjust them there is an x and y axis screw. As far as spending more, the most I think you could hope for is longevity but as stated above we are both going strong with no problems so I think it would be a waste of money unless you just want them, hope this helps.
Thanks for the quick reply. I know that the housings are adjustable, but as youv'e stated I'm concerned about that cutoff bar. I'm not sure if it's a focal length issue between the bulb, reflector and the cutoff bar being too close, but factory HID light have a very sharp cut. Safety is my primary concern, that is, my abillity to see farther as well as not blinding oncoming traffic. With that same line of thinking, I will not compromise the quality of anything I replace on any car I drive. It's got to be at least OEM quality or I don't use it, it's just something I've learned over the years.
cfiiman
Viper Owner
I understand, in my experience with this kit, I can see farther, and I don't blind any oncoming traffic, I have never had someone bright me even on a dark road when we are the only ones. As far as OEM quality, I'm sure they are not as good as that but if they work the same and last a long time that is good enough for me. I guess you could just retrofit an OEM unit if you'd like.
Well I just got my kit from DDM and am halfway through the install. Its a quality kit for sure. Only glitch to note was I had to re-pin the connectors to get the power and grounds in the right place in relation to the OEM connector. Thought I'd share a few pics of how I mounted mine. Sorry about the cell phone pics lol. My real camera is on it's last leg.
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Mutts02GTS
Enthusiast
That looks good, I just ordered the 55W 6k for my low beams, looking forward to a similar outcome for my car
VPRVENM97
Enthusiast
I bought the Philip's kit from Roe Racing back when Sean was selling them. Both the ballast and bulbs were made in Germany. I've been running them for about 8 years now (granted they're not on that much) and they still work great. Great improvement over the 60 watt oem bulbs. They're aimed to factory specs and I've never had anyone flash their high beams at me.
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
I run the Xentec kits as well in my Charger (lows/Fogs) and notice a flicker. Its been driving me crazy and i've only had them on for about 3 weeks. Guy says he will raplace whatever is causing it but I have no idea.
I'd like to buy some of these better ones your talking about for my Viper RT/10. Is the install super easy?
I'd like to buy some of these better ones your talking about for my Viper RT/10. Is the install super easy?
It's not hard at all. It's just swapping out the bulbs and mounting the ballast. But on our cars that means removing the front bumper to remove the headlights. After the bumpers off it's a walk in the park though. There's an illustrated guide to remove the front bumper that's helpful if you don't have a service manual. Overall I think it's worth the little bit of trouble, it gave me another exuse to drive my Viper at night! Not to metion it looks great.
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
Thanks for the info. I am going to order from DDM and buy the 35W 6000K LOW beam set.
I want to order the Fog's also, but I read on page #2 about guys saying they are to bright and shine high..whats the verdict on HID's in our Fog lamps?
I want to order the Fog's also, but I read on page #2 about guys saying they are to bright and shine high..whats the verdict on HID's in our Fog lamps?
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
Why don;t I have permission to view this LINK? What do i need to do?
That's part of the members only section. Joining the VCA has some nice perks.
They can be angled down some, but as long as you follow the illustrated guide they should be fine. Ken will be able to give you much better info than I can since I don't have foglights in my ACR lol
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
Are you serious? So now on this site you HAVE to be a member to see any DIY threads? Thats pretty bogus in my opinion. I used to be a member and plan on signing up again soon but dang this is a forum after all, i guess it's a paying forum more so? It was not always like this was it? Heck I have a Challenger SRT8 and a Charger now also and I don;t have to pay to be on their site to read some DIY threads. Not happy to hear about this, guess until i'm a member I can;t see the instructions for taking a freaking bumper off. Grrrr!
It's money well spent.. The savings I received from my first Viper related purchase(tires) more than covered the membership fee. There's lots of other benefits listed on the home page. Pick up one of the dealer shop manuals for you car off of fleabay, ($30) they are extremely useful.
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
I got my HIDs installed and grabbed some pictures for everyone to enjoy. The install went well with only ONE glitch. I'll tell you about that in a minute.
2001 GTS
I bought my HID low beams (9005) from HID Kits, BMW Aftermarket Bumpers & Lighting, DEPO - DDM Tuning. The price was REALLY good ($30/set). Read the 'about us' section to see how the company got set up and why the ridiculously low price for good quality HIDs. The ballasts are full size, not the 'slim' version that often doesn't last long or supply the necessary kick that the lights need. I got the 6,000K, 35W set. Did I mention that this set comes with a LIFETIME WARRENTY on the whole kit - bulbs and ballasts?
My install followed RTTTED's illustrated guide with the ballasts being installed inside the headlight enclosure. There was plenty of room in the headlight enclosure for the ballast and wiring. Just pre-check your wiring (I had to remove one of the wiring harness tie downs) and anchor the ballasts with silicone calk so you can remove the ballast if you ever have to. I like the color and brightness that the new bulbs produce. Install time took longer than it should have because the new bulbs just WOULDN'T go into the 9005 fixture at the back of the reflector.I spent about an hour just trying, looking, cussing and backing up to think about it. Turns out that the o-ring that came on the new bulb setup was a little bigger OD than the one on the stock bulbs. I replaced the new o-ring with the one off the old bulb and they went right in.
Brightness:
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Colors:
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3 of 4 with HIDs:
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If you're thinking about doing HID on your Viper, just DO it. At the low price that these were, how can you go wrong? In case you couldn't tell,the driver's side has the new HID installed.
I went to order but it gives numerous other "Ad-on's" as options.
Such as..... HID Harness, Error Code Eliminators, Adapter Cables, and mounting brackets. Do i need any of these?
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
Awesome! Thanks for all the help today Matt! I'm ordering these ASAP! ...not sure about the HID Fog's yet, i'll wait till somone with the HID Fog's chimes in. Thanks again buddy!
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
Did you try to PM me? I just now deleted some old PM's so i THINK i have space available now.
Yea I did, it's still full lol I'll just post it here: http://forums.viperclub.org/threads/642800-GEN-II-Installing-HID-Fog-Lights
You should be able to view this version since it was posted in the RT10/GTS section.
You should be able to view this version since it was posted in the RT10/GTS section.
JUCD VPR
Enthusiast
LOL Man I deleted like 60 messages to make space. I must still be over the limit so I guess I will go delete most of my old messages, and Yes i was able to view that thread. Thanks for the link, it is much appreciated!
So I'm bringing this back to life again. Have any of you installed the high beams as well? I went to DDM's website but they don't have the 9011 bulb on their list I'm not trying to purchase the wrong bulb type am I? I checked here, my shop manual, as well as my owner's manual. They say 9011 or 9011 HIR 1..
I'm not trying to purchase the wrong bulb type am I? I checked here, my shop manual, as well as my owner's manual. They say 9011 or 9011 HIR 1..Mutts02GTS
Enthusiast
After seeing how long it takes my low beams to brighten up from power up 15-20 seconds, I decided it wouldn't be practical to use HID for high beams, you couldn't flash anyone because of the slow power up time, just my .02. Jeff
Good point Jeff. I guess in the event that I REALLY needed to flash someone I could flip the lows on and off very quickly if the highs weren't warm yet.. I'm sure that's legal
Or just stick my gut out of the window, the reflection off of that thing should be enough to blind anyone it hasn't seen the sun in a good 6 months or so lol Beautiful color combo btw, you have excellent taste sirMutts02GTS
Enthusiast
Beautiful color combo btw, you have excellent taste sir
Lol, thanks, what year is yours? I know what you mean about the gut, I haven't had the time to TRY and keep mine in check and it's taking advantage of me!
Take care. Jeff
Lol, thanks, what year is yours? I know what you mean about the gut, I haven't had the time to TRY and keep mine in check and it's taking advantage of me!
Take care. Jeff
