fishbone Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 I got the Apexcone 5k 35w kit. Actually the kit is starting to grow on me I guess. There's some uneven lighting on the peripheral and a lot of light in the center of the car but my impressions above came after only one night of driving. Last night I drove some more and the uneven light didn't bother me that much and it's not as big of a deal as I made it sound. The HIDs to take some time to "settle" too, so ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 They are slightly uneven in spots, but it certainly is more even than stock and is a freakin' flood of light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo7 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 thanks for the replys guys. i guess ill be getting some in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06Limited Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I ended up using industrial strength velcro to hold my ballasts down. I have the ddm ballasts though, so I was able to mount my passenger side under the head light/ air box. My drivers side is mounted on top of the washer fluid reservoir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 that's a good idea. That velcro works really well. I put a bunch of that on the back of an amp once to mount it to the back wall of a single cab pickup truck (behind the seat). This was when I installed car audio/video/security years ago. He blew the amp and I had to use a crowbar to get it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Here's an idea you may or may not find useful. Having accidentally touched bulbs in the past while installing them [and thus creating extra work to clean them with rubbing alcohol], I wanted to make sure I do this HID by the book. So what I ended up doing was going to Target and purchasing for 4 bucks a box of 50 latex, dust-free surgical gloves. When it came time to install the bulbs and apply the silicone around the holes in the drilled caps for extra weather protection, I used the gloves. If you do it this way, make sure you buy dust-free surgical gloves. I'm going to use them from now on for all my lighting installs. I've got some fogs coming in  As far as the double-sided tape that is provided with the Apexcone kits, so far so good. The driver's side is just sitting on the windshield washer reservoir. Since I've installed the kit a week ago: -I have participated in a Subaru meet which involved driving for 80 miles with the engine revved over 3k, needless to say the engine bay was as hot as it would ever get -I have driven in 90+ weather, granted just for a day or two -Lincoln's city streets are some of the worst I've been on. Bumps, cracks and uneven spots galore So far, the tape is holding up good. I tried nudging the ballast and it would not MOVE an inch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLASHMSTRC Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Nice work, sounds like you did a very professional, clean install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemsrs Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 I got the Apexcone 5k 35w kit. Actually the kit is starting to grow on me I guess. There's some uneven lighting on the peripheral and a lot of light in the center of the car but my impressions above came after only one night of driving. ... I just installed my 35w 4500k kit. Yes, this is the very first thing I noticed. Peripheral lighting diminished a lot. So it was actually worse when going down a curvy road in pitch dark. Straight on, the lights are only ok. I can't say I am that impressed. My expectations were high, but their performance is only so-so, and they do glare like crazy (from those slots in the projectors that illuminate overhead signs). The 4500k kit is also much bluer than I expected. I had a 4300k H4 hi/lo CATZ kit (the best ever made) and that threw out very nice color. Maybe it's the projectors? Also, there's a dark spot created by that shaft that runs down the HID bulb. It's most noticeable on the drivers side on the road (since the pass side just gets filled in by the driver's). You can see it if you look at your headlight covers with the lights turned on. The high beams are also less effective now because the area in front of the car is brighter. So your eyes are adjusted to the brighter light... And BTW, this is NOT cool. The stock highbeams are actually quite nice and shine really far. Don't think that b/c you have HIDs now that you don't need high beams. For mounting, if you plan on using the foamy tape, make sure you CLEAN ALL MOUNTING SURFACES before you mount (including the ballast). Use alchohol as it dries faster, and make sure the surface is dry before mounting. The tape will not stick if you mount it to dirt or grease. Further, you have one shot at getting it mounted properly. If you mount, decide it's lopsided, and remove/remount, the tape won't will lose it's effectiveness. Get a new piece of foamy tape. Otherwise, that's it. I'd give the kit 5/10. And yes, the ballasts are LOUD!!! It's like a whiny/buzzy sound, which is normal, but definitely louder than some other kits I've used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 I also drive in pitch black and the high beams and foglights now don't seem to make as much of a difference as before. I'm with you on this one, I had high expectations. I so WISH someone had a pair of rallye halogen lights that Daniel Stern/Candle Power carries so I could try them on and see how I like them. Supposedly they are the brightest halogens that exist on the market and are rated at around 2200 lumens iirc. It's be nice to try them on and compare. The peripheral lighting ... I'm still a bit concerned about it. However, you still put out more light than stock, they seem dimmer because of the foreground center light. I'd say the right way to do this is with a projector retrofit and just doing the plug and play is about 70-80% effective. I can't hear my ballasts. Are yours Apexcone? How/when do you hear them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemsrs Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Yeah Apexcone 35w, just received a week ago. To hear them, just put the car on without starting the engine and turn on the lights. It sounds like what a laser beam would sound like on TV. BTW for those following the instructions, a few things have changed. 1.) I didn't have to break any tabs to get my bulbs out of the cases. My "tabs" were included seperately with my kit for some reason. I had to try to figure out what they were for, until I noticed it was just the useless tabs you break off, per the step by step. So don't go breaking your H7 mounting tabs! 2.) The wires can be different colors. The key is to just match black with black, and the other wire goes to positive. On my car, the positive wires were blue and grey. 3.) Don't use 1". Use 7/8", then use the dremel to to enlarge the hole in the water/dust cap. Also, do a dremel -> test -> dremel -> test etc... This ensures the hole is the minimum required size and ensure that water stays out. This was definitely one of the easiest HID installs ever. A truly PNP kit. Now to figure out whether I want to keep it or try out Osram Hypers or those ones recommended by Daniel Stern. I'll leave them on for a week and see if I truly like them/see how many times I get flashed. A retrofit is just too much $$$ and work and not worth it IMO. I used to be a die hard HID fan boy, but personally, the stock LGT projectors/halogen combo is fantastic. They are superbly made. Either that or it could be the quality of the Apexcone kit. If that's the case, then I guess you get what you pay for (and I really can't complain about what I paid for it brand new compared to my used CATZ kit). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 How much do you want me to pay you to borrow your Rallye bulbs if you buy them, for a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 I'll have to respectfully disagree with how you guys feel about the kit. My peripheral vision improved greatly (IMO), and they light up road signs magnificently. Also, the brightness is night and day over stock... to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemsrs Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 ^^ That's not periperhal vision. Peripheral is what is immediately to the side of the headlights. With the old lights, it lit up somewhat, but with the HIDs, that part is gone, probably because the focal point is now off. Road signs are lit up very well, no argument there. The only way to illustrate my point is to stick your stock lights back in and you'll see that immediately on your side, you won't see anything (you'll need a big unfamiliar area that is pitch black, no city lights or a garage or something). You'll also see a shadow at around 7 o'clock using the HIDs (about 5 o'clock if you stare directly at the headlights). This shadow goes away with the halogens. Brightness is also up, again, no arguement. But if you re-read my first post, you'll see that I mention that brightness is a mis-match when you use high beams. Again, a pitch dark road will illustrate my point... That your eyes will be drawn to the bright area in front of the car instead of off to the distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 meh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobeedooby Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Just installed my HID kit for the 08 GT and it went just as smooth as the 06 2.5i I used to have.. I did however keep the DRL's i figured might as well keep them the wont hurt anything especially because i will remember to turn my headlights on now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 Why wear out the bulbs faster? HID bulbs aren't cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 DRL will cause your HIDs to burn out a lot faster by abusing them. HIDs don't like to be turned on and off a lot, they take 30 seconds or so to reach operating temperature. That's the reason you don't have HIDs in high beams. I travel for 10 miles from city to my house and the road is two lanes and essentially pitch black. Corn fields on either side. Saturday night when I was going back home there was a deer on the left shoulder, she froze. I saw her ways ahead although she was of the same color as what was around her. But again, I kinda found myself straining a bit to pay attention to the peripherals, as the attention is drawn directly in front of the car, where the brightest spot is. With the cost of a headlight assembly being $300 a piece, I'm not looking at a retrofit anytime soon unfortunately. No, I don't want to use my stock headlights. On to even more info! Saturday night also, I was driving behind an Audi A4 with stock HIDs. I was a carlength behind him and we were crossing a bridge. Both of us were in the left lane and our headlights were bouncing off the concrete median. I compared his amount of light and spread on the left-hand-side peripheral area and it was about the same as mine! However, later down the road I pulled up to a pick-up truck with halogens and I gotta say his light was as bright as mine. Not sure that was because his reflectors were huge or he had aftermarket halogens, but the intensity was about on par with these HIDs. Hmm ... Made me think even more that we can have good light without going through all this HID spread and retrofit troubles. Come on, is ANYONE here willing to lend me the bright 2100 lumen halogens I was talking about? I'd be more than happy to take pro pictures and write up a comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007  Also, there's a dark spot created by that shaft that runs down the HID bulb. It's most noticeable on the drivers side on the road (since the pass side just gets filled in by the driver's). You can see it if you look at your headlight covers with the lights turned on.  This has been discussed before, it seems like the legacy housing is upside down. You have to break the bulb s\tab an give them a 180 degree turn to get rid of that. The rod need to point down IIRC. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobeedooby Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Why wear out the bulbs faster? HID bulbs aren't cheap. I left the DRL's in because the 08' doesnt use the projectors as the DRL so when i turn the car on the drls arent the HIDS.. Does that make sense?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobeedooby Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 No. Crap.. Aren't the DRL's on the 08's on the side near the grill.... I swear when i looked the DRLs werent the projectors which is why i didnt bother disabling them:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 Mine's an '06 and the HIDs would be the DRLs. Your '08 may be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whobaru Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 The DRL disable is super easy either way if you need to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobeedooby Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 ooo.. I was like freaking out thinking man i am a dumb A$$ for not seeing the projectors as the drl's.. I really think that my car has different DRL's... I am leaving work in 40 minutes so i will check to make sure i am not crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobeedooby Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 is the disable the same as the 06?? I had an 06 and yes it was very easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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