I hate to admit it... I spent 700 on a set of Morimoto D2S HIDs. All I can say is these are top notch headlights compared to the sport headlights I just replaced. Now I didnt have to do all the heating and removal of the lens. I found a site called http://shop.retroshop.us that sells complete HID solutions fully assembled. All you got to is install and wire it up. They are even aimed and pretested before shipping.

9 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

thanks @Me78569 for bringing this to our attention. 

Here Here! 

Some good stuff here. BTW you can do a cheap HID conversion as well. I used the smaller 2.5" H1 HID set so I didn't have to open up the bulb area, and some good & cheap FastBright ballasts. There are even better projectors now too you can get. HIDplanet is an amazing resource and where the morimoto guys hang out as well. Remember they don't manufacture much, they import and made deals with boneyards to get the OEM parts. They sure look slick though. https://www.ebay.com/itm/322188522247 Are an upgrade of what I have and except for the cutoff these are basically the Morimoto's. These are the D2S easy retrofits they use, or damn close: https://www.ebay.com/itm/322356161193 You can get them on Aliexpress too. The Sinolyn brand is highly rated on HIDplanet. Throw in some bulbs, and $25 ballasts and it's an amazing improvement. I also did the relay swap and got cheap quad housings so I have normal high beams. I kinda regret not going larger on the projectors, but my old lights were so bad it was like I had a few candles in the front.

 

People are big on doing it right in HIDPlanet, and last I looked there were still no LED bulbs that could replicate the output of the halogen, and if you look close there's likely a ton of scatter and glare with them

 

One thing to remember about HID also, is the bulbs have a lifespan of 2k hours on average. They don't normally go out, they just start to dim so it may be hard to notice at first. Ill have to snap a picture of my headlights, they look pretty good for cheap :-) I think other than the housings it was $100 all in. If I do it over with the larger D2S, it'll prolly be $200-300 or so because of the OEM bulbs. Still not bad.

Just in the two years of ownership on my Morimotos HIDs I drove hours with my lights on driving back and forth to Ontario. Im close to 3,000 hours burn time roughly figuring. Typically run them when traveling or in the city. Then include the many times I've left my lights on too. Come out later to find them on. Thank Gawd the LEDs and HIDs don't draw much.

6 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Just in the two years of ownership on my Morimotos HIDs I drove hours with my lights on driving back and forth to Ontario. Im close to 3,000 hours burn time roughly figuring. Typically run them when traveling or in the city. Then include the many times I've left my lights on too. Come out later to find them on. Thank Gawd the LEDs and HIDs don't draw much.

 

The HIDs draw as much as a normal bulb, 35W each. They just convert most of the power into light, where normal halogen converts a lot of the energy to heat as well.

 

I silvered the tops of my high beam bulbs with high temp paint and careful masking tape. I hated the brown looking at me :-)

 

 

Edited June 14, 20204 yr by beren

Hmm morimoto says they should last 2k hours, this says 3k hours: https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-are-hid-headlights 

Quote

 3,000 hours (about 90,000 miles for the average driver).

 

Ummm... I'm already past that... I'm pretty sure. Still bright and going strong...

Yeah bright, but a bit less bright then new.