LILBENZ230

I've had snow a couple of times in GA the past year, but that's rare. Mis-aligned halogen cars are rampant and just as bad. I don't think Drew's car sees snow in sunny Florida.

Norwichdelta06

FIRST OF ALL.. Everyone needs to realize that HIDS in a Reflector designed for HID's are perfectly fine with a nice beam pattern. example Early Acura TL's and RL's. 2003-2004 Nissan Maxima. ALTIMA's etc etc You have to UNDERSTAND the difference in the bulb from a halogen and an HID. 35W HID's bulbs are about 25 perfect longer and 50/55 are about 35 percent longer thus why beam patterns stray away from OEM when putting a different size bulb in there. Honestly I have Silverstars Ultras right now and i'm pretty happy with them. I decided to go OEM Projector when my Tax Return comes next year. Im in no rush I'm going to keep my car until it dies.

LILBENZ230

Early Acura TL and RL models, as well as 2002/3 Maximas, and Altimas from 2002-present all have reflectors designed for HIDs. The point the others are trying to make is valid and they are correct. The beam patterns that Drew and I have/had are very nice and work fine, but they are not up to standards of reflectors designed for HID.

Everyone here knows the basic principle of gas-discharge lighting.

Norwichdelta06

exactly but the point i was trying to make was that the each of the bulbs are in different lenghts. If they made an HID bulb that was the same exact size as a halogen bulb then i see no problem with the beam pattern or hot spots at all on any car

zerocover

Glad you asked, the glare is only bad when the lights are covered with snow. Such as during the worst blizzard of the last few years. (Where the 4matic was unstoppable.) This is why cars with HIDs come with headlight washers. I was just busy being the only car on the road for miles, so I didnt really care to wipe off.

Other then that I'm also very sensitive to light, I got some eye strain with 6k, since going to 5k things are much better.

Dr.Fox

Let's remember, he has a coupe - so options are limited. Depos are not available for the coupe, so it's either facelifted "clear" reflector housings or OEM Bi-X. For the money you lay out for the clear '05 reflectors plus a quality HID kit, you should just get Bi-X

fookoo303

wow that glare is even coming straight out the side from that picture. i wish i had 4matic for those snowy days but since i dropped my car, its been sitting in the garage every winter.

bdgdl08

I've never had to drive my car in snow, thank goodness. I've had it in hail twice in a year (which never happened the 2 years I had the CLK). I was thinking about asking them to switch me to 5000k bulbs when I send mine in. I don't really know if I want to, though. Also, as far as bulb length is concerned, the "55w" bulbs that DDM sends out are just 35w bulbs with a 55w ballast. That's probably why Matt's bulbs started to melt.

fookoo303

yea every 55watt DDM kit i've seen has melted the white retainer part of the bulb. If you do decide to go 55w you should definitely invest in a better a bulb.

bdgdl08

From my understanding, the actual bulb started to melt in Matt's

fookoo303

from what i have seen the white part melts then the actual bulb starts to tilt down and starts melting everything else. It gets pretty nasty if its not caught in time.

LILBENZ230

Yep, it was the entire bulb. I really think after putting the dust caps back on, that sealed it. For over a year I ran them without the dust caps (but with some electrical tape securing it, ghettofab) and never had an issue.

bdgdl08

Then I guess it's all my fault!

LILBENZ230

That's right.

bdgdl08

I was just doing you a favor! See if I help you again.

fookoo303

oh yea not having the dust cover on can cause all kinds of problems with dust and moisture getting in. Sounds like you didn't drill a hole in your cover to run the wiring.

bdgdl08

He didn't, I did. He sent me his covers.

LILBENZ230

I really never had an issue with the covers being off. No debris or moisture.

fookoo303

well just keep an eye on your output. If it starts to change slightly then check the bulbs. if it does melt and tilts enough it will burn the chrome in the reflector. Hopefully it doesn't happen.

bdgdl08

Matt's ran for about a year without dust covers, then only a few months with them. Mine were installed with dust covers from day 1, and went for 5 months. I had no melting problems, but one of mine clouded and burnt out.

fookoo303

hmm maybe its not a problem with w203 since the lights are fairly large. Now that i think about it, every car i've seen this happen to have had small lights. older accord and older integra.

Norwichdelta06

so wait guys i'm kinda confused? Is getting the 55 watt HID bulbs bad now? ppl are experiencing a lot of problems with them? Can someone please clarify

bdgdl08

For $60 with a lifetime warranty, I would get them if you want. I don't regret mine at all, I just wish they were in now.

fookoo303

Well they say they dont have problems with them. I've had issues with them, but not on a c class. If the chance of having glare doesn't bother you, then i would say go for it. bdgdl08 is right. It's really cheap and the warranty is hard to pass up. Whenever someone asks me about DDM lights i always tell them to buy the kit but buy better bulbs. I've had several bad bulbs from them ( either color was way off or it wasn't bright at all or melted after a year or so). I've also had a bad ballast but it was all replaced for free.

It's almost all personal opinion. I personally don't like the way HID looks without a projector because of the glare and hot spots it causes but that's just my own opinion, and as you can see from the pics posted, the output variates from car to car. So it might be bad or it might not.

I would say buy it and try it. If later on your not happy with it just get projectors or do a retrofit.

Norwichdelta06

well right now i have silverstars which i'm satisfied with for now.... TAX return next year will go to OEM projectors. My main concern is the bulb melting? I mean if a bad HID bulb breaks whatever.. replace it etc etc... I do not want to burn or melt my housing. That's what i am really concerned about