Rudeney

I'd just buy aftermarket headlights with HID kits. They are plug and play. Factory headlights will cost you a fortune.

Anker

So today I installed the HID conversion headlights I bought from Fishcake on eBay.

The good news is that they were packaged really well and looked good on inspection. As Rodney predicted, I am getting good at removing and installing headlights now. Solid ballasts with CanBus interface, so no alerts when turning the headlights on. There are also great installation instructions on the Web, http://www.theautolamps.com/INFO/videos.html and http://www.theautolamps.com/INFO/guide.html, so I won't repeat what is in them.

Removing the bumper and the headlights went like a breeze, and so did the installation of the headlights. One minor issue is that there is not a good place to mount the HID ballasts. I ended up strapping them between the bracket over the headlights and the fender bracket

When I tested the headlights after installing them I was shocked by having no lights at all working. After fiddling with the plug I was able to get a few lamps in the left headlight working, so it clearly was bad connections between the headlight and the plug. On inspection I saw that the pins in the headlights are thinner than the ones int the originals, so problem identified. I decided to try to squeeze the receptacles in the plug tighter together. In retrospect I should have applied a slight twist to the pins in the headlights. I was a bit worried about the pins not mating with the receptacles, but didn't have a problem there. After much fiddling I was able to get all lamps to work reliably. I guess that's the penalty for buying Chinese.

Assembling the bumper went smoothly. Again, the main problem was to install the brackets that hold the bumper and fender together. The trick is to get the pin in the bracket all the way to the back of the slot it slides into while holding the fender and bumper in perfect position. There are some bumps in the plastic that must mate with holes for a perfect fit.

After assembling everything I adjusted the beams. Here I ran into the next issue. The low and high beams are adjusted together. After adjusting the low beams one high beam was too high and one was too low. I was able to get them close by removing the covers and twisting the projectors by hand. This bends the adjustment arm. I didn't dare twist them hard enough to get them perfect and will contact Fishcake to see what he says. Another penalty for buying low cost, and Fishcake states clearly that if you break something while self installing you are on your own. But I was so disappointed with the quality of the "professional" installation by Amazon Home Services that I knew I could do a better job myself.

In spite of the problems the quality of these head lights are much better than the ones I returned to Amazon. I'd say they are keepers.

A few pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Rudeney

Just a few comments (and yes, one of these will probably be ":too late":

Regarding locating the ballasts, there is actually enough room inside the headlamp assemblies to put them there. I just used some heavy-duty automotive two-sided foam tape to secure them. Yeah, I know, it;s probably too late for that unless you want to remove them again.

The pins in the connectors are cheap Chinese crap. I had one (maybe 2?) push back into the housing. Luckily I plugged them in for a test before re-installing everything.

The height adjustment on almost all headlights tie the high and low beams together. Theoretically, that should be fine. Note that the beam pattern looks like this:

_____/
/

So, make sure you match the center lines and not the outer height.

Anker

In the instructions they specifically warn you against mounting the ballasts on plastic because of heat issues. After running the lights for a while they weren't hot enough to melt plastic, so I should have mounted them inside the assemblies. I'll leave them where they are.

Yea, the center of the beam was where I tried to get them. Not quite there yet. I'll take it out at night and see if I need to get them closer.

Indeed, cheap Chinese crap with apparently no QA done, but for 1/4 of the OEM light there's a lot of room for saving money and still getting them right.

As always, thanks/Anker

Anker

I got a nice reply from Fishcake and
I sent him a picture of the lights shining on my garage door. When first installed the left high beam was quite a bit higher and the right one was a bit lower, down in the low beam pattern. Neither useful. Just for kicks, here's the picture:

Rudeney

Your headlights are not properly aimed. You need to raise the the right side. I took your photo and added lines for the cut-offs of the beam patterns - green is left, red is right. You need to raise the right side so the arrows (in my diagram) would meet. It might be easier to see the beam patterns this if you repeat your test and use a piece of cardboard to obscure one side at a time (sort of like an eye exam).

Anker

Ah, thanks! I'll change that.

Anker

0zranvest

Just an FYI that some vehicles have factory HID headlight settings that are not even/aligned- the driver side headlight is aimed lower than the passenger side. On my 2003 Infiniti, the driver side headlight is aimed lower than the passenger side. At first (2003) I thought light was misaligned but Inf tech told me (in 2003) that this is factory setting to minimize blinding on-coming traffic. 15 years later and my other vehicles with HID all have even/aligned, so just an FYI

Anker

Thanks, I did change it as Rodney showed, The left high beam is still too high it never hits the road. After taking it for a spin last night I determined that both head lights were aimed too low. The low beans have a really sharp cutoff and you can't see anything above that,

The projectors with the halogen lights are also really weak with 55 watt bulbs. I wonder whether I should get a set of HID or LED lights for those too. Did you use the halogens in the high beam, Rodney?

Rudeney

I had actually installed an HID for the high-beams, too. It really made night driving on dark roads nice. The problem was the second or two that it takes HIDs to warm up makes them almost useless for flash-to-pass. Her'es what they looked like from behind the wheel:

shahram72

You never flash HID's it's WAY too hard on the bulbs. A hot strike is really hard on the bulb and reduces it's life. I think I will just get some Sylvania Silverstars for the HID portion of my factory HID lights. It's common to have driver's side set a bit lower. My Mustang is set this way from the factory with it's HID's. Funny thing... This is the first car I had that I wondered how it does high beams. It only has one pair of HID projector lights. There is a shade in the housing that cuts off the upper part of the beam, so they are always on high beams with a mechanical shade. Hope that never breaks. Mustang lights are more expensive that Mercedes lights. I got rear ended when it was new which smashed one tail light and cracked the other. $1800 for two tail lights. They are LED units. So glad my CLK has ordinary bulbs in the rear and HID bulbs up front. When LED's fail the whole unit must be replaced. I remember complaining about the high cost of HID bulbs. Not anymore. My last car, an Acura RL, I had to pay my Honda expert to remove the bumper to replace the bulbs. $200 for labor! Plus the bulbs I already bought.

Anker

That's a ton better than the halogen bulbs.

I think I'll go with LEDs, thanks.