Not Another HID Thread!!!

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
I know there are hundereds of HID conversion threads around... but...

I've been doing some research into the possibility of fitting HID's, but I'm confused :confused:

Why do the kits range so much in price from £20 up to and over £200? Especially when they all look pretty much the same :shrug:

Is it a case of you get what you pay for, or do they all do the same thing?
 

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
All do the same imho.
I bet they are all made in the same factory, yet just have different boxes/stickers on at the end ;)

That's what I thought as some of the top end £200 ones look identical as cheap ones on ebay!

Think I will go for HIDs then. As was going to fork out £20 for Ring Xenon Max bulbs, but if I can get HIDs for same price, then what the hell! :D
 

gazR

CUPRA
Apr 25, 2009
458
2
Derbyshire
from what ive been told from a hid kit seller on another forum, they are made in the exact same factory. dont know whether this is actually true or not. the expensive kits may or may not last longer but you can get 4/5 kits cheap kits for the price of an expensive one. i normally say buy cheap buy twice but its well worth buying cheap in this case.
 

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
from what ive been told from a hid kit seller on another forum, they are made in the exact same factory. dont know whether this is actually true or not. the expensive kits may or may not last longer but you can get 4/5 kits cheap kits for the price of an expensive one. i normally say buy cheap buy twice but its well worth buying cheap in this case.

I don't know how the expensive kits would last any longer when they have same warranty as the cheap kits!
 
Feb 26, 2009
5,275
1
Wolverhampton
They are different, although probably not £180 different. From what I've picked up on here, the extremely cheap ones do fail over time, with components burning out, bulbs blowing etc. If you go one step up, you'll get a more stable product that will last. I'd aim for around £80 for a set that would last the lifetime of the car.

Oh, and if you do buy from Ebay, buy from a UK seller, preferably one with an external website. If you do have problems, the china ones won't want to know. Especially if you want to include the warranty as part of the purchase.

And lastly, make sure the kits include everything you need. It is possible to buy the components on their own without realising it, you obviously need all the bits before they'll work.
 

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
They are different, although probably not £180 different. From what I've picked up on here, the extremely cheap ones do fail over time, with components burning out, bulbs blowing etc. If you go one step up, you'll get a more stable product that will last. I'd aim for around £80 for a set that would last the lifetime of the car.

Oh, and if you do buy from Ebay, buy from a UK seller, preferably one with an external website. If you do have problems, the china ones won't want to know. Especially if you want to include the warranty as part of the purchase.

And lastly, make sure the kits include everything you need. It is possible to buy the components on their own without realising it, you obviously need all the bits before they'll work.

Cheers for that, I have notcied that a lot of 'complete kits' don't include ballasts :blink: not sure how they get away with calling them 'kits'!

I've gone off buying from China just because of the length of time for delivery and when stuff goes wrong they can hardly speak English and it just makes communication a nightmare!!!
 

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
After some MORE research, I've found that there seems to be two options - normal ballasts or slim ballasts.

Are there any difference in quality between the two? As apparently the slim ones use 'digital tehcnology' but the normal ballasts don't. :confused:
 

Gordz

Caught The Mod Bug Again!
May 31, 2007
1,325
1
North East
Oh thanks Lee, now another option to confuse me - 35w or 55w!!!!

Is there much difference between the two? Most seem to be 35w from what I can see!

Cheers for that link by the way adam, looks good!
 

LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
I went from 35w 6k to 55w 4300k and it was like going from standard lights to HIDs in the first place!!

I wouldn't like to advise 55w in a standard Leon headlight to be honest.
 
Feb 26, 2009
5,275
1
Wolverhampton
There is such a thing as too bright, and that can attract unwanted attention. Don't forget, HID's are actually illegal in a car that doesn't have self levelling suspension. While there are alot of people putting them in, you still don't want to attract too much attention to them and get pulled over.

Go for the 35w, in a colour that's reasonably bluey-white.
 

Viking

Insurance co's are crap.
May 19, 2007
2,317
4
Near Richmond, North Yorks
I went from 35w 6k to 55w 4300k and it was like going from standard lights to HIDs in the first place!!

I wouldn't like to advise 55w in a standard Leon headlight to be honest.
The reason for the difference there is more to do with the useable light than the wattage. 6k is starting to turn blue and is not as much use for actually seeing where you're going as 4300k or even 5k. If you want to stand out in a crowd and hang wiv teh chavs etc. then go for a higher rating. To see where you're going then 5000k max is best.

It's been said that China is cheap. Yeah, and hit and miss as to whether they work or not. Mine didn't, at least not reliably. I got a second set from hids4u and they never ever fail to light.
 

R@B

I Like Turbos!!!
Mar 11, 2009
203
0
Sunny Glasgow
Hi i've got a quick question about hids and didn't want to start another thread so i just thought i would hi-jak this one. Got my H7R kit with slim ballasts today and after much reading found that some of the ibiza owners put the ballast in the back of the headlight unit and was just wondering if there is enough room in the leons headlight to do this. I don't mind drilling the back cover and mounting them in the engine bay but it would be much neater and easier to fit.
 
Dec 19, 2006
673
0
I don't think there is enough room pretty sure the back of the bulb or motor thingy will get in the way.
 

Art0ir

TDi Ho
Sep 21, 2009
356
0
Newry
Hi i've got a quick question about hids and didn't want to start another thread so i just thought i would hi-jak this one. Got my H7R kit with slim ballasts today and after much reading found that some of the ibiza owners put the ballast in the back of the headlight unit and was just wondering if there is enough room in the leons headlight to do this. I don't mind drilling the back cover and mounting them in the engine bay but it would be much neater and easier to fit.

Definitely not. On the passenger side there is a little shelf right underneath the headlight where you can hide your ballast. On the Driver's side you can tie it somewhere, or some people like to stick it underneath the water bottle
 
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