Trunk Monkey
Moderator
$200 vs. $30. Price of the truck has nothing to do with what people can afford, and most everyone here bought used.
2000UZJ's big HID thread - what, where and how
- Thread starter 2000UZJ
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$200 vs. $30. Price of the truck has nothing to do with what people can afford, and most everyone here bought used.
i just got my ddm installed today. 55 watt 5k 3 of them work. one bulb flicks each time it is turned off and on, but wont stay lit. does this mean the bulb is no good? or the ballast?
- Thread starter
- #283
swap bulb to other side, if it follows its but bulb. If not then I'd say ballast
DDM owners hang out at Bimmer forum lots of good info and help over there.
- Thread starter
- #285
Thats how I found out about DDM and learned about them. They are a huge vendor on a BMW forum.
If you look around on various different forums, there seems to be very little solid evidence proving that xenondepot or any other kit is better than another kit. All these things are made in china and none of them are going to be much better, if at all, than another.
Xenondepot kit is made in Japan. The other kit they sell is made in Taiwan at a real factory.
Just saying....
Trunk Monkey
Moderator
My kit was made at a fake factory?!? Dammit!
- Thread starter
- #289
EDIT: all I know is that they are bright, and have a lifetime warranty... for 30 bucks it's a good mod, so if your here to talk than take it else elsewhere. Also xenondepot has a 1 year warranty. So for $200 you get a one year warranty...what happens if after that one year and your ballasts blow or a bulb fails? oh wait, your out 200$.
Whereas DDM Tuning's kits have a full warranty, a lifetime warranty. For $30 bucks you would be a fool to buy the xenondepot. That's why everybody buys DDM tuning.
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Service and warranty should get much better with 2 walk in stores now open in CA and more planned in the future across the US.
I didn't mean to offend you and your 30-dollar lights. Was just suggesting a quality product. Lifetime warranty is nothing when the sweat shop in china gets shut down.
I am a little on the junior side here to comment on your posts Panerai, but you seem to have an awfully keen interest in how and where we choose to buy HID kits for our trucks. Perhaps you should have put a little time in to getting to know the place before you started suggesting that we should buy form your favored vendor. Even better, maybe you could stop suggesting in your posts that we are going to be swayed by stupid "its better cuz its made in japan or taiwan" or "you are being cheap" arguments. As long as you are the FNG, maybe you should ease up a little.
Anthony.L
Looking for the end of the road...
Buying a product made in China from a US company is completely different then buying a product direct from the factory in China via eBay for example.
The warranty is not between us and the Chinese factory, it's between us and the US company that sold them. If they loose one Chinese factory, I'm sure they can easily find 5 others to take their place. The US company is still obligated to service and warranty the product.
Panerai, sounds like you have a personal agenda in your posts and your personal beliefs cloud your logic. Good luck with that.
...uh, no.
To each their own, but I would rather not go through the hassle a lot of peeps have with DDM's turn around time to get warranty parts back to customers. Let alone the time a few have already experienced with first time orders.
I've gone through a number of HID kits and they are all bright, and just about all of them have the same "cut off", if you should even call it that. Maybe rebased D2R bulbs are a slight improvement over the typical 'cut off' of regular aftermarket HID bulbs found in kits.
i'm still HID-less at the moment.
Again, I'm a tight ass and after reading everything I could find and looking all over, I still go to eBay to find the cheapest price. This does not mean cheapest quality.
I spent $8.99 for each set with silly high shipping. I was OK with that as the seller get charged % of sale price, not shipping. But it was still waaaaaay cheaper.
I installed a set, drove for a month with NO issues, bought two more sets and 100% happy.
I say buy the $8.99 ones and be
I bought used! haha...
i agree, the cost of lights you choose should have no bearing on how much your ride is. Unless the quality between 2 different kits is common knowledge.
- Thread starter
- #299
my "cheap light bulb's" ballast came off today. Apparently the "factory" didn't make any mounting brackets because its not "real".I should of spent $200 on a "real" HID kit made from a "real live" factory...
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Gravity-1
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I was able to get my kit mounted/completed over the weekend. I ordered the Apexcone Raptor 55w 5000k, along with the harness, from DDM tuning. I have to say, everything went pretty smooth and I referred to the mud community several times, specifically on light removal and installation locations. I ended up putting my ballast boxes in behind the side marker lights, behind the front quarter panels (thanks Hoser). My kit only came with double sided tape, so I used it (hopefully to minimize vibration) and dug out some old training wheel brackets from my kid's bike and made mounting brackets. I have one major regret.... that I did not have JB Weld on hand to fill in the small holes in the actual projector lamp, above the cutoff. These lights are BRIGHT! The holes (normally included in halogen lamps to light up signs, etc) are totally unnecessary and are distracting, as they light up houses 
I also would say that if I did not have the Lexus projectors, I think I would be changing these back, as they are BRIGHT. With the projectors, the cutoff is sharp and crisp. I would think anything else might be dangerous to oncoming drivers (especially the 55w). The color and cutoff is surprisingly similar to my BMW 7 series. I was driving at night last night and could not get over the major difference. It is again a pleasure to drive at night.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with this mod. For the money, this is a no brainer if you have projectors. I was also holding out for the Xenon Depot (and had a $500 set of the Philips in my cart), but hopped on this DDM deal, as the Lifetime warranty makes lots of sense to me. Now that I have done this, I could swap ballasts out in 20 minutes. This weekend, I am going to pull out the projectors and fill the four small holes in the projector above the cutoff with the JB Weld. I will try to get some pics uploaded tonight, when it gets dark. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pics. But really, the lights were so bad on this thing that I could just post a picture of a candle
I also would say that if I did not have the Lexus projectors, I think I would be changing these back, as they are BRIGHT. With the projectors, the cutoff is sharp and crisp. I would think anything else might be dangerous to oncoming drivers (especially the 55w). The color and cutoff is surprisingly similar to my BMW 7 series. I was driving at night last night and could not get over the major difference. It is again a pleasure to drive at night. Overall, I am extremely pleased with this mod. For the money, this is a no brainer if you have projectors. I was also holding out for the Xenon Depot (and had a $500 set of the Philips in my cart), but hopped on this DDM deal, as the Lifetime warranty makes lots of sense to me. Now that I have done this, I could swap ballasts out in 20 minutes. This weekend, I am going to pull out the projectors and fill the four small holes in the projector above the cutoff with the JB Weld. I will try to get some pics uploaded tonight, when it gets dark. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pics. But really, the lights were so bad on this thing that I could just post a picture of a candle
