I usually keep my headlights on Auto. This turns on running lamps and the high beam lights at about 40% of power. When you turn lights to On setting, the top beam turns on and lower lights turn off. When high beams are switched or toggled, both top bulb 9006 and lower 9005 high beams are on bright. Does this sound normal?
How would one go to an HIR1 & 2 or HID with these lights? Did anyone hear that DDM went out of business? Any current recommends on the best HID within reasonable $$?
That's completely normal. The daytime running lights are just the high beams running on low current, like you said. With "auto" selected on the stalk, nothing else should be on. No running lights in the front or tail lights in the rear.
Adding an HID kit to the low beams is a simple affair. Plug them into the low beams and viola. Adding HIR bulbs is no different then replacing the regular bulbs, nothing special required there. Adding HID to the high beams isn't recommended though, for a couple of reasons.
1. You'd need to disable the DRL circuit to eliminate that partial current from screwing up the ballasts (it's not enough to ignite the bulbs). Some people don't mind that, some actually do it on purpose because they don't like DRLs. Just something to consider.
2. High beams are great to have as a "flash to pass" or "flash to warn" feature. HID's suck in the high beams because they take so long to warm up and reach full output. You wouldn't be able to use them as a flash to pass type of setup if you have HID's in there, and if you try, the rapid cycling of the ballasts will probably burn them up.
DDM is not out of business, I get e-mails from them all the time. There were rumors a couple years back of them getting out of the HID biz, but none of that ever came to fruition. They still sell everything you need.
All that being said, I'm probably going to ditch my 4500K setup in favor of HIR. The light scatters way too much in an OEM reflector housing, and I'm sick of aiming my headlights down and killing the output to avoid blinding other drivers on the road. It kind of negates the purpose of HID.
