HID help!!!!!!!

Okay gonna just get this out there.... Yes I am new to HIDs. Yes I understand I should be running a retrofit kit but funds are tight right now so maybe down the road.
I ordered my 55 watt 5000k hi/lo kit from DDM tunning. I've also read some posts that mention 55 watt kits may "burn" the headlight reflectors from excessive heat. With that being said my bulbs have huge metal reflectors attached. (See pic below). Are those supposed to come off and then install the bulbs? They are attached by 2 small screws. I've noticed some HID bulbs either have a small reflector kinda on one side of ea bulb and some dont have any at all. Maybe they stay on due to heating issuses? (Not my personal bulbs in either pic) they're for reference.





And how do the weather rubber boots go back on the back of the housings? Just cut bigger holes?

Couple more things, the kit has 1 three slot pigtail plug coming off of the harness that plugs directly into my driverside wiring. Should there be pigtails for the driver and passenger sides?
Theres no high beam feature even though the kit i got is specifically for hi/lo. Click Brights on and bulbs Dont get any brighter. Other than that bulbs work.
Any info would be GREATLY appreciated guys and gals!!!!

 

Sry just realized when looking at the pics. Should the reflectors on the bulbs be facing on top or bottom when installing them?

 

Couple things.

First, HID's without projectors is a dick move to everyone else on the road.

Second, 55W HID's without projectors is an even bigger dick move.

To answer your questions, you can either keep or remove the metal shield. Removing them will make you an even bigger dick to the other people on the road as they block the light from reflecting off the bottom half of the reflector bowl and into oncoming drivers eyes. If you keep them on, they should be on the bottom side of the bulb.

And to answer the connector question, there should only be one connector, most likely on the driver side. Not sure why the highs aren't working.

 

Ummm...thank you? You like saying dick a lot huh? I'll be sure to start a go fund me page to raise money for the $850 retrofits I'm looking at. I'm sure youd be more than happy to be the first to help fund my cause. If not thatd be a dick move. HAHAHA JK... thx for the advice.

 

Dude.....Just don't

 

Just dont what? Run HIDs without retrofits? or joke around? I'm not trying to start anything. Just joking around. I'm gonna start puttin money aside to save for retros.

 

Metal things go on first. Then you push in and twist the bulb part. Metal shield faces down.

I have mini d2s setup, cost me like $120ish for the projectors. If you have ballasts and harness then all you need are bulbs. So maybe $150 total. No need to spend a lot of coin for a good setup. Something to think about. Been in your position before, people will hate you. I'd always get flashed or people get mad at me or I'd see them flipping their mirrors. Made me feel bad.

 

Also the way those bulbs work is they move forward or backwards for your high beam and low beam. It's crap. I never used the feature. It was laughable.

Good luck with your DDM ballasts.. back in the day they made some solid shit. But they have majorly gone downhill in the QC Dept. I still use one of their hi/low harness from 8 years ago, while others I have tried later have crapped out I always end up going back to that one because it continues to work.

 

Agree with everyone above. HIDs in reflector housings are illegal for a reason. Yes they are brighter, but it is not controlled and you are blinding oncoming drivers. I did projector retrofits in my last car for about $150, including used headlight housings. My advice would be to shop around, wait for sales, and don't put HIDs on your truck until you can do it right.

 

Keeping the lights that came with the truck costs $0

 

Would ebay mini d2s work? Or are they garbage. I know nothing about retrofits.

 

FFY

 

Maybe. As long as they have a decent return policy.

 

No need for salt. There are numerous resources at your disposal in this forum that will walk you through (in detail) how to retrofit headlamps with projectors. It's actually pretty easy once you get past the whole "baking" process.

The price of the projector generally relates to the quality of the glass. I helped a friend out with a retrofit on a pair of civic reflectors a while back and he purchased pretty cheap H1 clones. They had garbage glass in them and put out less light than stock, but had a nice sharp cutoff.

A month later we tore his lamps down again and installed a pair of TheRetrofitSource bought projectors (I forget what model exactly). They put out tons more light and are higher quality than some OEM projectors.

Take the time to search the forum stickied posts for information on retrofitting and HIDs.

Please don't use HID bulbs in reflector lamps. They're dangerous to oncoming traffic and they actually don't put out more light because they are not at the (carefully engineered) focal point of the reflector.

Hope this helps.

 

Also,

Look at this thread

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/here-goes-nothing-hid-retrofit.74695/

 

Awesome! Thank you so much. I looked at retrofitsource and found some for 150 early.

 

Thank you!!

 

He's right though, 55s are high beam only. You'll get people flashing you like crazy

 

I did my first retrofit for right around $100. I researched and asked as many questions as possible till i had enough knowledge to do it myself. Most importantly i did it 'the right way'. I purchased a brand new off-brand no-name Projector Kit that included the Projector housing, bulbs, ballasts, and wire harness for $90 off Amazon. Then a $7 can of spray paint. I baked my headlights, sprayed them, installed the Projector Kit, resealed the headlights, and then i had my very own Retro-fit. I did it my self and for less then $100. It was way better then OEM in both looks and light output and with care for the other drivers/people im sharing the road with. Im not the only one who has a family that i want to go home to every day... Sorry for the long post. Just trying to show you that you have better options. You just need to take the time to find them

 

Thx for the response! Would you happen to have the link to the kit you used? How long have you ran them? Any issues since they are a no-name brand? How's the light output?