Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

I just order online from the site..... ill check their contact info later.....

On a related note, I JUST got my refund from them TODAY.... which I thought I was getting 4/12 when they figured out my shipment went to Northridge..... THANKS FOR HOLDING ON TO THAT FOR A WEEK!!!

DDM Tuning... beware

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

I ordered my Hid slims from DDM without a probelm. Just my 2 cents.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

I've never dealt with them through online orders. On a review basis I have seen the horror stories posted on some forums with online orders. Luckily for me, there are two stores in the San Diego area and they always have parts for the 35w kits in stock. Now if you attempt buying 55W kits on site, those are shipped from CHINA. SVX(4+ years 35w slim) and my brothers E36(3+ years on 35w slim).

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Just want to say I have 6000k HIDs from DDM and have had absolutely no issues. I haven't gotten flashed by other drivers for them and I haven't been harassed by cops for them and believe me, my local police love to give you a hard time for whatever they can think of.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

SoobCrazy, you do know our low beam housing is a projector not a reflector housing, right?... :confused:

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

I put HIDs in mine and was pretty happy with the improvement. Nobody flashed me thinking I had brights on, but that doesn't mean that much. Not everybody will flash, and also the car is very low while most cars and SUVs have gotten taller. After a few months I started having some weird intermittent issues with them failing to turning on, which turned out not to be the HIDs but a bad alternator. I ended up taking them out and going back to standard bulb as a troubleshooting measure and decided not to put them back due to the uncertainty of whether they should be used or not.

It would be interesting if someone who knew about this stuff could actually test the SVX's light patterns with and and without HID and give us a comparison. I am really curious if it really is a problem or not. They are a pretty common upgrade and it would be nice to see better at night.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Did you read the link I posted in my original post? If not, go back and read that first, I'll wait...

OK, now I'll lay this out for you as simply as I can: It does not matter the physical style of lamp, whether it is a reflector, projector, free-form reflector or anything else. If the lamp was designed for a halogen bulb, you CANNOT simply swap in an HID or LED bulb and go.

The problem with swapping in bulbs of different construction is that the lamp housing was designed for the specific shape of the light source produced by the bulb. Halogen lamps use filaments, shaped like a line "l". HIDs produce an arc of electricity ")". LEDs produce a single point of light "."

So, when you put a HID/LED bulb into a halogen lamp what happens? As the light leaves its source the first thing it will hit is the reflector. Now this reflector was specifically designed and tuned to bounce the light and re-aim it to the correct spot down the road. IF the light hits the reflector from a new angle, there is no chance the light will be re-aimed properly.

"But my lamps have projectors!" you cry. That doesn't matter at all. The projector and its reflector, and the geometry designed into the assembly, are still designed for a halogen bulb.

Being employed as an engineer at a major vehicle manufacturer I can tell you, there is no testing necessary. Provided the required angles and dimensions form the SVX's headlamp I can prove this "theory" with simple math. Physics will not allow PnP kits to "just work".

If you honestly want to improve your night vision here are your options:

1) Install better halogen bulbs.
2) Bake open your headlamp housings and retrofit in an HID or LED lamp assembly from a vehicle with those lamps factory-installed.
3) Add appropriate auxiliary lighting and cover when not in use (Driving lamps, etc.)

We are all "the other driver," so be thoughtful and courteous with your modifications.

I highly suggest everyone look a little deeper at lighting "upgrades" in the future. Just because it's cheap, easy to do and everyone around you is doing it, doesn't mean it's correct or safe.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

What are the "better" halogen lamp options?

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

You could use a 9005 bulb in place of the 9006 in that projector, for more lumens, while maintaining the correct filament location-google "convert 9005 to fit 9006.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

lol you can't tell me that HIDs aren't a good upgrade just because our housings weren't meant for that shape of light pattern. It may not be as optimized as can be but they're so much better than halogens. First time driving a car with stock headlights after being so used to my HIDs I thought I only had the fogs on!

HIDs in our cars are a big improvement, they don't blind other drivers and in my experience, they have not garnered any attention from cops. I dont care what the math says lol

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Yes Gordan, with different leads/plugs and some work on the socket that the bulb goes into you can go from 2000 lumens (for both bulbs) to 3400 lumens with a 9005 upgrade. And if it is not legal it should be!

Out here in rural country I prefer the a$$ kicking HIDs at the lower temperature ranges.
On the Claret she has 4300k low beams and 5000k high beams, and when I am out with my 60yo brown eyes, after 45 or more years of welding, it makes my driving safer for everybody!
And, no I have not been flashed by other drivers.
Their 3' off the ground factory installed HIDs blind me, but they are legal.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Slowner44, yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you. Unfortunately, our eyes were not designed to be able to accurately tell the difference between "good" light and "bad" light, our brains automatically correct for these differences and our interpretations of what is good and bad are often totally opposite of what science shows to be true. (I can tell you didn't bother to read the article I posted, so here are some excepts).

"A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source -- the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.

This diagram shows the very different characteristics of the filament vs. the arc:

http://dastern.torque.net/Photometry/filamentarc.jpg

When designing the optics (lens and/or reflector) for a lamp, the characteristics of the light source are the driving factor around which everything else must be engineered. If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly.

Here are some downloadable PDF tests done by DOT and CalCoast Labs on halogen headlamps equipped with "HID kits":


Test #1, with 9004 "HID kit" vs. 9004 bulb


Test #2, with 9006 "HID kit" vs. 9006 bulb


Test #3, with 9004 "HID kit" vs. 9004 bulb

And here is a documentary done by Auto Express showing the results of installing "HID kits" in UN ("ECE", "E-code", "European") headlamps, which are designed for notably tight control of glare on low beam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=Y5n38wDe684

Now, what about those "retrofit" jobs in which the beam cutoff still appears sharp? Don't be fooled; it's an error to judge a beam pattern solely by its cutoff. In many lamps, especially the projector types, the cutoff will remain the same regardless of what light source is behind it. Halogen bulb, HID capsule, cigarette lighter, firefly, hold it up to the sun—whatever. That's because of the way a projector lamp works. The cutoff is simply the projected image of a piece of metal running side-to-side behind the lens. Where the optics come in is in distributing the light under the cutoff. And, as with all other automotive lamps (and, in fact, all optical instruments), the optics are calculated based not just on where the light source is within the lamp (focal length) but also the specific photometric characteristics of the light source...which parts of it are brighter, which parts of it are darker, where the boundaries of the light source are, whether the boundaries are sharp or fuzzy, the shape of the light source, and so forth."

Read up, gain knowledge, profit.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

4) Install HIR bulbs. More light output, same filament location as halogen, very very long bulb life -- unlike the "better halogen" bulbs I've tried, which tended to burn out in a matter of months. The SVX has the great good fortune of allowing both low and high beams to be upgraded with HIRs.

Re: DDM Tuning (Apexcone HID's)
 

Are these the correct HIR bulbs? http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/ph...hir2-9012-twin