Xenon kits for FR-S (35w vs 55w)

[mit_peid]

My friend shared with me his great experience with hist aftermarket Xenon kit from ddmtuning installed on a MS3. (http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W Does anyone have experience with them? Price sounds very good (~$50), especially if they're as reliable as my friend's 55w kit (3+ years install without any problems).

I want to install them on my FR-S, but wanted to get people's thoughts on going with 35w or 55w. I understand 55w will be brighter, but at what risk? I understand I can also get the aftermarket (dual in, dual out) harness for peace of mind to not fry OEM wiring.

Thoughts?

[Noob4Life]

I'm running 50w 6k TRS HIDs in my retrofits on my 04 vw jetta and 35w 3k DDM HIDs in the hella projector fogs. I'm having some issues with the headlights ATM and not sure what the problem is but my DDM tuning HIDs are doing great. Haven't have one problem with them and have had them for maybe 6 months? Not as long as your friend but still good to know.

a 55w kit will give you like 15% brighter output but will also wash out the color of the bulbs and will reduce bulb life and reliability. IMO I would stick with 35w since these projectors are made for halogens and if you want the kit to last a long time. BTW I'm using relays for both my head and foglights.

[mit_peid]

Yeah thanks. I'm leaning on going with 6000K 35W and the harness for longevity and peace-of-mind.

[teddypt4]

I just got my today in the mail from them. it took a week to ship from china. But my cousin waited 3 weeks. Anyways I just installed it today and it was very easy. I also got the 35w 6000k. I didn't order a harness and just use zipties. hope this helps and give you a little more confidence to order from them cause i looked around and its the cheapest i seen.

[KI_ZN6]

We also recommend 35w HID conversion kits for the FR-S. =)

[mezdup]

@mit_peid i got their 35W 5000k's a little while back and finally got around to installing them on Sunday. for my first HID set, they seem pretty great. install was quick and easy and the color is exactly what it should be. i've been using them for a few days now and i love them. i really don't think the harness is a necessity as our wiring should have no problem supporting the HIDs, but $10 doesn't hurt. i used some 3M double sided tape to stick the ballasts to the engine bay, seems to have worked fine. it took me about 3 weeks to receive it i think. also, as i'm sure you know, it is recommended to bend down the squirrel finders in the headlight housings. i originally was going to try driving a few days without doing this, but after i saw the amount of glare produced by them i went ahead and bent them down. the HIDs look great.

[mit_peid]

Originally Posted by mezdup

@mit_peid i got their 35W 5000k's a little while back and finally got around to installing them on Sunday. for my first HID set, they seem pretty great. install was quick and easy and the color is exactly what it should be. i've been using them for a few days now and i love them. i really don't think the harness is a necessity as our wiring should have no problem supporting the HIDs, but $10 doesn't hurt. i used some 3M double sided tape to stick the ballasts to the engine bay, seems to have worked fine. it took me about 3 weeks to receive it i think. also, as i'm sure you know, it is recommended to bend down the squirrel finders in the headlight housings. i originally was going to try driving a few days without doing this, but after i saw the amount of glare produced by them i went ahead and bent them down. the HIDs look great.

Was there a reason why you went with 35w instead of 55w? According to our owner's manual our stock low beam bulbs (H11) are actually 55w bulbs. Is it primarily you didn't want them too bright? Actually I haven't heard about squirrel finders (will need to do some research). Actually that made me a bit hesitant to pull the trigger on these. Doesn't sound like it'd be very easy to go back to stock after I bend the squirrel finders (wtf? Now you got me very curious).

[mezdup]

Originally Posted by mit_peid

Was there a reason why you went with 35w instead of 55w? According to our owner's manual our stock low beam bulbs (H11) are actually 55w bulbs. Is it primarily you didn't want them too bright? Actually I haven't heard about squirrel finders (will need to do some research). Actually that made me a bit hesitant to pull the trigger on these. Doesn't sound like it'd be very easy to go back to stock after I bend the squirrel finders (wtf? Now you got me very curious).

regarding 35W vs 55W: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=650634

regarding squirrel finders: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25455, http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20728

honestly if you go the HID route, you're not going to want to go back. i was just as nervous as you were until i just went ahead and bought them. as soon as i finished installing them and turned them on for the first time i knew i'd be keeping them. almost immediately after i saw the glare, i took the bulbs out, bent the squirrels down and put them back in. i don't see me wanting to bend the squirrel finders back anytime soon. also you really don't need anything more than 35W. 35W is a huge improvement over the stock bulbs and there's no worries about melting wires, which can come with 55W unless of course you get the harness that you mentioned earlier. but it's not worth it, you're better off with 35W as they'll give you more than enough light and not as much glare as a 55W would.

[Precisionleds]

55W is brighter than 35W at the risk of bulb life. The bulb's lifespan is cut down by running 55W. 55W also seems to wash out color of the bulbs, giving the effect of a lower than rated color temperature. For example, it makes 8K look like 6K. Hope this helps!

[quasi86]

I just ordered a kit that cost me $120. The base kit was $60. The difference in the kits is the ballast. I bought the more expensive one because it still operated at 35w but was able to put out almost as much light as the 55w. It described it as 3600 lumens at 35w and 3900 lumens at 55w. Not losing much brightness and not running risk of going through bulbs or wire fires! :eek: so the upgraded ballast was described as OEM quality, made of stainless steel, and designed for long life and durability. I figured why go cheap, my car deserves the best!

HIDextra

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