Hid Conversions., Has anybody done one?

[Peter.N.]

A while back a member, I cant remember who, said he was going to fit an HID lamp conversion, did he, and what were the results?

They are getting relatively cheap now so I am considering fitting one myself. They are advertised on Ebay from about £75 to nearly £300 but all look very similar, does anyone know the difference?

I spent a couple of hours comparing the various kits (sad isn't it) and they all seemed to have different ballast units but were otherwise the same! Does anyone have any experience with them?

Peter.N.

[onthecut]

Hi all.

Do you know, the XM is the one car I've never, ever seen supplementary driving lamps fitted to ! I can understand that none of us want to spoil the rather fine frontal appearance of the car, but in terms of good lighting, a pair of decent driving lamps will leave any number of bulb conversions to the original headlamps for dead. An acquaintance of mine used to work for Lucas when they still made things, and he always said the simple maxim with lamps is you can't get a quart out of a pint pot, referring not to the power of the bulb, but the reflector. All of us who have had a BX will recall their excellent lights and what's the key difference -- a much bigger reflector than the XM. So --- drills out and a set of big Cibie.

Mike.

[Peter.N.]

Hi Mike

True, but I'm about 50 years to old for that! The HIDs do give a lot more light than a bulb, about 3X I believe, they also run much cooler than a bulb as they only use about 30W, but what's more important is that its a white light which is 'all the better to see you with'. The only other option is to fit 100w bulbs, but they are not only illegal but the heat will quickly degrade the reflectors and that silly plastic diffuser.

You cant really beat round lamps, the type most of my cars had, but they wouldn't fit the modern ones, although they ought to, my sons 2.8 Capri looks nice with them.

Peter.N.

[xmexclusive]

Hi Peter

Have not tried HID's myself yet, still thinking about it/waiting for the price to get reasonable. In the last few months I have noticed that the light output from both the XM's that I am running is regularly degraded when the inside of the light glass gets condensation on it. Only really noticed this because out of hours I have to open the security gate to drive in and out of the compound with the worshop and I tend to leave the car lights on to see what I am doing. The headlight glass can be clear of mist when I start up, misted when I have driven the 8 miles to arrive at the gate and virtually clear again in minutes when I have parked up at the unit.
I guess that I need to look at improving the sealing of the glass to the mounting box if I am to use the cooler HID's which will not dry this out at all.

Regards

XMexc

[wirdy]

Does this Link help anyone?

Cituning list says 498 Euro for the sixlight conversion kit.

HID fitting to XM instructions Here

This post has been edited by wirdy on December 27, 2006 10:26 pm

[Peter.N.]

Thanks for that Wirdy, it more or less confirms what I have already read.

XMexc - You can get kits for as little as £75 now from ebay, and reading their feedback doesn't seem to indicate that they have had any problems.

I have never had a problem with water getting into the lamps, I don't know if you have ever had yours apart, but they are quite easy to get at if you remove the grill. They have clips all round the edge that just spring off, the bottom ones are a little awkward but can be done. you can then remove the glass which has a seal between it and the reflector. If the bulb covers are screwed in place, the water can only be getting in from the front. If they are both steaming up, it could be that some water has got trapped in there and is alternatly evapourating and condensing. You could try removing the bulb rear covers and leaving it for a few days, you never know they might dry out.

[xmexclusive]

Hi Peter

I suspect it is front seal trouble so I was putting it off until I was ready to HID one and scrap the other. Interested in the ebay items, have not seen them myself so if you could show me the way I would appreciate it.

Regards

John

[Peter.N.]

Hi John

Just type in 'hid kit' there are about 50 on there at the moment, some are in America and some in Taiwan, not keen on buying from there but there are also some from the UK.

You can probably seal your lamps with draught excluder strip if the seals have failed, but I think its unusual, unless of course someone has already had them off

Peter.

[wirdy]

I have had HID's on my Mitsubishi for over four years - did them myself using OE hella parts and H2S bulbs from Audi before conversion kits were readily available. They remain excellent.

This topic has shamed me into buying a set for the XM - I nearly missed a roundabout exit onto the A1 in the dark the other day - that was my wake up call about the crap headlights on our motors.

£125 + £10 P&P. UK company. Fast delivery, No VAT or customs surprises. Trusted by lots of my pals - they say it's a good quality kit. ebay seller mjd128.
Pilot HID website

Will post the results once fitted. Should be an easy install - the prev owner left the parallel supply wires tied back & insulated when he removed his HID's before selling me the car. He put them into his new xantia......the swine!!!

This post has been edited by wirdy on December 28, 2006 01:47 am

[wirdy]

Update - well the Ebay man has sold out of H1 kits, and has refunded my paypal payment, so it was back to the drawing board.

I've just heard back from the US distributor of 'Pilot' kits (from the website in my prev post). I can get one sent directly to me for slightly cheaper than the UK sellers price; that includes shipping, duties and taxes They've got a 10% holiday promo discount on at present too.



This post has been edited by wirdy on December 30, 2006 01:15 pm

[wirdy]

Received kit from USA in 5 days. Very good quality (all connectors waterproof - good for our XM's around the headlight area!!).

No extras to pay. Fitted kit in 90 mins.

Super headlights now. Money well spent.

[colinxm]

Hi Wirdy, i'm very interested, could you please tell me where to find your supplier ?

Many thanks, Colin.P

[wirdy]

Colin - click on the Pilot HID link 3 posts above.

Shipping cost is $45 by airmail package, but still works out cheaper than UK suppliers of this kit.

I am very satisfied with the customer service - quick responses to my e-mails and kept me informed of the despatch date and I had e-mails from the carraige company enabling me to track the package. They send a lot of stuff to UK apparently.

You could try asking for the 10% holiday discount too, even though it's not listed on the site anymore. Just say you've been recommended by another buyer in UK.

[wirdy]

Here's where the ballasts fitted.

[colinxm]

Brilliant, thanks Wirdy

Colin.P