Hid Info

Cheers,

Have removed the headlights etc on the 2.1TD, and can see that mounting by the horns won't work due to cable length. There is already something electrical taking up room on the battery box - not sure what it is but there isn't enough room for the ballast as well. Pity - that would have been an ideal location. I guess it will have to go on the flat below/behind the lamp units. Plenty of room on the drivers side, including space inside the ECU box. Looking forward to getting this finished.

Regards,
Kiwi

Finally managed to get out into the garage and finish the HiD job. I used 3M automotive double sided mounting tape to secure the ballasts.

What a difference! I'm really pleased with the outcome and am ordering some for the 2.0sei as well.

Regards,
Kiwi

Ok, I managed to get some photos of mine. I only fitted HID to RHD and left halogen to LHD so that the differences can be seen in practice. Below:

At parking bay:




No1: Both




No2: only HID




No3: only halogen...no, really, the LH halogen is ON at this photo! My camera is not a crappy one!




No4: both, from above the car




As can be seen, I could remove and drive without the halogen bulb and I would have pretty much the same amount of light....Surprisingly (for me) the difference is most felt not on the motorway but in the city, when the HID falls on obstacles and lightens them, when before you wouldn't know if your lights are on or not. It will be just perfect when I also fit the other side. Bought them from ebay seller "justplaza_co". Fast delivery and package is tracked online even with the cheaper (standard) postage option. Fitting of bulb perfect. Only problem with this kit is I didn't know where to plug the earthing connector (it's designed to go *in* the headlamp together with positive), so I pulled it out and earthed it somewhere near on engine bay. So no real problem but was wondering, are other HID kits different? Or am I missing something?

Cheers
George

ps. Have you seen a car with ligths *weaker* than the XM's? Yes, my girlfriend's ZX! Imagine, you can drive on motorway with highest beam and nobody will ever flash you! Should really buy her an HID kit as a present...

This post has been edited by jorgy9 on March 30, 2008 02:37 am

I also got some photos of the LEDs I fitted recently for the side lights. They look good if you like that look, and are stronger than I expected -totally up to the job-. They each carry 4 tiny LEDs. Fit to XM was no problem:













Bought them from French ebay seller "pro-tuning-discount". Probably the silliest £20 I ever spent but, what the h..l, not only girls are allowed to shopping sprees...

Cheers
George

But they are really bright, aren't they? I might do some silly spending, too

The seller on Ebay is offering them for 9.50 euro. Was it the shipping that made up the difference in price?

This post has been edited by Jan-hendrik on March 30, 2008 04:25 am

George,

Good photos- Aren't these lights great? I lined both of mine up against the garage doors after dark last night - well my wife did as my leg is still bust - and the non HiD car looked like the lights were off in comparison!

As for the earth, I simply uplugged the black wire from the bulb housing (the little metal plate that the bulb actually sits in) and plugged it into the black wire on the HiD lead. I note that the S1 lamp units have a slightly different wiring arrangement to the S2 lamp units, but the actual bulb connections are similar. On my S1 cars the wiring harness connector for the lamp unit is on the main beam cap, whereas on the S2 the harness connector sits between the two caps.

I found that I had to crimp the connectors to ensure a tight bind, and the instructions said drill a 25mm hole in the end-cap but 22mm gave a much tighter seal. I removed the lamp units for ease of access.

To anyone reading this who hasn't made the switch to HiD - it is an extremely cost-effective upgrade, that is easy to complete.

Regards,
Kiwi

But they are really bright, aren't they? I might do some silly spending, too

The seller on Ebay is offering them for 9.50 euro. Was it the shipping that made up the difference in price?

Yes, they are at least as bright as the w5w bulbs.

Yes, shipping France to UK was 15eu. I don't know why I shopped from that shop, a complete impulse as I said, I guess I could have equally got them from a UK seller. Similarly, I guess you can get them cheaper overthere -most of these things after all probably travel to Europe from your part of the world...-

cheers
George

Thanks kiwi,

Hmmm, seems I totally missed that earthing connector/wire, I'll look carefully when I do the other side. I did it with the unit in place, btw.

cheers
George

Hi guys,

I bought some hids for mine a couple of weeks back. Went to have a look under the bonnet today and it started to rain

Presumably on the S2 it's a hole drilling job. Through the dustcap is best? Has anyone done it?


Item number: 160222072643

Yes, through the cap. Your HID bulbs should have a rubber grommet on the wires too? about 10p sized?

I got the holes drilled this evening between the showers and fed the wiring and grommet in.

Is there any agreement for mounting the ballasts? There's not much room at all is there? And they certainly don't go overboard on cable length either

I've got the same kit as George, the ballasts have a metal strap that screws around the unit with a 50 - 60mm tag sticking out drilled for the mounting bolts. I've fitted the offside unit to the front of the computer box and the nearside one to the front of the battery box by putting the tag behind the junction box that's already screwed on there. No problems with it so far although it'll be interesting to see if the ballasts are man enough to withstand the engine vibration at tickover.

Bob

Fit the ballasts with double sided adhesive tape to the flat metal behind the lamp units.
Have a look here:
http://club-xm.com/forum/index.php?showto...%20lights&st=20

According to the instructions there are two metal straps in the kit to hold the ballasts. In fact what was in the box was two double side adhesive pads about 40mm dia. So it looks like it's Jan's method then!

Hi Folks,
Just conveted mine What a difference i can now see where im going,
took about 3 hours the hole i drilled was 21mm but it was not big enough to push the connector throug so had to enlarge it, Mine cam with the metal ballast holders which were a sloppy fit but with a bend here and there i got to fit perfectly screwed them to the inner wing (there is a bolt perfect for the job) job done. Due to the lack of space behind the nearside lights i ended up removing the lights which made the job i lot easier, and yes they point lower than the originals but easily adjusted back to the right position.


Norman