Low Beam HID Conversion Kit

[Secondtyme]

What he says^^ I read his thread before fitting HID to my current 5. I am running an Ebay sourced DDM slim ballast kit through a TRS relay harness. My kit is a 55watt 5000K which works quite well, no weird spots or scatter above the cut-off. The only real weakness of the factory halogen proectors seems to be a weak spread of the light to the edges of the field and the cut-off is a little fuzzy. Both of these i attribute to the differences between halogen and HID bulbs. At some point I was thinking of fitting E55 projectors cause they will fit in the 5s big ol headlight housings.

 

[phunky.buddha]

What he says^^ I read his thread before fitting HID to my current 5. I am running an Ebay sourced DDM slim ballast kit through a TRS relay harness. My kit is a 55watt 5000K which works quite well, no weird spots or scatter above the cut-off. The only real weakness of the factory halogen proectors seems to be a weak spread of the light to the edges of the field and the cut-off is a little fuzzy. Both of these i attribute to the differences between halogen and HID bulbs. At some point I was thinking of fitting E55 projectors cause they will fit in the 5s big ol headlight housings.

Have you taken measurements on the E55 projectors vs the 5?

 

[Suddueth13]

If these lights are the same 3" Stanley's like the 1st gen Mazda3 used then they work pretty well with HIDs in stock form. With a clear lens swap, sanded shield, paint the shield, and they have probably the best output I've ever seen from a halogen projector. It's even better than a few OEM xenon setups. Just use quality products, OEM, Morimoto, etc. DDM is okay and "works", but the output isn't nearly as good.

 

[MR6]

4 years and counting on my DDM HID kit in my CX-9 with OEM wiring and no issues so far.

I've had a DDM 35W in my 09 for about 4 years well. It was years ago but i'm pretty sure i ran the relay harness just to be safe. Flawless performance and are brighter than the OEMs on my speed. I haven't had to replace a bulb yet, but when that time comes, $15 for the pair and they will last at least 4 years! It's a wonder OEMs charge thousands for HIDs when the DDM kit was under $60 and has lasted me this long. I'm gonna get a bunch of LEDs from them soon. Interior and blinkers. I'll start a thread

...The only real weakness of the factory halogen proectors seems to be a weak spread of the light to the edges of the field and the cut-off is a little fuzzy. Both of these i attribute to the differences between halogen and HID bulbs...

Agreed. but the light pattern is still very tight considering it is a halogen housing. The only thing i had to do was re-aim them as the factory position had the HID light pointing almost straight up. I didn't even realize it until we did a test drive with my wife in the van driving behind me and the beam was bouncing off my rear view, illuminating my interior lol

Have you taken measurements on the E55 projectors vs the 5?

overkill imo. I've tried retrofitting a headlamp to a jetta and what a pain in the ass the entire process was. Worth it only because the OEMs were reflector but i still gave up and bought hyper white halogens.

Our projector lamps handle the HID kits without issue. So would the extra few inches of beam or minor increase in sharpness really worth breaking open the headlamp? I've compared the DDMs in my van to the OEMs in the speed and the van is down about 3 inches in reach (i could re-aim a bit) but the van's light is noticeably brighter & washes out the OEM MS3 beam when overlapped. Just food for though

 

[kw_da]

don't want to start a war, but HIDs in stock housings are not legal. See http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

I'm tired of glare from people putting HID lights in Halogen housings - they make it hard for other drivers to see where they are going after getting blinded by HID glare. Having a projector housing may help, but they will still produce glare - they are designed for different light sources (see reference). I was going to put HIDs in, but after I found out about all the issues - decided not to.

The German Osram 65w H7 bulbs that someone mentioned above, I believe are halogen, so the optics should be ok. However, then I would be worried about wires melting with it is hot out - 15 watts over the stock lights. Has anyone had issues with these bulbs?

 

[MAZDASPEED MX5]

I've been running the German Osrams for a while with no issues. 65w v stock 55w is a small wattage change.

 

[Secondtyme]

I have not measured the 5s headlights but I am pretty sure the E55s would fit with some cutting. I have retro'ed two different vehicles (an 08 Honda Fit, and an 04 Subaru Forester) both went very well and I was extremely pleased with the outcome in both cases. I used the excellent Morimoto Mini kit available from TRS, which makes the whole process extremely easy. I hadn't really thought of optimizing the stock halogen projectors with better lenses etc. I think I will try that before I retro in this case, because as others have already said the stockers do pretty damn well with HIDs.

 

[Silentnoise713]

One more minor nag on retrofitting HIDs, it still lacks any form of leveling auto or manual . I suppose it is a non-issue if you accept aiming it low but when the car is loaded top/front heavy (two heavy front passengers), you wont see very far in front of ya and down right dangerous when you are at HWY speeds! If you aim it too high and load it bottom/end heavy, you will blind people and wont see as much directly in front of you (doesnt help that our fogs SUCK gawd it SUCKS!). Perhaps you can ghetto rig and hard wire a steel cable from the headlight adjustment screw into the cabin? You can probably find a happy medium in a two seater but the Mz5 probably goes though many different cargo situations.
FWIW, the factory HID (and leather) is quite good!

 

[Secondtyme]

Another strong argument for lowering springs! Sorry that was borderline off topic. I don't really consider mine to be aimed LOW per se, I set them up so that the cutoff is level with the top of the license plate of a car two car lengths in front of me. Even with the 55w kit i haven't been flashed or cussed at yet. Of course my little corner of WV is ricer hell. Every other car on the road has a poorly installed 22,000K kit installed, and don't even get me started on the lifted mega trucks with HIDs around here. Compared to these yahoos I'm a paragon of legality LOL

 

[kw_da]

Of course my little corner of WV is ricer hell.

lol, now you have me curious ... I thought all ricers were out here in the land of fruit & nuts (CA). Who is ricing up their cars out there? Seems pretty rural from google maps - I'd figure more of the pickup truck & gun rack type? Or do I have my stereotypes all mixed up

 

[MR6]

...I'm tired of glare from people putting HID lights in Halogen housings - they make it hard for other drivers to see where they are going after getting blinded by HID glare. Having a projector housing may help, but they will still produce glare - they are designed for different light sources (see reference). I was going to put HIDs in, but after I found out about all the issues - decided not to....

My lowered van produces MUCH less glare than those mega money yuppie SUVs and the OEM HIDs that i swear are aimed specifically for melting my corneas. Aimed properly, our housings do a great job.

One more minor nag on retrofitting HIDs, it still lacks any form of leveling auto or manual . I suppose it is a non-issue if you accept aiming it low but when the car is loaded top/front heavy (two heavy front passengers), you wont see very far in front of ya and down right dangerous when you are at HWY speeds! If you aim it too high and load it bottom/end heavy, you will blind people and wont see as much directly in front of you (doesnt help that our fogs SUCK gawd it SUCKS!). Perhaps you can ghetto rig and hard wire a steel cable from the headlight adjustment screw into the cabin? You can probably find a happy medium in a two seater but the Mz5 probably goes though many different cargo situations.
FWIW, the factory HID (and leather) is quite good!

Lowered and stiff prevent the dramatic load changes that OEM suspensions suffer, but you have a point. Which reminds me, i have to re-aim for the new ride height. And the factory HID package was close to $2k in my region...NUTS! DDMtuning, 60 bucks (plus eventual seat covers) & done

Another strong argument for lowering springs!...Even with the 55w kit i haven't been flashed or cussed at yet....Compared to these yahoos I'm a paragon of legality LOL

LOL yeah i'd say we're in the minority though. Those ricers piss me off to no end. Purple headlights are not a fashion statement, they're a hazard! In all the years no one has ever flashed me either.

 

[Secondtyme]

KW, I live in the easter panhandle of WV, about 90 miles from Washington DC. Most of what we have out here is recent American iron and a liberal sprinkling of 15 year old imports. There are almost as many "buy here, pay here" used car lots as there are "adult establishments". My least favorite is the Saturn SL2 with 12,000K HID, I wonder how on earth they can even see where they are going at night. Back to the actual topic though, my main reason for considering a projector retro on the 5 is to address the one major problem i have with the OE design. That is the silly, "adaptor" that we have to use, even with halogen bulbs. When converting to HID you have to cut them down for use with the re-based bulbs and the result is a compromise at best. I had so many issues with this that I fabricated a replacement from PVC pipe. This is an imperfect solution and I WILL retro some sort of projector in, be it the E55s or TSXs or maybe even some FXRs.

 

[ummduh]

don't want to start a war, but HIDs in stock housings are not legal. See http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

I'm tired of glare from people putting HID lights in Halogen housings - they make it hard for other drivers to see where they are going after getting blinded by HID glare. Having a projector housing may help, but they will still produce glare - they are designed for different light sources (see reference). I was going to put HIDs in, but after I found out about all the issues - decided not to.

The German Osram 65w H7 bulbs that someone mentioned above, I believe are halogen, so the optics should be ok. However, then I would be worried about wires melting with it is hot out - 15 watts over the stock lights. Has anyone had issues with these bulbs?

You're not going to get glare from a HID retro in a projector. What you are most likely to get is a malformed hotspot, projection issues like spider webs and poor cutoff. I'm not trying to justify it, it's still wrong. You're still going to get much, much better light from a proper projector. I'm just saying that, at least in Mazda projectors, HID bulb retros do pretty well compared to others.

It's not just the wiring you need to worry about with higher wattage halogen bulbs, you can also destroy the internal reflective surface (the bowl) with too much heat. That will also lead to glare(non projector) and output problems.

There are not many leveling HID systems out there, OEM or not. They're pretty few and far between. I was really surprised to see the manual level adjust on the M5 considering how spartan the option sheet is to begin with. It's only legally required in the US if you have a bi-xenon headlight.

 

[phunky.buddha]

One more minor nag on retrofitting HIDs, it still lacks any form of leveling auto or manual . I suppose it is a non-issue if you accept aiming it low but when the car is loaded top/front heavy (two heavy front passengers), you wont see very far in front of ya and down right dangerous when you are at HWY speeds! If you aim it too high and load it bottom/end heavy, you will blind people and wont see as much directly in front of you (doesnt help that our fogs SUCK gawd it SUCKS!). Perhaps you can ghetto rig and hard wire a steel cable from the headlight adjustment screw into the cabin? You can probably find a happy medium in a two seater but the Mz5 probably goes though many different cargo situations.
FWIW, the factory HID (and leather) is quite good!

Does the factory HID have auto-leveling? That's not necessarily a feature in all cars that have OEM HIDs... I know my S2000 doesn't.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Does the factory HID have auto-leveling? That's not necessarily a feature in all cars that have OEM HIDs... I know my S2000 doesn't.

Sry Phunky, missed your question. Factory HID comes with manual leveling from 0-3 (4 settings). The highest and lowest setting makes a huge difference. The OM has a section on how to level the lights based on passenger/cargo combo. I think this should be in there for all models. I must confess, I had to look in the OM to figure out what that toggle was for . When aimed low and with no passengers, it is not suitable for HWY travel on unlit roads.

What year is your S2K's and does it have manual leveling HIDs? I drove my friends ’02 or ’03 a while back (he sold it for a Mz2 and is on Mazda247 actually) in country roads with swooping high/low drops and the cut-off was way too low and dangerous b/c I really can't see above the cut off which was aimed quite low + when going up a hill, it was like a black hole in front of you. I didn’t check at the time but does the S2K have manual leveling? Someone confirm this but I though I read that NTHSA mandated (or planning too) that all HIDs must be equip with auto or manual leveling.

 

[phunky.buddha]

My S2k is a 2003, and based on all my friends' AP2s (2004-2009), I don't think the US models ever came with any type of leveling hardware at all. The UK versions did. The S2k may have been released ahead of the NHTSA mandate if there is/was one. I know one of the reasons why it was never redesigned after MY2009 is because of new regulations that would change the car too much.

On the other hand, my old roommate's brand new MY2004 WRX STi had manual leveling headlights.