Xenon bulb replacement
- Thread starter mazdame3
- Start date
a) it's really easy
b) they last a REALLY long time, so you might never have to replace them anyway.
Stavesacre21
Member
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- 2010 Mazdaspeed3
Man it woulda been nice to have xenons from the factory on the 2010 MS3s...
ehhh...not really. I spent $50 and put a set of DDM slim ballast 4500k in there and it looks and works great. Factory option would have been $1k at least.
The igniter produces ~23,000 volts during initial bulb lightup. So don't disconnect them from the bulb, place the wires in your mouth, and turn on the lights at that time...and you should be fine.
Stavesacre21
Member
- :
- 2010 Mazdaspeed3
I've had my DDM kit for almost a month already. 4500K as well. It's nice, but the light projection isn't as good as it could be. The outline of the 2 headlights closer to the car is slightly distracting at times. Guess I've had 2 sets of factory HIDs with projectors made for HIDs (RX-8 and MS6) and that's just what i'm used it.
Didn't really help with the clips for the connection to the factory harness being backwards, causing you to have to cram it in the harness incorrectly for it to work. Didn't instill the most confidence I guess.
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- 2010 Mazda5 GT
You're going to get a better light spread with an OEM HID setup than putting an aftermarket HID kit into the halogen projector. Different optics are used for the HID projector setup which creates a more even light spread without glare and hot spots.
But there's no denying the allure of putting in an aftermarket kit since they're TONS cheaper
I had an aftermarket HID kit once in a halogen projector setup, and although it looked good and was a noticeable improvement over the halogen bulbs, I could definitely tell the difference between its light spread compared to an OEM HID setup. I also had to modify the cutoff shield to minimize the glare for oncoming drivers.
But there's no denying the allure of putting in an aftermarket kit since they're TONS cheaper
I had an aftermarket HID kit once in a halogen projector setup, and although it looked good and was a noticeable improvement over the halogen bulbs, I could definitely tell the difference between its light spread compared to an OEM HID setup. I also had to modify the cutoff shield to minimize the glare for oncoming drivers.Of course it's not as good as OEM, but it's 20x cheaper. I've had 2 cars with factory HID, and many with aftermarket HID kits...I'll take the slight loss of perfect beam pattern in trade for the $800+ dollars that weren't tacked on to my sticker.
As for the backward wiring...why would you cram it incorrectly? My wiring was backward too, it's the 3rd car I've had where the wiring was slightly different from the HID kits. Rather than cram it in backwards, simply grab some needlenose plyers and push the pos/neg wires out of the aftermarket harness, then put them back in the harness the other way. Takes all of 2 minutes and then you have a nice plug/play harness that clips and unclips properly.
Stavesacre21
Member
- :
- 2010 Mazdaspeed3
I worked at that for a good 5 minutes and didn't think they were gonna come out. I wasn't sure exactly how they were held in the harness, and rather then possible break something off, I just flipped it around and made it fit. It wasn't overly difficult...just not as smooth as I thought.
Had I known BEFORE I ran the ballast, ignitors and wires, I would have tried something different. However, by the time I realized that the kit was NOT gonna plug and play factory, everything was routed and all the zip ties were already in place, giving me an insanely small area to work with.
I've seen similar harnesses before, but never understood exactly how they clips are attached.
oh gotcha. I'm one of those people that always assumes the worst, so I plug my bulb and ballast in before it's mounted at all and test fire.
you just have to push a little harder and those wires pop out. they have a bent piece of metal that helps them clip in place. When you push them hard enough it bends that metal piece back and slides out. To put it back in, I usually re-bend the clip part so it snaps in snug.
Little Beavis
Member
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- 2001 MP3-T (#911)
What kit did you use and where's the best place to buy it. I miss having OEM HIDs, but agree that I'm not quite ready to buy the stock ones as a replacement. . .I can think of oh, maybe a 1000 better uses for that kind of money.
Stavesacre21
Member
- :
- 2010 Mazdaspeed3
Well, the place I bought them from was here.
However, since then, i've seen an almost unbelievable deal found here. This place seems to be a direct supplier, and better yet, their shipping it about 1/2 of what xenonexpert is. On sale for $50 plus $15 shipping puts you at only $65 OTD for a plug and play HID setup.
Good gosh...I mean you can't even touch that price. AND a lifetime warranty on every component, yet to boot!
However, since then, i've seen an almost unbelievable deal found here. This place seems to be a direct supplier, and better yet, their shipping it about 1/2 of what xenonexpert is. On sale for $50 plus $15 shipping puts you at only $65 OTD for a plug and play HID setup.
Good gosh...I mean you can't even touch that price. AND a lifetime warranty on every component, yet to boot!
Yeah, just get them direct from DDM tuning. They are the direct people and have the cheapest prices plus the biggest inventory. If you are local to San Diego, you can just pick them up too.
Caedmon7777
Member
- :
- 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
You're going to get a better light spread with an OEM HID setup than putting an aftermarket HID kit into the halogen projector. Different optics are used for the HID projector setup which creates a more even light spread without glare and hot spots.
But there's no denying the allure of putting in an aftermarket kit since they're TONS cheaper
Well can't you get the housing for the regular 3 and put it on the speed 3 with an aftermarket HID kits and still get the factory spread cause I know the regular 3s offer the HIDs from the factory.
Stavesacre21
Member
- :
- 2010 Mazdaspeed3
I'm sure you could go that route, but I wouldn't even wanna know what 2 Mazda HID headlight assemblies are gonna run you from a dealership...or any other source you can find them.
Theoretically, you are right. Just buy the correct kit/bulb for the factory housing/projector and it should plug and play. I'm gonna guess at least $400 for each headlamp housing.
As others have said, i'll agree that i'll take sub-perfect HID lighting for almost $1K less
Theoretically, you are right. Just buy the correct kit/bulb for the factory housing/projector and it should plug and play. I'm gonna guess at least $400 for each headlamp housing.
As others have said, i'll agree that i'll take sub-perfect HID lighting for almost $1K less
stupid question,
but which are the right bulbs for our 2010speed3's?
both for fog and the headlamps
aswell as, what is the optimal placement of the ballasts? That's the only thing that has been bugging me about getting HIDs, i have no idea where to put them.
http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=101&parent=85
55W 8000k but what bulb type for lets say, MAIN, and FOGS.
Thanks a ton!
but which are the right bulbs for our 2010speed3's?
both for fog and the headlamps
aswell as, what is the optimal placement of the ballasts? That's the only thing that has been bugging me about getting HIDs, i have no idea where to put them.
http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=101&parent=85
55W 8000k but what bulb type for lets say, MAIN, and FOGS.
Thanks a ton!
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