I ordered a set of DDM tunings high/low HID's to put into my diamond cut housings instead of the 9007 halogens.

Went with the 35w 6000k HID instead of 55w 8000k since light output without projectors at 55w is a bit hard to control from what I understand and I don't want to be the guy blinding everyone on the road. Guys at explorer forum run with and w/o projectors and most run the 35w and are happy with the output and light focus both with projectors and not. from some of the discussions I saw on here 35w 4-8k seems to be the norm with a few outliers. Projectors would be best but I want to see how this works first. maybe if it's good enough I'll find space for some 3000k fogs.

The lights are electronically actuated to shift position to focus the light between low and high beams and come with wiring, ballasts, and the bulbs. I'm interested to see how well the high/low function works. I'm hoping I'll be able to have them in my hands and installed by the weekend and hopefully with pics and a report of how well they work for me in these housings.

 

Be ready to replace them in a few months.

DDM is **** these days.

 

Thats not what I was hoping to hear. Whats the point of failure on them? Ballasts, bulb?

Any suggestion for a better replacement?

 

I've had DDM HIDs for almost 4 years. No Issues.

 

Thanks man. Any other opinions from anyone?
They have a good warranty so even if they fail it shouldn't be too bad of a deal

 

Mine have never failed either. I haven't seen the cutoff of Expo housings versus Ranger housings but my experience with the Ranger is that you will blind people.

My truck rarely gets out at night, my wife and I take her Focus everywhere, so it's not as critical but I plan to retrofit projectors.

 

Note how I said these days. DDM used to be great for cheap HID's. But lately they are nothing but problems. Ballasts failing. Won't send a new one till they get the old one back, bulbs being different colors, etc. they drop ship from china now. Bulbs are in containers listed as "5000k-6000k" so you may get two different coloured bulbs.

Google it. People need to do research before buying things.


Yours are probably older to. Projectors are definitely the way to go though.

 

Projectors are the only way to do it. The difference in lighting is amazing. HID's in the halogen housings just blinds people. The hardest 2 things to retrofit projectors is #1 baking the housings to remove the lens. #2 Making sure the projectors are level before you reseal the housings.

 

I did do research, for a while. I was just seeing what other opinions are, since reviews are so mixed even the most recent ones. But I do appreciate your reply and like I said I want to see how my housings work out with them before I go projector. Again, mixed reviews.

 

When you go projector, go to theretrofitsource.com

Top quality products, top quality service.

I can maybe wen get you a decent discount.

 

Awesome. I had seen them as I was browsing. I'll check it out for sure more after I get these and I decide it's time to modify more how soon is the question..... My new housings have a pretty defined cutoff soo I still want to give it a go. But honestly WHEN is 100% accurate hah.

 

I have one set from a couple years ago and one set from November 2012...no issues with either.

 

they are hit and miss.

cheap chinese crap. some people are lucky, others not so much.

just because you dont have issues, doesnt mean its a good product.

 

Yeah
..after looking at theretrofitsource more im kinda kicking myself for not waiting and spending the big bucks on the top end stuff. Its Niiice. Sounds like you've got a lot of cash tied up in your lighting 6.2. did you buy your daylighters as HID's or convert them from halogen?

 

I've got visionx 4500 HID's not daylighters.

They come as HID's.

 

If you request they send you a set from California, you'll have good luck. I've never had an issue since I started doig that. 1 set is close to 3.5 years old. The ones directly from china have those little pins you slide into the pigtail opposed to a male plug

 

99offroadrngr: Thats good to know. I'll keep it all in mind once I get them and evaluate the situation. I'f I run into issues I'm just going to bag it and buy a quality product. It just makes sence versus spending more money on repacing something cheap over and over.

6.2: Gotcha, I must have misread the other thread I was looking through. At half the price of the KC HID ones I may replace my daylighters with a few of those. They seem like they would be a better product offroad anyhow being aluminum housings versus steel to state the obvious it tends to rust..

 

i actually havent even fired my vision x lights up yet in the dark lol. i got them for free though, but they are far better than halogen. if they are worth the money they cost, dont know yet.

i think the rigid D2's will be the best bang for buck light mod ill ever do. those suckers are insanely bright. and for only $350 a pair, cant go wrong at all.

 

Man, I've wanted to get one of their light bars for a while now. The 4x6 sealed beam lights I've got up there on my roof kill my gas milleage with all the drag they create.

 

yeah they also have a lifetime warranty so you'd get them replaced for free anyway and could either keep or sell them once the new ones arrive.

D2's are awesome. 2 of them put the 4 hellas i had to shame

 

Well I ordered some round ranger fogs the same day as the HID's and I've been sitting on them a few days. Installed those into my steel bumper and aimed them today. I am still waiting on those stupid DDM HID's....and kicking myself. As soon as I get my promotion paycheck I'm going to order from TRS and I'll probably have their product before DDM's seeing as I'm only 4-5 hr. from Atlanta...what a joke. Guess I leaned on the wrong side of the mixed reviews. Well, lesson learned.

 

Well they arrived in a battered box seemingly hastily packed. But after being held up in customs for what I am assuming was almost a week I'm not surprised. I installed the lights (after having to cut part of the bulb's plastic body to fit) and they work decently. Not as bright as I was hoping for, but VERY white and definitely brighter than my halogens. I am amused by the ingenious hi/low solenoid it has and I must say it works well. The products I ordered from TRS (50w 3000k fogs )are back ordered so they didn't arrive faster then the stuff from china but that's alright. Depending on how I like those fogs I may do a full retrofit with projectors for the headlights in 50w 6000k, but these diamond cut housings, currently without a projector, control the light much better than they did with the halogen bulbs when I turn on the highs there is a very well defined cutoff and very even light distribution. In Low the beam pattern isn't quite as good but there is a defined cutoff with the exception of a "block" of light that extends slightly further than the rest of the headlight cutoff centered down the driving lane.
I don't have a pic of the beam pattern yet but heres the front

 

Just thought I'd add my .02c as well on DDM since there are so many BAD reviews. I noticed an abundance of people being rude when communicating to DDM's customer service. My example being on facebook. There seemed to be a trend of those people being completely ignored. I thought about the possibility of their customer service being out of China as well and it makes sense. What I mean is (my wife being Chinese) in their culture people who are rude and disrespectful like that basically don't deserve their time of day. So, leaving all preconceived notions of s**** customer service behind I very politely asked them a few questions and requested a shipping update (my product was making its way through customs). They very promptly replied within 3 hours answering all of my questions.

It still remains to be seen on the longevity of the kit or if I have a problem how they will react but as far as I can tell... A little bit of respect goes a long way. You gotta give it to get it.

No issues with the Kelvin on the lights either their both 6000k and much much more white than blue. And like I said the only issue I have is I had to notch the plastic on both bulb bodies to fit in the housings which was no big deal.



side by side comparison yellow circle showing where I had to put the notches in.

 

I've had nothing but positive experiences with their customer service. Yes it takes a while for the initial shipment to get to you but if you have an issue, they'll ship out of California. Very quick responses updating support tickets as well.

 

Yeah, I am not unhappy at all, very pleased with the service so far. I expected long shipping from China just not the extra week from customs. I guess I never thought about that part. But hey, it was all here in one piece and it works just fine. Just a few moderately expensive upgrades left for the explorer and I'll be done building it simply maintaining...of course my puppy's new hip upgrades have to happen first. Poor guy.