daalma

has anyone ever changed the lowbeam hids to halogen?
if so how did you do it? thanks

thelastaspec

Yes - but its jerry-rigging it to extremes.

out of curiosity, why do you wish to do this?
hid = better light output = safety

daalma

tired of buying ballasts igniters thousand dollars a pop for a car used as third vehicle. halogen will work fine for what this car is used for.

daalma

igniter 410 dollars. ballast 390. bulb 150. before tax or install.

03tl-s04mdx

Aftermarket, complete kit $50-$60

HIDextra.com - Acurazine sponsor.

Skirmich

WoW You actually bought the OEM Stuff??? No Wonders you are Breaking the Bank....

PLEASE FOR GODs SAKE GO AFTERMARKET!!! And dont do a Retro-fit that will actually Hurt Performance instead of Helping it.

daalma

aftermarket lasted ten months. anyone know one that would last?

fsttyms1

Id first find the cause of every thing failing. These things shouldnt fail. Especially quickly. Do you get fogging or moisture in your headlights?

thelastaspec

there's some vendors that are not on this site - ill look the name up - (on some lexus and bmw fourm) that offers a lifetime warranty for their basalts (bulbs im assuming they are for x number of years). Hidxtra is good, but if your having bad luck maybe go with the warranty...

thelastaspec

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Ap...Raptor-HID-Kit
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W

BourbonSt

Hey guys, I bought my 2003 TL-S last Friday but didn't notice a headlight was out. Today swapped bulbs to find that it is not the bulb. I was a little dismayed to find the dealer's price of $541.00 for (1) inverter/igniter, and $144.00 for (1) lamp. I followed the links to ddmtuning provided by thelastspec, can this be true? 35 bucks for a pair of bulbs and ballasts with lifetime warranty?? Any further thoughts for a total newbie?

Also, I am interested in learning more about the history and comparisons of the different generations of TL's ... anyone got a link or a general direction to look for more info?

Thanks!

01tl4tl

look in the other gen sections or acura.com to compare

hidextra or ddm are the way to go
read the websites and decide who sounds better for you
get a relay kit to avoid problems with power

KatabaticSaint

I bought aftermarket Hid's 6000k from retrosolutions.com been going 2 years now.

BourbonSt

Relay Kit?? what kind of problems with power? (sorry if it's a dumb question)

thelastaspec

if you search on google for a bit you can find a 10% off coupon for DDM...

BourbonSt

I have been reading up on this today, I guess I'll be going with ddm, especially since hidextra's site lists a phone number that is no longer in service.

Another thread discussing this issue says that a relay is not needed unless going from halogen to hid, and since the car is already hid there should be no power issues. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for the input

BourbonSt

By the way I also ran across a good DIY for this at
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=hid+diy

01tl4tl

there have been reports that with different bulbs and ballast- we are running different power needs thru the stock relay, may be causing some of these freaky probs even after swap

with a new kit it has all dedicated power to the lights with their own relay

hidextras order phone or tech line is gone??

BourbonSt

That's odd, I tried hidextra's number today and it worked... Guess I dialed the wrong number the first time

I ordered the 35w 4500k kit from DDR, with brackets, and included the relay. Did you guys mount the ballast where the old ones were? With brackets? Or the adhesive tape? Thanks

01tl4tl

I went to the frame rail under the housing with the tape- which promptly fell off first hot day...not good

now its attched properly with zip ties,, like any good aftermarket should!
but you can do a secure mount to frame rail side with a bracket
and slip the other power module and wires under the housing as you slide it back in place

ck diys for cutting access hole for new wire to bulb,,maybe v cut or new hole somewhere- to ease strain on wire

daalma

ordered ballast igniter from delra acura online.
less than half the price of local dealer. wont bother with aftermarket now.

01tl4tl

but all you got was a ballast-
not the controller box that seems to be part of the prob- per an acura tech here?

fsttyms1

that and he never answered if there was condensation or anything else in the headlight. Aftermarket or not those parts shouldnt fail quickly unless there is some other underlying issue.

01tl4tl

hence my new signature~

BourbonSt

got the kit and relay harness in the mail today, the $4 brackets are flimsy and look pretty useless, guess I'll be using tie wraps as well.
the wire used for the relay harness is quite smaller gauge than I would expect, but I guess they know what they're doing...
I'll update when I'm done (sometime this weekend hopefully)
Thanks for the help

01tl4tl

relays are nice- dedicated power to an item so smaller guage is ok

some double stick foam tape on the ballast to absorb vibration is a good idea IMO
then zip ties to secure the unit

BourbonSt

got it done, took most of the day, very happy with the result, no flickering.... I used the relay harness and the brackets from ddm, along with some foam tape and metal plumbing strap. Mounted the ballasts right where the old ones used to be. Saved a lot of money... Thanks for the help!

BourbonSt

Also made sure the headlight housings were totally sealed from moisture with RTV

daalma

what i meant was ballast aka inverter and igniter. replaced both. thanks