Dan Miller

Hi! Just bought a 2004 Touring RES/NAV today...

I want to change out the stock headlights for HID.

Starting with lows obviously, but if I can do all three without too much trouble, I'm loving it.

If anyone has advice/horror stories I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Dan

FiftyFive

Welcome to the boards and congratulations on your purchase. I have the same model and put in 4300k HIDs in my low beams, and 3000k HIDs in my fog lights.

Check the link in my sig for a quick youtube video.

I haven't got to the high beams i think it may be a little overkill but if its light you want..

The best advice i can give you is to buy plug and play kits. No wire cutting, splicing, and all that mess. I purchased mine from Xenonlink.com
They have very reasonable prices and the quality is great. I have had no issues so far.

For low beams you should be looking for an H11 kit. 4300k is the temp used in OEM setups so i stuck with that.

Fog lights are 9006.

The hardest part of the whole install is find a decent place to mount the ballasts. I mounted one on each side of the radiator support. For fogs its a little tougher. You don't have to take off the bumper or anything like that but reaching and finding a good place to mount ballasts down there is a PITA! Let me know when you order your kit(s). I'll snap a few pics.

Dan Miller

Here's the one's I bought for the low beams...

$45 for the kit!!! Maybe too good to be true...

http://cgi.ebay.com/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-KI-H11-4300K-12V-50W-55W_W0QQitemZ320272624128QQihZ011QQcategoryZ36476Q QtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Whaddayathink?

FiftyFive

Looks like they caught up with you on the price a little bit with shipping. Looks decent. Hopefully they are good quality.

Dan Miller

Do you know if it is possible to retrofit a late model MDX HID assembly to our car?

FiftyFive

That I'm not too sure of. The 04-06 projector headlight is really great with HIDs. If you're just talking about the HID "kit/assembly" itself then you would probably have to cut and splice wires. An aftermarket plug and play kit would be a lot easier to work with.

Dan Miller

The reason I ask is that as I am reasearching this HID stuff, the people who seem to be "in the know" are all talking about projector retrofit as opposed to using a bulb/ballast in halogen reflectors. They site extra glare and unwanted reflections as only a part of the problem. So apparently the entire bulb/reflector/lens assembly is a much better way to do it. Is this anyone else's experience? Do you get flashed much at night?

FiftyFive

Well if you have an 04+ MDX you don't necessarily have a "halogen reflector" type of headlight. They are projector, there is not side glare as mentioned with the reflector headlights.

PrimoMDX

I checked out that site and the options are 3000, 5000 and so on. Is the 4300 temp the 5000 package?

FiftyFive

Yes, 5000k is closest to stock 4300k.

I currently have the 5000k kit in my MDX and it looks like it came from the factory with HIDs

HaPpY_MDX

FiftyFive, why would you not go with the 6000K pure white? Are they too bright? I'm interested in doing this also to our 2005 MDX. Also, using that kit from XenonLink.com, you didn't have to connect anything to the battery right? All the wires were simply from the bulb to the ballast box and to the OEM lights wiring harness. Correct?

FiftyFive

I went with a kelvin temperature as close to OEM Acura hids as possbile. I wanted a very clean OEM look as opposed to a bluish one. The kit from Xenonlink is direct plug and play, they plug into the factory headlight harness/plug.

HaPpY_MDX

Thanks Man! So, if 5000K is closest to OEM Xenons, what would be closest to the non-xenon OEM's that I currently have? 3000K perhaps?

I also don't like any blue in the headlights. Do you have before & after pic's of yours? Thanks again!

007Acura

i have 6000k and it looks stock, just pure white no yellow, it looks like the tl,murano,land rover etc.


they all eventually color shift to 6k

HaPpY_MDX

Thanks 007Acura. Do you have before and after pics with the 6000k HID's? where did you get yours from?

007Acura

i have an after pic, you can compare it to the fog which is stock, it looks a little blue in the pic but it really is just white, it looks quite nice




i bought them from here like 2 years ago and they still work great, i only get a little flicker after a minute of start up but thats it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-X...#ht_4333wt_972

you might want to try 55's too

rotzy

What do you mean by flicker? How long does it last?

007Acura

it blinks real fast, it isn't even that noticeable, it doesn't do it for the entire time it's on, just in the beginning

the xenon adds so much more visibility especially with the great projector the 04-06 has

rotzy

Did you order the optional relay harness as well?

007Acura

i didn't run the optional wire harness because its just the low beam, if i did run it the little start up flicker would go away, but its not a big deal everything works fine

FiftyFive

Same here. I opted to go without running the relay harness. I have a very slight flicker on fire up as well. Nothing to really worry about though.

caymandiver75

Is there a DIY for installing these HID kits? I'd like to convert our 06 MDX from Halogen to HID. The kit description from XenonLink says that it's an easy install and that there is no splicing, etc. Anyone have a picture of how/where they mounted the the ballasts?

tnobori1

^ Bump. I'm ordering them right now and I want to install this weekend.

tnobori1

For anyone who decides to do this, there is a great DIY here
http://www.hidsupport.com/warranty/single-install.html

This is the H11 kit from xenonlink.com

tnobori1

Just added the kit to our MDX yesterday. It took about 30 minutes and was a great mod for $120! Visibility is similar to my RL now.

AgentHubcap

Nice DIY! Looks like a simple mod.

The wife was complaining about the headlights, so I told her I could upgrade her to HIDs. Is there a recommended kit to buy?

tnobori1

I got the kit that was recommended above. It is from Xenonlink.com. A little more than some other places, but it was a simple plug and play and we are very happy with the results.

jeff618

I didn't want to do HID kits or LED conversions or MacGyver/retrofit bulbs so I replaced low-beam, high-beam and fog lights with those relatively new solux bulbs. They claim that they are 80% brighter, 50% whiter (4600k), longest beam, etc. but the kicker is that they claim they last as long as standard halogens. I really got tired of changing silverstar ultras all the time so I'm trying solux. So far I really like them and I'd say that they're spot-on with their brighter claim and they actually do have the color of natural daylight (not obnoxious white/blue). The low-beams and fogs are great but the high-beams are unbelievable. I just hope they last as long as they say they will. Will keep everyone posted.

csmeance

Many of these bulbs run MUCH hotter than the OEM bulb and can melt things inside the headlight so be careful! As well they tend to draw 100+ watts and can melt the factory wiring if run for too long!

HID's in the 04-06 MDX are great since the car already has a projector. However DO NOT put an HID kit in the high beams. Turning a HID bulb on and off VERY quickly (like flashing high's) puts a big load on the car's electrical system and as well damages HID ballasts and bulbs and greatly shortens their life!

TavuL

75W 6000K ON LOW BEAMS AND FOGS...3000K GOLDEN YELLOW HIGH BEAMS


By tavul at 2012-06-23

TavuL

Standard 35w high beams obviously off in last pic ^^^

ChiBee

I heard that the flicker will damage the ballast over a period of time and was advised that the correct way to solve that matter before it destroy the ballast is to add in a Relay harness. That's just what i heard, so i would go with a relay harness to play it safe.

My question is that would i need to add a relay harness if i am only installing H11/Fog lights only. Some "expert" i spoke to told me that most vehicle with DRL would need a Relay harness or else i will get either flicker or other electrical malfunction eg. light shutting off after a few seconds.

Since i only plan to work with H11/9006 i won't be touching 9005 which is the Highbeam/DRL wondering if a relay would be necessary for such an installation?

If anyone could help with input i would appreciate that much, thanks in advance. FYI: i own a 2006 MDX

Domm

The slight flicker upon start it is most likely the pre-ignition or the ballast/bulb warming up. The flickers you should worry about is when they occur after pre-ignition and it usually means that there isn't enough power or something is malfunctioning.

You can disable your DRLs by pulling a fuse on the driver's side footwell. Look at your manual for the DRL fuse and just yank it.

You will not need any relay harness if you are not applying HIDs to where there are DRLs.

ChiBee

Anyone looking for real High quality HID conversion kits and don't mind paying a bit more for the quality, visit this link : http://www.omnixautosports.com/h11-h...11-hid-kit.htm

They also built the Highest and Greatest quality of HID relay and you can match that up with any other on the market for comparison and it will be like a Bently vs .25cent gumball. It blew me away when i bought it. Craftmanship is among the highest i have ever seen. I only recommend to buy if you are into quality products and want the best for the money...

007Acura

I just replaced my whole hid system. I originally had a 6000k kit with out the relay that has been working great for 4 years except for the flicker on start up. Over the past few months the lights began to flicker while driving (random and infrequently). I did not like this and I did not want to have the problem get worse. I decided to get the XenonDepo system (H11 5000k) since there are great reviews and great long term reliability. This system came with a relay for each light and ballast. After installing, I turned them on and the flicker problem is gone along with the AM radio interference. You get $25 off the kit if you use the promo code 8thcivic. I can take pics of the setup in case anyone wants to know where to mount and secure everything.

Mr.Skytech

iTrader: (13)

I did it for my fogs and they match perfectly well.

ChiBee

Hey guys, i installed an HID kit 4300k H11 bulb with relay harness. The end result being my driver side light seems to be whiter and brighter than my passenger side. Could anyone tell me how to go about fixing this problem and what the cause of this issue might be?