sortudo7

Ok, so I have been getting a lot of e-mails and PM's about this so decided to do a little write up. I will try to address all the concerns that I came across and that have been asked to me. Hopefully this will help people out in the future. This kit has been lasting just fine and I absolutely love. Didn't mind paying a little bit more for that special piece of mind with a lifetime warranty.

Really simple install though overall. 2 people will make it go a lot smoother but you can do it by yourself. It's just good to have someone to help you remove and place the bumper down nicely and test the lights for you to make sure they work. I used the included 3M tape but you can also screw in the ballasts if you choose.

General Tools/Equipment:
* 2 People if possible (I did it by myself)
* Philips head screwdriver
* 2 flat head screwdrivers
* 10mm socket wrench or equivalent
* DDM HID kit
* Cloths for cleaning area for 3M tape (couple old socks and paper towel will suffice)
* Witch Hazel or Rubbing Alcohol to fully clean the area for 3M tape adhesion
* Beach towel or equivalent for a soft area to rest bumper on
* Car keys

General steps:

1) Remove grille trim (use 2 flat head screw drivers to pop up clips as shown). You only need to remove the front clips on the radiator trim and not the whole thing, makes it faster to pull apart and put back together again. 5 clips.



Turn the screwdrivers and it will simply pop up the clips. No need to forcefully pull them out. I haven't broken one clip doing it this way



2) Remove wheel well screws (Philips head). You do not need to remove your wheel for this. Turn the car on and turn the wheel all the way to the left or right, either side, and then you can easily access the screws. No need to jack up the car or anything.


3) Remove bolts under the bumper (10mm socket) and trim clips. Every single bolt and clip pictured needs to be removed. It should be all of them I have shown in the pictures. I keep the bolts in the same order as I removed them and how they sit on the car. Just to be sure I know which ones go where when I put it all back together.
Bolts:





Trim Clips:




4) Pull off top of the bumper slightly and unplug the OEM fogs. No pic of this but simply remove the top of the bumper off lightly and you can see the fog lights, unplug them from there. There are two tabs on the grille that help hold it in place, simply pop it up over those little tabs to remove it. There are clips holding in the bumper underneath the headlights. Just pull the bumper and it will come off. Nothing serious or scary, just tug and it should come out. If you look at the removal of your bumper DIY somewhere on here it will show what I am talking about.

5) Remove entire bumper and place bumper on something soft, I used my zipper hoodie but a beach towel would be good. The bumper will come out without much force if you remove everything I said. It will be hard to take it off if you missed a clip or bolt somewhere, trust me lol.

Off the car


Bumper on the ground:

It is sitting on a sock on the side that looks like it's on the ground.

sortudo7

Now putting together the kit. It is simple and straight forward overall. ONE CATCH FOR IT TO WORK! You need to flip around the connector. You can splice and solder together the wires if you want but it's a strong fit and you don't need to do that if you don't want. Just do it the way I did it.

Part of the kit:


Properly connected for it to work. Is backwards from what it's designed to be though.


Notice the hook on the opposite end


Improperly connected. The way DDM wants it to connect:


Notice no hook with it improperly connected.


Blue and red wires together



Once you put the kit together you just need to simply plug into the connectors for the fog lights and turn on the lights. If they work then you're set, if not the you connected it backwards. Simply flip and you'll be good to go.

sortudo7

Almost done!

7) Use a clean cloth with a little bit of soap to wipe up the dirty areas within the bumper of where you're putting the ballasts. I REMOVED MY RESONATOR so I have more room on the driver's side to place the ballast than if you haven't. You can still easily put it somewhere else in there, just find the spot, clean and put the ballast there.

Use a paper towel with a little bit of rubbing alcohol or witch hazel to thoroughly clean down the area you are going to be placing your ballasts on.

Passenger Side: I placed mine between the windshield washer tank and the beam to the bumper.



Driver Side: Plenty of room without the resonator there. A lot less with it there.



8) Place sticky pad on the ballast and then place it on the car, you can do it on the car first if you choose, doesn't matter.

Passenger Side:


Driver Side:



10) Be sure everything is on there secure and that you have enough slack to connect the bulbs into the bumper. Be sure you tested the kit again to make sure it worked!

11) (if with two people) have one person hold the bumper and other person insert the bulbs into the housing.
(if alone) place back on bumper and then leave a little gap at the top like when first removing the bumper and then place back in HID bulbs into the housing.

12) Put humpty dumpty back together again and enjoy.

sortudo7

Bumper back on with 3000K fogs on in bright daylight at like 1PM on a hot day. No yellow film, but appears a lot more yellow than in the daytime pic.



Kit installed without the lights on but kit installed.

sortudo7

Let me know if I missed anything or forgot to mention something as I did this a while ago and needed to remember the steps I took and things that came into question for me. Sorry for the P&S pics, not a pro photog lol

KmoTsX

hey nice diy but one question when you make those odd connections that are suppose to be backwards is it for both sides of the kit, or just one? the part where the clipped connection doesn't connect the way they were suppose to?

racecarbox616

^^
Both sides. The polarity on Japanese cars is opposite as are many foreign cars.

sortudo7 - nice diy

sortudo7

Yup both sides. Hmmm, always wondered why it was backwards...I guess that could explain it lol.

Thanks man

rtea2008

iTrader: (2)

nice write up
I did the same thing but I used zip ties instead. Damn i think it would've been easier with the double sided tape!

sortudo7

Yea I had my reserves about using the tape but when I touched it and tested it with my finger it stuck really well and since the ballast weighs like nothing I figured I'd give it a shot. Worst comes to worst I would just screw or ziptie in there, but didn't wanna drill anything which is why I used the tape too lol.

racecarbox616

I thought the same thing...after touching that tape, there was no way i was going to the bother of zip tie or screwing it in. That is some super strong stuff.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

nice. this kit seems a lot more plug/play than some others i've seen which require crimping wires and what not.

what's the quality of the ballast box? does it look like it's pretty well sealed so moisture won't get in?

sortudo7

Yea I checked the ballasts to make sure there would be no issues and everything seemed pretty solid on it. Well secure and good quality materials and workmanship. Thought it would feel cheap and plastic but it's metal and still really light, weighs less than my wallet lol. Since they give you lifetime warranty against any defects they will replace it for free at least, even water damage since it says it's weathersealed and everything.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

this is the brand that makes fogs and other stuff for bimmers, right?

which exact kit did you buy? when i was on their site there were a few of them listed. thx.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Been hearing good things about these but

xjohnkdoesx i think bimmer people use prolumen as one of the popular brands.

sortudo7

http://www.ddmtuning.com/products/DD...Kit-101-0.html

35W since it's for the housing in the foglight, recommended. 55W gives off too much heat for such a small housing. I got the 3000K temp but you can go for whatever, of course it's the H11 bulb.

Shipping was pretty fast, took like 4 days or so, maybe even 3. Well packaged and protected against possibly breaking and comes in a small package (that's what she said...wait, that's bad lol).

They make have a lot of stuff for BMW's in particular but their kits are universal as long as you get the right type.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

ah, ok. the prolumens are a lot more pricey, almost in the range of the kaixen kits.

but the DDMs are so much cheaper and still have a lifetime warranty. i'm seriously thinking about picking up a set for my fogs. i have to redo the tape on my lip kit so i'm taking everything off at some point during the summer. might as well put these in while i'm doing that.

KmoTsX

nice i just finished the install like two days ago, and everything is easy, and straight forward, i used the double sided tape extremely easy, and once i saw the huge resonator, i was thinking of taking it out, but do you need it? i still have the stock instake would it hurt the car or change the car sound in any way taking that resonator out? it seems heavy and a waste of space let me know guys thanks and great diy

sortudo7

The resonator is pretty much a waste of space. By removing it you get rid of the waste of space and useless weight. The sound you hear will be a bit deeper of a growl opposed to the more quiet ride (nothing bad tbh). You can feel a gain of power on the lower end and get a bit better mpg. The resonator is pretty much just there to quiet down the intake from what I know. Removing does nothing bad though. I still have the stock intake too. Putting in the CT icebox is basically the same thing as just removing the resonator for the stock intake. I think the icebox is just a bit bigger than the stock intake though.

KmoTsX

is there any diy to removing the resonator? or do you just yank it off?

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

look up any intake installation diy. it requires the removal of the resonator. it's held in place by a few bolts.

sortudo7

I can write up a DIY if someone local still has theirs in there but it isn't hard at all. Like John said, just look up the DIY for the intake and you will see in there had to remove it in general. You just need to unbolt it and you're done. Easiest thing to remove it would be to take off the bumper, took me about 10 to 15 mins for a complete removal of it.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

According to the bmw guys they did a video taking apart proulumen and ddm tuning the hid kits are identical except for the dress up or exterior.

Good to know that!

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

that is good to know. guess i'll probably pick up the ddm one at some point during the summer!

msmching

There's still people writing DIY for taking out bumper... @@

Anyway, Might want to check out your ballast after some time. Because that's the place i had, and it fall off after i-don't-know how long. (realized that when i took off my bumper)

sortudo7

Really? Hmmm, yea I suppose I'll check it sometime in the future. Hopefully it's still there . I guess if it falls off I'll just drill

sortudo7

Pictures have been moved to different album in Photobucket. I still have the pics available with links to put in. Mods, if desired, please PM me since I can't edit the original post to add the valid pic links, thanks.