Smoothie97

I'm considering upgrading my fog lights to HID H11s. However, the fog light housing is a reflector housing, which may cause massive glare (Think those big trucks you see on the freeway behind you with those annoying blue HID head lights and fog lights that look like a massive blob of light).

I certainly don't want to be blinding/causing glare to the driver's in front of me. Also, don't want oncoming traffic to be blinded either. For those who have HID fog lights, have you had anyone tell you that your fog lights are causing too much glare and are annoying? Anybody facing you (say at a four way traffic light) flash their high beams at you because they are being blinded with your HID fog lights?

potmilkz

to be truthfully honest, your low beam hids are just as bright as if you put HID fog lights.. its the same.

the reason why TRUCK HID are glaring is because they are high and they do not have projectors for low beams.

its fine with HID fogs.. many people in SOCAL does this and its not a bother

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

yea, i agree....i've put HID fogs in my last 2 TL's with no problems what so ever...

No excessive glare, or blinding... and they are still pointed downwards. like he said above, the obnoxious lights you see, is when somebody drops an HID kit in their halogen headlight housing.. without adding a projector to help dissipate the light

just make sure you get a 35W kit, and install relays... and you shoudnt have any problems

Smoothie97

Thanks for the response. But our fog light housing are also non-projector housing. But if I'm understanding correctly, you guys are saying that's okay, since the fog lights point down.

Do you guys think that the HID fog lights light up the road better then stock? Right now, I can barely tell that my stock lights fog lights are on. I turn them on and off at night on a dark street and barely see the extra light output from them.

KillerG

i have hid fogs on my tsx...they definitely do add some light to the road, but not a tremendous amount. It will be noticeable to you when you shut them off though. I have noticed that i see the biggest decrease in light on my peripherals when i shut off my fogs which makes sense considering they are in a reflector housing and bleeding some light on all sides

ghanner

Funny you say that as I did the same test...on and off with the std. halogen fogs and frankly, they don't seem to do much except infill between the HID area projected further ahead and the ground just in front of the nose of the car. I did notice the side area drop when off....but that's actually out of the field of view for normal driving IMO.

I question the value in switching to HID fogs when there are simpler plug & play halogen solutions using Sylvania 4100k Ultra bulbs (that K figure is off the top of my head) which should be a good color match with the OEM HID.

KillerG

sorry to be a hater man but i went through the whole matching fog experience and i gotta disagree

i tried to find matching plug and play bulbs, i used sylvania silverstar ultras (30 something bucks), LED fogs, and even bought a set of PIAA bulbs for $60 freakin bucks. It was all a waste of money.

Halogen is not and never will be a good color match for the OEM HID

In the end i was happiest with a $35 DDM tuning HID kit, made a world of difference and looked like the lows (@4500k)

Smoothie97

I actually have Lumincs H11 Ultra White bulbs right now, and they suck in terms of light output...it's just like stock...except a little bit whiter. But I can't tell that my fog lights are on with either stock bulbs or Lumincs bulbs. HID is the only way to go to get a noticeable difference.

Anybody have a link to the DDM Tuning $35 HID fog light kit? Does this kit include relays?

Sandals

iTrader: (2)

just go on their website. you have to add the relay as an option.

ghanner

Killer...you tried this in a 4th Gen TL or the Toyota in your picture? I don't mind hearing opinions of others who have paved the way to getting a color match....think of the money I'll save if I pick the right solution the on my first try? LOL

Did you just do the 35w, H11, 4500k kit (I guess you don't need dual in/out right?)? I see it here: http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W

KillerG

I have some cars other than my toyota corolla, one is probably an acura i am almost positive : )

and yeah my best advice is to pull the trigger on the 35W DDM slim kit that you linked to, exactly as you said, 35W H11 4500s, no extra adapters or harnesses will be needed

the price went up to 40.00 but i still feel they are a great value, i can post a pic of my cars fogs if you guys are still unsure though.

the 55W can be a bit overpowering, my friend bought a set and they are brighter and more distracting than his lows and at 55W it has the potential to damage the wiring and housing.

What alot of people i know have done is to buy the DDM slim kit at 6K and then buy an extra set of d2s HID bulbs from DDM (or the appropriate hid bulbs for the 4g TL) and swap out the bulbs from their lows too, this way you have a perfect match top and bottom. That all being said, i felt that the 4500k kit matched the stock color quite well and the 200 lumen difference is barely noticeable unless you stare into the HIDs for a while, but then you will be blind anyway so who cares

wmahmud

^ no relay harness is required with the kit mentioned (linked to) above?

KillerG

not sure about the 4G tl actually, i used search but it didnt really turn up any results other than a few random threads. i am pretty sure you will not need a relay for the fogs, only the drls/highbeams if you swap em. I have used the DDM slims with 2 other new cars and had no issues with plug and play, i think you guys will be fine

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

best thing about ddmtuning hid kits

Smoothie97

I read that DDM Tuning were stopping sales of all HID kits. So even if they offer lifetime warranty, they might run out of stock and not honor the warranty.

I just ordered HIDextra.com Slim Ballast H11 6000K kit with a wiring harness for $91 shipped. The description did not mention if this was a 35W or 55W kit. Anybody know the wattage of the kit? The Part of the ballast says 35DC-C4 and the sticker on the ballast might say Power 35W (I think). It's hard to tell in the picture as the print is very tiny.

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

can you cite the source? i have a few ddm hid kits and would hate for that to happen.

KillerG

He is correct. DDMtuning stated on bimmerforums that they are winding down production on the slim kits and that they will be doing a last run or something to that effect starting march 1st. After that they will stop selling DDM branded kits. That being said, they also said that they would keep enough reserve slim kits at hand to satisfy all warranty claims for the forseeable future.

go to the cartalk section and search for ddmtuning, a recent thread has a link a to where on bimmerforums this is discussed

Smoothie97

^ Well said. which is one reason I'm going with HIDextra.com kit.

And HIDextra.com did respond to my question. The Slim Kit they sell comes with 35W ballasts.

Ag Surfer

Anyone know if the DDM information has been confirmed? I was just about to pull the trigger before I read that post.

KB1Spec

iTrader: (4)

aim the foglight downward

Mr Marco

So how much hp/tq gain do you get from this HiD kit?
How much faster will my car drive with these hanging on my front bumper?