Headlight/Bulb Upgrade

[Johnny Chopsticks]

Now I'm looking at what HID brand I should get. There are cheapo no-name brands on ebay for like $60, but I've read some bad things about them (like fires or shorting out within a month). It appears that Philips makes a legit HID kit, but costs $270

It's getting difficult to decide what I want. I don't want to pay $300 for a HID kit, but it might almost be worth it if I have to buy 3 $100 kits after they keep breaking.

[sneakyboy1]

I purchased one of the cheap sets. Of course 2 years ago when I purchased they were twice as much.
I have had one bulb go bad on me in that time and the replacements were around $30 shipped a pair IRC.
The kit I had purchased was one of the slimline kits.

[Mikewire]

I would suggest only going with HID's if you are using a halogen projection housing and lens. A standard halogen housing just scatters the light and IMHO looks good, but just functions like a standard halogen with more light and less light projection, so you don't really benefit from the HID kit and you would be best running the PIAA extreme white bulb.

I run HID in my OEM halogens, but they are also projection lenses so it concentrates the light similar to a true HID housing.

Link to the ecodes you are looking at?

[Rennwagen1]

If you are interested, I have access to some fairly legit HID kits at my shop. I can get more info on them if you want. I think they would be priced somewhere inbetween the ebay kits, and the more expensive kits you mentioned. Are you thinking H4 style in the ECodes?

[Johnny Chopsticks]

Here's a link to see the E-codes I'm thinkin about. Price isn't too shabby.
http://www.rennbay.com/lighting-c-58.html

Aeron, please do get more info on them for me, I'm highly interested. And yes, I would have H4 in E-codes.

[Mikewire]

I don't know what Aeron can get, but I got mine through DDMtuning. I run the 55W Slim ballast low beams and the 35W Raptor kit for the fogs. I bet that's similar to what StaggeredMK4 is running too and his look great.

Those ecodes look solid - and since they are euro spec the should have decent cutoff and more light output in front of you. I'm interested to see what an HID kit would look like.

[Johnny Chopsticks]

Thanks for the website Mike, their kits look really solid. And I love their price too! I wasn't considering doing my foglights until now...

Have you had any problems with either your headlights or foglights?

[Mikewire]

No problems so far - they have been solid. Just make sure to mount the ballasts away from any other wires and keep the ignitor box away from fuse boxes etc. Many Audi guys have had issues with airbag/EPC lights coming on because they mount them too close to other wires.

[Johnny Chopsticks]

Okay, thanks for the heads up about installing them. Also, why did you choose the Raptor kit for your foglights?

[Mikewire]

Price basically...I figured for ~$30 it was worth the shot. I just looked at the site and it looks like there is a Version 2 that uses a more weatherproof housing, not to say that the version 1 was lacking anything, but this V2 looks like an improved version.

To add, I also didn't care about slim ballasts on the fogs.

The low beams I installed the more expensive slim ballast because it fits right into the OEM HID spot for the ballast for a more OEM fit.