The longest running HID kit known to man

[Mike K]

10 years ago Ron Vogel had a mod day at his place. Someone posted on ILGPC that they had an HID retrofit kit for sale and I bought them for $250. At first I installed them in my Grand Prix and then in my F150. After selling that I stuck them in my dad's Cobalt which my little brother ended up buying from him.

For 2 or 3 years I've marveled at how the they still works every time, original ballasts, original bulbs, stock wiring on the car. Finally today he called me and said that one of the bulbs went out. I show up with a replacement kit to fix it and discover that the plug had just come out of the ballast. Popped it back in and it still works great. So 10+ years, 150,000 miles and at least 4 different cars and it's showing no signs of failure.

We probably have a >.05% failure rate on the kits now but still, one kit, original components for 10 years. That's insanity.

Click to read more...

 

[cacicgtp7]

I remember the older HID kits from Phillips were amazing quality and last forever, is it one of those?

I bought one of those on my 1997 GTP back in like 2002 not sure how long they lasted after me, but they were good components.

 

[Shocker]

thats awesome... I have done the ebay route, I've had 3 kits for 2 cars. I did a 6k to 5k switch on the GTO. Never had had an issue in the handful of years, so can't complain. Hell for what I pay for I would be happy with a couple of years and I've gotten far more then that.

 

[SleeperLS]

I bought my HID's from your store actually Ron. My shit has worked flawless for over 5 years now.

 

[10sec]

His name is Mike K....

 

[Mike K]

Sometimes I go by Ron just for fun.

 

[cacicgtp7]

looooool

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

 

[Mike K]

Ha!

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

^rockstar

 

[Mike K]

 

[SleeperLS]

That will happen i have no idea why i typed Ron. I need sleep

But the point stands. You guys sell good kits. Even if your name isnt Ron.

 

[Mike K]

Yeah we buy the highest tier kit you can get. Most people don't realize this but when the companies contact us they give us (and everyone) choices in kits. They'll sell us crap if we want it... Stuff that might have 5% failure rates right out of the box but it's a lot cheaper so you make up for the cost of exchanges by getting the product for a lot less but you also piss off your customers and get a bad rep.

We buy the best kits they sell which you'll never get off of eBay. The best and worst thing about eBay is that nobody knows your brand. People buy by price and as long as the kit works out of the box (or the seller takes care of it if it doesn't) they'll never remember who they bought it from. So since the sellers know that nobody is loyal to a particular seller they all sell crap and compete only on price and location.

So while I can show you a kit that costs $15.00 that looks the same as a kit that costs $30, that $15 kit might last you 6 - 10 months. And that's more than you ever wanted to know about HID kits.

 

[32vMonte]

I always buy vvme kits on ebay or their web site they usually run 32.99 shipped and the cone straight from bejing via DHL in about three days.

Been running the same kit for a little over 4 years now on my dd with zero issues. Always use a relay harness imo you need one.

 

[BrianG]

Nice! I honestly didn't know there was a quality HID retro kit anywhere out there. Every one that I've seen burns up the harness in <6mos.

 

[02BlueGT]

Nice! I honestly didn't know there was a quality HID retro kit anywhere out there. Every one that I've seen burns up the harness in <6mos.

My $40 DDM tuning kit has been going for 4~ish years now... One bulb is turning pink though