HID fogs

[blue dragon]

Anyone running HID fogs in their E70?

[two-five boy]

I don't think its a good idea to mount HID's in fogs as the constant on/off nature of the lights during turns will significantly shorten the life of the ballasts.

[Noodle555]

Originally Posted by two-five boy

I don't think its a good idea to mount HID's in fogs as the constant on/off nature of the lights during turns will significantly shorten the life of the ballasts.

Agreed and this is why I have not done this mod to the X5 (have done it on my M3). Besides it takes a little while for the bulb to get to the right temperature and then it's off again.

[Sedoy]

Don't do it, since fogs are reflectors you will have too much glare and from the distance they would look brighter than your headlights.

[m5james]

You wouldn't have that problem with an E53...fogs don't shut off for turns and I've got projectors They work great in my case.

Honestly, ballasts are built so much better than they were years ago, so I'd go ahead and do it personally. If you've already got HID headlights, get a 3k (yellow like Lexus, but I've always liked that personally) or some in the 5k-6K (no more than that) HID kit from www.ddmtuning.com. Your stock HID's are around the 5k-5.5k range, so going higher than that will look stupid. DDM has a lifetime warranty, so in the end, who really cares how many ballasts you go through.

[Sedoy]

Not all E53 come with projectors, I think 04+ use reflectors with H11 bulbs. Stock HIDs are 4300K, to match fogs with headlights - 5000K should be used since there is no projector cutoff discoloration present with reflectors.
DDM HID kits are pretty good but you still have to pay for the shipping if returned.

Originally Posted by m5james

You wouldn't have that problem with an E53...fogs don't shut off for turns and I've got projectors They work great in my case.

Honestly, ballasts are built so much better than they were years ago, so I'd go ahead and do it personally. If you've already got HID headlights, get a 3k (yellow like Lexus, but I've always liked that personally) or some in the 5k-6K (no more than that) HID kit from www.ddmtuning.com. Your stock HID's are around the 5k-5.5k range, so going higher than that will look stupid. DDM has a lifetime warranty, so in the end, who really cares how many ballasts you go through.

[m5james]

I agree not all E53's come with projectors, but a majority of them do. I've only seen one without them. Who told you that you've got to ship them back? When DDM tuning parts fail, you do not have to return ship them at all. You take a picture of the damaged part when it fails, showing them that you either cut the outside lead on the bulb or the cord on the ballast and they ship another to you after you give them proof that you destroyed the item. They even let me change bulb colors when they sent me a replacement set.

[Sedoy]

DDM told me to ship it to them because my bulb was bad. In your case, I can make tons of diffent pictures of the same bulb/ballast/wires and keep getting replacement, that sounds strange...

Originally Posted by m5james

I agree not all E53's come with projectors, but a majority of them do. I've only seen one without them. Who told you that you've got to ship them back? When DDM tuning parts fail, you do not have to return ship them at all. You take a picture of the damaged part when it fails, showing them that you either cut the outside lead on the bulb or the cord on the ballast and they ship another to you after you give them proof that you destroyed the item. They even let me change bulb colors when they sent me a replacement set.

[m5james]

The bulbs replacement was a simple picture of it cut at the top and bottom of the outside connection, the ballast required me telling them the serial numbers on the side as well as the cut cable. Honestly, the price of a replacement bulb is probably cheaper than shipping it back to them considering where you're at, so I don't know why they'd even ask you to do that.

I agree someone could photoshop the images, but that's what they had me do. The bulbs are cheaper than the ballasts anyways, so I'm guessing that's why they replace them so easily vs wanting specifics written on the ballast for quality control issues. Seeng that there are eBay HID kits for like $37 shipped, and knowing they're still making money at those prices, I'm guessing this is why DDM sells that and offers the lifetime warranty...even after a couple of replacements, they're still in the green.

[FSETH]

It seems like most who do this mod in an e53 or e70 blow bulbs like crazy and throw codes.

Also, are most people doing this mod for looks or for an actual lighting upgrade? I don't see how these high output HID's actually help you see better in fog and rain than the factory setup or yellow halogen bulbs. Plus those HID setups tend to glare like crazy and blind oncomming drivers.