Just ordered the kit from Neal at Corvette mods. For those who have done the mod already. Is it really as easy as it looks. Are there any suprises a person like me with no experience should be prepaired for. Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

Get 2 20 amp mini fuses for the headlight low beams or your popups won't work right.

 

You might also need an inline harness because the 20 mini amp fuse trick doesn't always work. It didn't work on my case.

 

I am thinking about this and am wondering what the pop up problem is. Where do the mini fuses go? In the normal low beam slots?

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ette-mods.html

 

Most vendors that sell HID's for the C5 also sell the inline resistors that work with them. I know JWMotoring sells them.

I wouldn't bother swapping fuses for this job. It usually doesn't work. The only reason this is a factor is because HIDs draw a different amount than your stock lights which confuses the electrical system. The aforementioned inline resistor "tricks" the car into thinking that you still have the stock lights installed so the system will function normally. No harm will come from you not installing the resistor but it might cause some annoying issues. For example, you might have to trigger your high beams from the stalk after turning your lights on to get the light buckets to raise...

Here's a bit of background for you as fuses are something every car owner should learn about...

The C5 has two fuse boxes in it. One is under the hood in front of the battery, the other is below a removable kick panel at the frontmost section of the passenger side floorboard.

Every electrical circuit in your car has a fuse wired into it. The purpose of a fuse is to protect the more expensive components within that circuit from electrical surges where the current flowing through the circuit exceeds the safe voltage rating for the component.

For example, your stock headlight circuit has a 10 amp fuse wired into it (located in the fuse box) because that circuit should never need more than 10 amps to operate. The fuse is only capable of conducting current at or below 10 amps. If there is a surge in your electrical system and the voltage in that circuit exceeds 10 amps the fuse will "blow" which cuts off the flow of current through that circuit and protects the other components in it. At that point you'll need to replace the fuse. If you ever have a minor electrical problem in your car such as a headlight out or a component in the cockpit not getting power one of the first steps in troubleshooting the problem is checking the fuse or fuses that correspond to that system. A fuse can be replaced in about 30 seconds and usually cost just a few cents each.

If you have any problems with your install post up on here and someone will help you out. Good luck

 

Putting hids in stock headlamps is pretty ghetto and you are going to blind oncoming traffic. Get a set of projectors if you bought hids and do it right.

 

55W DDM HIDs require none of this resistor crap...

 

I disagree; I've run this way for a long time. The reflectors are not designed for HID so the output isn't ideal but it looks nowhere near as "ghetto" as the stock lighting. Output is better and it definitely looks better especially if you do lows and fogs.

You won't blind traffic if you aim them properly; I have yet to get high beams flashed at me by a single person. After I installed them I had a friend drive past me while I sat in another car to make sure they weren't up in people's faces.

That said I have a set of ACA knockoffs I bought on the auction site sitting in the garage waiting for install. It is a BETTER solution but if you do the swap right into stock housings you'll be fine. There are literally thousands of C5 owners that have done it.

 

He already ordered the kit... Although you bring up a good point. OP: are your HID's 35 watt or 55 watt?

 

i am also not a fan of people who put them in stock housing. even if you aim them "right" you will get stray light that goes into other peoples eyes.
i installed a set of the projector "knockoffs" and never looked back. i used 55w ddm HID's and what a difference compared to stock lighting. honestly the stock lights on this car are comparable to my beater civic which is really sad.
the install is very straight forward. just make sure you have everything grounded before you go turning anything on... there should be 2 grounds IF you use a relay (which you should) its much more reliable and much more efficient if you do so. its plug and play really, i had my old headlights out, installed the hid kit including ballast bulbs etc and reinstalled the knockoff projectors in less then an hour total.

 

Now worries about installing HIDS.
Plan an simple.
Just find you a good place to mount the ballasts.
Everything is plug an play.
You'll enjoy your new lights, Believe me

 

I have the jw hid's on my car and have for about a year. Much better than stock, and nobody has ever flashed me. So I don't think the light scatter is near as bad as some say. In my area you would get flashed in a heartbeat if they were bad. I get it some on my ultra classic and I have asked the dealer twice to adjust the lights. It has stock lights.

 

my son installed HID's in the stock headlights for me and it is far from "Ghetto".....If I remember correctly all he had to do was switch the 10 amp fuse to a 20. The only thing that is different is I used to be able to turn the light switch off in one motion.....now in order to get the lights to go down I turn the switch one click at a time ....takes maybe .05 second more if that. I have never had anyone flash their lights at me because I was "blinding" someone.

 

If you get an inline resistor you'll be able to lower your light buckets normally again...

 

FYI, those are REAL ACA headlights on the auction site. As in, they are the exact same headlights being sold by somebody on this forum.

 

Sigh...

 

like I said...it takes less than 1/2 sec more now...no biggie.
Son installed Korzen's....not sure if they are considered good/bad/better/worse...but they look great and again...not one person in years has flashed their lights at me and I do see signs much better and sooner.
They are ok in my book.

 

Has anyone ever converted the high beams to HID's also?

Would this just require another kit?

I'm thinking of performing this mod also and would like to change both low and high beams to HID. My wife's Nissan Maxima has high/low HID's from the factory and they are really nice.

 

the "right" way of doing this is to use the hi/lo bulbs. its a single bulb with both functions. if you just install another hid kit for your highs it will go bad really fast. the worst thing you can do with an hid is to turn it on/off. now if you can find someway to keep the bulb dim lite while the high beam is "off" then you may be able to get away with it... its something ive always wanted to try but could never figure out how.