VVME HID Question

[stprorolla49]

I apologize in advance for this being long, but here goes. About 2 months back, my buddy Jon (JonBeast) ordered an 8000k Bi-Xenon HID kit, and an 8000k HID single beam foglight kit from VVME. About 2 days after he installed the kit, the drivers side headlight didn't work so he called VVME and they told him to do some troubleshooting and they concluded it was a bad ballast. So they made him pay for a new one even though it wasn't his fault. He recieved the ballast, installed it, and it did the same thing. Then one night at work he was showing his friend the problem and his friend had him fiddle with the relay which turned out to be the problem. He contacted VVME again and told them to send him a new wiring harness (only way to get the relay from them), and they wouldn't send him one unless he bought another kit in addition. My other buddy Steve wanted HID's as well so he ordered the same 2 kits that Jon did. Jon recieved his new harness and everything has been working perfectly since then. About a week ago (a week after I installed Steve's HID's) he calls me to tell me the headlights are not working. I checked it out, and the ballasts aren't even coming on, leaving me to believe its the relay again. This ALSO happened around the same time my other friend bought the same kit, and it happened to him too, but for some reason the problem resolved itself (DEFINITELY his relay btw).

3 friends have had the same problem, and all 3 have been different symptoms. None of them have had problems with the single beam kits though in the foglights, they have been working flawlessly. Anyone else had this problem?

My question is, I have been in the market for HID's for a while myself, and you just can't beat VVME's prices, not to mention everyone is always saying great things about them, especially people on stangnet! Would it be dumb of me to get a single beam kit for the headlights as well and just do away with my highbeams? The low beams and the foglights make more than enough light, and there isn't much difference between the HID high beams and low beams.

Again, sorry for the story, but I would love this question answered.

 

[Greenscobie86]

I don't see why you can't just get the single beam kit if you are content with having no highbeams.

I have the VVME dual beam kit on my car and it actually does act like a PITA sometimes, one of the ballasts flickers on and off. But then again, the price is pretty much unbeatable so I have to live with it.

If you get the single beam kit, the wiring will obviously be much simpler and you will likely not run into any problems with relays or whatnot.

Since the single beam kit is sooo cheap, why not give it a try?

 

[san~man]

Why would you buy anything from that company, especially after your friend's experience with them?

Bad ballast after 2 days, and they won't warranty it?
Bad harness (after a short amount of time), and they won't warranty that either?

They should have SOME type of warranty with their products, shouldn't they?

 

[ArkansasMystic]

I don't know that I'd buy from them after hearing your/your buddy's experiences. I plan to get mine from DDM Tuning - HID Kits, HID Bulbs, DEPO Lighting, BMW and Porsche Performance Accessories. Their prices are a little higher, but still cheap and they offer a lifetime warranty. Also, you should be able to use coupon code "ddm" for a 5% discount.

 

[blubullett]

Thanks for telling me about them. You might want to learn from your friends mistakes. It will be cheaper in the long run to buy one a little more expensive then to keep fixing yours.

 

[ErikTheBeast]

Have them check your ground wires , Ive had two different occasions where the ground wire was bad on my VVME's . The relay kept blowing fuses left and right. I even ruined a ballast because I was dumb and put too big a fuse in. Bought a ballast from Stangmods and theyre junk. Got a new VVME one which I had to pay shipping for. I ended up splicing into the harness and making my own grounds with better connectors and a little longer wires and I havnt had a problem since.... As far as the single beams they're OK as long as you can get someone to pass you on an inspection.

 

[Silver_GT]

I have a 2003 Lincoln LS with factory HID's but only on the Low Beams. Couldn't you just keep the stock High Beams with the HID lows?

 

[stprorolla49]

Have them check your ground wires , Ive had two different occasions where the ground wire was bad on my VVME's . The relay kept blowing fuses left and right. I even ruined a ballast because I was dumb and put too big a fuse in. Bought a ballast from Stangmods and theyre junk. Got a new VVME one which I had to pay shipping for. I ended up splicing into the harness and making my own grounds with better connectors and a little longer wires and I havnt had a problem since.... As far as the single beams they're OK as long as you can get someone to pass you on an inspection.

Yea, I'm not worried about inspection, I can just throw the stock bulbs in for that, plus I'm getting the car inspected this month, and installing the HID's after that so I have 2 years to deal with a resolution.

As for changing fuses, you can change them inside the relay? How do you take the relay apart? I feel stupid for asking this question because I knew there was a fuse inside, I just didn't know you could take the stupid thing apart. Anyone have any pics, or can describe to me how to take it apart?

 

[tag4car]

the cleanliness or purity of the connections, esp. the ground wires are crucial, i have installed several kits for people with -0- problems

 

[san~man]

I have a 2003 Lincoln LS with factory HID's but only on the Low Beams. Couldn't you just keep the stock High Beams with the HID lows?

Not with teh factory light housings.

 

[ErikTheBeast]

Yea, I'm not worried about inspection, I can just throw the stock bulbs in for that, plus I'm getting the car inspected this month, and installing the HID's after that so I have 2 years to deal with a resolution.

As for changing fuses, you can change them inside the relay? How do you take the relay apart? I feel stupid for asking this question because I knew there was a fuse inside, I just didn't know you could take the stupid thing apart. Anyone have any pics, or can describe to me how to take it apart?

Relay should just be 2 red wires with 2 20 amp fuses inline. I would also suggest using dielectric grease on your connections.

 

[007]

Why would you buy anything from that company, especially after your friend's experience with them?

Bad ballast after 2 days, and they won't warranty it?
Bad harness (after a short amount of time), and they won't warranty that either?

They should have SOME type of warranty with their products, shouldn't they?

A-F'ing-Men

They suck so you buy more???????

 

[stprorolla49]

I guess I need to recheck all his connections, and check the relay fuses. Weird that they worked for a few weeks, then quit.

 

[AmBo]

I own a set from VVME. No complaints here. Went with 4000k this time around instead of the 6000k on the first set.

If you pay $65 shipped for a SET of HIDs, even if they last 6 months, you aren't allowed to complain

 

[007]

Wow. That is cheap.

 

[Greenscobie86]

Wow. That is cheap.

My point exactly...

On second thought. I may need to recheck the wiring on mine too, it seems that the grounds may be to blame for my troubles as well...

It sucks how VVME make you pay shipping for a replacement part, but like someone said above, it's hard to complain for the price.

The DDM website looks pretty good, and the "slim" ballast kits with seperate ignitors look to be of better quality than the VVME bricks. I may look into getting a set of these in the future.

 

[TrippiGT]

I just ordered the 9007 dual beam and 880 fog light "slim kits" from ddmtuning.com today. They look nicer than the vvme ones. I actually ordered the single beam kit from vvme a few months ago and I had them in the car for about 2 weeks before the ballasts went out. I tried to contact them about the 14 month warrantee they have on them but I got no reply. So I cut my losses on those and now I'm gonna try these ddmtuning ones. I'll post back when I get them in and compare the differences between the 2.

 

[Stark77]

I've had mine for over a year (I have my ballasts zip tied inside of the front bumper right behind the fog lights). They've done fine in all of the ****ty Florida weather, weekly car washing, etc. I purchased them from VVME and no problems at all. Recheck your ground wires AND your connection points.

 

[stprorolla49]

Yea I guess I just gotta check all the wiring again. The lights look great, but I just feel bad for my buddy cause he loves cars but doesn't really know how to work on them so I do all of his installs for him. I guess this one could be my fault. We shall see.

 

[ArkansasMystic]

What makes the VVME kits cheap when you have to replace them after a few months? I'd rather buy a quality part to begin with and save money in the long run. I've not had personal experience, but I've done hours upon hours of research on HID kits. I've yet to hear any complaints about DDM. Their pricing isn't much higher than VVME, and a warranty that they actually honor. By the time you buy 2 VVME kits you could have bought the DDM tuning kit and be set.