I just installed my HID Headlight and Foglight kits today and thought I would take the time to show anyone out there that may not know how to get the bumper off and headlights out exactly how to do it. Total install time took me a good 4 hours or so. Some of you guys put these in without the relay harness and that's fine if it works for you. But there's no way I'm trusting something electrical that costs $40 with my electrical system's wiring. So I installed the relay harnesses to isolate the HID kits from the car's systems so if there's ever a problem with the kit, I don't have to worry about burning up anything important. Anyhow here we go.
The first step is to remove the front bumper. Open the hood and there will be several push tabs, 2 phillips screws and two bumpers. Remove those. I put little green dots next to the tabs and screws.
Next, I taped up the headlight and fenders to keep from accidentally scratching the paint.
Turn the wheel all the way right and take out the 4 screw/push tabs as well as the screw at the top of the bumper. The screw is not pictured but I put a green dot just below where it should be.
This shot shows where the screw at the top of the bumper is.
Next, take out all the screws along the bottom of the bumper at the front edge. I didn't take a pic, but you can't miss them all. They hold on the under body shield.
Once all the screws and tabs are out, start at one end of the bumper and carefully pull the end away from the car. There are little clips that hold the bumper there and under the headlight. you will not break them...just don't pull too hard or the whole bumper will come off and you may scratch something.
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Also, before the bumper can come off all the way, you will need to disconnect the foglight harnesses and marker lights from the bumper. When said and done, it looks like this.
Now that the bumper is off, set it aside. I put sheets on the ground to protect the paint.
Next, I had to find a good place to install the ballasts. I started with the foglights and decided to mount them on the bumper support. I predrilled the holes and using the foam tape that came with them, stuck and screwed to the bumper.
Now, for the headlights, it is much easier if you just remove the whole headlight assembly. It's just 6 silver bolts and 1 phillips screw for each one. The bolts are highlighted in green.
Bolt and pushtab at the fender end.
2 bolts at the inside of the headlight
here, there are 2 bolts and the philips screw. Remove the bolt and screw from the black plastic piece and remove the piece. It's got a pin that I assume aligns the headlight into proper position. There's also a 2nd bolt at the bottom
The last bolt is under the bottom of the headlight. Remove this. Then gently slide the light to the front of the car. You will have to unplug the headlight and high beam connector before you can remove it completely.
Then you have this (passenger side)
To install the headlight bulbs, there's a silver cover that must be removed to get to the light. Once the light is installed, you will need to drill a hole in the cover to run the wires through. The DDM bulbs come with a "grommet" that you can pull through the hole to seal it up. There's also 4 wires in this "grommet", two for the bulb, and two for power connection to your headlight. I cut the terminals off and removed the extra wires and sealed up the grommet with electrical tape. I would have used silicon had I had some.
Now for the ballast. The OEM HIDs have the ballast mounted on the bottom of the headlight. There's an obvious mounting point. So this is where mine went as well. I used the foam tape to hold it in, then I used 1/2" panhead screws to mount it. I would not predrill the holes since the shavings will then end up in your headlight. It's just plastic and the screws go right through.
Now for the wiring. I used the accessory Relay harness from DDM, like I said ealier, I trust this way more than I do just plug and play. There are 4 wires/connectors that come from the relay. You have a Battery wire (red), the switch wires for the relay (gray/black with a 9006 connector) Output to each ballast, and ground. I connected both relay power wires together and connected them to an 8 AWG wire with a MAXI fuseholder to the battery.
The Gray/Black connectors I connected to the headlight wires (red +, black -)
and at the foglight I connected to the red/white wire for + and just grounded the negative. I put my grounds right next to the fog light ballasts just in case you wondered.
In the pictures you can see that I just attached the relays to the main harness running behind the bumper and zip strapped all the extra wire up. I did have to extend the two wires going to the other sided ballasts, i just used 16 AWG Stinger speaker wire and butt connectors. I then loomed both wires and ran them across the top of the bumper to the other side. The passenger side is easier just because all you have to connect is the ground wires for the ballasts and plug it up. I thought I had pics of this too, but I am wrong. Sorry, but you'll get it I also used a bunch more zip straps to tie the wires up better than in the pics. I wrapped the OEM bulb connectors in electrical tape to protect them and tied them up as well.
The two red wires are the ones connected to the 8 awg I ran from the battery. Be sure to fuse this as well. Anyhow, once you are done, putting it back together is cake and you are ready to go. I hope this helps someone that my not have been sure about what to do. If you have any questions, please ask. I know there are some things I may have missed but I think this gets most of it.
The Final result:
Without Fogs about 15 feet from the door:
With Fogs:
Without Fogs:
With Fogs:
Without Fogs on the road:
With Fogs:
My LED puddle lamps I also installed.
