BI-XENON MORIMOTO MINI STAGE III KIT (D2S) 2010+ Mazda 3

[dunston]

added.

[Carmagnut]

I am 90% committed. I miss my TSX HID's and am thinking about doing the upgrade to these; I notice a big differnce in my night driving as a result of the standard 3's headlights. Being that I will not do the wrench work myself is there a way someone can give me an estimate (in hrs) as to how long it will take a good performance shop to do the swap for me?

I see this is a new thread. How long can we assume the group buy will be good for?

[dunston]

I'm still gaining interest on the group buy. I'll be going to SEMA on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be picking up the kit. I'll talk with Matt after I install the lights and take some before and after shots and have a rough time frame on how long the kit will take to install.

[Carmagnut]

I just went to the website in your OP and it seems like a quality product. One of the recommended shops is in the county where I live but I could not find their specific address even when I went to their individual website. Slightly weird. I would have liked to do a drive by and see the operations. Thank you for adding me to the list. After all of my reading in the official HID thread it seems there were a few issues with some of the DDM stuff (some had gremlins; other just big smiles) but a few went with the pricier Volk kit and came away glad they spent a few extra bucks. I personally don't mind spend the extra cash (when necessary) to potentially avoid the headaches.

[Carmagnut]

So I contacted the "preferred shop" in my area and he gave an estimate of 2 to 4-5 days to get the headlight swap done. He may have misunderstood what I am basically trying to do, but if not: WTF. Does that seem crazy to anyone else?

[dunston]

Originally Posted by Carmagnut

So I contacted the "preferred shop" in my area and he gave an estimate of 2 to 4-5 days to get the headlight swap done. He may have misunderstood what I am basically trying to do, but if not: WTF. Does that seem crazy to anyone else?

It should be easily be done in a day. If its a shop with employees that know what they are doing it should take even less time. I figure doing it by myself, taking pictures as I go along and making everything perfect should take maybe 6 hours.

[Carmagnut]

In further emails to the guy he said "Going back to the time frame, it would generally take about 3 days or so.A retrofit may sound simple (open up the lights, switch out projectors,align and close housings) but it's a fairly labor intensive service."

I can imagine it being not so simple but for this amount of time of not having a car PLUS the cost of labor (approx $445 from his email) PLUS the actual cost for the units is potentially making this upgrade iffy in my mind. I want it and keep me on the list but I have to see in the end.

Dunston I have much faith in what you say about a days worth of work at a good shop. I will keep that type of time frame in mind when making my decision. Thanks.

[EuRomer]

What happened with this group buy? Anybody done it already?

[Carmagnut]

I don't think it's gaining much traction due to the price (many probably already went with less expensive alternatives) and the fact that you have to open up the headlight casing to accomplish this. My guess...

[dunston]

I ordered my kit and am in the process of installing it and taking pictures. So far everything is going smoothly and I got one side done and the light cut off is razor sharp. The left is the new set up with 5000k bulbs and the right is the factory projectors with DDM 55W 5000k bulbs. As you can see the drivers side light has a way better cutoff and directs more light toward the ground. Also note the lighted box above the passenger side, it actually shines onto drivers coming toward you. I'll shoot a little clip tomorrow night to show the difference.