So I thought I'd try one of those aftermarket HID conversion kits. My low beams take a 9006 bulb, and I feel this bulb is probably the best candidate for a successful retrofit to HID because of the filament placement.
I got a kit off ebay for about $140. It came yesterday. The kit is made by HID Lighting of Hong Kong. All the components looked very well made and it appeared this would be a simple "plug-n-play" deal, so I set out this morning to put 'em in. Of course, nothing is simple with a 300M, especially since you have to take the whole front of the car off just to get the headlights out. However, that turned out not to be as big a pain as I was expecting. Getting the HID lights to work was a much bigger pain than I was expecting, and was ultimately unsuccessful.
I switched out the drivers side first. Didn't work. Discovered it was a ground problem with the ballast. Fixed that and she fired up nice and bright.
Switched out the passenger side. Wouldn't fire. Fooled with the ground. Still wouldn't fire. Unhooked from that ballast. Hooked up to ballast on drivers side. Wouldn't fire. Hooked drivers side light back up, and IT WOULDN'T FIRE. Checked ground with ohm meter. Good ground. Checked voltage to the ballasts. Voltage was fine.
Put 9006 bulbs back in and put the front of the car back together.
Went to Freedom Dodge web site tonight and ordered a set of the OEM HID projector headlights for the 300M. Considerably more expensive, but at least I know these truly are plug-n-play and will work when I put them in.
Moral of the story: These aftermarket HID kits are a roll of the dice. They might work, or they might not. Mine didn't.
I got a kit off ebay for about $140. It came yesterday. The kit is made by HID Lighting of Hong Kong. All the components looked very well made and it appeared this would be a simple "plug-n-play" deal, so I set out this morning to put 'em in. Of course, nothing is simple with a 300M, especially since you have to take the whole front of the car off just to get the headlights out. However, that turned out not to be as big a pain as I was expecting. Getting the HID lights to work was a much bigger pain than I was expecting, and was ultimately unsuccessful.
I switched out the drivers side first. Didn't work. Discovered it was a ground problem with the ballast. Fixed that and she fired up nice and bright.
Switched out the passenger side. Wouldn't fire. Fooled with the ground. Still wouldn't fire. Unhooked from that ballast. Hooked up to ballast on drivers side. Wouldn't fire. Hooked drivers side light back up, and IT WOULDN'T FIRE. Checked ground with ohm meter. Good ground. Checked voltage to the ballasts. Voltage was fine.
Put 9006 bulbs back in and put the front of the car back together.
Went to Freedom Dodge web site tonight and ordered a set of the OEM HID projector headlights for the 300M. Considerably more expensive, but at least I know these truly are plug-n-play and will work when I put them in.
Moral of the story: These aftermarket HID kits are a roll of the dice. They might work, or they might not. Mine didn't.
