why are the hid kits so expensive?
 

well i have been into hids for a while now and all of these vendors are coming out with kits that are upward of 900 dollars! now i have seen another company out there that is considerably less but i am not sure of what internals they use. what makes them so expensive?

not sure... but i know where you can get kits (with out the housings, just bulb, ballast and wiring) for $40~$50

Those are generic kits i've actualy used some and they work pretty well.

i havent bought a kit yet... but a bunch of local car guys/friends have them installed on their cars... for the price, you cant argue...

I bought a set 3 years ago from chinaland and still work great today. They were $120 shipped.

By saying 'kit', are you referring to a retrofitted proper HID projector set up using quality housings, with quality projectors aligned inside of them, with OEM or better quality bulbs and ballasts and wiring for $900.00?

Or are you talking about just a bulb and ballast that you plug into your existing wiring and headlight housings.

If it is the latter, then that is terribly expensive. If you're talking about the former.... well you usually get what you pay for. If you have two similar products and one is much cheaper that the other, usually it is because there is something wrong with it or it's just shit.

i am talking about retrofits i am not saying the 900 dollar kits suck they are just way overpriced. i can make my own for 1/3 the price and sometimes cheaper. yeah i know there is labor involved but is it really that much to bump up the price so much?

From what I have read the retrofits are expensive because,

OEM parts
The way the housing has to be modified to get a clear cut line, unlike if you were to just drop in bulbs and spray light every which way.

This takes either your own headlights, someone else to donate or you buy a set to experiment with, this all cost money.

The ones I have seen use OEM lights and ballasts from BMW or similar and these lights are very expensive, usually in the 300 dollar range a piece, so double that and your at 600 add some labor and the person making them is at very little or no profit at all. You can make your own to maybe save a couple hundred dollars, but then you are back at square one where someone else has already done the trial and error. What if you screw up your housing? Then you must buy another(which is not cheap) and there goes the savings you planned. To me for a QUALITY set of functional HIDs 900 is a steal.

We have different thoughts maybe because i am know more about HID's than the normal joe schmoe. I have seen the other hid kit for like 600 and this seems like a lot better deal but i don't know the qaulity of them. What if i told you i built my HID's for 300 and they are the same qaulity or even better as the 900 dollar kit?


There is really no testing involved in a retrofit the oem projector is already made all you have to do it open up your light housing aim it kinda straight and bolt it in.

I would be doubtful, but I would compliment your ingenuity and hard work.

For an experienced retrofitter, this may be true. For Joe Schmoe, maybe not so much. Most of the time, it is not as simple as bolting it in. There can be a lot of cutting, modification and fabrication involved to get it to work right. In our case especially, there is not a lot of room to play with for mounting etc. Also, kinda straight does not cut it for me when it comes to leveling the projectors.

I recently purchased retrofitted headlights from Sakebomb Garage, and I'm glad I did. They used all of the components I was going to use if I were to do it myself, they pay attention to little details, and the price ($750.00) was only $200.00 more than what it would have cost me to do it myself. Definitely worth it in my opinion.

They have raise the price since then, but after seeing the work they put into each light I don't blame them, and I would buy them again.

Parts + hand built = $$$$

Most of the kits made for FD's are custom kits, it's not like they come out of a mold. I've priced out building my own kit yeah the parts come out cheaper but if i put a hourly amount on my time i'm sure i'd reach the 900$ mark after i was finished.

So if i sold HID's for like 600 you guys won't buy it? I think i am going to make some to sell since these things are a big hit.

Depends on the quality. If you are going to do it start a build thread and keep us up to date. I was thinking about doing a set and was going to get my stuff from this site.
http://www.theretrofitsource.com

alright i will i made one for my fd a long time ago with tsx projectors but these were just low beams i since ordered new projectors and they are coming in this week.

Well after searching for a few days i finally found out what the sport tuner headlights are made of. They are china made projectors with pretty poor lighting compared to OEM projectors.

Yeah they don't have the same quality look to them that Sake's kit does. From the pics of the low beams it looks like a good cut off though. I haven't seen any pics of high beams.

I found a picture of someone comparing the light to an oem housing and you can definatly tell the difference the cutoff is pretty good they would make awesome fogs.

Post it!

g1 projector the line isn't really straight and overall dim light output.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t.../DSC_2728h.jpg

OEM fx projector this is what sake bomb uses.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t.../DSC_2744h.jpg

Some people are DIYers others aren't and would rather have a complete product, neither is wrong...

I would buy it if i was dead broke and could not afford the Sakebomb kit. IMHO the Sakebomb kit is the benchmark that all FD3S HID retrofit kits will be judged by. Their kit has received international recognition from customers in the US, and abroad. Their kit (and all their products for the matter) has also received recognition for quality and detail by even top rotary shops in Japan.

Your one of those people who say the more expensive the better if you haven't seen my other thread of my prototype take a look i use almost all the same componets but i can offer a lower price. So pretty much the same product but without the big name behind it. It's like buying a shirt from abercrombie and fitch you buy it because of the name on it but you know you can get a shirt that has the same qaulity at jcpenny for 1/4 the cost.

I would love to compare my kit to sake bomb i gaurantee mine will be on par or even better in light output and qaulity.

Really? So you found a large quantity of Sonar housings huh? From what I hear they're pretty hard to come by. Also if you'd like to work for free then I highly recommend it, you'll save people a lot of money... Labor usually costs money. The projector pictured in your "HID for RCC" thread is a "Mini D2S" projector that is easily installed in any H4 headlight housing. How long did it take you to install that projector, about an hour? I'm actually really curious, seems like it's a lot easier then an FX projector.

You should also try getting the price right. The SBG kit is not over $900.

Edit: just saw this....

taken from the chat box at the top of the screen:

[05-09, 05:32] turboed13b I need someone to buy a hid kit from me and test it i will take 100 off so the price will be 550 shipped. I would like a review on them.

You really need a comparison not a review. Any projector based headlight will be better then what mazda considered headlights in the early 90's.

You don't use the same components because the housings are almost impossible to get these days. I don't say the more expensive the better, I just said Sakebomb set the standard. You have a tall ass order to match that. Everyone will want the Sakebomb kit, and if they are too broke to afford it, maybe they will get yours IF THE PRICE DIFFERENCE is deep enough. But since Sakebomb, and their members have been long time rotary heads and big in the community, people will probably spend a little more for a quality kit. Even you said it, you want to match their kit's quality and output with a lesser cost. They already set the benchmark. Why? Because they are not using a projector that fits the H4 slot, any joe schmoe can do that. The product is well thought out, and offers some of the best that can be offered without cutting corners.

The sonar housing is not hard to come i don't know why everyone is saying that. It's not simple as a drop in fit i had to do some shaving on the projector and i am talking to a friend who does some machining to see if he can make me some new mounting brackets.

Sakebombs kit is 850 shipped plus paypal fees and such and it is pretty close to 900 never said it was over.

Exactly this. I was all set to pull the plug on doing my own retrofit, and then I clicked on their GB thread for shits and giggles. I was surprised to see that they were actually going to make a full retrofit kit using the best materials available. The amount I had to pay on top of what it would have cost me to do it myself was quite worth it IMO. I am quite glad I bought them, best purchase I've made for my car to date.

I just don't think the labor should cost that much i'm on a miata forum and a member over there is providing retros for 400 or somewhere in that range.

What's so bad about the $50 drop in kits? For a 20yocar like the FC, getting a set of ebay H4 housings and a cheap HID kit upgrades the lighting so much already, that I really dont see the point of dropping a grand on lights...


And the cut off isnt THAT bad if you aim the lights down a little.

There is no doubt that you can see a lot better but the problem is the other drivers in oncoming traffic won't be able to see because of the stray glare.

You are right there is no point in dropping a grand in lights that why i offer hid retros for hundreds less yeah i am not a big name but why waste money on basically the same product?

I just checked the miata forum a guy has a group buy price of 325! He uses cheaper hid kits to get the super low price and retros the stock housings but the projectors are legit.

I can offer fc retros cheaper than the fd retros as the housings are cheaper but there isn't much interest in them.

here is a comparison of the projector SBG uses and what i use.

SBG on left and the projector i use on the right.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...fxvsmini-1.jpg

You do realize the "mini D2" projector that you're using was not available when SBG created the headlight kit right? What you've created isn't really what I would consider a product. But yeah SBG is definitely price gouging....
:smilielol5:

The projectors SBG uses requires a great deal of customization to the headlight housing (time) time isn't free buddy. Actually those mini projectors seem pretty easy to fit into the sonar lenses, I'll give it a try and post a DIY if it's easy enough :) The Mini projectors definitely put out nicer light then many of the other projectors out there.

They did have the mini h1 which i basically the same but it only uses h1 bulbs. Why do you think its not a product? I spent time seperating the lens, aligning, bolting, then gluing them in the only difference is i don't have to get a hole saw to cut the housing to get the projector to fit.

If you want to know how to get a fx projector to fit i have a housing already cut it took 1 min with the hole saw but i am sure you already know.

They had the Mini H1 a year ago? Hmmm, I'm gonna call BS on that one chief. The smallest bi-xenon projector available was the Fx. SBG will be done with the HID headlight game after their current GB anyway so then you don't have to complain anymore. :o10:

BTW, yeah you can cut a hole in a housing in a few minutes, but a round hole will not fit the projector into the housing deep enough to clear the lens.

Just because theretrofitsource.com didn't sell them doesn't mean you couldn't get them with all the connections overseas i am pretty sure you could of got a whole shipment full.

There is also the g1 projector and maybe g3 if it was out at that time. Yes a round hole will fit a fx deep enough i have built one i have also fit a tsx using the same method and it is a tiny bit longer than the fx.

All I have to say is: good luck finding the Sonar clear headlights in bulk if you plan on copying the SBG kit. I've looked, everywhere. I even tried to contact the factory directly, more than once. Anyone who claims they sell the Sonar clear headlight housings is either: A) permanently out of stock & hasn't updated their website inventory; or B) a lying bastard trying to scam you out of $300.

As someone who has a group buy going on right now, I can definitely say that labor is EASILY underestimated when thinking about producing a product. Sure, making one set for yourself or your friend is easy enough, but try making 10, 20, 30 or more sets of anything. Then we can talk about the fair price of labor.

The SakeBomb Garage HID Projector kit is the new benchmark. If you want to DIY, go for it, but if you want a plug-n-play kit, that you know is going to be quality, get the SBG kit - it's worth every penny.

I bought my sonar housings for 77 shipped :dunno: maybe thats why sbg kit is more expensive i will have to look into that.

Turbo, I think its awesome you are making your own kit and I even considered buying the extra you made for a future second FD but you're forgetting something in your cost estimation. When I bought my SBG kit, I bough plug and play installation, labor that I can trust and someone accountable that I can yell at if something goes wrong. If my kit ends up being defective, I can count on someone from SBG to help me. I'm not trying to put you down man. I'm glad you're out there making stuff but the premium that I paid for the SBG kit was well worth it to me.

If you ever decide to start building kits, I'd definitely consider buying them if they were cheap enough but I can tell you that I definitely don't think the money that I paid for the SBG kit went to waste at all. Even more so because I only have a small inkling about what you guys are talking about.

Also about the price and availibility, theorie mentioned bulk. I congratulate you on finding a good price on yours though.