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-   -   Installed! New eyes (Projectors) for my Fluidic Verna (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifications-accessories/150129-installed-new-eyes-projectors-my-fluidic-verna.html)

Finally after 3 months of laziness, I finally gave in and thought of sharing my experience with the community. Before this quest, I was a total noob and had no idea about anything such as different types of bulbs, sockets, ballasts,etc. But my hunt for a good pair of projectors changed everything.

Fancied by the projectors and DRL craze lately especially on the new Audi, BMW and Mercs lately, I had been craving to get one for myself my hands on them for a pretty long time. But I was not in a mood when I bought the car initially. So when the car was close to 1.5 years old I thought the time is right to get her a new pair of eyes with lenses.
And so the journey began with my search for them all over the internet in October last year. Initially I started scouring team-bhp threads as well as threads for theautomotiveindia and hyundai-forums. Did not find much good stuff which I was looking for specifically for the fluidic variant in the first 2 forums. The last forum had pretty valuable information which is a US based forum where the Verna is sold as Accent RB 2011+

So I thought our very own team-bhp should not be lacking behind so decided to write one for all the members.

After all the information and links I could gather, I approached theretrofitsource.com and inquired them about the mini H1 stage III kit to which they gave a canned reply " As long as you select the proper parts in the kit, it should work" to which I asked them if the kit would even be compatible as the car belongs to a different part of the world after they which they asked for the bulb type wattage and bulb type. Once I shared this information they recommended me the Morimotot mini D2S kit for my car. The cost of the kit came out to be $315 without angel eyes but I wanted the angel eyes as well which would put the grand total to $345(Rs.21500).

Looking at the cost I started pondering over the decision to source something locally.
I contacted AVS Tuning based out of Pune who are the official distributor for Morimoto in India and requested a quote.

Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 (Round) Projector 13000
D2S: Morimoto XB35 Bulb 4550
5Five DSP Morimoto Ballast 9100
AMP>D2S (Straight) Adapter 1300 (No idea what this is as it was not part of my final install)
BiGxenon: Morimoto MotoControl Harness 3250
100mm Amber/White Halos 6500
D2S Ballast Housing Seals 650

Shrouds are also missing here. Cost was coming out to be 38350 + 2500 installation:Shockked:

I decided to look else where and then came in touch with Genome Group (thanks to one of the existing threads here). Cant recall correctly but some member mentioned after speaking to somebody from the company that they modelled their own projector lenses based on the morimoto models. So I emailed them requesting for a quote along with local availability. I
got in touch with Mr. Pawan @8860600192.
He asked me to visit a dealer in Gurgaon at a time when he would also be available as my office was also in Gurgaon. They have series such as Silver, Gold,etc. The cost he quoted for their top model which he suggested me to buy was 16k + 1k for installation. I had a look at the projectors as well and they seemed pretty chinese to me so I decided to give them a miss as well as the cost being almost on par with the morimoto ones.

Out of options but in no mood to give up, I had a look at some chinese models available locally and aliexpress but was not excited too much and One of my neighbours have it in his red polo and did not like it that much. I looked at http://www.mxsmotosport.com/
They sell complete headlights mostly and most are normal headlight assembly fitted with chinese projectors. Discouraged by the pricing between 20-35k it did not make much sense to me go for these as then I could instead go for the Morimoto ones.

By now it was December so I gave a call to my friend in US as he was due to arrive in January. He was already getting me a lot of stuff(includes Ultima Waterless Wash Concentrate and 2 plasti dip cans) so he wasn't willing to get this for me earlier due to the fragile nature of the product but my SSD order was lost by USPS so he gave in and ordered it for me just 1 week before his flight. A couple of calls and emails to TRS along with size change of the halo rings, the ordered reached my friend just a day before his flight.clap:

Final Order:
1 x Bi-xenon Morimoto Mini Stage III Kit (D2S) (MiniD2SIII)
Bulbs Morimoto 5Five 5000K D2S
Ballasts Morimoto 5Five (50w) D2S
Projectors RHD (UK, Australia, etc)
Halos Yes, 90mm Morimoto XB LED (White)
Re-sealing Glue No Thanks
Shrouds Gatling Gun
Wire Harness Relay: H4/9003
------------------------------------------------------
Total: $345.00

I was real excited about it that even went to pick my friend at 6 in the morning at the airport a and it was also a surprise to his parents.:)

Coming to the installation, I had emailed 3 people out which inclues Retro Rides, AutoPsyche and MXS Moto sport. AutoPsyche did not have the facility to install it, retro rides quoted me 2.5k and MXS Moto Sport quoted 3k. I decided to go for Retro Rides as it was nearer to my house and I regularly follow them on FB.

Installation was done on 2nd Feb after my friend left for US. I reached at 12 in the afternoon and left at 7 in the evening. Rest, I will let the pics do the talking. Also attached are the pics for the place where I got it installed - Retro Rides. The person there are very polite and nice and would recommend them for anything related to car lighting. Headlights, tailights, LED bars, they have em all and experts with it. Output pics coming soon.

Looks neat, please post some pics of how the light throw is in low beam.

Hatsoff bro. The install looks amazing,I love it and its also far better then those common ready headlights with the led strip made in china. clap:

I don't mind getting the same install for my fluidic. Please help me out a bit here, how much is the difference in the price if i get the same equipment directly from retro rides?

Is it possible if i can catch up with you sometime since we both live in Delhi. I really want to see the output of this install from your car stupid:

sorry but have been really busy and have not had a chance to capture the low beam output yet but I do like it compared to the old halogen beams on a dark road at night in noida. Here are few old pics with 5000k which I clicked in my office basement showing the cutoff lines and high beam. Need some beam alignment adjustment. Now I have switched to Morimoto 55w 6000k as I spoiled the older pair while trying to fiddle with the ballast.stupid:

You can contact Retro Rides and ask for a quote. Ask them about the bulbs, ballasts and harness branding as well. They are also on Teambhp in directory section.
Go for FXR, as they will give you much better output. I went for D2S kit as I did not want to do any cutting but I was wrong, there was still some cutting involved.

[COLOR=#333333][FONT=&quot]Dikshit Bhasin
9971395678[/FONT][/COLOR]
info@theretrorides.com

Dude you have mistaken here. I have dealt with AVS Tuning and they are based out of Mumbai. Also they have their complete price list up on their website.
According to the price List this should be the total for your setup.

1 x Bi-xenon Morimoto Mini Stage III Kit (D2S) (MiniD2SIII)
Bulbs Morimoto 5Five 5000K D2S - 4500
Ballasts Morimoto 5Five (50w) D2S - 9450
Projectors RHD (UK, Australia, etc) - 6750
Halos Yes, 90mm Morimoto XB LED (White) - 6300
Re-sealing Glue No Thanks
Shrouds Gatling Gun - 1500
Wire Harness Relay: H4/9003 - 3000

Total Amount in Indian Rupees - 31,500

According to me this is quite reasonable if you order directly from TRS which will attract international shipping and Custom duty @ 35%.

Say $345 plus $50 Shipping plus $140 Duty.
It all sums up to $535, lets round it off to $500.
taking 62.5 as the current exchange rate, 31,250 is the total.
Now you can decide yourself which is better option and when it comes to warranty mostly we do not like taking all the hassle.:)

Must say that the installation has been done very neatly. Its looking very nice.

I dont know where you got those prices from but this is what I got over email from Vishesh at AVS Tuning. If the prices you quoted are correct, I would have surely opted for them. Anyways since my friend got me the stuff, I did not have much issues with duty. I have another friend coming down next month and I have $110 of store credit at TRS, if anybody in Delhi wants something, pm me.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AVS Tuning <support@avstuning.com>
Date: Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Enquiry
To: Manish


Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 (Round) Projector 13000
D2S: Morimoto XB35 Bulb 4550
5Five DSP Morimoto Ballast 9100
AMP>D2S (Straight) Adapter 1300
BiGxenon: Morimoto MotoControl Harness 3250
100mm Amber/White Halos 6500
D2S Ballast Housing Seals 650

On 29-Dec-2013, at 1:48 pm, Manish wrote:

Can you mention the parts included in this cost please ?

On 29-Dec-2013 12:44 pm, "AVS Tuning" <support@avstuning.com> wrote:
38350 Plus 2500 ( installation )

Regards
Vishesh
AVS Tuning

Manish,
I got the prices from AVS Tuning's website.
www.avstuning.com

Also please check carefully, the price that the guy has quoted you is clearly for Mini D2S and not Mini H1 ( the ones you bought ). Mini D2S are much superior to Mini H1 and costs almost double. Mini D2S has 3 inch lens where as Mini H1 has 2.5 inch. Even the halos he has mentioned are 100 MM and the one you ordered are 90 MM. One thing that i noticed is that the prices have come down. The prices quoted in this mail posted by you and the current price list has a price difference. Good to know that the pricing has been reduced.

My friend, I think you did not read my post correctly:)
I ordered the Mini D2S and not the Mini H1. My car has H4 type bulb so I was recommended D2S by AVS tuning. Regarding the halos, I had ordered 100 mm but later got them changed to 90mm over the phone before shipping as I wanted them to be in front of the shrouds and not inside them. No price difference in these two sizes.

agree:Sorry my mistake. I read it Mini H1.
Regarding the halos 90 MM are listed as 6300 and 100 MM are 7050.
Anyways no point in taking this discussion further as i have no interest in AVS Tuning, I only wanted to clear it out to you that there is a guy who is making efforts for us, and trying to get us original morimoto stuff at a very competitive pricing, so why go for all the hassle of asking friends for favours and then when a product fails you again have to wait for the friend to arrive to india so that you can get your replacement.

The install looks awesome.

A few questions I couldn't stop asking:
1. How was the plastic cover removed - Was it using a heat gun and trying to melt the glue to release the cover?
2. Did you get a chance to get check if the sealant was thorough and no water/moisture seeped in post a water wash?

I had the above issues with my retrofitting, not to mention, my Punto didn't like the additional load of the Angel and Demon eyes and the BCM turned off the lights for safety :)

In this kit, the only thing that I thought could fail are the ballasts and they did fail too for me. In my opinion the morimoto ballasts have been unreliable for me. Its a long story but in a few words, the original pair went kaput within 2 months and the replacement they sent all the way to india(free of cost) also went dead soon. They have offered to give me Denso ballasts which are more expensive and reliable if I can pay the difference but I am asking for a refund on that and still in talks with them.
I have switched over to Crystal HID ballasts(made in germany) which I sourced from Retro Rides which i think is still better than the cheaper chinese ballasts. They have not given me any issues.

Regarding replacement, you can get it sent all the way to india as long as you pay the shipping cost which is $12 for UPS First Class Mail and takes 2 weeks max. In case of ballasts you dont need to ship back the item to them, just cut the wire and send them the picture and they send out the replacement. Regarding favors, the friend is my "chaddi buddy" so no favors, it is usually an order to him, get this get that !:D


Yes a heat gun was used to open the headlamps. Resealing was done very well and no issues with that. Regarding water seepage, as long as the engine hood remains closed, I have no issues. I have washed car several times after that. I have not cleaned the car engine bay area since the retrofit as I am afraid water may enter from the cutout made in the dust cover at the back of the headlight even though that is also well sealed using a sticky damping paper. It has a aluminium foil type sheet on one end and rubbery sticky coating on the other. They guy told me it sells for 400 rupees a metre in the market. Either way will cover it up more better whenever I plan to clean the engine bay area or take it for service.

Guys I know we are talking morimoto and the headlamps made in Taiwan don't stand a chance but there is no denying that the following 2 links are headlights
customized headlights for fluidic verna and look pretty awesome.

I don't know if they are as good as morimoto or reliable but the pictures look amazing. The price is not bad because the LED strip is also the turn indicator light and it changes colour to orange (Audi Style) + One of the links has 4 projector lights, high and low beam separate + HID's for both.


http://customlights.in/productdisplay.aspx?id=2160

http://customlights.in/productdisplay.aspx?id=2159


The price for the one I like is close to 28K and they are based in Delhi and if nothing I feel I can bring it down to 27K but is it still worth it?

Kindly advice gurus :)

You are right, output wont be that good comparatively. I would advise against it. The quad projector setup reminds me of a 4 eyed monster I used to watch in cartoons as a kidlol:

The pricing is almost right if I add up the parts separately.
10k for the headlights 5.5 for the projector kit 2.5k for the DRL and MRP is 22k. Since these are prebuilt, installation would be hassle free plug and play and price is justifiable and you save the 2.5k cost of fitting if purchased separately and then fitted.

If you are short on money, you can save the 10k on headlights by ordering the projector kit and DRL from aliexpress and get them retrofitted by Retro Rides(another 2.5k). In total costing would be 5.5k+2.5k+2.5k

If you have the moolah to spend, buy the morimoto FXR kit from AVS tuning and get it fitted along with xb angel eye halos. check their website for pricing. check the classifieds section.