Initially my night driving was very limited. Never had any reason to upgrade headlights. These days my night driving on highways increased and had to upgrade them. We all know how pathetic the headlights throw of pre-facelift Compass is. The warranty also ended, so went ahead with HID's.
Visited Car Sonics shop located at Minister Road, Hyderabad. Watched a lot of their YouTube videos and decided to check them out. As it was Saturday, they had crazy amount of vehicles. The overall experience was underwhelming.
As soon as I reached the location, I was approached by a person and he asked about my requirements. He gave quotation of just 1 model i.e. Aozoom HID's. As it was unknown brand I asked for Phillips or Osrams. He said not in stock anywhere in Hyderabad, I also asked in few other shops and got same response few days back.
They were pretty busy as it was Saturday, almost 10 vehicles undergoing work. Went ahead with installation, zero bargaining. He claimed this is best price in Hyderabad. The installation was done in a shabby way. The headlights got scratches which really pissed me off, gave the installer a piece of my mind, so he was careful on other headlight.
They gave me bill (which didn't have GST or stamp on it) and warranty card was given with stamp and signature. I wanted to pay with Credit Card, they insisted on Gpay or cash. I decided not to pay on Gpay and insisted on Credit Card payment only. No extra charges on card payment which is good. After this experience decided not to visit them anymore as I had many other upgrades planned.
In all his YouTube videos the owner claims excellent installation and finshing. It is just tall claims and in reality the quality of work is too shabby if you don't oversee the installation. Too much business might have gone over their head. There was zero quality checks made by anyone from the management after installation was done.
Let the pictures do the talking.
Installation started, he tried installing directly but failed. He then removed the clips and then removed headlights.
HID's. The quality was good at first glance.
Ballast, sold separately.
HID's installed inside headlight
Scratches on my left side headlight
Testing at night. I was unable to find a street without streetlights. Headlights off.
Headlights turned on and booting up.
After 2 seconds, full glory of HID's in action
Brand: Aozoom
Warranty: 2 years replacement
Cost: 14,500 with installation
LED's for fog lamps is recommended, but they gave an exorbitant quotation of 9k to 12k based on brand. I politely declined, they then said let's install cheaper quality ones for 6k. Refused again firmly this time.
Overall happy with the throw. I kept an eye on battery voltage for 30 minutes, no drop noticed. Need to test on highways at nights. I would give final verdict after few highway drives. As of now apart from scratches, happy with overall performance.