So, thinking I want to change over to the whole xenon experience for my headlights. There are kits on ebay that say you can use your old headlight housing unit, and it's just converter boxes and HID lights. Does anyone know if these things are simple to install? Thanks for the help!

 

Go to SharpHID.com and get a real HID kit from them.

 

Well that site didn't seem to have the parts to fit my particular car. This is what I was looking at.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/H11-X...3A1|240%3A1318

 

What do you need?

Bulbs, Ballasts, Wiring harness. SharpHID.com sells it all.

 

Have you used their products before? What makes them different from other kits and companies? When I was looking at their products, all their stuff says v70, 850's etc... I saw the complete kits w/ ballasts, and harness and whatnot. Some kits on ebay come with a harness that plugs directly into my stock harness on my S60 for easy install. I'm not familiar with other Volvos and if they all use the same wiring harness or not....

 

SharpHID.com is a great site, great service. John will take good care of you. Drop them a line.

I have a kit from them and it came with everything I needed. Easy to install as well.

You want to deal with an EBAY company that may or may not have sold a so called KIT they have for a Volvo? Or do you want to buy from a website that has sold many a KIT to Volvo owners like myself included.

SharpHID.com also offers LIFETIME WARRANTY.

 

So in contacting SharpHID.com they responded letting me know I need the 55w kit, but every picture they have on their site is the 35w kit for all their volvos. On looking at the guys on ebay they are all 35w kits as well. So now I'm more confused. Would 35w work? or would 55w be better?

 

May I suggest you contact www.ddmtuning.com instead of sharpHID. Both sites sell the exact same product but DDM is normally 25% or more cheaper. Both sites give you the lifetime warranty and both have the same shipping rates etc... difference is only in the price.
I personally own the DDM slimline 35w kit (5000k) on my accord and I am rather impressed by it, install was no problem. If you want to ensure quality though, spend the extra and get the prolumen kit from ddm, do your research and you will see that it is one of the best kits on the market.

For the DDM slimline from ddm tuning, the 35w H11 kit for lowbeams is $70 and the 55w kit for low beams is $85 ($25 cheaper than sharphid).
For the prolumen kit the 35w is $99 and the 55w is $115.

For the 35w DDM kit, when you factor in free shipping on sharphid the prices work out the same but DDMtuning comes up cheaper for just about anything else.

Are you planning on only doing the low beams or are you considering fogs and or high beams as well? From what I understand the optics of the volvo lenses are good enough that you do not need to retrofit any projectors, the reflector housing is more than good enough.
Keep in mind you may need to order the bulb out warning cancelers if you get errors showing up after you install the HID kits. The 55w is a safer choice as it is closer to the stock power draw of a bulb.

Oh yea, forgot to mention that the DDM kits come with LIFETIME warranty as well... sorry sharphid but your prices cannot compare
If you look around you will see a thread on the s80 page I believe discussing DDM vs Sharphid

 

Awesome, thanks for the alternative info. I will definitely check that site out. I am only looking to do my low beams for now. After install I will see if I want to do the high's and fog. Thanks again for the info.

 

I can't really vouch for the turnover time of ddm and sharphid because I ordered my DDM kit on sale in november when they were having stock issues so it took about two and a half weeks to get to me. On the other hand, there was someone on the forum who ordered from sharphid around the same time and had equal if not worse delays so I guess it was all about supply vs demand etc..
As I said, I havent done the install in a Volvo but I dont see it being a problem, once you get those HID's on the car you will find it very very hard to drive a car with just halogens, even halogens as good as the one in the volvo..

 

So weird thing, I went to one website and it said that H11's are the right bulb type for my car, yet I've been buying H7 headlights, and in my manual it says H7. So should I go with H7's for my HID lights? Why the difference? Very bizarre. Thanks for the help!

 

very very interesting... Looking at the sylvania guide, it says that your low beams are H11 and your high's are 9005 (aka HB3), fogs are h1.

Now, according to philips, your low beams are h7... very very interesting.
Is it possible that these two bulbs are so similar that they are interchangeable?

Time to call up the stealership methinks..

 

Well I've been changing out for H7's twice now, and they work just fine, so maybe I'll stick with the H7's. I would think that'd make sense. Two different companies on ebay have a kit for each, H7's and H11's, and both are titled 2004 volvo S60. So they must be pretty close and interchangeable....

 

interesting, just looking at these diagrams, http://www.racinglab.com/bulbtype.html
it shows that h7 is the regular forward facing bulb which I have in my s80 but the h11 is one of the 90 degree lights that plug into a vertical harness (like 9005 and 9006)

 

That's weird. I have the H7 setup in my car. Did they maybe use two different systems that year, like half the cars with the H7 system, and half with the H11 style. Can't imagine they did.

 

Hmm, it would appear that volvo used h7 bulbs up until 2004 model yr and then after that switched to h11. From what I can see the bulbs are almost identical and maybe its just an updated spec version of the bulb?

 

Got em and installed them. Had to purchase the warning cancellers as well. It honestly took about forty five minutes to an hour to install and secure everything away. It looks awesome though. Definitely recommend and it only cost me 140 bucks for everything!!

 

Hi Derek, if you don't mind me asking, what did you order for $140? Did you go with the DDM slim kit, or did you go with the prolumen kit. I know the bulb out cancelers are $40 which is pretty expensive for what they are.. I mean I can get a raptor HID kit for 40 + shipping (which I am very much considering for the high beams on my accord)
How does the cutoff look on the volvo lens, and also what colour temperature did you decide on?

 

I ended up getting DDM slim kit. I went with 6000K on the temp, it's a little more blue then i would have liked, but it sure is a brilliant color. The light beams are concentrated about fifteen feet in front of the car, but I light up everything around me. Everything lights up to the sides of me, and above me. My bro says when he was driving in front of me it didn't really blind him, but it was bright. I think it is totally worth the money. Just wish the beams were more precise, as opposed to lighting EVERYTHING up...

 

well I guess thats where projectors would come in, I personally chose 5000k with my DDM kit because I had no interest in that flashy blue look, I purely wanted the HID's for maximum light and as a side bonus, match the white on my accord.

Did you go with 55w or 35w? If you are already lighting everything up with 35w, the 55 would have definitely been overkill.