Silver_Slug

Over the past weekend I installed the Xenon Depot Xtreme HID kit, with Philips bulbs on my ’08 Si sedan. I know there are a lot of install and review threads on various forums, but I figured one more wouldn’t hurt.

Personally, I have always been against these kits. But after replacing my S2k with an Si sedan, the difference in lighting was so great, I had to do something. I researched the different options and was set on a retrofit until a co-worker with a new Civic followed me into work one morning. I could tell his lighting was some sort of HID set up and it wasn't annoying to have him behind me. I assumed he had a retro fit. After talking to a few people, I was able to track him down and found out he had installed the Xenon Depot kit. I started to look into this option, and found that although the light output isn't as great as a projector set up, the current Civic HL handles the light output well and doesn't have the issues that some other cars have. For <$300 I decided to give this a try.

I assume everyone knows what the kit includes, so lets jump to the install.

I decided to install the bulbs by removing the wheels and taking off the finder lining. This worked very well and made bulb access easy. I think it took longer to put the car on jack stands and remove the wheels then it did to switch out the bulbs.





Once I had the bulbs in, I mounted the ballasts. After checking fitment in a few areas, I settled on mounting the passenger’s side ballast in front of the alternator, using the included double sided tape. I’m not thrilled with this location, but it was the best I could find. Once it warms up, I may look for a better location. It is hard to see in the picture, but the ballast is mounted high enough that if the engine rocked that far forward, it would not hit it.



At this point I decided to use the relay harness included with kit. It is not necessary, but if something did go wrong, I would rather burn up accessory wiring then the OE harness.

I routed the wire from the battery along the front upper bulkhead, tied to the OE harness on the same path. You can’t see it in the picture, but you can see the OE harness.



Next I mounted the passenger’s igniter on the side of the engine bay, beneath the cover that runs along the edge of the hood.



The relay harness is tied to the ballast harness and tucked under the side cover. Once the cover is back on, all of the wires are covered up. There was a lot of extra wire I didn’t need and rather then cutting it down, I zip tied it together and tucked it in the small open area behind the cover.

The bolt with the black line on it is an existing ground point that I used for the relay ground.



Now on to the driver’s side. The ballast location on this side proved to be even more difficult. I’m guessing someone has found a better mount location then me. I mounted the ballast behind the head light. In the picture, you are looking behind the fender lining and you can see the intake snorkel on the right side. Again, I used the double sided tape.



The driver’s side relay harness and igniter are mounted in the same place as the passenger side, under the side cover.



Finally I used another existing ground location on the driver’s side.



It was a little difficult to route all of the wires under the covers without pinching any of them. I had to leave some extra slack in the wires before tying them together to use existing cut outs to route wires through.

I haven’t driven the car in the dark yet, but early this week I will update this with my opinions on light output. The color is much less yellow then the halogen bulbs though. I have a few pictures, but they all look very blue, and this isn't the case.

Here is a picture of the light cut off from about 20'.



I wasn't really sure what to expect when I ordered the kit. I have had many poor experiences with after market electronics, and working in the automotive field, I see all the testing that goes into original designs. However, I was very impressed with this kit. I had a supply of zipper tube and cushion tape ready to use, but after receiving the kit, I decided it wasn't necessary. So far, I am 100% pleased with it.

This morning was the first time driving my car in the dark and the improvement was great. My lights are a little lower then OE, but the range is exceeded and there is a lot more light. On wet roads the light doesn't seem to scatter as much. It still isn't as good as my S2k, but on the Civic HL it gives me about 75% of the benefit for 30% of the cost.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

Dan

XenonDepot

Great review Dan. Thank you so much for taking the time to put together such a detailed DIY thread.

I am glad to hear that you are happy with the product and satisfied with the light output that you get. Installing an HID Kit will not get you the same results as an S2000 but if you could get a 70% increase over stock lights without distracting other motorists it is money well spent.

Our HID bulbs are laser aligned to ensure that the focal point of the HID bulb sits in the same spot as the focal point of the halogen bulb. This will ensure an optically correct beam pattern.

Steve