99 Denali HID Install

[Black Denali]

Alright guys I ordered the 55w 8000k HID kit online from DDM about a month ago, instantly got an email from them saying my order is confirmed so I proceeded to call them... I talked to one of their customer service reps and she told me it would be delivered the following week. At this point I'm thinking this is great I'll have these bad boys in within a week or two. Well two weeks go by and I've got nothing, so I call them again, ask what happened to my order... Long story short they never got an order from me somehow. I checked my bank statement and it showed the DDM tuning transaction for $80 something. They again told me they never charged me yet I was looking directly at my statement. I faxed them that portion of the statement, they then apologized for the inconvenience and said my order would be shipped out the following morning. So yesterday afternoon the UPS man showed up with my package. I was excited to finally get my kit but I had to leave for work and put the install off for one more day. This morning I went out to do the install. I printed out the .pdf from their website with the exact instructions for the 9006 install on the low beams and went from there. I installed the kit following every step of the directions, went and started up the truck... the lights did nothing. I figured I had something backwards or something, went back through it and it still didn't work. I called the customer support, was put on hold for an hour and a half with absolutely no help. I hung up, called back and was immediately put back on hold, was then on hold for another 20 min then a guy got on there and told me I had the wires backwards even though there is only 1 way each plug goes. Regardless I went over the install AGAIN. Everything was exactly how it said in the directions. I called back again, no answer, called again, no answer. I called 17 times between noon and 1PM. Not ONCE did I get an answer from them. I was absolutely furious. I started to pack up the kit and was prepared to ship it back. I called one more time and finally got a guy named Allen, he said the stock harness that plugs into the ballast was plugged in wrong, I said that is impossible because it only goes one way, in fact there is a little notch in the female adaptor on the ballast that won't allow it to go the other way. He told me this happens all the time and its backwards. So I asked him if positive was now negative and vice versa. He said yes and that I should hack up my stock harness to accommodate the kit. I said what if I cut the notch off the ballast, he said no that will void my warranty. My question to you guys is why in god's name would my warranty be voided if the product didn't fit in the first place? Why should I modify my truck's harness when they should have made the kit right in the first place? I ignored him and cut the notch off female adaptor on the ballast, plugged everything in normal and flipped the plug I modified 180 degrees and sure enough the unit lit up. So all in all a 30 minute install took 3+ hours because of their crappy product. Sorry for the rant you guys but I just wanted to let you all know that DDM Tuning is NOT the place you want to spend your money unless you appreciate atrocious costumer service and faulty equipment. All that said I wanted to show you guys just a few pics of the install and what the before and after comparison is like. After all the BS I am happy with the final outcome but I have a very bitter taste in my mouth from DDM Tuning.


Fresh off the truck

The unboxing

Install(Sorry guys didn't take many pics at this point I was pretty frustrated to say the least)

BEFORE

AFTER(my buddies' 99 Escalade with stock lights side by side)

So there it is boys(or girls) what do you all think.

 

[bai78]

Sorry to hear/read about your bad customer service experience. I'm sure we have all experienced it at some point to where we just wanted to give up on the project we were working on at that point in time.

However, your comparison & driving shot look fantastic. I had been contemplating doing the HID conversion/upgrade for some time but was weary of the kits & install. So I compromised & just replaced everything with PIAA lights. I know it doesn't come close to what you have but if I need more, just flip on the off road lights. :shhh:

 

[Nnaboy]

Sucks you had to go through all that because my experience with them is pretty good!
I like your lights now though, prob. way better than before.

 

[Black Denali]

Thanks for the compliments guys. It truly is amazing how much better I can see at night now.

BTW, do you have a pic of all the PIAA lights? I'm kinda curious to how it turned out, thanks.

 

[Hooptyhoe]

I have the ddm 55w 5k's in my caprice. I can understand your aggravation with flipping the plug around, as i had to do it to mine. I'll tell you what though, those things shine bright. I've had them in for almost a year with no problems.

 

[bai78]

Here are some pics of the PIAA lights along with my Pilot lights.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

just to let you know, you could have avoided the hassle this way. On the instructions it says for a 9006 install you dont need to wire it the way they say. Just plug your stock harness in to the ballest and put the bulb in the housing. easy as that. On other lights (9005 and such) it needs to be done the way you did it.

 

[TahoeGoBoom]

you have to also remember that it could be GM's screw up and not DDM's. haolgens dont care which way the current goes, HIDs however, do. I would have pulled out a test light to get to the bottom of it, but i've also installed way too many HIDs.

 

[John Redcorn]

So all in all besides the wiring problem are the DDM tuning ones pretty good?

I've been hearing that a lot on the internet.

Are the ballasts pretty small compared to others?

And how hard really could it be for these guys to build in a circuit to the ballast that allows either polarity? save them lots of tech support calls I'm sure. Esp. considering what tahoegoboom said above me, no reason for the factory wiring harness to follow any sort of standard for polarity.

I've got vvme 6000k low beams and they worry me because the first day I had them on there were a couple times when one didn't light up. That same one flickers for about 20 seconds when you turn it on cold. And I still haven't found a good place for the big ballasts with short wires. (They're ziptied to my upper fanshround right now)

I've had a few people ask me about my HIDs and I tell them they are vvme and most on ebay are vvme but i've read about some problems and ddmtuning.com might be better.

 

[Black Denali]

just to let you know, you could have avoided the hassle this way. On the instructions it says for a 9006 install you dont need to wire it the way they say. Just plug your stock harness in to the ballest and put the bulb in the housing. easy as that. On other lights (9005 and such) it needs to be done the way you did it.

That didn't work, I tried that many times.