Installing Morimoto XB55 v2.0 HID ballast (hint: not as good as v1.0)

[M3Bob]

Just thought I’d throw this out there. About 8-9 years ago my oem HID ballasts went so I replaced them and the stock igniters with morimoto 55w units that had an integral igniter. Almost a direct plug in but I did have to get a D2S to amp adapter between the ballast and the headlight. Was even able to reuse the stock ballast bracket. I’ve been very happy with them over the years.

Well one of them gave up the ghost last week so I replaced it with a new one... Morimoto has “upgraded” the XB55 ballast to v2.0. I have to say I’m not nearly as much of a fan for the new units. First, and my biggest complaint, the e46 m3 stock plug no longer fits the ballast. It’s the same plug socket format, but the dimensions and clearances are such that you have to do major surgery on the car’s plug to make it work. Second, the igniter is a separate module much like the OEM HID system...which means more wires you have to deal with and it makes a much less clean install. Third, the amp plugs on the igniter don’t work with amp pigtails very well....

So all that said, it does work....but I think I’d consider other options if they were more like the original morimoto units.


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[S3diment]

I wish there were more options for the E46 M3 headlights. Most of the stuff out there is pretty trash without major surgery.

[M3Bob]

I'm still running the stock projectors, although i did have to put a circuit board in the housing to enable the high/low beam switching. I also spliced around the stock connectors for wiring everything thinking that i'd keep the option of going back to stock for some silly reason. Would be a much cleaner install if i had just cut off the stock connectors and put a fresh, clean 9006 on for example....here's what the old install looked like when all was said and done (eventually had to replace the stock closures w/ a soft boot as there wasn't enough room for the projectors to auto-level)