I had been looking for an HID kit that could be installed at home in the backyard. After searching numerous websites i had selected a kit using the vehicle selection feature that the Carid .com website had, which supposedly matches the selected vehicle with the proper kit. The kit itself ran for 125$, which seemed right around the average cost for most similar kits. Finally with a coupon code the total ended up being 115$ w/ free ground shipping. The free shipping was nice except the fact that ground shipping from cali to the east coast takes roughly 8-12 business days and they were right on that 12th day.
As soon as i got the kit in the mail, i had pulled my mini around back and begun to disassemble and prep. First, obviously detach the battery since you are messing with the electrical system. Second, unboxed the kit and checked cables, ballast, bulbs, directions (which were complete sh*t) but iv installed HID kits before so we got past that, and checked the engine area for mounting local's and how to run the cables and hide them.
Next, began the fun part. stripped out the old bulbs and began assembling the kit. The wire relay harness had been laid out over the engine and windshield wiper motors roughly were they would be running. the ballast had been loosely mounted and the grounds and all connections were made solid. The test, finally i hooked up battery back up jumped in my mini, hit the juice and BAM they worked! until i hit the high beams and BUZZZZ FLICKER flicker FLICKER. Damn should have seen that coming
Called one of my buddies told him the down on what happened and what connections were made to where and even checked the stupid red to red and black to black connections......complete mystery. So, i disassembled the unit and reinstalled the horrible dim factory incandescent bulbs and as i recall slept very uncomfortably that night as i knew something wasn’t right.
The next day, pulled the mini around back began prep and disassemble, except this time i want alone. I had one of my buddies who was fairly confident it had to be something small. Did the whole process again, even tried things we knew would not work just thought what the heck just give it a shot. Still nothing. By this time, i had called the local tint/performance shop (you know the kind) great guy- knew exactly what i was talking about with the flickering and buzzing, guy- bring the mini by let us take a look and we can get those bulbs in for you. A lot of the time its those relay harnesses that get hooked up wrong or they are defective.... me- alright, what’s the earliest you got tomorrow. guy- 3-19 2pm. me- done, see you guys then
Take my mini over to the shop, show the guy my kit, shoot the sh*t for a hot minute. Takes my mini into the shop starts working on it and ehh 30 minutes later comes back and tells me that the bulbs and ballast are fine. That either the relay harness kit is defective or its just the wrong harness to begin with. He wrote me an invoice for the attempted install and even wrote down what he thought was wrong so when i make my return to Carid they cant try to give me any issues cause i can atleast say i even had a professional mechanic take a look at it.
All in all, i am not purchasing anything else from that company anymore. having a feature that selects make/model/year and you still get it wrong.....doesn’t leave much room for satisfaction. So be warned, If you are looking for an HID kit for a 2009 MCS with stock incandescent, i would not recommend purchasing it through them. I would spend the extra cash on a pair that are worth your while. I personally think i am done with the online HID kit purchases and just letting the local shops who Guarantee there installs get my money.

getting my 5000k's thrown in next week

 

Should have just bought a DDM kit and bought a cable to learn NCS expert to disable bulb checks. No harnesses or mess. Works as if the hid's were OEM. =)