TheWizard

That guess would be incorrect. I've dealt with V-LEDs for many years and they are very careful not to exagerate the output of their products. Granted, they use gross output level just like almost all other LED and HID vendors but the equipment to measure net output is prohibitively expensive and nobody else does it, so why bother. Their lumen ratings are a perfectly valid number to use when comparing to other vendors' products. The beam pattern should actually be better than HID because they have taken great care to position the LED elements in the same location as the filament of a halogen bulb - no HID capsule does that.

If the V-LED 4500 lumen bulbs aren't enough then you need to stop wearing dark sunglasses at night. To be frank, there were a lot of things I hated about my late Edge but the halogen headlights were not among them. My wife initially complained about the headlights and lack of true fog lights but once I aimed them and she got used to the fact that you have a very controlled light pattern and not as much light close to the vehicle (you don't want lots of light close to the vehicle although many people judge that as poor lighting), she was quite happy with the headlights. And that's even though she's nearly as blind as a bat and has terrible night vision. I guess everyone is different but I really don't see (pun intended) why some seem to think the lighting is so bad.

I also did a Hidden Hitch and it is a very good product. There will be no problem physically mounting a replacement hitch because the aftermarket ones use the factory mounting holes. However, the factory hitch is mounted higher requiring a notch cut in the lower rear valance panel. Aftermarket hitches are designed to go below the valance panel so you will end up with a cutout in the panel that is no longer necessary and may look odd.

First you should browse and learn a little more about lighting types and their specifications. For example, if your wife's Kia has factory HIDs, they are not H3 because H3 is a halogen bulb. In fact, even if they are an aftermarket HID conversion, they're still not H3 because that is a fog light bulb not used in headlights. Similarly, 4300 is not a lumen (brightness) spec for aftermarket HID kits. The number 4300K is the color temperature of the HID capsule... in this case the same color as used by all OEM HID lights. As the color temperature gets higher, the color of the light becomes more blue until you get high enough where it starts into the violet range. 5000K is a common aftermarket color that is nearly pure white. 6000K is often called cool white because it is mostly white with a tinge of blue. 8000K is more blue than white, 10000K is definitely blue and 12000K is violet. The color temperature does not directly affect the brightness of the light but it does affect how our eyes perceive that light. The eye is not good at handling blue light and interprets it as glare so anything over 6000K may be the same brightness when measured by instruments but is far worse for actual usable visibility. Actual brightness for standard 35W HID capsules is about 3200-3400 lumens. That is going to be basically the same regardless of manufacturer (OEM or aftermarket). The only way to get more lumens out of HID is to increase the power by going to a 55W ballast. That will give you around 5000 lumens at the cost of bulb life, required heavier wiring and sometimes tempermental ballasts. In any case, the first thing you should do is ensure your headlights are properly aimed. Edge headlights are infamous for being badly aimed from the factory and a proper aim can make all the difference in lighting effectiveness. You may be able to have the headlights you want for no additional cost just by spending a few minutes aiming them.

If it's like the projector conversion I installed on my Mustang, you no longer have a separate bulb for high beam. You plug the factory high beam connector into the new lamp and it operates an internal shutter in the projector that changes the beam pattern for high and low beam from the single bulb.

Yes, the V-LEDs kit is a huge step up in lighting from any halogen or even HID kit. 9,000 lumens total for two headlight bulbs will burn the retinas of oncoming drivers if improperly aimed so you must be very careful not to blind people. If you are relatively new to projector lighting (halogen or HID) and you've fixed the terrible factory aiming, I recommend you allow yourself time to adjust to the lighting before spending a lot of money. Using a 2002 Camry with its halogen reflector headlights is not a good comparison because the Edge projectors have a very sharp horizontal cutoff that create a very different view than halogen reflectors which have central focus (hot spots) surrounded by "spill" light. It can take a while to get used to the feeling that the lighting is not bright enough because it is focused solely on the road surface and not lighting up the surroundings as much. But once you get used to it, you'll find that the 9012 projectors actually light up much further down the road - just not as much above the road. If that turns out to be the reason you don't like the lighting then you will be just as disappointed with HIDs or LEDs because the lighting pattern will remain the same.

Not a chance. The so-called high performance bulbs such as the Sylvania Silverstar and the Phillips Vision Plus are just standard bulbs that are set up to overdrive the filaments. Doing so gives a small boost in light output at the expense of bulb life. And they still don't come close to the HIR bulbs: Standard 9006 (55W): 1000 lumens, 875 hours "Ultra" 9006 (55W): 1090 lumens, 300 hours "Xtreme" 9006 (70W): 1120 lumens, 275 hours Standard 9012 HIR2 (55W): 1875 lumens, 875 hours As you can see, the 9012 HIR2 bulbs are some 85% brighter than 9006 with the same wattage and lifespan. To be honest, I have trouble understanding some concerns about recent vehicle lighting. You should have tried the old 7" sealed beam headlights... they brought meaning to "candle in the wind". The halogen projectors in the Edge, when properly aimed, are more than adequate for night driving in anything other than out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere darkness.

Try aiming first. The Edge halogen headlights seem to come from the factory aimed far lower than the specifications call for. I had the same complaint about the factory lighting until I had them properly aimed and then found that there was no need to spend the time or money making changes... there was that much of an improvement.

Actually, a Sirius "lifetime" subscription is for the life of the receiver, not the life of the owner. If originally applied to a portable receiver, it can be transferred to new portable receiver for a $75 transfer fee (be sure to say you are replacing the receiver because the previous one failed - you can't transfer but still have the old receiver working). You can also transfer it once to a permanent (built-in) car receiver. Once the subscription has been applied to a built-in car receiver, it cannot be transferred. They will allow you to transfer (with the same $75 fee) to another receiver in the same vehicle if the original receiver has to be replaced due to failure but they will not allow you to transfer to another vehicle under any circumstances. I bought a lifetime subscription to Sirius on sale for $299 about twelve years ago (when they were really anxious to add subscribers). It was originally applied to a portable receiver I was using on my Gold Wing. I transferred it once to a "portable" receiver attached to an aftermarket (Kenwood) head unit in my previous car. I then transferred it again to the built-in receiver in my Mustang. They were quite insistent during that last transfer that I would be unable to transfer again other than if I replaced the Mustang HU with another factory one due to failure. Not a problem... I've already had it in the Mustang almost five years and plan to keep it for several more so I've really gotten my money's worth out of the subscription. Bottom line... if you replace the HU in your car with another factory one and have to transfer the subscription, they will do it for a $75 fee (sometimes you can get them to waive the fee). If you decide to install an aftermarket head unit or if you buy a new vehicle, they probably won't allow you to transfer the subscription.

I thought the fuel and advertising were dealer-added charges not from Ford. I know the destination charge is generally non-negotiable but the advertising can be negotiated... I've had it removed on previous purchases. Or maybe my dealer was trying to double-dip on "advertising".

Yup... total vehicle and options: $40,167 plus $895 destination and delivery = $41,062 invoice price.

I'm afraid I don't see the connection between cameras and the thread subject of daytime running lights. Wrong thread maybe? Perhaps this was meant for the LockPick thread?

No, KBB price does not include rebates or incentives, just the negotiated price. That price is fairly good although not outstanding. Invoice on that vehicle is $41,062 so you are about $50 below invoice. I usually aim for $100 below invoice so you are right in the ballpark. If this is the dealer you plan to deal with for parts, accessories and service going forward then I would say it is a decent price that is still fair to both parties. If you don't expect to go back there for anything else in the future then you could probably squeeze them for some more. If you can afford to wait and you think the vehicle will still be there this time next week, the end of the month (especially January and February) is when you can get the best price because they want to complete the sales for the month.

The LockPick only disables navigation tracking for navigation input. As far as I know, you can use its camera functions with no impact on navigation. However, I'm not sure about your setup. The LockPick has four camera inputs but they are designed for specific uses. There are two rear camera inputs - a primary for the back of the vehicle and an auxiliary for something like on the back of a trailer. And there are two other camera inputs - one can be used for front camera input or both can be used for left/right side cameras. I think you could probably just pick one of the inputs since your device multiplexes the four images and doesn't actually need four independent inputs to the display. I am rather curious as to why you feel you need to have cameras all around your vehicle.

The first version of Dan's lights used to use that factory harness. The current version does not use it all and doesn't even have a replacement harness either because those particular connections are not necessary. It just has a dummy socket on the back of the new lamp assemblies so that you have a place to park the factory harness (if your vehicle has one) to keep from leaving it just hanging loose behind the bumper cover.

No factory harness is necessary - the DaytimeBrightLites Edge 2 DRL package includes all the wiring you need.

It's no more difficult to install the Edge 2 Daytime Running Lights on an SE than on any of the other trim levels. Really, the only difference is that you are replacing a black plastic blank instead of the existing accent lights on other trim levels. http://www.daytimebrightlites.com/FAQ.php

When the difference is constant like that rather than being a percentage, it is unlikely to be a calibration issue. It is equally unlikely to be the stenciling of the markings on the face because of the way they are mass produced. The likely cause is that the needle is positioned on its shaft just a little bit out of position. In the old days, those needles used to be like axles - the needle and the shaft it fit onto were splined and could only be put together in a limited number of relative positions. But late model vehicles now mostly use press fit needles without any splines so it is possible for the needle to be out of position by quite small amounts. The cluster can be removed and the dust shield taken off so that the needle can be pulled and repositioned but having done so during installation of aftermarket gauge faces, I can tell you that it is a real pain to do so and can take many attempts to get the position just right. Personally I wouldn't go to that much trouble for a small difference but it is an option if you are so inclined. But first I would go with akirby's suggestion to check with a GPS and determine which display is actually wrong - the speedometer or the cruise setting.

Actually no, the speedometer is analog. The ECM sends a square wave signal with pulses corresponding to the vehicle speed. Digital displays like the cruise have circuitry that count the pulses over a time span and calculate then display the corresponding speed - that is digital. But the speedometer needle is driven by a stepper motor that is basically an electromagnet that deflects the needle based on the average current flow through its coils - that's analog.

SOLD

Yeah, I can see nothing could ever go wrong with that... especially in a first year release. Besides, if one is too busy with one's cell phone to notice things in one's path then you should be taking a cab rather than getting some technology to play nursemaid. The technology does nothing to improve stopping distance or any other really useful assistance - it merely reacts when the driver foolishly does not, substituting its own judgement for that of the inattentive driver.

We had the same problem and it turned out to be the local radio station. When we compared that station in another vehicle it showed that the station was no longer broadcasting an RDS (Radio Data System) signal. A couple of months later I guess the station fixed it because it started to update again.

The factory hitch does require trimming of the rear valance. Aftermarket hitches (such as Hidden Hitch) do not. That's why we went with the Hidden Hitch instead of a factory one - we didn't trust our lame dealer to do the installation without messing it up. But if they did a good job, I wouldn't worry about it.

Doesn't the Ford/Lincoln keyless ignition have the same safeguard that had supposed runaway Toyota owners claiming the car wouldn't shut off? When in park or neutral, it only takes a press of the start/stop button. But when in gear you should have to push and hold the button for three seconds or more to make it shut off. That was implemented to avoid exactly this kind of issue but many Toyota owners didn't know so they kept stabbing at the button with no effect. Of course, shifting to neutral would have made the car slow down (so would pressing the brake instead of the accelerator) but hey, their Toyota owners.

No relay will be necessary. The reason a relay is helpful with higher power HID kits is because of the much higher power level required at startup to get the arc started. LEDs don't have that startup surge so the 45 watt requirement is well within the capability of the stock circuit designed for 55W halogen bulbs.