Jim Powell wrote:As we roll into 2011 Apexcone will be 10 years old on March 1st. When we entered this market, it was essentially in its 10th year as a market. That's a long time for a market, especially one that is brand based. Our original business was making angel eyes and other accessories for the BMW. As times have progressed we pretty much stayed a BMW lighting vendor through DDM Tuning which took off in 2005 and has pretty much been the price leader in lighting, bringing lighting and accessories to literally hundreds of thousands of customers.
As DDM Tuning did its thing, I personally got involved in other things. I've talked about many of them before, so I won't bore you with too much of it. But essentially, we started an LED company, we invested in other companies in China and bought a factory in Taiwan that makes things for bicycles and sewing machines. We invested in shipping franchises and I started buying up a lot of apartment buildings when the economy tanked and asset prices plummeted while rent incomes actually increased.
Let me give all of you a life lesson. It never hurts to be heavy in cash. Most Americans have lunch money.
So Jimbo, where we going with this?
Basically the best way to make a lot of money is to run a market. The best way to run a market is to know when there is a market or a better one opening up and flog it hard for cash. That's what I've done off to the side. DDM Tuning has been focused on just selling you guys good product for cheap.
Behind the scenes, we have been looking hard at the business. Most people don't do this and that's why people fail.
So, amazing as this sounds, DDM Tuning is going to reinvent itself for the next decade.
A lot of the products we sell now, we are not going to be selling anymore. Some things we sell we will sell a lot more of and most surprising of all, we are going to move out of HID and a lot of other lighting products within the next several weeks. By the time we get to March 1st which is Apexcone's 10th anniversary, we will be doing something mostly different.
Go ahead, call me crazy
Now, besides just telling you WHY you will start to see drastic changes on our website, I'm going to give all of you some good news. If you like bargains, keep your eyes open on our clearance section. I think we have about 2, maybe 3 million dollars worth of inventory that we are going to be getting the heck out of here because I have 2, maybe 3 million dollars worth of different stuff on order and I need to get the warehouses cleared out and completely reconfigured for the new inventory.
Other random stuff:
1. DDM Tunings website will slowly and then more and more rapidly start to show massive changes to reflect the reconfigurations of the business model.
2. Shipped prices on bumpers will start to get ridiculously low. Several other vendors have been using Greyhound delivery for these large oversize items. We are not only going to do exactly the same thing, I took it a step further and I used the Apexcone freight division (San Diego operation known as LGG Enterprises) to quietly buy up a lot of the Greyhound P&D contracted providers all around the country and make money when customers buy from the competition. (Side Note: Didi you know American Apparel ships clothing to their retailers by Greyhound? Bizarre...) Although, I think my shipping prices that will start to appear on the website will be interesting enough that this dynamic may change.
Anyway, enough rambling. I have lots of work to do. Watch the clearance section, there is going to be a lot of stuff on there shortly.
Jim
So much for that lifetime warranty..
Well thats upsetting to hear. I have had to service my HID kit through them twice. I would have thought that the HID kits were what made DDM so popular and successful without them I doubt I will do business with DDM again.
Another DDM
Yet another DDM
Still another DDM...
Seems to be one popular acronym in the car world, lol!
Bill Hahn Jr.
Hahn RaceCraft
World's Quickest and Fastest Street J-Bodies
Turbocharging GM FWD's since 1988
www.turbosystem.com
Good news, I have seen Jim say they are still honoring warranties
DDM Tuning, didn't know there were so many haha
I noticed they were out of ballasts.
This news comes the day after my fog lights start flickering... wtf...
Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.
Sounds about right. Anybody that's successful and smart about it knows that nothing lasts forever - you need to get the most you can and get out while you're on top. In the world of headlights and HID's, things have gotten so cheap that there's a certain amount of diminishing returns as time goes on. There's no reason to continue with something that isn't going to net you good returns (which is turn is great for us customers, technology and time is fantastic).
So looks like they're going with something new, hopefully they will be successful at that as well.
And for you guys who bought the $29 HID kits, you didn't really think it was going to be lifetime warranty did you? Come on. I bought a couple kits from them knowing they were throw away if necessary.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
Quote:
DDM Tuning The DDM ballasts are out of stock and it's going to be a little while before we can get them back in so we pulled them off the site for the time being. As soon as we have a delivery date for our next shipment we'll have them back online and let everyone know.
That was posted on their facebook page about 16 hours ago from what the post says.
This would be sad as I bought a set a year ago from them and have had no problems and am looking at getting another set from them as soon as I get a new set of headlights.
Well, now I am confused.
So, I was just about to order from them now that my tax check is here.. I found they have this still
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Apexcone-Raptor-HID-Kit
Raptor HID kit offered in 55w for 9007 Hi/Lo.. that is just a different model, but the same thing that still work on our cars, correct? They actually are still selling HID kits.
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They have my D1S HID bulbs so cheap........glad I ordered a spare set!
Micah (Shadowfire) wrote:From Facebook:
DDM Tuning wrote:Expanding into more lighting like LED's. HID's aren't being discontinued.
DDM Tuning wrote:We're moving away from HID's as our primary focus but we're not getting rid of them all together.
DDM Tuning wrote:We will honor the warranty.
Jim Powell wrote:A lot of the products we sell now, we are not going to be selling anymore.
Jim Powell wrote:Some things we sell we will sell a lot more of and most surprising of all, we are going to move out of HID and a lot of other lighting products within the next several weeks.
I also corrected myself earlier and said they are still honoring warranties.
Anyway, I ordered a raptor kit yesterday. Backordered till the 31st.
Well Mike, if you are gonna take the plunge and try the Raptor kit, I will probably do the same.
Please let me know when you get them installed and how well they work out alright, i'm leaning towards the same kit. But not sure if I want to place an order yet, been buying up too many other parts this week to justify it at the moment, but if it works for you and you are happy with it, I will go ahead and get them.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Saturday, January 29, 2011 1:11 AM
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If you guys need HID kits for a cheap price, and want kits that are reliable that will come with a lifetime warranty and that will not stop selling kits, please send us an email at Info@GGlighting.net
We sell all colors for all makes and models of cars starting at only $55
Cody Morad wrote:If you guys need HID kits for a cheap price, and want kits that are reliable that will come with a lifetime warranty and that will not stop selling kits, please send us an email at Info@GGlighting.net
We sell all colors for all makes and models of cars starting at only $55
Your new I see...... so just a FYI, I hope you become a member to be able to sell your stuff on this site or expect to be banned pretty quick.
Well i have heard alot of good and a certian amount of bad about the VVME hids. Have a set in my Sunfire, never have had a problem with them. Disabled the DRLs, have a full adapter harness. Seem perfect except for the fact that for some reason the drivers side one doesnt like to come on during the day for some reason, never ever had a problem at night, but about one in three times, the drivers side one wont fire. They do come with German HELLA ballasts, and japanese bulbs which im told seems to be the best combination.
1999 Sunfire GT Convertible.
Nothing special to anyone but me.
You can still get working HID Kits from DDM. The Raptor v2 is what is in my car, just got it not too long ago, and it works great.
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So... the HID kit they sell for 40dls. for our cars Its the 9007 light 35w ballats and 6000k ..??? i'm correct? or which kit is better? this will into in a 2000 z24 convertible...
You would want the 9007 with hi/lo operation, so its like 40 + 20 for hi/lo. But yeah, that should be fine. Someone will chime in if I am wrong, but I ordered the 55w 8000k Raptor with 9007 Hi/lo and upgraded harness since I went with 55w and it was less than 100 shipped,
Also, when I ordered they didnt have the slim ones, so I got the Raptor, now they dont have the Raptor but they have the slim, so idk whats up with that.
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what is the difference on a Hi/Lo versus the other one??? what exactly does it do? excuse my ignorance.. haahah
the hi/lo is 1 ballast for your high and low beams, with no warm up time for your highs like if you had 2 separate ballasts.
anyways, im in the process of puttin the HIDs in my 99 z24...... I have the ebay halo projectors, they use H1 bulbs and the $%^&* HID bulbs wont fit into the back of the projector. the outside diameter of the glass is too wide and wont fit into the hole and im pretty ticked at the moment. since im only home for the weekend from college, i think im gonna get the dremel out. If anybody has any input, PLEASE please let me know. otherwise i guess this is just a heads up for all you peeps lookin to do the same thing i am.
will both hi and low will be HID or just the low beam? or both?
I have a brand new DDM 9006 kit that I have bought months ago that has been collecting dust.
Hmmm... I'm lost for words
both high and low will be HID. the 9007 bi-xenon kit is actually mechanical. it has a little shutter that flips out of the way when you hit the highs.
Old thread. Information was mis-understood upon release.
They still sell & warranty all their kits. And I'll bet DDM is still cheaper.
