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HID lights
- Thread starter kapsco
- Start date
imported_Denzil
New member
Retrofit is the only way to go as far as investing in some sort of aftermarket kit. I advise against plug-and-play kits without retrofitting your housings unless you can achieve a defined cutoff on your HIDs. Otherwise, you will just be blinding everyone in front of you.
BlackElantraGT said:jsatek, IIRC you bought an inexpensive HID kit so I'm curious to know which kit you got and do you think those are real Bosch ballasts or Chinese knock-offs?
I know this question wasn't directed to me but I got a cheap chinese knock-off kit... for 90 bucks shipped... and they've been working great for over a year now.. It actually looks very similar to that one pic in the red packing posted above.
My car already had projectors but with normal halogen bulbs so I wanted to replace them with something a bit brighter. They look great and OEM as far as I can tell.
paul34 said:So all of you throwing HIDs into your halogen housing are ok with blinding oncoming traffic?
Unfortunately light distribution is much more complex of an issue than just aiming those halogen housings down.
In my case, I am not blinding oncoming traffic at all. I didn't even have to aim the low beams down because the Edge's low beam has a shield that kills the glare.
Accumulator
Well-known member
paul34 said:So all of you throwing HIDs into your halogen housing are ok with blinding oncoming traffic?
Unfortunately light distribution is much more complex of an issue than just aiming those halogen housings down.
Putting HIDs in the M3's (Euro) housings didn't work out very well. No problems with blinding oncoming traffic (at least nobody let me know) but the pattern isn't good enough for me; I just *know* it could be better, even though the guys at ECS Tuning think it's OK as-is.
I'm gonna swap 'em out for proper HIDs with the right housings.
Just to clear up some questions and put some facts out there...
There are halogen projectors and HID projectors. Halogen projectors do not have the proper cutoff shield necessary to put HID's behind them, they are manufactured to focus halogen light in a different pattern than HID lighting. So, be aware that it is possible to have projectors but not have the proper cutoff shield within the projector for HID's.
Also, note that it is possible to have "proper" HID lighting with a reflector housing and not a projector. Cars such as the Toyota Prius come stock with HID lighting without a projector. How is this? The bulbs are different. A HID bulb for a reflector housing will have a type of shielding around it, creating the proper cutoff (thus no need for the projector and cutoff shield). For example, Philips manufactures both kinds of HID bulbs. Their HID bulb meant to be used with a projector will be denoted D2S.
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/photos/PB-D2S-4K-2T.jpg
However, their bulb meant to be used with a reflector housing will be denoted D2R.
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/photos/PB-D2R-4K-2T.jpg
Notice the difference between the two. The D2R bulb has a shielding built around it to prevent light from spraying up away from the road. Note that while this does act as a shield, it is not nearly as crisp of a cutoff as can be achieved by using a projector and cutoff shield, but it still remains a MUCH better option than using nothing at all.
Also, 4300k is the brightest light possible for HID's. If you want the maximum output, go with those. 6000k tends to be a bit blue. However, I have found that 5000k kits are the perfect compromise. They are just a slight hint of blue but don't attract unnecessary attention due to it.
You get what you pay for in HID kits in the quality of the parts and the warranty. Many people get away with using cheap kits, many do not. It's a crap shoot, at best, if you're going for a budget kit.
There are halogen projectors and HID projectors. Halogen projectors do not have the proper cutoff shield necessary to put HID's behind them, they are manufactured to focus halogen light in a different pattern than HID lighting. So, be aware that it is possible to have projectors but not have the proper cutoff shield within the projector for HID's.
Also, note that it is possible to have "proper" HID lighting with a reflector housing and not a projector. Cars such as the Toyota Prius come stock with HID lighting without a projector. How is this? The bulbs are different. A HID bulb for a reflector housing will have a type of shielding around it, creating the proper cutoff (thus no need for the projector and cutoff shield). For example, Philips manufactures both kinds of HID bulbs. Their HID bulb meant to be used with a projector will be denoted D2S.
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/photos/PB-D2S-4K-2T.jpg
However, their bulb meant to be used with a reflector housing will be denoted D2R.
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/photos/PB-D2R-4K-2T.jpg
Notice the difference between the two. The D2R bulb has a shielding built around it to prevent light from spraying up away from the road. Note that while this does act as a shield, it is not nearly as crisp of a cutoff as can be achieved by using a projector and cutoff shield, but it still remains a MUCH better option than using nothing at all.
Also, 4300k is the brightest light possible for HID's. If you want the maximum output, go with those. 6000k tends to be a bit blue. However, I have found that 5000k kits are the perfect compromise. They are just a slight hint of blue but don't attract unnecessary attention due to it.
You get what you pay for in HID kits in the quality of the parts and the warranty. Many people get away with using cheap kits, many do not. It's a crap shoot, at best, if you're going for a budget kit.
Monte78Carlo2k1
New member
I am in the process of retro fitting HID retro fits in my stock headlights for fun. Just because I don't want to worry about the proper cut off and the issue of blinding people. A lot of work but it should be worth it in the end. With that said I have gone and ordered a set of HIDs like most have just to see the differnce between stock regular lights - then HID lights in the stock housing - then whenever I finish my retro fit (still not legal but hey...) seeing the difference yet again.
PedroDaGr8
New member
I currently have FX35 projectors retro'ed into my Honda CR-V headlights. It is a great setup. Nothing compares to real HID projectors ( a few of the true hid reflectors are OK most aren't, halogen seldom if ever looks as good as the real deal).
BlackElantraGT said:jsatek, IIRC you bought an inexpensive HID kit so I'm curious to know which kit you got and do you think those are real Bosch ballasts or Chinese knock-offs?
I don't doubt they're real. I've seen cheap kits come with hella ballasts as well.
PedroDaGr8
New member
victory said:I don't doubt they're real. I've seen cheap kits come with hella ballasts as well.
Oh there is no doubt that is fake. IIRC osch never made ballasts that looked like that, those are cheap chinese knock offs of Hella Gen III ballasts. Bosch never even made HID kits, EVER.
imported_RZJZA80
New member
are all headlights not adjustable? If for some reason your headlight beams cannot be adjusted up/down and left/right, then yeah maybe don't use HID's, but if they are, go ahead and adjust them accordingly. I've never seen HID's in a car that couldn't be adjusted down and worked perfectly.
imported_sal3291
New member
I have a set I put into my fiances 99 Accord they work great. When I first put them in we waited till night I had the car parked on the street with the lights on I drove my car commin at it and driving away from it it was blinding. Pulled the car in the garage and aimed the lights down a lil bit and did the same test and no problems. We have been driving it now for 5 months with 0 people flashing us or anything. They are a great approvement and for only $90.
Accumulator
Well-known member
RZJZA80 said:are all headlights not adjustable? ... I've never seen HID's in a car that couldn't be adjusted down and worked perfectly.
Adjusting won't solve the problem if the reflector/lens messes with the output in certain ways. I had a conversion like this on the M3 at one point and no matter how you adjusted the lights it was never right for both the driver and oncoming traffic. The reflectors (made for the characteristics of regular halogen bulbs) scattered the HID's bright light in ways that was very irritating to anybody looking at them.
How lights behave is primarily a matter of the reflector and lenses working *in tandem* with the bulbs...the combination simply has to be right or all the up/down right/left adjustments in the world won't fix it.
hXc drummer23
New member
I got my HID's off of Ebay for $70 shipped. It was a pretty good deal. I had to do some modding to the ballasts to get it to fit right, but they still work. I did Hid's in the stock housing and the glare is terrible with them. I wouldnt be surprised if people got pissed off at me because of them. I know they blind people because my friend did 6000k bulbs in his car and it blinded the crap out of me.
Accumulator
Well-known member
hXc drummer23 said:I.. they still work. I did Hid's in the stock housing and the glare is terrible with them. I wouldnt be surprised if people got pissed off at me because of them. I know they blind people because my friend did 6000k bulbs in his car and it blinded the crap out of me.
If I were you I'd change them back. Seriously..what if you actually cause injury to somebody? If you're not concerned about that [insert lecture here] then consider that if the person who gets ticked off happens to be an on-duty LEO you could be in for an unpleasant experience.
hXc drummer23 said:I got my HID's off of Ebay for $70 shipped. It was a pretty good deal. I had to do some modding to the ballasts to get it to fit right, but they still work. I did Hid's in the stock housing and the glare is terrible with them. I wouldnt be surprised if people got pissed off at me because of them. I know they blind people because my friend did 6000k bulbs in his car and it blinded the crap out of me.
I installed 6K HIDs in my Scion xB and it too took a little work to install but it's done the right way and does not blind people to death. But it was much more than $70. I put a fused wire harness with two relays so the power draws directly from the battery. It has four ballest, two true hi/low beam HID bulbs. The headlights has the cover over the bulbs. So far no one has yet to flash me. After installing HIDs, I will never go back to standard halogens.
hXc drummer23
New member
Accumulator said:If I were you I'd change them back. Seriously..what if you actually cause injury to somebody? If you're not concerned about that [insert lecture here] then consider that if the person who gets ticked off happens to be an on-duty LEO you could be in for an unpleasant experience.
Actually, they were 10000k bulbs. I just found out yesterday that he changed them to 10000k. But nobody has flashed me yet about my headlight.