Think again before gettin a HID "kit"

I really hope this thread can help you guys. Ur making the road more dangerous than it already is by adding a HID kit to your car. so please do HID the right way by doing a retrofit.

HID kits are illegal due to the glare that they cause. Glare is Light that is emitted in a Uncontrollable path. When light is traveling in a uncontrollable path it can hit other vehicle operators affecting there vision because of the High amount of uncontrollable light that is being Emitted from a HID kit in a standard Halogen housing. If you have ever turned a flashlight on right in front of your face while it is dark out, that is the same feeling that the other drivers on the road experience from a standard HID kit.

OEM Vehicles such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus are all equipped with HID or Xenon Headlights. Some use reflector housing’s without projectors. Others use HID projectors.

The Lexus IS300 is a Prime Example of a HID reflector housing. It does not use a Projector. It uses a Specially designed Reflector housing that is meant to use HID. This does not create the Super sharp cutoff. But it does control where the light is being Emitted.

Other vehicles such as the Honda S2000 Use HID projectors, These Projectors are meant to use HID. They are Specially Designed and have been tested Hundreds of times to get the right projection of light while maintaining a Good Cutoff.


This teg is a prime example of Glare. This is what it looks like to oncoming traffic



Disaster pix. HID kit in Halogen Housing



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Now the GOOD STUFF
This is what HID is suppose to look like.. Pictured is a STi


Talk about a Razor Sharp Cutoff. Pictured is a S2000 OEM setup


another S2000 Retrofit…


Article stating why the kits are illegal.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html


Comparison.. Pictured is a Acura TL-S with HID from the factory vs H4 6000K civic
See the difference?






I hope this helps some of you, If you want any info on HOW to do a retrofit, just ask in this thread or PM me :-D

TTT

this is some really good info guys

Excellent post!!! :thumbsup:

Are there Mustang housings that will take an HID and project it properly???

The reflector, bulb holder, and wiring all need to be addressed .... at least I would think so :shrug:

i agree very good post and personally i can't stand hid's to damn bright

So does this apply to Silverstars as well?

thank u for posting this. I cant explain how many times, i curse out these guys running around with these HID lights that just blast right in my face, ****ing retards!they go out and buy these kits and just think its the coolest thing ever. I personally like the ones that come from the factory on the higher end cars, but i seen a kid driving a minivan with spinner hubcaps and hids that almost caused me to not see the turn coming up.

btw, has anyone ever noticed how many of those lights are stolen from those cars? I had a buddy with a newer maxima that had those and his lights got stolen 3 TIMES!!! twice from his house and once at the mall. He sold the car eventually and got a 01 cobra :thumbsup:

Yes, I have been blinded so many damn times by the glare from bad HID retro-fits.

Your information is totally 100% accurate. Your headlight housing is designed in the most accurate parabola needed to project the light as accurately as possible. If the headlight housing is not designed for HID, then this is what occures. The parabola will not project the light accurately.

I absolutely love the HID kits of Subaru WRX STi's and Acura 3.2 TL Type S's.

When done properly, they can look amzing, heres some pictures of an HID retrofit with projectors on a 97 (or so) GT done VERY Professionally in my opinion

203Cree said:

So does this apply to Silverstars as well?

Click to expand...

Silverstars are a hlagen blub, not HIDs, putting silverstars in your headlights is just getting some better versions of the stock bulbs

Jimmysidecarr said:

Excellent post!!! :thumbsup:

Are there Mustang housings that will take an HID and project it properly???

The reflector, bulb holder, and wiring all need to be addressed .... at least I would think so :shrug:

Click to expand...

somone (or your self) has to be compitent enough with this stuff to do it to your stock housing, they have to open it up, cut it for the projector, paint your reflector housing black, put the prujectors in, and much more, theres places on the internet where you can send your lights in and have it done

Good Info :thumbsup:

More accurate information would include the fact that the higher the color temperature of the light (6000K+) on the aftermarket kits, the higher the glare or 'blooming' effect of the light to oncoming traffic.

Most OEM HID's use the WHITER 4300K color temperature. The reason for the 'blueish' tint with OEM setups is the light being refracted through the projector LENSES.

Most aftermarket kits use higher color temperature bulbs (6k, 8k 10k) to imitate the blue tint of the OEMs. This higher temperature equates to
1. Less light output
2. More glare to oncoming traffic

I thought this thread would be more Mustang specific from the title.

-Yes, proper projector lenses focus the light better.
-Yes I have seen Mustangs with OEM headlamp housings and HID kits where the light is acceptable
-Yes the MAIN problem of aftermarket HID kits is jackasses buying super high color temperature kits to throw a 'wicked' BMW imitating blue or purple light, which is the worst for other drivers and for actual light output.
epper:

Aftermarket headlamps MIGHT get a better handle on the beam pattern of an HID kit, but I doubt the quality of the optics is the greatest.

03 DSG Snake said:

More accurate information would include the fact that the higher the color temperature of the light (6000K+) on the aftermarket kits, the higher the glare or 'blooming' effect of the light to oncoming traffic.

Most OEM HID's use the WHITER 4300K color temperature. The reason for the 'blueish' tint with OEM setups is the light being refracted through the projector LENSES.

Most aftermarket kits use higher color temperature bulbs (6k, 8k 10k) to imitate the blue tint of the OEMs. This higher temperature equates to
1. Less light output
2. More glare to oncoming traffic

I thought this thread would be more Mustang specific from the title.

-Yes, proper projector lenses focus the light better.
-Yes I have seen Mustangs with OEM headlamp housings and HID kits where the light is acceptable
-Yes the MAIN problem of aftermarket HID kits is jackasses buying super high color temperature kits to throw a 'wicked' BMW imitating blue or purple light, which is the worst for other drivers and for actual light output.
epper:

Click to expand...

Thanks for stating that extra bit of info!

Good post bro.

Here a few examples of HID kits in MUSTANG headlamps:

Here is a 9007 headlamp pic from another member on the board with Philips 4300k ballasts/bulbs on the driver side, while the passenger side has a Sylvania Silverstar:



The only thing I can discern from one side to the other in this example is more light. I do not see any glare created nor a 'crazy' beam pattern.

Keep in mind this is a 4300K kit.



THIS picture is going UP the Kelvin scale with a 6000K kit:




Notice the 'bloom' or glare of the headlamps compared to the Halogen foglights. THIS is the problem when increasing color temperature, and it gets worse the higher you go.

So the REAL problem with aftermarket HID kits is:
1. Cars with crappy headlamps to beginwith (exemplified by your pics above)
2. And people running bulbs too high up on the Kelvin Scale

I personally would NOT have a problem with purchasing (and plan on doing so) a HIGH quality kit in the 4300k range. I believe that this is the best we can do with these headlamps as far as brightness. I would not worry about the law or oncoming drivers with a kit like this.

By quality kit, I mean those with components made by Philips or Osram Sylvania ONLY. These are the biggest suppliers to the OEMs and pretty much have the market in lock down.

This is another reason why the 'cheap' overseas produced kits are the only ones you see in INSANE color temperatures (8k, 10k, 12k) because they cannot even begin to compete with the 2 big OEM suppliers in the 4300k market.

And yes, I HAVE done my homework on this :beer:

epper:

Great post, Im glad someone else has done some research on the subject.

I myself am in the process of finishing my projector / HID retrofit!

I took the time to Aim the projectors properly and ensure i wasnt blinding oncoming traffic.

Also, you should probably mention that most of those cut-offs look to be ECE code,w hich arent actually legal in the US DOT code projectors have a bit lower jut up, more like the S2k.

Here are some pics of my project so far:

Cut off (not at proper 'aiming' distance) DOT BMW 7 series bosch projectors:

with my foggies:



Im also willing to help people with questions about retrofiting! Its not as bad as you may think, it just takes time and planning

Ps. Dont hate me because im not a mustang ((

Oh also, 03 dsg I want to mention to people just to know who is making their 'aftermarket headlights. My dad bought some Valeo headlights for his audi, and they are superb! Also, Hella makes superb HID components (not sure if they are owned by anyone else) they provide the ballasts for several mercedes) and their gen 4 system is the one I am using right now!

Pudmunkies said:

<snip>

Ps. Dont hate me because im not a mustang ((

Click to expand...

I won't hate you if you start chruning out some custom Mustang headlamps :beer:

Oh man, I dont know if I could handle that. I have nightmares about contour headlights as it is!

And Ill tell you right now im not the first to do this with the CSVT. Their have been several before me who I took guidance from. Ill see if i cant dig up some pics of their setups (wayyyy better than mine!)

You should really look into some Hella 90mm Projectors, they have their own mounting hardware and make it pretty easy to retrofit (im using the 90mm High beams on my headlights). I havent seen the back of a mustang headlight, but i dont imagine it being too bad!

*edit* Found em:

Quick Google=



www.illusion-lighting.com can do a lense retrofit for $900 a pair. I'm assuming the HID kit is NOT included, but didn't read much.