HID lights

kapsco · 05-02-07, 07:33

Question - not sure if this is the right place for this, but does anybody have any advice on HIDs? I'm looking into getting some for my car and was looking for advice and sources?
Thanks!

Juniorss · 05-02-07, 08:10

I had two sets of Philips. The first set which was the old gen kit worked awesome. I decided I wanted 6000k so I sold my 4300K and bought a new gen 6000k philips and they sucked. They worked for one week then one side wouldnt turn on at all and one side sometimes worked. I got rid of those and then got Mccullochs from HID-SiN.com. They sell them on ebay for $50 cheaper.

I would stay with anything from 4300K-6000k, anything more and its mostly for looks. The 4300K or 5000K depending on the company are white. 6000K have a slightly blue tint sorta like BMWs.

paul34 · 05-02-07, 09:58

What car do you have? The question is when getting HIDs are, "are there any quality projectors out there for my vehicle?"

If not, you'll have to look into doing a retrofit, which will take time and dedication - however, you can get better results than many "pre-built" type solutions. Most eBay solutions are bunk and low-quality.

Regardless, I forgot the exact forum, but I believe its the forums at HID Retrofit Parts Projectors Ballasts D2S Bulbs for retrofit information.

Obviously, I say all this because you don't want to throw HIDs in halogen housings like ricers do (this isn't even limited to the import crowd... I see plenty of HIDs in halogen housings on pickups and other domestics as well... I call it "American rice").

It's a danger to everyone else on the road, and you'll probably get worse performance than with just plain halogens as far as lighting up the road.

Wetwerks · 05-03-07, 07:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul34

What car do you have? The question is when getting HIDs are, "are there any quality projectors out there for my vehicle?"

If not, you'll have to look into doing a retrofit, which will take time and dedication - however, you can get better results than many "pre-built" type solutions. Most eBay solutions are bunk and low-quality.

Regardless, I forgot the exact forum, but I believe its the forums at HID Retrofit Parts Projectors Ballasts D2S Bulbs for retrofit information.

Obviously, I say all this because you don't want to throw HIDs in halogen housings like ricers do (this isn't even limited to the import crowd... I see plenty of HIDs in halogen housings on pickups and other domestics as well... I call it "American rice").

It's a danger to everyone else on the road, and you'll probably get worse performance than with just plain halogens as far as lighting up the road.

I agree with the above statement for the most part. A good quality HID kit will cost several hundred dollars. I'll post a link below of a side by side (stock halogen vs HID kit) below. The HID kit I installed on my girlfriends Escalade EXT, next to my stock halogen set up on my Escalade. I had already purchased the same kit for mine, but wanted to show the difference between the two.

Considering these were installed in Domestic trucks...sign me up for domestic rice. As for worse performance...I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Picked up both kits from .: Xenon Factory ... Xenon HID Conversion Kit Specialist They have a 3 year warranty, and great customer service. I feel this is a good comparison because they both are same make, same year and both have identical headlight housings. Also forgot to mention that these are the 5000K bulbs.

Regards

Walter

side by side against the garage
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199642

side by side
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

stock downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

HID kit downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

side by side downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

Djmigs · 05-03-07, 05:03

Best piece of advice i can give you .....

is buy a vehicle with hid...
but if you insist on better light output dont waste your money on kits, go retrofit ...

Retrofit is the only way....

checkout hidplanet or hidforums (cant recall exact url)

reasearch , and make an informed decision!!!

paul34 · 05-03-07, 08:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wetwerks

I agree with the above statement for the most part. A good quality HID kit will cost several hundred dollars. I'll post a link below of a side by side (stock halogen vs HID kit) below. The HID kit I installed on my girlfriends Escalade EXT, next to my stock halogen set up on my Escalade. I had already purchased the same kit for mine, but wanted to show the difference between the two.

Considering these were installed in Domestic trucks...sign me up for domestic rice. As for worse performance...I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Picked up both kits from .: Xenon Factory ... Xenon HID Conversion Kit Specialist They have a 3 year warranty, and great customer service. I feel this is a good comparison because they both are same make, same year and both have identical headlight housings. Also forgot to mention that these are the 5000K bulbs.

Regards

Walter

side by side against the garage
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199642

side by side
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

stock downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

HID kit downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

side by side downhill
http://autopia.org/forum/attachment....1&d=1178199027

Just a question... why did you decide to put HIDs in the Escalade halogen housings when there are OEM projectors available?

I'm not trying to troll, I was jsut curious.

SpoiledMan · 05-03-07, 09:05

I don't think the Sclades with HID's had projectors. At least I don't remember ever seeing projectors on my dads.

paul34 · 05-03-07, 09:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoiledMan

I don't think the Sclades with HID's had projectors. At least I don't remember ever seeing projectors on my dads.

That's possible. I guess it must only be on the newer models. I'm not too familiar with the model hisotry of the 'scalde, but I had a cousin rent an Escalde a few weeks ago (I'm guessing it was this year's model from the looks of it), and it definitely had OEM HID's (obviously with OEM projectors).

HIDs can be a tricky thing. Doesn't take much to blind everyone else on the road

Wetwerks · 05-04-07, 09:04

The second gen Escalade released in 02 only had halogens. In 03 they were equipped with OEM HID's. My girlfriend has sold the EXT since the pictures were taken, and purchased an 03 regular Escalade that has stock HID's. I'll have to take a closer look at both housings when I have some time to see if there is really any difference. I know that the reflectors in HID housings are angled differently than Halogen units. Caddy didn't make the jump to projectors in the Escalade until 07 with the release of the new model design. I was a bit worried about the light pattern being wider and possibly causing problems for oncoming traffic. I have not had any problems with blinding people, and no one has yet to "high beam" flash me in over 2 years with the kit. I've even gone as far as to drive my Honda at my truck on the road at night to see if there was an issue with blinding. For the most part, I have more light output "left-right" so a wider field of view, and more "fill" " in the remaining area.

Paul34- After reading my first post directed towards you, it sounds like I'm coming off as brash, and that was not the case. Just wanted to clear that up.

To answer your question, I did look around for a replacement "projector" headlamp, but most were very tacky to say the least.

Walter
Co-owner

3puttjay · 05-04-07, 09:37

I would try to go the retrofit with projectors route. Some of the reflectors in some cars toss out some mighty bright glare. Check out HID Retrofit Parts Projectors Ballasts D2S Bulbs, go to their forums and you will get all the advice you need to make a succesful retrofit. They even have people who will do it for you (for a price).

Juniorss · 05-04-07, 09:59

Infiniti Qx56's dont come with projectors either.

paul34 · 05-04-07, 11:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wetwerks

Paul34- After reading my first post directed towards you, it sounds like I'm coming off as brash, and that was not the case. Just wanted to clear that up.

To answer your question, I did look around for a replacement "projector" headlamp, but most were very tacky to say the least.

It's all good man

. I knew you weren't trying to be offense. It's hard to talk about these sort of things without sounding all argumentative