Headlamps with HID

[Suki22]

Getting ready to buy a 2008 GMC Acadia with HID projector low beam and halogen high beam. This option runs about $450.00. Any pro or cons I need to know about?



Thanks.............

[reaper34]

hid`s are the shizz as far as safety and better on-road visibility. they draw less power and run cooler, so get`em! the only con I can think of is replacement bulb price.

[mazda6i07]

HID`s are where it`s at! They are the best headlights with the best visibility, and the "whitest" light. Are they projectors?

[imported_FORMULa]

I would get them, i got them for my mustang (not projectors) and compared to regular lights, visibility went up greatly. Im happy i got them.

[Scottwax]

Once you go HID, you don`t go back.

[Roishe Cheng]

All of my cars have had HIDs. If it didn`t have it, I retrofitted TSX projectors into the housings. I cannot drive a car with halogens anymore.

[Wolf-Strong]

DEFIANTLY go for it! HIDs with projectors make a WORLD of difference in night driving. I will post up some comparisons.




I would get them, i got them for my mustang (not projectors) and compared to regular lights, visibility went up greatly. Im happy i got them.



Just a note for everyone, but what he is talking about is that he put HIDs in freeform headlight fixtures vs putting them in a projector housing. While this may or may not be illegal, it is NOT a good idea to put HIDs in free form light housings as it WILL blind oncoming drivers and is even worse than driving with your highbeams on.



Simply put, the difference between projectors and freeform is that a projector housing consists of 3 things; the light source, cutoff, and lens. The light source is put behind a cutoff which is usually just a piece of metal so that the bottom half of the light is COMPLETELY cut off. This is then followed by a lens, which like your eyes, flips the image around so that you essentially got the light being cut off on the top so you won`t blind oncoming drivers.



Projector light housings with HIDs light output will look like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/wolfstrong/garage/hidlights/DSC07934_small.jpg



Freeform lights are done one of two ways: satellite style reflection and literally, freeform depending on the lens used in front of the light. In older style lights, the best way to describe it is to look at a flash light. The bulb is sitting in the bottom of a reflective cone and all the light is just shot out. The `cutoff` here is usually manipulated by the lens out front with designs cut into it. This is HIGHLY in effective as it will still through a LOT of light out everywhere, and just tries to get as much light as possible down at the bottom. This was good pre-HIDs as it helped give more light at night, but generally bad for oncoming drivers. Now-a-days you won`t see this rather satellite style lights. Think of a satellite dish, and now imagine that behind the receive/sender, there is the light bulb which shoots out at the little thing in the center, which is usually metal/plastic shaped to throw most the light toward the bottom. Still not an exact science as light is still reflected all around the dish.



This will be an example of HIDs put on freeform lights:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/wolfstrong/garage/hidlights/DSC07888_small.jpg



And to show the difference between freeform and projector lights, here you will see two different headlight housings. The one on the left is a projector style as you can tell by the clear lens in the middle. The one on the right is a freeform light with the lens trying to control the light output instead of a real cutoff.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/wolfstrong/garage/hidlights/3645_1.jpg

[victory]

wolf, i`ve seen a bunch of cheaper non-projector setups like that. Basically, some cars headlights work better than others. Most do end up throwing light everywhere. The only way to know, unfortunately, is to try, and the vast majority have poor results. Others i have seen end up with a fairly distinct upper cutoff when the headlights are aimed properly. even though the beam isn`t perfectly uniform, they were not the menace to society that some make them out to be.



Alternately, for someone not wanting to spend the money to properly convert on the vast majority of cars with reflectors that will throw light everywhere, HIR 9011 and 9012 bulbs are available that are direct replacements for 9005 and 9006. They are a filament bulb design that has double the output of a standard halogen.

[Suki22]

Thanks guys.....I will definately get the HID`s.....:grinno::grinno:

[Setec Astronomy]

The one con that no one mentioned is the fact that on certain cars HID`s have become targets for theft. It was so bad around here with the Infiniti`s for a while that theives were stealing them in broad daylight in the middle of shopping center parking lots. (that was an issue where the lights fit into a Maxima making them a prime "upgrade")

[reaper34]

well technically anything that doesn`t come from the factory with them installed is illegal. but as long as you have a good retrofit you should be fine. oh and all you aftermarket guy`s, go 4300k on the bulb temp. anything else is screaming for the cops to hassle you, all factory hid`s are 4300K.

[Setec Astronomy]

well technically anything that doesn`t come from the factory with them installed is illegal.



Is that true?

[reaper34]

yeah it`s true. the way companies or sellers get around this is usually by saying for off=road use only. kinda like running a head shop.

[Roishe Cheng]

The one con that no one mentioned is the fact that on certain cars HID`s have become targets for theft. It was so bad around here with the Infiniti`s for a while that theives were stealing them in broad daylight in the middle of shopping center parking lots. (that was an issue where the lights fit into a Maxima making them a prime "upgrade")



Actually it was the other way around. The 5th Gen Maximas (2002 - 2003) were getting the HIDS stolen like crazy. The 6th gen (2004+) changed the design so it`s much harder. It`s also pretty difficult to take the HIDS from the G35s.

[Setec Astronomy]

Actually it was the other way around. The 5th Gen Maximas (2002 - 2003) were getting the HIDS stolen like crazy. The 6th gen (2004+) changed the design so it`s much harder. It`s also pretty difficult to take the HIDS from the G35s.



Yes, you are right...I even started a thread about it myself (almost 4 years ago) when I was considering a new car with HID`s:

http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-driver/44153-theft-hid-headlights.html ...boy, it sucks getting old :o