hid kits question

[devonkyle77]

after reading the write up on aftermarket hid kits in the archives, i am lost as to which hid kits ARE reccomended. i have an s14a that is undergoing s15 front once i aquire a hood and bumper.either way, i would think the projectors in both s14a headlights and s15 headlights would be adequate, so if someone could reccomend a certain kit i would appreciate it!

[alexchanman]

www.hidplanet.com. read and learn before you buy.

[CaoBoY]

mcculloch (sp?) hid kits. you can get them on ebay for around 285 shipped, depending on what kelvin temp you want the bulbs (which color). its plug and play, the thing that is going to take up your time is figuring out where to mount the ballasts. you have an s15 front right? you could order the kit, and ask for th usdm s14 connectors (to plug in the lights) and whatever bulbs (im assuming h4) for the s15 headlights, that way you dont have any ratty wiring.

[devonkyle77]

their kits include projectors. i dont need to swap projectors on the s15 headlights, do i? i mean, they make hid s15 headlights oem...

[CaoBoY]

no...those kits dont include projectors.... here, pick which color you like. i bought from this guy, and he shipped it out, and had the HID kit in like 3 days. just email him, tell him what you want, and he'll put it together for you.
http://search.ebay.com/mcculloch-hid-kit_W0QQbsZSearchQQcatrefZC6QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfs opZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQpqryZmcullochQ20hidQ20kitQQs acatZQ2d1QQsaprchiZQQsaprcloZQQsofocusZbs

[Anto]

if the s15 projectors are OEM HID ones, you just need D2S bulbs, ballasts, and a wiring harness. I can't stress the wiring harness enough. Your entire car could go up in flames if you don't spend the money on a $40 wiring harness.

Now, if the s15 projectors aren't OEM HID ones, then you're gonna need to retrofit some HID projectors in. Halogen projectors have different focal points compared to HID ones, so if you stick an HID kit into a halogen projector housing, 99% of the time the beam pattern is going to be nasty as crap. That, plus the s15 headlights are meant for RHD, so the flare is going to shift to the right, blinding oncomming traffic either way.

[CaoBoY]

bah...i put HID kits in every car i have owned, and yea, beam patterns werent the greatest, but they dont blind people unless dont know how to adjust them properly.

[devonkyle77]

i was referring to the hidplanet website alex told me to go to
thanks for the info
so you are telling me, the projector on non hid and hid s15 headlights is different?

[fliprayzin240sx]

i was referring to the hidplanet website alex told me to go to
thanks for the info
so you are telling me, the projector on non hid and hid s15 headlights is different?

Yes, there are 2 versions of the S15 headlights. The HID version comes with HID ballast and everything. The projectors are actully bigger than the non-hid ones. Just cant remember if they are glass projectors or plastic. If you end up running a non-hid, the bulbs are just like kouki S14s, H1 bulbs. Im running a hella kit on my S14 with 3k bulbs.

[Anto]

bah...i put HID kits in every car i have owned, and yea, beam patterns werent the greatest, but they dont blind people unless dont know how to adjust them properly.

Yeah, but for the price, you might as well go OEM hardware if it's D2S. OEM doesn't rebase for h1 or h3 sockets :(.

But yeah, I actually have a set of OEM S15 projectors. They're not bad - the bowl design is very similar to the S2k bowl design. Very wide output.
The bad?

Frosted Lens. This is the worst possible lens you could have on a car. It kills both color AND output.
Fixed Shield. If you want to get more color on the colorband, you're going to have to space the lens further from the projector. Plus it's RHD flare : \.

Personally, I would retrofit another projector into the s15 housing. But that's just me.

[devonkyle77]

how hard is it to retrofit the hid projector in a s15 housing?

[S14DB]

i was referring to the hidplanet website alex told me to go to
thanks for the info
so you are telling me, the projector on non hid and hid s15 headlights is different?
Yes, You should search. http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=112109

[Anto]

Retrofitting requires some creativity. Since the S15 housings are already projector-based, it's MUCH easier. It does require the opening of the headlight and some possible dremel work.

Actually, now that I think about it, the CHEAPEST way to make the s15 projectors good would be to:

1.Open up the headlight housing.
2. Remove the s15 projector. Replace the lens with a clear lens. 300zx lens comes to mind, but you can use any clear lens designed for headlights (research on hidplanet first).
3. If you want, epoxy putty the flare to LHD.

Shazam. Virtually S2k output with correct flare, at 1/3 the price.
Yes yes, this would be the best option. Requires no dremel work, because the s15 projectors are already fitted to the headlight housing.

[devonkyle77]

putty the flare? elaborate please

[chmercer]

this thread is fucking whack

if your headlights come with projectors stock (s14 kouki headlights, s15 headlights, z32, etc) you are completly wasting your money/being a douchebag by retrofitting hid projectors into your lights. it does not matter that much AT ALL. all its going to do is make a little extra glare / the cutoff line will be slightly more fuzzy.

to original poster - buy some random 200 dollar 4000-6000k hid kit, pop it in your headlights, go cruise.

[SimpleS14]

*sigh*


It's your car....so do what you want....


however regardless of which route you go I highly recommend you make a separate harness to power up the ballast.

[devonkyle77]

thankyou chmercer

[devonkyle77]

simple, would you be willing to do that for me for a small fee when im ready to have it done?

[alexchanman]

well, i suggest you take out the oem projector and put in one of the projectors from the site i gave you earlier mainly because this is the only way to do it the right way. if you dont do this, you will be blinding people all over the place. thats just what i would do in your situation.

[fatalfury64]

I don't like the retrofit idea, but simple showed me a picture of his hid at night and it looked pretty nice

[SimpleS14]

simple, would you be willing to do that for me for a small fee when im ready to have it done?


Right now its going to be a no....its really simple to make (no pun intended).

[CaoBoY]

bull shit you dont blind people all over the place with halogen projectors. adjust the damn headlights. my buddy has hid's on his sc300, its perfectly fine, blinds people just the same as god damned bmw's etc. looks pretty much the same, projects teh light out the same way, and projects the cutoff the same way. retrofitting other projectors to make it 'right' is plain lame. it'll be fine, just buy a mcculloch kit like i showed you, just make it right for your car, and you will be fine. i did it on my 92 LS400, with jdm headlights, and no one high beamed me when driving, unless you were out in the middle of NOWHERE and your lights were the brightest thing around. ever drive out in the middle of nowhere and some car with the 'proper' projectors came up behind you or was oncoming? it blinds the SHIT out of you. just pop in the HID kit, and properly adjust your headlights the right way. it will be fine.
/thread.

[Anto]

OEM HID sets the standard for HIDS. Output is very sharp and controlled. HID kits will equal a little glare above the cutoff line, sometimes ALOT, but glare is glare. If it doesn't meet the OEM HID standard, many consider it sub-par.

Personally, I like to do things correctly the first time. Instead of popping some random kit into your halogen housings, OEM retrofit OR in your case, mod the projector.
I don't settle for half-assed effort. But that's just me.

devonkyle77 - When you putty the flare, you basically take apart the projector and shape a thin layer of epoxy putty onto the shield, making the shield look like ___/----- instead of looking like ----\__.
It's really up to you. If you want to make the best out of the s15 headlights without retrofitting, i'm telling you. clearlens swap and you're good to go. The s15 projector is already OEM HID, so you're just improving on an already correct projector. You *could* leave it the way it is, it's entirely up to you.

[chmercer]

why do you guys care about glare anyway. i get blasted by trucks every day. who cares if some looser in a civic has to flip his rearview mirror up.

[OptionZero]

For someone who cares about being so precise about wheel sizing and aero and such, how can you bash people who want to be equally careful about their lighting?

If YOU don't care, fine, but if these people want to take the time to do it right, then let them.

[CaoBoY]

also, take into fact that most people on this great forum, have cars lowered to teh fucking ground. aim your headlights down, you arent going to be blinding anybody, and still be able to see. he's already got projectors, and it will be fine. devonkyle, just go buy the kit and put it in and be happy. /goddamnedthread.

[tastyratz]

cao your not really being helpful and sound very uneducated on this.

ive actually had oem hids and tried putting them into non hid lighting housings. YES you can actually pull off on SOME projectors just dropping a kit in. Depending on the nature of the halogens original design and filament location/type used glare may be minimized or maximized (for example.. hella h9 projectors are known to take hids like they were meant for it)

HID CONVERSION KITS ARE ILLEGAL NOW
this being because of buffoons like caoboy who foolishly and carelessly drop them in without proper modifications. What does this mean for you? if you dont drop it in right and attract cop attention with your car dont cry to me when they tow you some night. Cops generally dont care about hids that look stock but if you drop them in place of stock lighting and it seems like you always drive with your high beams on (yea it gets worse than that) then expect a ticket.

There is a very extensive wealth of information available in zilvia and hidplanet covering this stuff

When dropping an hid conversion into your car its very recommended you use oem components. cheap ebay crap usually burns out within a year

do it right or do it twice.

[alexchanman]

For someone who cares about being so precise about wheel sizing and aero and such, how can you bash people who want to be equally careful about their lighting?

If YOU don't care, fine, but if these people want to take the time to do it right, then let them.

exactly, thats my point too.

[Anto]

Technically, both retrofits AND kits are illegal. The difference?

Kits are the REASON they're illegal. It was because of the massive glare created from these kits that the NHTSA banned them. Retrofits are still *technially* illegal, but you will attract much less attention when you blend in with the rest of the OEM HID crowd.

BESIDES, s15 IS ALREADY OEM HID

[tastyratz]

yes hid retrokits AND rebase kits are BOTH illegal, I was simply referencing that they will attract less attention with a proper retrofit.

s15 lights are available in OEM hid... however its RHD beam pattern so shield modifications would be neccessary to shine a LHD beam. They do come with a really cool leveling system but are expensive/rare.

This isnt entirely just a legality thing too. Having proper shielding will yield light output in usable areas. This means instead of a pitch black side of the road, you illuminate the side to see signs as well as people/corners/obstacles/etc.

[dops13]

Get the kaixen hid kit.

[alexchanman]

now that we have the air cleared up for everyone, fix up the s15 headlight so that its made for lhd roads, drop in a kit and there you go.

[SimpleS14]

Flipping the shield is easier said than done. If he (the original poster) does not want to go thru a retofit...I doubt he will want to open the housing to get to the projector...open up the projector and "try" to flip the shield.

Another thing....regardless of which route you go....try to get a bulb around 4100-4300K. This is what the OEM units use and if you go higher the light output will tend to look bluish or purplish. This will give you horrid light output when your driving at night and its raining.

[CaoBoY]

who care's how illegal it is...you want to get into legality, then maybe he should stick with his oem 96 front, because an s15 front is illegal. its not DOT approved mr legalpants. for your information the car i had my HID on was a lexus, so yeah, i didnt get any tickets or problems from cops or ANYBODY. it looked stock. nobody cried about it, nobody cared. and the reason people got it outlawed, was because of ricer civics, and idiots in their trucks that are lifted so their headlights are eye level and above. those trucks look like they are highbeaming you even with stock lights. but yeah its all my fault because of my lexus...right.

[chmercer]

i guess i just think its cute that people actually give a shit if somthing is legal or not *shrug* yay texas

"You just want to annoy everyone you can don't you. Want the best Aero and Wheels but don't care about lighting? Bah."

whoever put this in my rep is an idiot

if you want the best lighting, you would put tons of fogs on your car and run with high beams on all the time

i care about the best lighting FOR MY CAR

i dont give a shit if joe shmoe gets my headlights in his face

[Anto]

bleh. whatever. you guys just don't get it.

[tastyratz]

chmercer: personally I could give a shit about ANYTHING being legal. I usually consider the laws last when deciding anything. I just dont like something thats gonna suck cops to my car and give me tickets that cost me money. caoboys approach is not only illegal, its immoral. Im very relieved that hid rebase kits have been banned and cracked on. Now it makes it almost impossible for people with that mindset to install a halfass hid kit without atleast a little work. the kits that DO remain are cheap chinese kits that burn out in a year anyways.

caoboy alot of people are more concerned with the legality of it because of the fact that its not just another minor mod that could be passed off, not noticed, or not seen from afar. This is something that can be seen by cops from miles away. Just because you owned a lexus when you put in the kit does mean you did it right or that your exempt from any of the many problems plaguing kits. I dont care if you put it in a lexus or a daewoo if its not done right its a half assed job. if you had:

efficiently placed the optics for well distributed and used lighting
efficiently aimed the lights so its placed on usable sections of road
placed/moved/bent/cut the shields appropriately to eliminate hotspots and glare.

had you not done that you endangering others on the road with your stupidity. you would have been alot better off, and probabbly extracted ALOT more USEABLE light from your kit taking the full picture into account.


But what can happen if you hastily install an hid kit into a car that wasnt meant to handle it? well I can tell you its very possible it would look like this, and yea dont take my word for it because this picture is worth a thousand words:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid78/p483d6fec1d08dfaea8d2caa0cd7eb586/fb291d25.jpg


still wanna take advice from someone like cao on the subject anyone? cao if you have an INTELLIGENT rebuttal please post, otherwhise what ive seen so far makes you sound like im arguing with a 15 year old kid who thinks he knows everything and completely discredits you. maybe if you talked like the big people someone would listen

[SimpleS14]

wow....this thread seems to be going out of context.....just let the guy do what he wants to his car and have him deal with any issues that might araise.

tastyratz - No need to post that picture...since its a HID kit in a halogen reflector housing...this guy has halogen projectors...

[tastyratz]

not entirely. He wanted to know what kits people recommended, and I far from recommend him from using a rebase kit like he is wondering about, as well as put down an explanation of my reasons on why not to use a kit and do a full proper retrofit.

for an example of what a HID rebase kit can function like in a halogen PROJECTOR without compatible optics I have taken this picture:
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5685/000000011iv.jpg
from this thread: http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20294&highlight=halogen+projectors+hid


note the guy even says himself he had better lighting when the HID's were NOT installed. This is just an example of a housing that doesnt handle the hids well.

[S14DB]

This is my results in the Kouki projector.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/S14DB/240sx/HID/HIDBeam2.jpg

and the ECE HID projector.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/S14DB/240sx/HID/CutOff1.jpg

[chmercer]

tasty - why bother posting irrelevant pictures. post pictures of s14 koukis with drop in kits, anything else is useless. yeah im sure if you put hids in your 1992 dodge neon the beam pattern will look like shit, but i have no idea, because i dont drive a neon. one thing i do know, is that drop in hids in kouki s14s look totally fine and put out way more light than stock soo yeah. whatever

[TurDz]

I highly believe in retrofitting an OEM HID setup from another car. This will give you optimal light output (great for YOU, the driver) and a good cutoff (for a great glare reduction on smooth, flat roads).

Here are the results of my s2000 HID retro about 3 years ago. It's still working fine, but being a perfectionist, I could still do many things to improve them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/turdz/IMG_2515.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/turdz/IMG_1054.jpg

See the slight glare above the cutoff in the 2nd pic? that's due to the glass housing of the kouki S14 headlights and I've tried many things to reduce it w/o any luck...

BTW...it's your choice whether you want to blind other drivers or not. I sure as hell think it's VERY dangerous to not care about anyone except yourself. There was this Honda Odyssey with 8k HID drop-ins in reflector housings...in heavy rain. That $hit was all over my rear windshild, and I couldn't see anything due to the unbearable glare. I slowed down to let him pass only to glare @ other drivers...

[CaoBoY]

also...you should get the 'correct' bulbs per your headlights. HID or not, you arent going to see shit with the incorrect bulbs in the housings, projectors or not. there ARE different bulbs made for HID kits, and they arent rebased. some of them have actually been manufactured. mcculloch, catz (only in japan now) and phillips are the best kits. all run about 300-500 dollars depending on what you are looking to get. you want to cut the glare down some more? get the hi-lo kits from one of the mentioned companies. it enables your high beams to still work (for cars that use dual halogen bulbs, but then again, you wouldnt need those.)
turdz post, i beleive that the newest honda odessy's come with hids, from factor, but i am not completely sure on that.
also from turdz post, notice how there is still glare with a projector retro-fit? so obviously its not going to help that much eh? and this is with s2k projectors, one the best, the others being ls430, audi r8....etc etc. dont talk to me like i dont know what im talking about, because i do. my plans were to put the infamous 'gatling gun' projectors from the q45 into my ls400 housings..but it wouldnt have made a difference since the lense itself had all the lines on the glass.
the reason i got all 'pissy' was because you were taking a personal stab at me, tastyratz, and at chmercer. chmercer, you must obviously show him some respect because you didnt go all out to try to belittle him. you think im just some punk kid, with the internet as my backup? that i can hide behind a computer? im not saying you arent right about the lighting in retrospects, but the OP, doesnt even know/think he can accomplish opening his housings and flip the shield, rather retrofit a projector in there. so why not let him have his HID kit, which is what he asked for, and it will be 'fine' with his projectors. i dont think cops would harrass him, shit, if they did, they would harrass all the other people who have them. the people who, in their 1995 honda civics put the HID kits in, and go take pictures of it, and the car is parallel to the curb, yet they are lighting up the building right next to them. those are the people they will harrass before they harrass him. his projectors will put out light just fine, and wont be blinding them. there are plenty of people on HID planet who DONT do retrofits. go research some more there, you will see. just please leave this thread alone, let the original poster decide, you dont decide for him. i'll take my leave now of this thread.

[flytwa78]

Does anyone know of anybody with the vision bulbs kit from ebay??

[tastyratz]

also...you should get the 'correct' bulbs per your headlights. HID or not, you arent going to see shit with the incorrect bulbs in the housings, projectors or not. there ARE different bulbs made for HID kits, and they arent rebased. some of them have actually been manufactured. mcculloch, catz (only in japan now) and phillips are the best kits. all run about 300-500 dollars depending on what you are looking to get. you want to cut the glare down some more? get the hi-lo kits from one of the mentioned companies. it enables your high beams to still work (for cars that use dual halogen bulbs, but then again, you wouldnt need those.)
turdz post, i beleive that the newest honda odessy's come with hids, from factor, but i am not completely sure on that.
also from turdz post, notice how there is still glare with a projector retro-fit? so obviously its not going to help that much eh? and this is with s2k projectors, one the best, the others being ls430, audi r8....etc etc. dont talk to me like i dont know what im talking about, because i do. my plans were to put the infamous 'gatling gun' projectors from the q45 into my ls400 housings..but it wouldnt have made a difference since the lense itself had all the lines on the glass.
the reason i got all 'pissy' was because you were taking a personal stab at me, tastyratz, and at chmercer. chmercer, you must obviously show him some respect because you didnt go all out to try to belittle him. you think im just some punk kid, with the internet as my backup? that i can hide behind a computer? im not saying you arent right about the lighting in retrospects, but the OP, doesnt even know/think he can accomplish opening his housings and flip the shield, rather retrofit a projector in there. so why not let him have his HID kit, which is what he asked for, and it will be 'fine' with his projectors. i dont think cops would harrass him, shit, if they did, they would harrass all the other people who have them. the people who, in their 1995 honda civics put the HID kits in, and go take pictures of it, and the car is parallel to the curb, yet they are lighting up the building right next to them. those are the people they will harrass before they harrass him. his projectors will put out light just fine, and wont be blinding them. there are plenty of people on HID planet who DONT do retrofits. go research some more there, you will see. just please leave this thread alone, let the original poster decide, you dont decide for him. i'll take my leave now of this thread.



Philips does NOT make hid kits, nor do they make bulbs in any hid other application. When you buy anything philips its either fake or a collage of oem parts from someone (OEM is the best way to go anyways for longevity!)
note when dealing with catz I know nothing of their hid equiptment just be careful not to be tricked into purchasing the ZETA which is actually a halogen headlamp amplification system.

retrofitting a proper HID projector will give you an even spread, a wider spread, and function better than a halogen projector in most instances when done right.

The glare seen on the s2k retrofit is because of the thick glass lense on the front of the kouki housing. I have seen kouki retrofits that work fine however on hidplanet so if the right projector is used it should be fine.

q45 headlights are bling but known for having the worst light output for a factory hid.

when people who arent well informed on the subject ask a question like this, and people like you post things along the lines of fuck em all do it anyways nothing will go wrong youll be fine... well thats how we end up with the assholes in the civics lighting the building on their side. I just get sick of misinformation and showed REAL results as well as where to find REAL information to educate them.


original poster was given free will, im not forcing him to do anything. im simply educating on the subject, as well as referencing where to get more information. You are discouraging the idea of anyone researching and attempting people from doing things the right way the first time. Im not on some high horse and dont care nor demand your respect. Your approach so far has been far from informational, educated, reformed, anything. The reason I think you sound like a high school kid... is because the way you post makes you sound like a high school kid. had you made grown up posts with legitimate points I wouldnt have said it.


whether or not he decides to be that dick with the civic or go crazy with some uber complicated ultra expensive kit at this point is up to him.
The person you might want to talk to is greenkouki on hidforum. hes done lots of hidwork and ive talked to him on aim as well as purchased stuff from him, he seems very well off.