MUST READ before getting a drop-in HID kit!
 

This is a great write-up on why drop in hid kits suck. Not only the glare for other drivers, but the bad light pattern that is projected/reflected onto the road.

Credit goes to JMDLyfestyles on hidplanet.com




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 do 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.


Here are pictures of Halogen housings mated with a HID kit

9006 6000k HID Kit... mad glare
http://www.plexus-designs.com/images/pic6.jpg

This teg is a prime example of Glare. This is what it looks like to oncoming traffic
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg

Disaster pix. HID kit in Halogen Housing
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/fa99725e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...6/fb291d25.jpg

NOW THE GOOD poop..lol

This is what HID is suppose to look like.. Pictured is a STi
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fa82f13d.jpg

Talk about a Razor Sharp Cutoff. Pictured is a S2000 OEM setup
http://img127.exs.cx/img127/2544/img04703rx.jpg

another S2000 Retrofit… YUMMY
http://hid.extremevelocity.net/galle...3494_small.jpg

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?
http://www.plexus-designs.com/images/pic2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...20001_copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...id_011copy.jpg

Its not just honda's either. Here is a mid 90's Lexus with a HID kit..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...s/60490cfc.jpg

To date, NHTSA has investigated 24 HID conversion kit suppliers; all investigations have resulted in recalls or termination of sales.

RM Racing
Astex USA
Kmax International
FET, Inc.
J. Liu LLC
Gourmet Garage
JC Whitney
Lighting Research
SPW Industries, Inc.
Pacific Micro-lite
McCulloch Motors, Inc.
Santeca Electronics
JF Manufacturing
Streetglow, Inc.
Outback Products, Inc.
Nu Performance
GR Motorsports, Inc.
Global Premier
New Clor
Importhookup.com
DG International
MTC Lighting
Umnitza
Liteglow
American Products Company


http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3509

Glad you don't have to worry about that on Kouki's
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ID/HIDbeam.jpg

yea, they have ok cutoff and light spread, but nowhere near as good as a HID projector. Halogen projectors are actually designed differently than HID projectors, but they aren't as bad as most reflectors when putting drop-in kits in them.

You can see in that picture, the light spread from them is very narrow compared to HID projectors, and there is a big hotspot too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...4/DSC00213.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...4/DSC00203.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...4/DSC00201.jpg

LOL. Nice pics SilviaDriver.

If you think about it. The H4 bulb has two filaments. The are positioned going across the bulb and emit the light outward from the filament. The HID produces light through the arc in the bulb which goes from the base of the bulb to the tip. Anyone get what I'm saying. This is all just me thinking about it though. I don't really have any proof.

I still like HID's though. I wonder if any manufacturer would make a HID housing for pop-up/rectangle whatever they're called lights in the future.

That's some good information. Yeah I believe it is the arc of voltage that causes the light, so many volts are used just to start it...

I sincerely hope you copied and pasted that first paragraph... Here, I will fix it for you:
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 their 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 housings 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.


Here are pictures of Halogen housings mated with a HID kit

9006 6000k HID Kit... mad glare


...carry on now

Everything below "credit goes to..." is his.

silviadriver: flip those shields already!

Good... Is english his first language? If so I would like to line up all of his school english teachers, jerk off into a sock and slap the hell out of each of them.

I don't know if it is his frist language. I didn't know you were so passionate about good grammar.

2 of my pops' sisters are high school english teachers, I found myself in ONE of their classes for my senior year honors english class... My average for the year was 106, not because of nepotism, but because I was fucking SCARED of the shit I had witnessed in the previous 16 1/2 years of my life. I grew up around it, it happens.

I just got a set of 5300k hids on my s14 zenki and it works pretty well in terms of visibility. Its not messy like the pictues above. Overall, im satisified by the outcome of the hids i got and really improved the light output compared to stock. I think aiming your headlight is the key to making the light more clean.

Yea, basically the biggest problem is the brightest parts of the halogen filament are opposite the brightest parts of the HID arc, in addition to being positioned differently as you stated. The brightest part of the halogen filament is the center, and the ends are dimmer. But with HID, the ends of the arc are actually brighter than the center. So from the get go, the light is hitting the reflector in different points, and at different angles than the halogen light does. And then the reflector itself is not designed to handle that much light, so the end result is crappy, as shown above.

silviasr20det: aiming the lights correctly is not the key. You cannot change the characteristics of the headlights simply by aiming them.

I don't think it's a matter of the amount of light. It's the source. If you put higher wattage bulbs in a H4 housing the light pattern is basically the same just brighter. I think it's the positioning of the source like we stated earlier.

This should be moved to the FAQ section.... good stuff here.

I second that

those are stock s15 projectors with Catz HID kit. ive gotten comments about how OEMish the setup looks.

all halogen projectors are created differnetly. i believe the 240 projectors are created better than integras and other cars which is why they can handle them somewhat better than other cars. but i can always be wrong

ill flip them when im not so lazy and have more time on my hands.

Indeed, this is excellent information.