Just kind of occurred to me that since I have a pile of various Cibie and Marchal and other halogen lights that I'd try a set of them as driving lights after installing HID's into them. Almost all the older lights use H1 or H3. What I'm wondering is whether it would be safe to mount the lights into plastic housings as I'm sure I have at least two sets of the older Jackman lights that used 100w halogen sealed beams. I always liked the Jackman lights as they are very solid and don't bounce around at all. I would think that if they can handle 100w of halogen they could handle 35w of HID but I thought I'd ask.
Anyone retofitting HID's into older driving lights
- Thread starter Rjohn
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It will blind the [censored] out of everyone in the other lane, especially if they are cloudy headlights, and it is illegal. But if you go ahead and do it, make sure the lights are extremely clear and point them down more than you would with halogen lights.
Please don't just slap whatever HIDs you can get cheap into reflector housings. They always, always, ALWAYS look like absolute dog dirt.
Like this, glare & hotspots galore:
For reference, this is what DOT-spec HIDs look like from the factory, courtesy of an Audi S4:
Literally night & day difference, both to you and other drivers on the road.
Like this, glare & hotspots galore:
For reference, this is what DOT-spec HIDs look like from the factory, courtesy of an Audi S4:
Literally night & day difference, both to you and other drivers on the road.
If you plan on using the driving lights out in the country with noone around, I say go for it. If there is anyone driving towards you though, you will blind the heck out of them!
Jeez guys, I think I'm smart enough to know when to use driving lights and when not to. I'm really looking to get an idea of how effective the resulting lights might be or, if anyone has done the conversion, what they ran up against. If I want scolding I'll go visit my mom.
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