HID xenons

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Originally Posted By: Buffman
that's all HID conversion kits. The only ones that come with any kind of extra shielding are H4 bulbs. Otherwise, the kits are just sticking a modded HID bulb into a halogen housing.


If that's the case they should all be illegal. I would bet the majority are sold to the Civic/ricer groups.

When I first put the subs in my car, the rear sank just a little, enough to make the headlights' aim a little too high. I only drove it one night like that because all it took was for the lights to be just a little too high to blind people.
 
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Originally Posted By: Buffman
that's all HID conversion kits. The only ones that come with any kind of extra shielding are H4 bulbs. Otherwise, the kits are just sticking a modded HID bulb into a halogen housing.


If that's the case they should all be illegal. I would bet the majority are sold to the Civic/ricer groups.

When I first put the subs in my car, the rear sank just a little, enough to make the headlights' aim a little too high. I only drove it one night like that because all it took was for the lights to be just a little too high to blind people.


They are illegal. Hence the "OFF ROAD" use only..
 
I love the genesis H.I.D. kit I installed on my 2003 Hyundai XG350 w/projector headlights, the light cut off is perfect (exactly where the halogens were) and the road visibility is much improved. I have been using them for a month now, no other drivers have flashed their lights and I've been in sight of several local/state police units no problems. One of the reasons I converted to H.I.D. was the longevity of the bulbs, my stock H7 bulbs would only last about 3-4 mo. The price of the H.I.D. kits are coming down and I wanted to give it a shot so far they work great. My car already has factory headlight relays (High, Low and Fog) very plug n play. I heard both sides of the H.I.D. issue, some kits last for years, others last 2 months and are junk. I have the 6000K kit. If it lasts 1 year or more I feel I got my moneys worth.
 
Anyone else experience the short life span of the H7 bulb? I made sure I wiped the bulbs and used rubbing alcohol if needed, avoid touching them.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
the scary thing is H9 has a longer lifespan than H7, almost double!


really? I thought the h9 had the shorter lifespan, but haven't checked that spec sheet for a while.
 
I can't stand them. If someone has them and they are following me I get a really bad headache afterward. I pull over now and let the person by.
 
I believe all of these complaints are the reason behind the european standard that HID headlights have to have auto levelers. My BMW has real-time headlight aiming servos with suspension mounted, suspension geometry based senders to aim the headlights constantly.

If I overload the trunk or hit a bump it will aim the headlights up or down immediately. It's pretty slick. It does a self-test whenever you start the car. If you are parked with nose to a wall or garage door, you will see the headlight beam go up a foot, down a foot then level off in the center for the first 5-10 seconds after it is started.

My wife's TL also had factory HID's but that car was for the north american market which has no such self-aiming standards. If the trunk was loaded down, we'd just blind people.
 
Well, [censored], I was looking into getting a HID conversion kit for my 3 and people hate them? The 3 uses H7 bulbs and projector housings, would that work out ok? I was looking at the 5k - 6k range, which is better?
 
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5k if you must. That's closer to white, and won't blind people as much.

Could get some nice halogen bulbs like the Philips X-Treme Power or Osram Night-Breaker in the H7 fitting. Then you have more light and it's legal.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I believe all of these complaints are the reason behind the european standard that HID headlights have to have auto levelers. My BMW has real-time headlight aiming servos with suspension mounted, suspension geometry based senders to aim the headlights constantly.

If I overload the trunk or hit a bump it will aim the headlights up or down immediately. It's pretty slick. It does a self-test whenever you start the car. If you are parked with nose to a wall or garage door, you will see the headlight beam go up a foot, down a foot then level off in the center for the first 5-10 seconds after it is started.

My wife's TL also had factory HID's but that car was for the north american market which has no such self-aiming standards. If the trunk was loaded down, we'd just blind people.


My Z4 was made for the US market and has the auto leveling. I think it lowers the beams when there is an oncoming car, too. I haven't figured out how it knows about the oncoming cars but it's quite neat to see it work.
 
Originally Posted By: CharlieJ
Well, [censored], I was looking into getting a HID conversion kit for my 3 and people hate them?



HID "conversion" kits = suck. They're aimed at the "look cool" crowd and have a very noticeably blue tint, and the performance parameters aren't any good at all. Horrible glare, poor beam control. Not to mention that almost all of these kits are china-sourced low-bidder JUNK that won't last any time at all. YUCK. The only thing worse is massively overwattage blue halogens in stock plastic aero lamps.

Factory OEM HID = Pretty good and getting better. The OEMS have been trying to make the HID burners *less* blue, have faster startup, and generally look and behave more and more like high quality halogen burners. In fact, the color rendering is so much better now than it used to be that its getting rather hard to pick out factory HID-equipped cars in traffic.
 
Not all HID conversion kits have the blue tint to them. 6000K temperatures and up have a blue tint. I was looking at kits in the 4500k or 5000k range. OEM HID are usually 4500K. Many people on the Mazda3 forum have HID kits and they are lasting fine. I do not know what you are basing your experiences off of.
 
I had them in my 04 Jetta TDI, I loved them! I also had proper projector headlamp assemblies as well. They worked very well in all weather conditions. When it was snowing, you couldn't beat them! I could see clear as day when it was dark and snowing to beat [censored]. The star wars flying effect was minimal compared to regular halogen.

The one thing I can NOT stand is the moron's who buy the eBay special's and install them in a conventional headlamp assembly. It makes me want to veer over and put my Super Duty bumper through their windshields.
 
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