HID Bulbs?

[kinnelonfire75]

Well folks, what are your opinions on them? I know a few people that swapped out their headlight bulbs with HIDs. They look good - are they worth the money? A friend bought a kit for $88 and I am considering getting the exact same ones that he got.

 

[ffjwhite]

I had a set of them in my impala, they are great for driving around the city area. If you live in the country forget it. It lights up everything in front of you, but they are too bright and drown out what you can see off in the distance. It might not make sense but thats what I had noticed. They take a few seconds to get fully bright during the winter time. I bought my set for $200 off of ebay. One night thing is they are easy to install.

 

[Lt. Dino]

I had a set of them in my impala, they are great for driving around the city area. If you live in the country forget it. It lights up everything in front of you, but they are too bright and drown out what you can see off in the distance. It might not make sense but thats what I had noticed. They take a few seconds to get fully bright during the winter time. I bought my set for $200 off of ebay. One night thing is they are easy to install.

Did you get the projector style light housing or did you just do a bulb swap? If you just swapped bulbs, any issues with oncoming traffic flashing you thinking your high beams were on?

 

[ffjwhite]

I did just the bulb swap and I didnt have anyone flash at me. Alot of people have them in my area so people are used to them. I have seen a few people have them in their headlights as well as fog lights. Its alittle much.

 

[GranPrix]

http://faqlight.shopower.com/

 

[GranPrix]

If your headlight housings were engineered for halogen bulbs, then don't swap them for HIDs. Halogen reflectors were made for halogen bulbs, not HID bulbs. The focal point is not going to be the same and the intensity of HIDs is to high compared to halogen filaments. Due to these facts, your car will look like stadium lighting. You will have scattered light everywhere but the road.

 

[kinnelonfire75]

Just keep in mind that you can't flash them.

-Jared

Thats not an issue since its illegal for volunteers to have headlight flashers - I do have HAW LEDs in the current housing though. So really the question is - should I get HID Bulbs?


I am considering all opinions thus far and my reaction as of right now is to not buy them...

 

[whatevah]

I've had them in my Jeep and in my Charger. Easy in the Charger since it has separate lights for low/high beams. The Jeep uses the same bulb, so I bought a special "bi-xenon" kit for it and CAN flash it. My kit uses an electromagnet to shift the bulb a hair to activate the high beam area of the reflector. Of course, if you have separate low/high and want to use HID in both, then you cannot flash the high beams. Great results in both, since my Jeep already has aftermarket housings to focus the light correctly and my Charger has a focused low beam.


I don't understand the complaint about rural driving, that's exactly why I got them for my vehicles. No problems with distance stuff being hard to see unless maybe you have them aimed down too far.


I and several friends use VVME. http://www.vvme.com and you can find them on ebay.

 

[unlisted]

Just over a year ago I put HID lights in proper HID headlight housings on my car- and after about a year of driving I realized they did WORSE than my Philips Crystal vision bulbs... ( http://www.invisionsales.com/lighting/p ... es/be-seen )


so.. I pulled out the headlight housings for the HID, got new stock housings and put the Philips headlight bulbs back in. I found replacing the headlight housings made quite a bit of difference..


I'm also getting better DISTANCE with these bulbs than the HID's. I will say the HID headlight replacement is much better for short/med distance/immediate area lighting- but fails pretty quick at distance. (and distance when doing over 50mph) If you want something that will really perform as a "throwing/distance" light- you need to look at expensive driving HID lights (or even LED) normally pencil beams, etc.


I'm kinda in the same boat as you now... I've just given up on HID. I'm planning on getting some type of LED driving/flood light to overpower my high beams.. Just gotta find a good deal /product now.


Why don't any of our members who tinker with LED's build a driving/flood/take down light? (talking 10 watt led's, etc...)

 

[Richard P]

I have them in my wrecker, I love them, but for me especially, distance is an issue. My headlights are aimed down quite a bit because when I have a load on my truck, the front goes up, bringing the focal point up, blinding people. Some halogen housings can handle HID well, without blinding others. Min only blind in the "hotspot" theres not much light scatter. (2007 F450) my f150 on the other hand, the light housing fills blindingly, but does have a nice output.

 

[Klein]

I did it a few months ago and I love them. I see a lot better. The guys squawking about stadium lights are the ones that get higher wattage kits thus being brighter and being dangerously bright. Those folks don't research it. They think "oh I had 75 watt halogens before so I need 75 watt HIDs". Wrong. I have a 35 watt kit that draws less power than my halogens and I have never been flashed. Actually only one time because I did have the high beams on. I would guess if they were too bright LE would be pulling me over too because they could think the highs are on but I have yet to have any issues and I live in a heavy LE area driving past a jail/court house daily and a fleet/substation daily.


Just make sure you get the ride wattage kit. I wouldnt do fogs because that is just stupid. I like the combo of my HID headlights and halogen fogs. great combo for inclement weather. I bought mine on ebay for $50.