Im thinking about picking up an HID kit. The only thing I remember is that most HID kits are not made for reflector type of headlights. I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of their HID light beam pattern? If its all over the place and ugly I will have to think twice about it. It is so not worth getting a ticket now a days in this economy.
Make sure you buy an Hid kit with a lower shield on the bulb, otherwise, you will be that asshole that everyone yells at on the road with the crappy pattern. I might suggest DDMTUNING. I have had their kits for the past 7 years, never once a complaint on scatter light.
i have hids on my car and havent had anyissues with my beam pattern . but iv alos adjusted mine to my likeing but in general i havent heard of any from anyone eals.
Make sure you buy an Hid kit with a lower shield on the bulb, otherwise, you will be that asshole that everyone yells at on the road with the crappy pattern. I might suggest DDMTUNING. I have had their kits for the past 7 years, never once a complaint on scatter light.
can you link me to the one you use with the lower shield?
i ordered a 6K kit from HIDextra, bi xenon. waiting til weather breaks a little to install it.
fair warning for 8K. my buddy had 8K on his tC. when it rained, you couldn't see the road or the lines to well. fair warning.
now the question is, do you want hi/lo or bi xenon? hi/lo has a halogen high beam bulb glued to the xenon low beam bulb. the bi xenon has 1 xenon bulb that moves into high beam mode, and back.
+1 on the 4500/5000 wavelength bulbs - a lot less lumens with those 8000k (blue/purple) bulbs, even substantial light loss with the 6000k (blue)... here is an excerpt from an HID website:
"Lumen is a unit of measuring the light output, brightness, of a source. Traditional low-beam halogen headlight produces 1000 – 1200 lumens, while HID outfitted headlight outputs around 3200 lumens.
4100k - 4300k is the ideal HID color temperature to produce the maximum amount of lumens, hence the reason why all OEM manufacturers equip their vehicles with these types of bulbs.
People not familiar with lighting may believe that the higher the Kelvin the brighter the light will be, this is false. OEM car manufacturers equip their cars with 4100k to 4300k HID bulbs which produce the most daylight-like light output. Lower temperature like 3000k will produce deep gold-yellow color, suitable for fog lights. Higher color temperatures will output light with a hint of blue/purple like the 5000k - 6000k bulbs, higher rated bulbs will be bluer and eventually purple in color as you go up the scale.
Color temperature is what usually catches your eye when you spot an HID equipped car on the road. The higher Kelvin bulbs will appear "brighter" to oncoming traffic, but in reality they output less visible light onto the road."
Case in point - Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulbs, which are basically the brightest halogen automotive bulbs on the market, are manufactured to 4100k...
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this thread is like a roller coaster of information.
CXTKRS1 - all xDs have a crappy light output, i know im not the only one!
newagestar - the pic you posted shows a light outputting nothing but nasty glare...
ddmtuning FTW on prices and quality. any H4 PnP kit will have a bottom shield.
you more then likely wont benefit from Bi xeon and wont use hi/lo's if you need more light get blazer fogs.
and as already stated anything over 5000k is all for color and not functional in "weather" if you want lights that match the color of OEM equipped HIDS then your looking for 4300-4500k
adjusting the headlights by any means will add more glare, they are pointed where they need to be to not glare with a halogen bulb, why do you think it would be different with an HID?
if you actually care that much. check out HIDplanet and retrofit a set of actual HID projectors on the car. im going the easy route and getting blazer fogs and when i do my headlights will be aimed at the ground. this way cops dont give me a ticket for not having my headlights on and i get the benefit of having awesome light output without having to retro fit. (having a windshield tinted at 30% and painted headlights makes night driving a PITA and i love it! lmao)
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