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11-11-2004, 08:06 PM | #1 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 58232
Join Date: Mar 2004
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The HID FAQ Thread - Read before posting your questions
Well. I decided that Mulder, Hank3, myself, and many others find themselves responding to the same HID questions a lot. I do not mean any disrespect to those who ask the questions; it is extremely important to do your homework before you buy something, particularly HID-related products. But, in the interest of efficiency, I think setting up this thread will save both those who ask and those who answer HID questions a good deal of time. So, here we go.
NOTE: use of the word "colour" instead of "color" throughout this post is explained under "location" in my profile. HID FAQ and answers: 1. Is 8000K brighter than 6000K? No. The Kelvin scale is a measure of colour temperature, not intensity or amount of light. HID setups that produce maximum light output are around 4100-4300K colour temperature, and the higher you go, the less light output. A 12000K HID kit will be dimmer than your stock halogen lights. 4100-4300K kits will have the colour of all the HID lights you see on cars that come equipped with them (like most BMWs, Mercedes-Benz', and other luxury vehicles). The colour is very white, while light output becomes progressively bluer as colour temperature rises; 6000K is white/blue, 8000K is very blue, and above that you go towards purple. Here are some links for this topic: What is colour temperature: http://www.hid-online.com/hidonline/...colourtemp.htm More on that: http://www.hidkits.com/tab_faqs_color.htm General HID info (scroll to bottom for stuff on brightness): http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-general.htm 2. What HID kit should I buy? What is a good price? Aftermarket HID is sold by a large number of companies, although less so recently because of NHTSA regulations. However, to ensure the highest quality, make sure you buy HID that is made by an OEM HID manufacturer. OEM HID kits are the same products fitted to many vehicles (usually luxury) by manufacturers before they are sold as new vehicles. See this link: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/car-oem-hid.htm. Notice that almost all ballasts and bulbs used by car manufacturers are Bosch, Osram, Philips, or Hella. Bosch and Osram are not as readily available for retail, but Philips and Hella are. Kits that are not made by these companies are most likely not of the highest quality, although some aftermarket manufacturers such as Brightstar and McCullogh have been recognized as high quality products as well. Philips/Hella kits are generally considered the best. As far as price is concerned, the cheapest I've seen for a quality kit like Philips/Hella is about $275 on ebay. Most online retailers sell them for $450+. Anything below $400 is a pretty good deal IMO. Here is a site that has a good rep and sells all-Philips kits: www.xenonfactory.com. Google "philips HID" for more, or search this forum. 3. Can I put HID into my stock halogen reflector lighting assembly? Yes. But it is strongly recommended that you do not. Although it may not seem so, directing the light produced by a headlight bulb to the right places requires a good deal of precision. Reflector assemblies on cars that come equipped with halogen bulbs are made to direct the light produced by halogen bulbs correctly. Replacing those bulbs with HID bulbs that produce three times the light yields a terrible beam pattern. You will have light going all over the place, most importantly into the eyes of drivers of oncoming vehicles. Even if you can tolerate such a beam pattern, your lights would be a safety hazard on the road. Many people try to solve this problem by lowering their lights. However, to reduce glare to acceptable levels, you would have to lower HID lights in halogen reflectors so much that you would not have much of a useable light increase over your stock setup. http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-kits.htm http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-reflectors.htm 4. So how do you properly install an aftermarket HID kit? As with the HID kits themselves, OEM products are the best. For MY04-05 Imprezas, the OEM STI HID reflector assembly is probably the best way to go to ensure you have a good beam pattern and acceptable levels of glare. This option is, however, quite expensive: OEM STI HID assemblies are generally around $1000. The next best solution is to use complete non-OEM assemblies (such as Morettes for MY02-03 Impreza). As I learned later in this thread (this is an edit), Morettes generally come with non-HID projectors, meaning beam pattern and glare will not be optimal, but will still be good. Morettes are cheaper than the first option listed, around $650 per set, but only fit MY02-03. (Note: other complete assemblies such as UK300s are also available) An equally good solution is to retrofit HID projectors into your stock assemblies. This option keeps glare at OEM levels, just like OEM STI HID assemblies. Where retrofitting can be less optimal is in beam pattern. It is possible to achieve a perfect beam pattern with a projector retrofit, but not always easy. Nevertheless, beam patterns for professional retrofits usually approach the quality of OEM beam patterns. A quality retrofit usually costs between $700 and $1000, including all parts. Virtually any stock reflector can be retrofitted with projectors. MY04-05 WRX/STI retrofitted: - by hidtech.com: http://hidtech.com/projects/01500.jpg, http://hidtech.com/projects/01504.jpg - by a nasioc member (includes head-on and beam pattern pics): http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hella+bi-xenon - threads with retrofit pictures (mostly MY04-05), including non-projector units and projectors: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...5&page=4&pp=25 http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...=projector+STi Some more links: About projectors: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/projector-unit.htm Forum devoted mostly to retrofitting-related stuff: http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/ Reputable retrofit companies: http://www.hidtech.com/, http://www.illusion-lighting.com/ 5. How can I upgrade my lighting without buying HID? First of all, not with coated bulbs. Many HID-look bulbs use blue coatings that actually reduce output. Some halogen bulbs are effective in producing more light than stock systems. Examples are Osram Silverstars (not Sylvania Silverstars, which are coated) Philips hi-visibility, and Hella +50. Upgrading: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-upgrades.htm Articles about coated bulbs: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...blue/blue.html About effective HID alternatives: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-filament-bulbs.htm You can also upgrade your lighting significantly without changing bulbs by installing relays. See here: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html ------------------------------------- Those are the most common questions asked. Feel free to post any others in this thread or elsewhere in this forum. I also encourage you all to post information on other areas that you feel should be covered in this thread and that I have not mentioned, and to add to what I have compiled here. Please correct me if I have made any false statements, as I do not wish to mislead HID shoppers. In conclusion, the best advice that can be given regarding purchasing HID is simply to do your research. Take the time to search through the huge number of threads on this forum concerning this topic, as well as those on http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/ (if you plan on retrofitting). Here are a couple of comprehensive lighting FAQ sites with lots to dig through that I linked to throughout this post: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/ http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html dithergizzard Update 5-3-10- Also refer to this thread- http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1670587 Last edited by Mulder; 05-04-2010 at 07:43 AM. Reason: Updated links |
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