BAN HID headlights, FINE users, JAIL converters!

[-Virgil-]

I don't think it's as cut-and-dried as "HIDs are bad."

Of course it isn't, though "HID kits in halogen headlights are bad" is a sound and correct statement.

 

[LEDobsession]

You should be aware that that's basically what you're building :candle:

Haha. Yeah but Im smart enough not to use it as that. It will be strictly for offroad. Im sure I would cause all sort of accidents on the road with it.

 

[Stereodude]

So that makes you a Troll. I am sure your fancy lights would do a fine job helping you see the tread of my tires.

Besides trolling, are you actually making any point here? You just put everyone's opinions together with OPs so that you could make an easy argument and ignored the fact that there is a variety of opinions.

I'm not trolling, and I do have a point. HIDs work great and are a huge improvement over Halogen lighting. And, in my case they certainly don't blind other drivers (well the brights do, but all brights do not just HID ones)

Fogs on and off:


Another:


HID's + Halogen high beams:


HID's + HID high beams:


The HID haters here seem to be just whiners. Probably the same kind of people who sat around and complained about horseless carriages spooking their horses. :shakehead

 

[-Virgil-]

Photos are useless. Get back to us when you've got isoscans of your "HID kit" beam patterns.

No matter how much you stand there with your fingers in your ears going "LA LA LA LA I DON'T KNOW THE FACTS SO THEY DON'T EXIST LA LA LA LA"...

...the facts stubbornly continue to be against you on this one.

 

[Stereodude]

I'll tell you what... You can enjoy your torches, oil lanterns, and your isoscans of them. And, in the mean time I'll enjoy seeing at night.

 

[rushnrockt]

I'm not trolling

OH yeah?

The HID haters here seem to be just whiners. Probably the same kind of people who sat around and complained about horseless carriages spooking their horses. :shakehead

Contradict yourself much? I didn't even have to quote a separate post of yours.

And even the pictures you have are not complete, since you are taking them from perspective of what YOU see but are arguing whether or not they blind someone. That's called Personal Bias.

 

[Stereodude]

And even the pictures you have are not complete, since you are taking them from perspective of what YOU see but are arguing whether or not they blind someone. That's called Personal Bias.

Oh gnoes... GLARE!!! Head for the hills! oo:

 

[tay]

I think a bigger issue is headlight aiming in terms of distance from the ground.

I see a lot of trucks that have stock sealed beams or 9004 - very dim halogens. But driving next to them, their headlights are at about the level of the roof of my Maxima. So, even when they are aimed at the DOT regulated 2.5" drop at 25', they're still glaring like crazy.

Meanwhile, my M35 projectors cutoff is about level with their differentials. Even for a normal car, my M35s come up to bumper level.

 

[chmsam]

Well, now I'm ticked off a bit.

Yeah, gee I sure am afraid of glare. Probably like horse and buggies, too. That must be why I only have about 20 years of experience working with performance rallying. Not just that semi-fake stuff at the X-Games either. You know, those cars that run at 100+ mph through the woods and at night? Like the ones with headlights running 100+ watts, not to mention the hood mounted pods with up to an additional 4 H1 or D2S lamps per car (some even brighter). That, kid, is a wall of light. Try dealing with that going past less than 10 feet away with no guardrail. Must be I'm just used to those Amish buggies, not a cool ride like most of those darned youngsters have (Ooo, but I do so want a '87 Civic rust bucket with $9.95 lights from JC Whitney and a big *** sound system). So, kid, how cool is your ride? As cool as Travis Pastrana's, Sebastien Loebs's, or Ken Block's? (Google them if you don't know -- plenty of YouTube video, too)

So, maybe (just maybe) I do have a bit of a frame of reference and maybe (just maybe) so do some other people here. So, how 'bout please stop trolling now? OK? That's good.

The majority of people with really obnoxious lights in my experience either tend to have a wannabe Fast & Furious weenie envy or are from the "I can't afford a Lexus so I'll pimp out my mini van" crowd. Both lean towards cheapo-fix lighting that throws an obnoxious tint in every direction instead of well aimed, efficient, and more practical solutions. They also might be more prone to drive with their head way far up somewhere that makes it hard to see. So, yeah, I am prejudiced about wannabes. Here's a thought for these people -- you are not the only one on the road so how about you do not make life miserable for other people?

If some turkey behind you has their lights so badly made, installed, and aimed that it is spreading 20 yards to each side of the road, lighting up the top of 40' trees, and the underside of the not only your car, but the car in front of you, simply flipping the mirror ain't a solution.

Since I have often been blinded by those schmucks and many times have had to act fast to avoid hitting something or someone at the side of the road that was hidden in that glare, yeah, it does tick me off. Some clueless schmuck nearly causing another driver to hit a pedestrian will tend to do that.

As many beside myself have stated, there is a simple and better fix to all of this. Better to try using quality lights that are properly aimed, especially when coupled with a driver who isn't a complete tool. That makes for an easy solution to what could be a very dangerous problem. Brightness or HID ain't the problem.

So, if someone gets a ticket for blinding a LEO, it's cool by me. Any driver that can't figure out that there are other people on the road, would probably do better by getting off the road 'til they do or not be surprised if they get stopped. Tell me someone can find fault with that. I mean, I know someone will, but how can they defend such stupidity?

 

[Stereodude]

So you really have a problem with idiots and poor headlight aiming, not HID's. Welcome to the club I hate idiots with poorly aimed headlights too.

 

[chmsam]

The vast majority of posts here have not had a problem with HID's, per se. Just cheap lights, poorly installed lights. or morons behind the wheel. A lot of those do seem to belong to people with HID's and especially bad HID conversions (no one here seems to know of any good ones). Few people with HID's seem to understand that there is far less of a margin for aiming them than with other systems. Fewer still tend to give a crap. That can tend to make most people resent them, and that seems to be the trouble with people not liking to have to see them on the road.

Pretty much, I'd say the consensus is "aim 'em, dim 'em, or lose 'em."

As for other posts, how should I put this?

Most people here have not made wild exaggerations, but there have been exceptions. Most people here understands what has been meant by the majority of posts in this thread, but there have been exceptions. Most people here have not made gross generalities, but there have been exceptions. Most people here have not gotten into name calling, but there have been exceptions. Most people here have shown respect for others, but there have been exceptions.

Most people here have not been trolling.

 

[jcatral14]

I would like to do comparisons between different HIDs, retrofits and blue bulbs and so on. I have access to chroma meters and spectroradiometers. Any interest in participating? I'm in Northern NJ. I'll try to do it in the summer months.

 

[tay]

I'm in North Jersey too. I have 3 sets of headlights for my car - Stock halogen reflectors, retrofit with H11 halogen projectors and a H11 kit, and a retrofit with D2S projectors and an OEM D2S setup. I'll be around for most of the summer.

 

[Chrontius]

Okay, checking back a few months later. I am now annoyed enough by my own headlights to strap a pair of Stanley HIDs to the hood with zip-ties and duct tape.

Has a consensus been reached yet regarding HID retrofits that don't suck?

 

[tay]

Just get a set of OEM projectors out of another model car, mount them very securely so they don't shake, and aim them properly.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

HID in halogen housings = bad.
improperly aimed light (HID or halogen) = bad.

light that is controlled the way it was supposed to be (halogen bulbs in halogen housings, HID bulbs in HID housings, be they projector, reflector, or lensed) is good, as long as it is aimed properly.

I'm not positive on this one, but I think lighting regulations weren't put in place so that we could see less. They were put in place so that we don't all blind each-other and ruin everyone's nightvision.

As far as blue lights go, OEM lights aren't even pure white, they have a yellow tinge to them. Some projectors even are optimized to have a yellowish orange cutoff instead of a blue one on the top cutoff.

 

[Chrontius]

Well, Ford managed to create headlight covers that UV oxidized into diffusers, so I've probably got pretty nasty glare-ridden headlights, halogens or not.

And they've not started making them out of UV-resistant plastic for warranty purposes yet.

 

[turbodog]

There's semi-serious talk of banning HID, period. I can get behind that. Even properly aimed HID lights are tough to deal with. The wavelength messes with your eyes. And I'm talking about eyes which are still fairly young. I can't imagine what someone with any sort of vision problem has with HID.

I've bought 3 vehicles in the past 12 months. 2 of them have what I would call next-gen halogens. They seem to be voltage regulated. Both of these vehicles have excellent lights. They are very bright, always white, and DO NOT VARY BRIGHTNESS WITH RPM at low idle. They also don't even dim at all when the vehicle is killed with the lights still burning.

 

[270winchester]

There's semi-serious talk of banning HID, period. I can get behind that.

well, banning them all together is a little much. I'm probably one of the most vocal advocate of halogen lights in general, but banning is not the way to go imho. But I can see why people would rather not have them on the road, period. The lack of proper aiming and leveling in OEM HIDs is a bad thing on the road due to the high surface brightness of light coming out of HID projector lens. It is dangerous when there are dips and bumps in the road when a HID car comes toward you.:thumbsdow

I've bought 3 vehicles in the past 12 months. 2 of them have what I would call next-gen halogens. They seem to be voltage regulated. Both of these vehicles have excellent lights. They are very bright, always white, and DO NOT VARY BRIGHTNESS WITH RPM at low idle. They also don't even dim at all when the vehicle is killed with the lights still burning.

I share your sentiments. THe newer halogens have come a long way.

 

[M@elstrom]

Well, Ford managed to create headlight covers that UV oxidized into diffusers, so I've probably got pretty nasty glare-ridden headlights, halogens or not.

And they've not started making them out of UV-resistant plastic for warranty purposes yet.

I remember reading somewhere of an individual who resurfaced the plastic lens of his car's headlights (to remove faded surface), a quick google tells me there's special kits OR companies that will do this for you also :thumbsup: