Those Horrible and Illegal HID Conversions...Again

harro

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Northern Victoria, Australia
This post is really just an observation. Whilst sitting at a traffic signal the other night, in my wife's Ford Fiesta, with Phillips xtremevision 100's insitu, a Toyota Camry of about 03-04 vintage pulled up beside me. Its lights were nothing short of atrocious. I wish I had a camera with me, but alas, I didn't even have a phone. The 8-10k kelvin HID's were throwing a bright shaft of light otf at about 30 degrees either side of straight ahead for each headlight. The pattern looked like a couple of X's on the road. I looked back at the pattern the Philips/Fiesta was putting on the road, and it was really chalk and cheese. I'd go so far as to say that the halogens were far better than these dreadful HID things. I wish I'd been driving towards this particular car, just to see what they were like from an approaching perspective !!
 

mvyrmnd

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I saw one in Melbourne one time that look straight-up purple. Must've been 12-15K kelvin. But I suppose when you drive full time under street lights you probably never realise how useless they are.
 

harro

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I saw one in Melbourne one time that look straight-up purple. Must've been 12-15K kelvin. But I suppose when you drive full time under street lights you probably never realise how useless they are.

So true !! There's a few ' doofa's ' over here in Shepp who think its better to be noticed, rather than to actually see where they're driving.
 

sadtimes

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May 14, 2008
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491
I gladly introduce myself to people with hid kits, then I give them a date to come and make a donation to the state. If I catch them a 2nd time, I give them a place to stay, and let them watch me remove the lights from their vehicles.
 

-Virgil-

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I like the cut of your jib, drmalenko. Do you get to remove the lights from their vehicles and then instruct them to drive over the lights? (I don't know that it's healthy for me to be having such vivid daydreams...)
 

sadtimes

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I like the cut of your jib, drmalenko. Do you get to remove the lights from their vehicles and then instruct them to drive over the lights? (I don't know that it's healthy for me to be having such vivid daydreams...)

No, that would be destroying evidence... I tag the bulbs, ballast, etc, into a property room so that it can be safely stored jntil the court date.

Dont get me wrong, im still all about educating the drivers more so than just giving out "certificates of achievement", however what I have seen numerous times is I catch the same offenders a second, third, etc time... so even if they take them out on the first offense I still make them pay the fine...

Perfect example:

Stopped a pickup truck last month, a female driver informs me its her fiance's truck and its a recent purchase, the fiance works at the small town dealership that the truck was purchased from, and the owner of the dealership is a cousin of the fiance.

After I explain the ticket the female ask "if he takes them out you will drop the ticket right?"....

So I think long and hard on why she would ask such a thing... ahhh, the owner of the dealership was given a ticket for HID's by me several months back, which is why I recognized the dealership name on the paperwork... the owner did take them out, and I did drop the ticket, but it seems that they have come to the conclusion it will be this way everytime... not anymore.

Obviously the owner told his cousin (the fiance) about his encounter with me, and I feel sure that even after educating him and dismissing his ticket he just reinstalled his HID lights either expecting not to run into me again, or that if he did he would get the same treatment as he did the first time, and has shared this with his cousin, who obviously knew better than to put the lights in!

So I told her to come prepared to pay the ticket, and to un install the lights, and tgat if I saw the vehicle after today with the lights, it would be another ticket!
 

kjmccarx

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May 25, 2014
Messages
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I'll admit, I tried the illegal HID lights once... I think I used 4300K and I couldn't see anything. Not only did I get poor lighting from this setup, but looking at others with HID bulbs in reflectors made me realize how bad it really is. Sure, the color was fine, but (as is commonly found online) halogen reflectors are made for halogen lights, and the bulbs in the cheep HID kits that most people use are not made to the same standard as consumer halogens causing a very bad beam pattern.

Since then I have taken out my cheep HID lights and I did a real projector retrofit (which still, technically, might be illegal) but the difference is amazing, and it doesn't blind other drivers.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Stillwater, America
the owner of the dealership was given a ticket for HID's by me several months back, which is why I recognized the dealership name on the paperwork... the owner did take them out, and I did drop the ticket, but it seems that they have come to the conclusion it will be this way everytime... not anymore.
... if I saw the vehicle after today with the lights, it would be another ticket!

You'd think you could get the dealership in trouble with even higher authorities if the dealership is installing that junk. Maybe they could get paid a visit by the NHTSA or whoever...
 

sadtimes

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You'd think you could get the dealership in trouble with even higher authorities if the dealership is installing that junk. Maybe they could get paid a visit by the NHTSA or whoever...

I talked with Stern about how to report them, but I can findva simple online way to do so.... gotta a link by chance?
 

Alaric Darconville

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I talked with Stern about how to report them, but I can findva simple online way to do so.... gotta a link by chance?

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ has a few online forms but they seem to be directly related to vehicles/equipment, but not necessarily to their *installers*. I used the Search function to search complaints for the word "illegal"; it seems that people complain quite a bit using that particular word. If you know how many such "kits" they install a month it could place it more toward the center the C-scope.

In this post, Scheinwerfermann quotes specific law and gives a phone number to call (not as easy as an online form, of course).
 

H-nu

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Mar 19, 2006
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Ontario, Kanukistan
Just out of curiosity, is there no actual criminal activity going on in your state that you occupy yourself with this stuff? It's quite common up here in Canada but the police don't even blink an eye at these guys. My jeep is set up with JW Speakers 8700 and TS3000 and sometimes I get flashed because the other drivers think I have HIDs.
 

Kestrel

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Oct 31, 2007
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Willamette Valley, OR
I like the cut of your jib, drmalenko. Do you get to remove the lights from their vehicles and then instruct them to drive over the lights? (I don't know that it's healthy for me to be having such vivid daydreams...)
Actually, my vivid daydreams don't include the "remove the lights from the vehicle" part, lol. :)
 

Alaric Darconville

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Sep 2, 2001
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Stillwater, America
Just out of curiosity, is there no actual criminal activity going on in your state that you occupy yourself with this stuff?
Putting toys on cars that can get people killed or injured, and result in property damage, is criminal. Also, sometimes the simplest traffic stop can uncover a trunk full of meth or someone with felony warrants.

It's quite common up here in Canada but the police don't even blink an eye at these guys.
Haphazard enforcement of the law is not an excuse nor tacit invitation to break it.

My jeep is set up with JW Speakers 8700 and TS3000 and sometimes I get flashed because the other drivers think I have HIDs.
You're getting flashed because you're using high beams inappropriately. Depending on the model you have, the TS3000 is a driving (auxiliary high beam) light. If it's the "pencil beam", using them inappropriately still applies.

(Note that the "pencil beam" version is neither ECE Reg 112 nor CMVSSS (or FMVSS) 108 compliant. Only the "driving beam" versions are compliant with the applicable regulations.)

If they're flashing you while you're on low beams, perhaps they are misaimed.
 
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SemiMan

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Jan 13, 2005
Messages
3,899
Just out of curiosity, is there no actual criminal activity going on in your state that you occupy yourself with this stuff? It's quite common up here in Canada but the police don't even blink an eye at these guys. My jeep is set up with JW Speakers 8700 and TS3000 and sometimes I get flashed because the other drivers think I have HIDs.

Whether it's Ontario, Canada or Ontario, California they are still jerks. I am working on educating some of those said police on a nice revenue stream :)
 

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