HID Conversion Kits

I bought a set for my Volvo (non-projector). For a few weeks I was amazed with the difference in light output and was very happy.
Then I became very aware of quite how many other drivers were flashing their lights at me.
I took them off soon after.

I have the same kit fitted in my Avensis (projector lamps) and have no other drivers flashing at me in protest.

You will certainly be dazzling other road users, but it's how long it will take you to swallow your pride, admit you were wrong and remove them.
Hopefully this will happen before you cause an accident.
 
I've bought the kit. It would be a shame to not give them a trial should I get endless people flashing me and veering off the road as I drive past them then I will dualy remove them, hand on heart.

If you didn't notice MOT I also have light sensitive eyes but I actually find bright halogens a lot worse than HIDs.
 
Tom|Nbk said:
I've bought the kit. It would be a shame to not give them a trial should I get endless people flashing me and veering off the road as I drive past them then I will dualy remove them.
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Which is fine as long as the first time you notice an issue isn't when someone has an accident because they can't see.

Tom|Nbk said:
If you didn't notice MOT I also have light sensitive eyes but I actually find bright halogens a lot worse than HIDs.
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Which is against the experience of most people, unless you are talking about factory fit HIDs which will dazzle a lot less than halogens because they have very tight beam patterns.
 
M0T said:
Which is fine as long as the first time you notice an issue isn't when someone has an accident because they can't see.



Which is against the experience of most people, unless you are talking about factory fit HIDs which will dazzle a lot less than halogens because they have very tight beam patterns.
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Factory fit HID's dazzle a lot more in my rear view mirror than halogens they are also a lot more distracting due to the flickering colours.

But halogens can be equally annoying when one is out or one is over bright or just both are ultra bright
 
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Tom|Nbk said:
Factory fit halogens dazzle a lot more in my rear view mirror than halogens they are also a lot more distracting due to the flickering colours.
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Halogens do not flicker various colours. HID bulbs do, and so do conventional projectors.....
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Factory fit HID's dazzle a lot more in my rear view mirror than halogens they are also a lot more distracting due to the flickering colours.
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Dude you've just proved Fox's and most others points in here.....

LOSE :D

/edit - well, kinda. If factory fit Xenons dazzle you, what makes you think aftermarket HID's will not? :)
 
Phil W said:
Dude you've just proved Fox's and most others points in here.....

LOSE :D

/edit - well, kinda. If factory fit Xenons dazzle you, what makes you think aftermarket HID's will not? :)
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Well what I'm saying is that Factory xenons can be just as bad as aftermarket...
 
So you admit there is a problem with aftermarkets then, but as long as some factory fit ones are just as bad it's ok?
 
I have factory fit xenons on my Golf and I used to get flashed no end as they weren't calibrated properly. Since getting them adjusted I haven't been flashed once.

In general I find HIDs easier on the eye than halogens (when adjusted correctly) but there are plenty of badly calibrated HIDs (from factory) out there which are as much of a nuisance as aftermarket HIDs and poorly set halogens.

The self-levelling mechanism seem to set itself according to load when you start the engine but then adjusts during the journey. If you brake hard they dip but then quickly adjusts upwards, and the opposite if you accelerate hard. I can't comment on how it responds to bumps in the road as bumps come and go too quickly to be able to tell if the lights are compensating but even if they don't a flicker is better than the consistent blinding which non-projected HIDs almost always provide.
 
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I have a HID kit in the SV. After 6 months of night time driving I've not been flashed once, I've followed traffic cops without getting pulled, I've checked it myself from the front and done ride-bys with critical mates, and I've had it looked over by a mate who does SVA testing look it over from a safety perspective... There's simply no dangerous glare on dips, and the dips are effective enough that I very rarely use the mains.

There's a depressing lack of balance in some people's thinking on this subject. HIDs WILL be less efficient in a halogen reflector than in a projector, and they WILL be unsafe in some halogen headlights, and an awful lot of people set them up very poorly or don't adjust them at all, leading to some very bad results on the road. But it's a huge leap to say that all HIDs in halogen headlights are therefore unsafe.

But of course, anyone who says otherwise is officially a self-deluding idiot, or an antisocial driver... Naturally there will be people on here who despite having never seen an SV will know better than me :)
 
Had Accord Sport - Fitted kit, got flashed a lot by other drivers and generally realised I was blinding people.

Had Accord Type-R with factory HIDs and projector light - never once got flashed, nice focused beam.

Got teg, fitted HID kit with projector lamps, not had a problem. The beams are so amazingly well focused.


Autolevelers only really compensate for carrying a load, you see them leveling when you first turn your lights on, its designed to replace the manual system as people can't be trused to use them. Washers also don't really matter, just clean your car once in a while!
Its definatly having projectors that count, I wouldn't ever fit a kit again without them.
 
First off, that HID light shot taken from the Focus looks Rubbish, the non flat cuttoff at the top just goes to prove how bad these cheap kits are then compounded by the fact you're not fitting them to projector lenses.

I've had the same make kit in two cars now, the Mazda without projectors and my Passat with them, its a night and day difference.

Cheap kits are pants, its not just the Ballast either its the quality of the bulbs, you say the kit is the same as the Hids4u kit, well as luck would have it i have A bixenon kit sat right infront of me from them, will be interesting to look at the sit you've posted and indeed figure out if the kit is the same.
 
I don't think the kit matters nearly as much as the lenses. Fair enough the ballasts are probably pretty cheap magnetic start ones, but I don't think the ones in more expensive kits are electronic start are they? Aside from that, the only inferior thing about the bulbs will be the light output, but if a cheap kit costs £70 and gives you 3 times the brightness of stock halogens, while an expensive kit costs £300 and gives you 3.5times the amount of light, is it really worth all the extra expense?
I'd say no, so I got a cheap kit for £70 and its spot on through projectors.
 
Just looking at my Ballasts now they seem to be rebranded Philips or Hella ones.

They have a 3rd connection that non of the cheap units have?

hellaphilipsballastup9.jpg


Psycrow said:
I don't think the kit matters nearly as much as the lenses. Fair enough the ballasts are probably pretty cheap magnetic start ones, but I don't think the ones in more expensive kits are electronic start are they? Aside from that, the only inferior thing about the bulbs will be the light output, but if a cheap kit costs £70 and gives you 3 times the brightness of stock halogens, while an expensive kit costs £300 and gives you 3.5times the amount of light, is it really worth all the extra expense?
I'd say no, so I got a cheap kit for £70 and its spot on through projectors.
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Yep, all depends if you want to pay the extra for the added performance i suppose.
 
The kit I got for the accord a few years ago had the 3rd connector, its for different bulb types. Just looking up online, even those philips ballasts are magnetic start so won't really differ from the ballasts of cheaper kits.
 
My dads R34 & Bro in laws accord Type R had xenons fitted as standard @ the factory without projectors. Infact a lot of Jap cars do without projectors. Whats the difference here then?
 
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