hid headlight question

A self leveling kit will do nothing to stop your lights (halogen or HID) dazzling someone as you come over the crest of a hill. Said kit does not dynamically adjust the light as you go over bumps and hills. All it does is compensate for the fact that if your car is heavily loaded for one trip the back end will be sat lower and thus the lights will point into the air.


correct

ive got factory fit xenons on my VXR complete with auto levellers and headlamp wash

Sadly neither does anything to stop the cars headlights illuminating even the most highly placed road signs when i go over speed bumps.
 
my hella twins are in. a spot of re painting later and im happy with the look of them, theyre staying and hids are going in.

theyre projectors are the cut off appears to be 100%. its a projector for low beam with lense in front too to further direct the light. with my osram bulbs the output is miles better than it was on reflectors, when i stick the hids theyll be great. lateral alignment is a bit out, vertical is a bit low prolly cos the car has been lowered a fair bit

pics will follow when done.

still need to decide on 4300k or 5000k
 
4300 if you want HIDs for actual useful lighting, 5000k+ if you want "OMG! I've got HIDs please pull me over" blue tinted lights.
 
have you seen 5000k before?

a friend of mine has 6000k and frankly they look daft, they appears to be almost completely blue
 
Yes I have. I'll also admit to exaggerating a bit in my previous post.

I'll agree with you on 6000K and obviously 5000K isn't going to be anywhere near as bad as that (also 10000K is the most popular aftermarket colour) but 4300K puts out the whitest light and also puts out more light in total than the higher colour temperatures.

OEMs all use 4300K and with good reason. Go higher and you'll attract the wrong kind of attention.
 
i've got 6000k and they apear white, the 4300k will have a hint of yellow to them, not seen 5000k didnt do them when i got mine (over a year ago).

I amit what with them all being made in china and possible not to the highest standards they may not all be made equally. But i think 6000k looks better, but 4300k will give slightly more light out, not a lot if i remeber correctly.
 
Also why is no-one moaning about the current trend for LED equivalents of stop/tail bulbs and the like, surely they aren't E marked either?

Probably because they're not much of a problem in terms of dazzling people.

I personally can't see the point of most of the hid kits people fit as they vastly increase the brightness of the dipped beams. Having more powerful main beams I could understand but the whole point of dipped beams is to provide just enough light without dazzling other road users. If you don't care about other road users and need more light why not just use high beams?
 
Lopéz. The DFT statement is based on fact

It is based on their interpretation of existing statutes. This is not 'fact', it is 'informed opinion'. Until there is a test case there is no legal precedent and it remains a 'grey area'. It's that simple.
 
Probably because they're not much of a problem in terms of dazzling people.

I personally can't see the point of most of the hid kits people fit as they vastly increase the brightness of the dipped beams. Having more powerful main beams I could understand but the whole point of dipped beams is to provide just enough light without dazzling other road users. If you don't care about other road users and need more light why not just use high beams?

A properly fitted HID kit (aftermarket or otherwise) will not dazzle other road users as the aiming and beam pattern will be the same as a halogen, the point is to provide better illumination, and therefore more contrast in the area that the dipped beams do illuminate.

In my case this is because a lot of my driving is on poorly maintained single carriageways and I need to be on the lookout for potholes, not to mention the shredded lorry tyres, lumps of wood and small rocks/housebricks that people just love to leave lying in the road these days, any of which will cause damage to your car if you hit it.

It also makes it easier to spot cyclists with no lights, an increasingly common occurrence these days.

If you want to complain about overly bright lights, start with sidelights and brake lights please. They really do need turning down a bit.
 
OEMs all use 4300K and with good reason. Go higher and you'll attract the wrong kind of attention.

agreed completely. after driving back from cheshire today (220 miles) and my headlights getting filthy) ill be going for 4300k, it just sucks having bad headlights

pics to follow, im placing the order tomorrow
 
agreed completely. after driving back from cheshire today (220 miles) and my headlights getting filthy) ill be going for 4300k, it just sucks having bad headlights

pics to follow, im placing the order tomorrow

Dont forget that your headlight lenses age over time.

I wasn't happy with the light output on my car until I had replaced the actual headlight units with new ones. Now the light output is astoundingly good.
 
these ones are glass and i noticed they weren't entirely clean on the inside. on the e39s the headlight unit has a plastic front that can get chipped etc. i remember my dads one was a right mess (high miler) but was good once we had had the buffer on it.

the glass lenses on mine will be coming off soon for a good clean up. there isnt much i can do with the small chips on the outside but the inside is getting a polish
 
[TW]Fox;13194669 said:
Dont forget that your headlight lenses age over time.

I wasn't happy with the light output on my car until I had replaced the actual headlight units with new ones. Now the light output is astoundingly good.

pffft, no it wasn't it was because it looked like a banger, admit it, it's all about the image
 
Not necessarily, the washers on my folks old Impreza were pretty damn powerful, like mini pressure washers they were!

Same as on mine, they fire high pressure water onto the lenses cleaning them nicely - uses more water than the windscreen washer jets though!
 
BMWWW your wasting your time

your long winded and argumentative posts proove nothing other than what was already known

Retrofit HIDs are a legal grey area, and this is why they are still trading and not being shut down left right and centre, like the Showplate manufacturers were when "clear" legislation came in stating anything other than standard was illegal.

They mostly all moved to ireland mind, but thats beside the point :p

No grey. To make it easy there is no way to E mark a HID bulb to use in a E marked H type headlight unit. No E mark means for not legal. This is very simple. Have a read of the regs your self.
 
[TW]Fox;13186382 said:
It is based on their interpretation of existing statutes. This is not 'fact', it is 'informed opinion'. Until there is a test case there is no legal precedent and it remains a 'grey area'. It's that simple.

Have a read of the regs for your self. Its not grey at all but very clear that D type bulbs can only be used with D type headlights. All HID bulbs are D type and halogen are all H type. Its is a offence to use D type bulbs in a H type headlight. What parts is grey?
 
theyre in. behind the hella projector they have a nice beam pattern and cut off.

on the road it is an amazing difference. the main beam makes almost no difference now so ive ordered a set of nighbreakers to go in the main beam.

the colour is perfect. only a slight hint of blue so it looks normal too

vertical alignment is ok, theyre not too high, the beam cut off is at the top of people' bumpers in traffic. lateral alignment needs sorting though.

ill get some pics soon
 
Great aren't they :)


Main beam should light up the road in the distance. If not then something is not quite right somewhere...
 
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