okay, when you go to 55watt, the biggest thing you have to consider is the heat. it's 50/50 that 35w will melt aftermarket housings, and some few cars even the stock. next, i think the only harness that i would trust even coming close to being good enough is from the 80's. not that it can't support the power, but there will be a great deal more resistance in the wire, and give "dirty" voltage by the time it hits the ballast. i would only ever run 55watters from battery power, via relay, of course. you could use one relay for both. as for putting hid's in "halogen" housings, it's really a matter of which housing. it doesn't have to be a projector. many, sport glare shields, that work fine, and all will need to be re-aimed. that right there is the
#1 problem. the gas pocket is typically in a slightly different spot than where a filament would be, and they end up being high.
addressing the need for high-beams: high beams aren't called "high beam" in regards to the brightness, rather than the level of aim. put the same light in a high beam and low beam, and the high is always higher. even in a dual filament, the high beam filament is below and further back than the low, so reflection angles are higher, and narrower. definitely do the conversion, so that the low beam does not turn off on high, you will thank yourself when it doesn't go dark waiting for the bulb to warm back up. 35w is just fine for low beams unless you pick a higher color (also check what is legel in your area. 10k/k is the limit here.) i had 10's in mine, as is about the most popular around here, and then switched to 8k recently. the apperance still looked real good, (not much difference you can tell without sitting side-by-side), but the road visibility is night-and-day difference, especially in the rain. if you are unsure about the relay kit, just get it. i would always advise that. the only question is if you absolutely need it. if you want something to really reach out there, get driving lights (aka "fog lights")with glass projector lenses. they are not cheap, but they actually work. i spent $200 on mine at a steal.
oh, and fyi: to whoever stated that an insurance company won't honor a claim over h.i.d. lights, well, that has got to be one rare dikc head to do that. i've done insurance repairs, and out-done the insurance adjusters on the estimates many times.... since i owned all their same official books at my shop.... just this last year alone, i know of 2 different major companies that actually pay for new h.i.d. bulbs and/or kits if dirt gets on the bulbs, or any other minor damage to the lights, wires, and/or ballasts. i haven't done it for living for a long azz time, but i still know my way about the insurance co's..
