hid kits

[miked_mad 10+ year member]

has anybody put any kind of hid conversion kit on there car/trucks? Is it hard to do?

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[miked_mad 10+ year member]

nobody

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

if youre talking about putting HID versions of your car's bulbs, dont do it. Its a waste. The beam pattern isnt too good, and overall most kits are poor. Your best bet would be to get REAL HID projectors and ballasts and such off of a car that came factory equipped with em, and retrofit. Not hard with a little bit of work.

 

[miked_mad 10+ year member]

don't think I could find anything to fit a 89 buick do u?

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

probably not

most of the good HID conversions are OEM parts from european, or higher models that have HID's.

most of the cheap kits have crappy ballasts, that don't even have instant-on high voltage starters, so your bulbs will SLOWLY light up (think of a mercury vapor lamp,) and are in no way "safe" and probably not DOT approved

you could piece something together, but your problem would be finding a housing for them

and those HID 'simulation' headlights are garbage

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

Retrofit a housing. Its simple if ya take your time. I would do it to mine, but theyre popups and the projector assembly is a bit too long and wont let the headlight go down. im still working on a solution for that.

 

[SHiZNiLTi 10+ year member]

You can pick up a "cheap" HID kit for about $150-$200 on ebay. I've had my "cheap kit" for about 2 years now and it's been working great. I went with the 8000k

kit and really enjoy it. I replaced my factory headlight assembly with a all clear diamond back assembly and the light output is amazing. Even though it's a 8000k kit I can still notice huge improvement over my stock lighting.

I upgraded for the looks of it and the funcionality. Without my "cheap" HID kit I would not be able to see at night because I've got my entire windshield tinted with 35%.

I've made about 300+ posts on HID forums researching retrofitting and have even bough a set of Audi TT E46 xenon projectors with D2S bulbs, but getting them lined up just right is a ***** and takes alot of trial and error. I sold mine since my cutoff line didn't have that much color to it. I tried adjusting the cutoff metal shield, but it just didn't give me enough sparkling blueish purple light that I wanted.

I say go with the "cheap kit" and just hope that you get lucky with the life expectancy of the ballast' startes and ulbs as I did with mine. If you do your research you will notice alot of people have defective kits or kits that have failed in like 6 months.

good luck!

 

[CG_Cord 10+ year member]

depends on what your talking about...

theres two ways to go about HID conversion...

1. HID Rebased Kit

2. HID Retrofit

i went with the rebased kit cause i cant afford 700+ on a headlight mod... but i from what ive seen and heard its definatly worth it..

i went with 9006 McCulloh 5300k (pure white with a very light hint of blue).. just remeber not to go higher than 6300k cause you start losing alot of light output if you go higher and it becomes worse than halogen bulbs... my beam pattern is scattered because of the intense light output.. but it definatly is better than stock Halogen.. just make sure if you go with a rebased kit you aim your lights lower so you dont blind on comming traffic

btw, i dont see why any car cant do this mod... as long as you can find a secure spot to mount the ballast and ignitor in the engine bay your good

 

[negativezeroz 5,000+ posts]

Retrofit or go home.

HID needs projectors. Projectors give a sharp cutoff, they bend the light waves so it projects wider, they give better visibility at during rain/snow.

If you get a HID kit you will get hotspots and glare. Sure it may "look cool" but not cool to oncoming traffic.

Just go buy some SilverStars and call it a day.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

Retrofit or go home.
HID needs projectors. Projectors give a sharp cutoff, they bend the light waves so it projects wider, they give better visibility at during rain/snow.

If you get a HID kit you will get hotspots and glare. Sure it may "look cool" but not cool to oncoming traffic.

Just go buy some SilverStars and call it a day.

x2 silverstars pwn

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

so if i wanted to add a hid kit, what exactly would i need parts wise? and not the $700 route, the cheaper way //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif lol.

 

[02parkave 5,000+ posts]

fyi- not every car that came stock with hid's had projectors.... 03-06 lincoln navigator's and 04- 06 escalades. both could be equiped with hid's from the factory, and neither of them came with projectors....

 

[bass_lover1 10+ year member]

fyi- not every car that came stock with hid's had projectors.... 03-06 lincoln navigator's and 04- 06 escalades. both could be equiped with hid's from the factory, and neither of them came with projectors....

Yes, but they also have housings designed to be used w/ HIDs. Taking a HALOGEN housing and putting HID bulbs in is a no no...I've seen it on a few cars around me and I can't see a **** thing when they are driving towards me.

It's easier and more conventional to put an HID conversion into a projector style housing (even if it uses regular halogen bulbs in the first place). The sharp cutoff makes it more 'oncoming traffic friendly'

I put an HID conversion in my 98 Passat almost a year ago w/ no problems...but I also have Hella HID style projector housings...have about 500 dollars in just the headlights alone, give or take.

Also, McCulloch definitely isn't a cheap HID conversion...it's regarded as one of the best around. Just because you can get it on eBay doesn't make it complete junk.

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

Pick up some Audi or BMW Headlights, and retrofit them.

 

[champaned_out 10+ year member]

fyi- not every car that came stock with hid's had projectors.... 03-06 lincoln navigator's and 04- 06 escalades. both could be equiped with hid's from the factory, and neither of them came with projectors....

the headlight housing's in those cars you named have been made for HIDs.. the way the reflector housing is made, reduces glare and gives off a better cutoff line than a civic with a rebased kit in it