Disappointed in HID system

[Fourty-four]

I installed a new aftermarket HID system in my '05 4Runner last week. The light is definitely brighter and whiter, but the problem is that I could actually see better with the stock bulbs.

The beam pattern is so much better with the stock bulbs than with the HID capsules. I drove to a narrow road without any street lights and swapped the stock bulbs back in and it looked so much better. The beam pattern was MUCH farther down the road. The HID system was better at illuminating the sides of the roads, but that's the only advantage.

After reading many posts about people who are happy with their HID systems (in stock relfector headlights), I wonder if any of you guys actually compared the stock bulbs versus the HID capsules in terms of performance.

I hope I can get my money back for the HID kit. I'd much rather be able to see down the road than to have white looking headlghts.

 

[sharp4runr]

What brand HIDs did you buy? I bought the XenonDepot and they throw the beam much farther than the stock bulbs.

 

[Fourty-four]

What brand HIDs did you buy? I bought the XenonDepot and they throw the beam much farther than the stock bulbs.

Really? I bought mine from XenonDepot as well and they definitely do not work as well as the original bulbs. The way I figure it, the reflectors in the headlights work better with the light from a bulb than the light from an HID capsule.

I was going to try messing with my headlight aim to improve the HID pattern, but a quick swap of the stock headlight bulbs and the pattern is perfect. In fact, I have a really sharp cutoff of the factory headlights. I aimed my 4Runner at the side of a building and the cutoff is excellent, as well as the aim.

 

[sharp4runr]

Did you get the 4300k or the 6000K kit? I've got the 4300K kit.

Check out this thread for pics of my beam pattern:

http://toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16850&highlight=xenon+depot

I got excited and forgot to do a before picture. Take a picture and compare it to mine... Is your HID pattern better/worst/same as mine?

 

[AlexJet]

I have Xetronic 4300K which I got from Jason Burtman. At some point I was afraid of getting glare and not perfect beam pattern, so when I was installing the kit, I took stock Silverstar bulb and placed it besides the Xetronic, then I made some fixing points from foam and measured the position of the arc in HID and spiral in filament bulb. They were exactly at the same point with approximately 1/100 accuracy. After this experiment I changed one of my lights to HID and test it at night - same effect, exact match. So I pretty happy with my Xetronic HID kit. By the way, the glare is nearly the same as from Silverstars even with chrome reflective headlight housing.

 

[viper4evr2001]

i just hope you didnt get the cheap hid knock offs? same bulb just blue tint? :bash:

 

[TRD04RUNNER]

DID YOU GET THE 10K EXTREME KIT FROM XENON DEPOT?? THE MORE THE K THE LESS LIGHT IT PUT OUT/\/

 

[Fourty-four]

Did you get the 4300k or the 6000K kit? I've got the 4300K kit.

Check out this thread for pics of my beam pattern:

http://toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16850&highlight=xenon+depot

I got excited and forgot to do a before picture. Take a picture and compare it to mine... Is your HID pattern better/worst/same as mine?

Got the 4300K. I wanted maximum light, not a blue color. My pattern looks similar to yours. If I put my stock bulbs back in, my beam pattern is higher and has a much sharper cutoff. This translates to more light further down the road than with the HID system.

In my opinion, the picture you posted of your beam pattern is horrible compared to the beam pattern of the stock headlights. The light is concentrated too low to project down the road.

 

[Fourty-four]

DID YOU GET THE 10K EXTREME KIT FROM XENON DEPOT?? THE MORE THE K THE LESS LIGHT IT PUT OUT/\/

NO! I don't want purple lights. I want OEM looking HIDs.

Unfortunately, they don't work too well with the stock reflector headlights.

 

[kimboy]

Fourty-four, is this your first vehicle with HID's? I am assuming yes because your impression of a HID kit may not be the same as someone who has had them before.

Give them some time, and don't let high expectations distort the quality of the HID's.

 

[iFORCE]

Fourty-four, is this your first vehicle with HID's? I am assuming yes because your impression of a HID kit may not be the same as someone who has had them before.

Give them some time, and don't let high expectations distort the quality of the HID's.

true. Afterall, the reflectors weren't meant to be handled by HIDs.

Its not the BEST way to put HIDs in it, and that's why I don't recommend people putting HIDs in a stock headlight. It will produce a lot of stray light (glare).

 

[Fourty-four]

Fourty-four, is this your first vehicle with HID's? I am assuming yes because your impression of a HID kit may not be the same as someone who has had them before.

Give them some time, and don't let high expectations distort the quality of the HID's.

No, my first vehicle with HIDs was a 2001 Acura. I also currently have a BMW with factory HIDs.

Believe me, this aftermarket HID kit is nothing like them, probably due to the fact that I'm using a reflector headlamp system.

 

[AlexJet]

No, my first vehicle with HIDs was a 2001 Acura. I also currently have a BMW with factory HIDs.

Believe me, this aftermarket HID kit is nothing like them, probably due to the fact that I'm using a reflector headlamp system.

I have Xetronic 4300K HID in stock reflectors. My boss has FX35 with OEM HIDs. We placed the vehicles side by side. My Xetronic kit had better luminosity in close distance and less then 5-10% in high distance. The beam pattern on FX was a little bit better then on 4Runner, but FX has HID projectors, I do have stock reflectors. Overall expression - awesome kit.

 

[KDCane]

I have 4100k bulbs in my HIDs in the stock reflectors and everything is great. Light output and distance is just about the same as my Honda S2000 with its projector HIDs. Maybe somethings wrong.

 

[Offroader]

Aiming

You have to aim the headlights a little higher.

No, my first vehicle with HIDs was a 2001 Acura. I also currently have a BMW with factory HIDs.

Believe me, this aftermarket HID kit is nothing like them, probably due to the fact that I'm using a reflector headlamp system.

 

[Boston_Runner]

The 06 with the projector housing will work much better with HID.

 

[iFORCE]

Re: Aiming

You have to aim the headlights a little higher.

aiming them higher will only produce more glare and blind the other drivers.

 

[Fourty-four]

The 06 with the projector housing will work much better with HID.

You might be right, but I'm not convinced. I decided to experiment with my HIDs and stock bulbs in an empty parking lot against the side of a building. I parked my 4Runner about 30 feet from the wall (at night) with the headlights on using regular bulbs. I marked the beam pattern on the wall with electrical tape. Then I swapped out my bulbs for the HID system. When I fired up the HIDs, the beam pattern was much worse. It was a little bit lower and didn't put out nearly as much UNIFORM light. Sure, it was bright and white, but the focus of the beam was no match for the stock bulbs. One area of improvement was the light towards the sides--the HIDs lit up that area quite a bit better.

I'm 100% convinced that the location of the HID capsule is the problem. It does not sit in the same exact place as the original bulb, so it is not optimized to take advantage of the reflectors in the headlights.

I think the same thing might happen with the projector headlights in an '06 4Runner. It might not be as bad as the reflector headlights, but the location of the bulbs vs the location of the HID capsules may not allow for the best lighting.

 

[AlexJet]

You might be right, but I'm not convinced. I decided to experiment with my HIDs and stock bulbs in an empty parking lot against the side of a building. I parked my 4Runner about 30 feet from the wall (at night) with the headlights on using regular bulbs. I marked the beam pattern on the wall with electrical tape. Then I swapped out my bulbs for the HID system. When I fired up the HIDs, the beam pattern was much worse. It was a little bit lower and didn't put out nearly as much UNIFORM light. Sure, it was bright and white, but the focus of the beam was no match for the stock bulbs. One area of improvement was the light towards the sides--the HIDs lit up that area quite a bit better.

I'm 100% convinced that the location of the HID capsule is the problem. It does not sit in the same exact place as the original bulb, so it is not optimized to take advantage of the reflectors in the headlights.

I think the same thing might happen with the projector headlights in an '06 4Runner. It might not be as bad as the reflector headlights, but the location of the bulbs vs the location of the HID capsules may not allow for the best lighting.

Exactly!!! That's why it so important to compare the HID bulbs to your stock halogen. Most of the "retrofit" kits are using halogen base with welded HID capsules. Sometimes they are not perfectly matched. I have Xetronic and I checked both bulbs compare to each other. They are not 100% matching (it's impossible to get 100%), but mostly 95-98% match. The beam pattern doesn't give me perfect cut-off line in reflector as projector does, but they look and works ~98% as my halogen. Just my 2c regarding my HID kit.