HID in new 4runner (BAD THING?)

TRD04RUNNER

TRD04RUNNER

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OK i was going to order a set of 9006 Philip HID kit but notice today i accidentally hit the panic bottom on my remote and notice that the low bean flash when the alarm goes off. so now I don't know if i want to get the hid kit because if that happen it's make the hid low bean flashes and hid take a lot of power at startup . flashing HID bulbs is not good for the blaster or the bulbs what do you guys think?:mad:
 
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against regulations

thought HID's for the 4Runners would run afoul with regulations..thas what I remembered reading in some of the posts here..
 
What brand alarm do you have? Who installed it? Do you have the instruction book?

There is probably a work-around. Re-program the alarm or move/remove a wire tap.
 
Why HID?

We own an '03 4Runner LTD. The stock headlights are the best I've ever seen, FAR superior to the HID headlights on our BMW 528i. No way would I exchange the stock headlights for anything else.

Consider also: Federal regulations require that HID lights be self-leveling, to minimize blinding of oncoming traffic. Aftermarket HIDs won't have this feature. I get flashed by oncoming traffic in our BMW WITH the self-leveling feature often enough that I'd never consider converting anything to aftermarket HIDs on this basis alone.

Aftermarket HIDs = bad medicine, IMHO.
 
Re: Why HID?

khaug said:
We own an '03 4Runner LTD. The stock headlights are the best I've ever seen, FAR superior to the HID headlights on our BMW 528i. No way would I exchange the stock headlights for anything else.

Consider also: Federal regulations require that HID lights be self-leveling, to minimize blinding of oncoming traffic. Aftermarket HIDs won't have this feature. I get flashed by oncoming traffic in our BMW WITH the self-leveling feature often enough that I'd never consider converting anything to aftermarket HIDs on this basis alone.

Aftermarket HIDs = bad medicine, IMHO.
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wow....when i put my 4runner next to my friend's 2004 maxima.....his HID's blow my headlights away! IMO HID's are far superior as long as they're in the right housing/projector. if you stick HID's in regular reflector housings, the light will not reflect right and will blind people. you won't even get the full effect of HID's in a regular housing. that's why you see people like vortec retrofitting projectors in thier housings and making sure they aim it right. if xenon HID's are so bad...why is it a $1000 option on bmw and mercedes cars?
 
if xenon HID's are so bad...why is it a $1000 option on bmw and mercedes cars?

Because they can get away with it. Most BMWs and M-Bs are bought off the lot, not custom-ordered. In that price range, $1K isn't the deal-breaker it might be for a Honda or Toyota. Actually, it was $500 on our Bimmer, which I bought off the lot because it had all the other stuff I wanted. Far as that goes, how come the German manufacturers can get away with charging $2K for a particular paint color. Same deal.

Too, I suspect lots of folks buy them simply because they think the blue lights look "Kewl", a la the people that buy the blue-painted cheap halogen bulbs which put out less usable light than the oems. Dumb, by my standards, but, hey, there's no accounting for taste.

My point was not that HIDs are inherently "so bad" - it was that 4th gen 4Runner oem lights are very good, and the liklihood of improving upon them, particularly with aftermarket stuff, isn't high. It's not how I'd choose to spend my spare several hundred dollars, anyway.
 
I disagree that HIDs are bad. I have both a 2003 4Runner and a 2003 330i. The BMW has far better headlights than the 4Runner. If HID had been a factory option on the 4Runner, I would have purchased them.

I agree that an aftermarket kit is not desirable.

I drive the BMW frequently at night and never get flashed (in SoCal, land of rude drivers).

The xenons were a $700 option and metallic paint was $400 (on the BMW).

I guess I'm in the minority by ordering my BMW! :D One dealer wouldn't take my order unless I ordered with a sunroof and automatic transmission! :eek:
 
turn on your fog lights

I drive w/ my fog lights on. It is a lot brighter than just the headlights. It is not as good as hid but it is free.
 
I put HIDs in my truck and I love em. The factory halogens are some of best, but its hard to beat projector HID systems. Putting HID lights in a halogen reflector is a bad idea because its more light than the reflector is made for. This creates glare and people flash you because its blinding.

If you get flashed in your BMW, then aim the headlights down a tad. My friend got flashed in his 02 M3 a lot, and we aimed em down a little and now he doesn't get any at all. Sometimes the dealer aims them incorrectly, or they get moved up somehow on accident.
 
If it's a bad ideal to put HID lights in a halogen reflector housing then how come some cars come with stock HID in reflector housing? for example my Friend Acura CL type -S has reflector housing with stock HID? His headlight look exactly the same as one with halogen headlight? not much glare then a projector housing.
 
That reflector housing has been designed for use with HID though, I'm saying its bad to use HID in a halogen reflector. Some cars do use HID reflector systems from the factory, but the beam pattern and reflector are made to do this.

One of the real reasons this is a problem is because HID bulbs are longer than halogen bulbs. The filament on a regular halogen bulb is in a different spot than the salts in an HID Capsule, so the reflections will be different creating glare.
 
vortec is right....there are other cars that come with HID reflectors...like the infinity i35, but those are designed for HID use. our reflectors are designed for halogen use. everytime i drive by a guy with HID's in his halogen projectors, i get blinded. sure it's only for a few seconds, but a few seconds can make a difference when at the same instance a kid is crossing the street. you must be considerate of other drivers.
 
Back to the original question: if it's bad to have HID lights that flash w/ the alarm.

I doubt it. It may use a little more energy... but it's not that big of a deal.

When my alarm goes off on my GS400, the HID lights flash rapidly. And that was a factory design... so you know they wouldn't let it do that (they would make the halogen high beam lights flash instead) if it was bad for the car/lights/battery/etc.
 
Hah, I completly forgot about the original question.

The simple answer is yes, this is very, very bad on your HID lights. I destroyed one of my ballasts and bulbs due to rapid flicking on and off. The bulbs need time to ignite and warm up before shutting them off and turning them back on again, otherwise the ballast will keep trying to ignite the bulb and that will hurt things. I have HID with my factory alarm, I'd just say hope nobody breaks into your car.
 
Vortec4800 said:
Hah, I completly forgot about the original question.

The simple answer is yes, this is very, very bad on your HID lights. I destroyed one of my ballasts and bulbs due to rapid flicking on and off. The bulbs need time to ignite and warm up before shutting them off and turning them back on again, otherwise the ballast will keep trying to ignite the bulb and that will hurt things. I have HID with my factory alarm, I'd just say hope nobody breaks into your car.
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So I guess every lexus vehicle with HID lights is extremely prone to failure if their alarms get set off?

Would lexus engineers really go that when all they really had to do was set the alarm to flash my high beams or driving lights instead of the low beam HID/Xenon lights?

I set mine off just for the heck of it from time to time. Not even a hint of a problem yet.
 
Threxx said:
So I guess every lexus vehicle with HID lights is extremely prone to failure if their alarms get set off?

Would lexus engineers really go that when all they really had to do was set the alarm to flash my high beams or driving lights instead of the low beam HID/Xenon lights?

I set mine off just for the heck of it from time to time. Not even a hint of a problem yet.
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I don't know what to tell ya, maybe they use a different design. I've always heard (and experienced myself) that flashing HID lights is terrible on the system. I should find a Lexus with HID so I can see how they do it.
 
Vortec4800 said:
I don't know what to tell ya, maybe they use a different design. I've always heard (and experienced myself) that flashing HID lights is terrible on the system. I should find a Lexus with HID so I can see how they do it.
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There are quite a few pictures of disassembled GS400/GS430 lights over at Clublexus.com

A rare but still common enough problem with these cars is to get condensation in the headlights, so many members there have taken their lights apart to try and reseal them, and often times to make other modifications to them while they're in there.
 
I'm gonna have to put in my 0.02 here and disagree with some of the statements on this thread.

Although I agree that MOST cars can't handle an HID bulb in their halogen housings, the 4th gen 4Runner is not one of them. The 4R is a PERFECT candidate for the HID system. There is absolutely no glare produced, and the cut-off is as sharp as the halogen's. I have HID's in my 4th gen since the first day I brought the car home. 1800 miles later, NOBODY has flashed me... EVER. This was on city highway combined driving mostly at night.
(I just got the truck two weeks ago and racked up the miles by driving to Canada, I like driving at night.)

Additionally, I own a G35 coupe with factory HID's and my buddy has one too, but his is stripped down with halogens... our reflector housings are EXACTLY the same.

Also, we tried installing a set of HID's in my friend's '03 Tundra and the glare was horrific.

It depends on the car. But the 4th gen is definetely good for it. If you're real picky you can aim the housings down a little, but IMHO, it isn't needed. It's a simple plug and play.

Flame suit on.......
 
What HID's do you have in your truck? And where did you get them? I was lookin to get a kit but do not know what is good. Any info is appreciated. ALso, do you have any pics of your lights in action?
 
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