HIDs, anywhere else other than XenonDepot ?
- Thread starter ronsta
- Start date
yeah, the projectors are still halogen projectors. they're really not designed for HIDs, so you could still end up with glare issues and hotspots. but it may not be as bad if it were a non-projector housing.ronsta said:
just a side of caution.
but as far as the install goes, isn't it fairly straight forward. I don' t have my HID kit in front of me, but it seems like you just need to hook up the car harness to the ballast, and mount the ballast, and maybe power the ballast. there might be more to it, but I am about 1200 miles away from my HID kit, so I don't really know how involved the install would be. I won't be instlaling mine until at least a couple weeks, depending how much custom work I have to do to the headlight housing.
Wai
New member
Sorry but I can't resist saying it every time I see threads about those "HID kits". 
Putting HID kit in a halogen housing is a BAD IDEA (projector or not). If you look at the cars that have HID as an option, you can easily tell that the projectors for the HID and halogen are quite different even on the same car model. There's a reason for it; otherwise, the manufacturer could have used the exact same projectors/housing to cut down cost.
For HID in halogen housing, you will have glare, blurry cutoff and the visibility is short. So people usually end up aiming them higher, which in turn blinding the on-coming traffic. You get a false feeling that it's brighter, it is because the glare lights up your peripheral vision to make you feel that it is brighter.
To make it work the way it is supposed to, it needs a shroud to confine the light. The shroud can get rid of the glare and gives a sharp bluish cut-off (or purple-ish like the Audi/BMW).
I had a company called Custom Lightz (see sig) to do a retrofit for me in my Integra with JDM long headlights. They used TSX projectors and shroud, and painted my housing gunmetal. The result is stunning:
They have done hundreds of retrofits, and besides TSX projectors, they have also used projectors from E46, A4, A8, S2000, TL, E55, Porsche (Hella), MDX, Evo, etc etc and mate them with other shrouds (or custom shroud). Angel eyes, CCFL, LED, anything you can think of they can retrofit it.
I will have them work on my 4Runner next. Thinking about TL bixenon with custom shroud, and keep the housing chrome. It should look and function great.
IMHO, it's not just the appearance that matters, it's a safety issue too (for you and the ones who share the road with you). I'm not trying to flame anyone who is happy with their HID kit, just some of my opinions that I think worth sharing.
Putting HID kit in a halogen housing is a BAD IDEA (projector or not). If you look at the cars that have HID as an option, you can easily tell that the projectors for the HID and halogen are quite different even on the same car model. There's a reason for it; otherwise, the manufacturer could have used the exact same projectors/housing to cut down cost.
For HID in halogen housing, you will have glare, blurry cutoff and the visibility is short. So people usually end up aiming them higher, which in turn blinding the on-coming traffic. You get a false feeling that it's brighter, it is because the glare lights up your peripheral vision to make you feel that it is brighter.
To make it work the way it is supposed to, it needs a shroud to confine the light. The shroud can get rid of the glare and gives a sharp bluish cut-off (or purple-ish like the Audi/BMW).
I had a company called Custom Lightz (see sig) to do a retrofit for me in my Integra with JDM long headlights. They used TSX projectors and shroud, and painted my housing gunmetal. The result is stunning:
They have done hundreds of retrofits, and besides TSX projectors, they have also used projectors from E46, A4, A8, S2000, TL, E55, Porsche (Hella), MDX, Evo, etc etc and mate them with other shrouds (or custom shroud). Angel eyes, CCFL, LED, anything you can think of they can retrofit it.
I will have them work on my 4Runner next. Thinking about TL bixenon with custom shroud, and keep the housing chrome. It should look and function great.
IMHO, it's not just the appearance that matters, it's a safety issue too (for you and the ones who share the road with you). I'm not trying to flame anyone who is happy with their HID kit, just some of my opinions that I think worth sharing.
Wai
New member
alpha said:
For the Integra as an example, the labor for the retrofit was ~$300. It includes retrofitting the projectors, aligning them, installing the shroud, and wet-sanding and buffing the lenses to make them look like brand new. They also painted the housing with the color I want (gunmetal).
Then since I wanted the top of the line set, I went with the brand new TSX projectors with ballasts and everything, which cost about $500. Plus $50 for an extra set of wire harness. So the total for my set came out to be around $850.
It seems to be a lot, but most of it is due to the $500 TSX projectors that I wanted. If you go with a cheaper kit that comes with the harness for like $200, the price will come down quite a bit.
ronsta
New member
HIDs installed !
Finally installed the HIDs, looks great, pics coming soon. Stock look under the hood is lacking though & the left looks brighter than the right, could it be b/c the relay is on the right side & therefore the distance for the power to get to the bulbs is shorter on the left than the right?
Thanks all for the help & suggestions
Finally installed the HIDs, looks great, pics coming soon. Stock look under the hood is lacking though & the left looks brighter than the right, could it be b/c the relay is on the right side & therefore the distance for the power to get to the bulbs is shorter on the left than the right?
Thanks all for the help & suggestions
Last edited:
blindside
New member
Re: HIDs installed !
The left side does look like it's brighter for some reason, i always thought it was my headlight alignment but if your having the same situation, i'm thinking that's normal though. Sorry didn't really answer your question, i'm on the same boat
ronsta said:
The left side does look like it's brighter for some reason, i always thought it was my headlight alignment but if your having the same situation, i'm thinking that's normal though. Sorry didn't really answer your question, i'm on the same boat
My1stT4R
New member
Re: HIDs installed !
I removed HIDWorld's bulbs, and installed 4300K bulbs from autoxen. The difference was night and day. The bulbs from autoxen are of equal brightness, and the color is correct, slightly yellow like the Sun, not blue like HIDWorld's. Now, I can fully enjoy my HID setup.
The problem may be HIDWorld's bulbs. I installed their 4300K bulbs and one side was brighter than the other, and there was poor cutoff. I am using a dual relay setup.ronsta said:
I removed HIDWorld's bulbs, and installed 4300K bulbs from autoxen. The difference was night and day. The bulbs from autoxen are of equal brightness, and the color is correct, slightly yellow like the Sun, not blue like HIDWorld's. Now, I can fully enjoy my HID setup.
