***Your HID Questions Answered Here.***

[great white]

I have stock housings with no issues never had to re-aim them either. But the problem is the new lenses are crystal clear. Our stock lenses have ridges and such inside that break up the light beams so its not as intense. The aftermarket ones don't have that. I don't know if I should even care or not. I probably won't.

Actually, no.

The fluted lenses on the oem housings are the problem as much as the reflector surface thats designed for a halogen bulb. They don't "lessen" the light they scatter it, which is the problem.

The flutes are one of the reasons you end up with light above what could be considered a "cutoff line".

The lens in the OEM housings are part of the light "focusing" scheme and when you throw a brighter light source behind it you end up with light in places it was not supposed to be.

IOW: glare.

Glare in oem housings is very hard to address because of those lenses. The problem isn't the hid capsule, its the oem housings. "Glare caps" that shield the top (part facing forward) of the capsule are marginally effective because they only shield the capsule when the housing is the problem. Cut off shields are better but you still have the problem of the fluting on the lens scatting the light as it passes through.

OEM hid housings have clear lenses because all the light management is done inside the projector housing. The lens's only function is to keep weather out so it's made to be "optically neutral" to the light.

Hid's in oem applications were a win-win for engineering and design branches: engineering was happy because they could produce better light output and design was happy because they could shrink/shape the housing however they wanted as the "guts" were contained in a relatively small projector.

The only way to do hid's in older vehicles and gain all the advantages of them (without a drop in kits disadvantages) is to retrofit a set of oem hid projectors into housings with clear lenses.

Im not pointing fingers anyone here as i know people will just keep dropping hids in housings not designed for them anyways.

Just trying to get the whole story out there so people can make an informed decision...



One last thing: drop in kits or retrofits are all (by the letter of the law) illegal. It's just the way the laws are written.

But you're far less likely to have trouble with a retrofit than a drop in.

Thing is, you're not going to get a retrofit for 30 bucks off eBay. Do it yourself and you're looking at around 300-500 bucks (depending on how good a scrounger you are). Pay someone to build you a set and you're looking at more like 500-700 smackers....

 

[Sampuppy1]

Actually, no.

The fluted lenses on the oem housings are the problem as much as the reflector surface thats designed for a halogen bulb. They don't "lessen" the light they scatter it, which is the problem.

The flutes are one of the reasons you end up with light above what could be considered a "cutoff line".

The lens in the OEM housings are part of the light "focusing" scheme and when you throw a brighter light source behind it you end up with light in places it was not supposed to be.

IOW: glare.

Glare in oem housings is very hard to address because of those lenses. The problem isn't the hid capsule, its the oem housings. "Glare caps" that shield the top (part facing forward) of the capsule are marginally effective because they only shield the capsule when the housing is the problem. Cut off shields are better but you still have the problem of the fluting on the lens scatting the light as it passes through.

OEM hid housings have clear lenses because all the light management is done inside the projector housing. The lens's only function is to keep weather out so it's made to be "optically neutral" to the light.

Hid's in oem applications were a win-win for engineering and design branches: engineering was happy because they could produce better light output and design was happy because they could shrink/shape the housing however they wanted as the "guts" were contained in a relatively small projector.

The only way to do hid's in older vehicles and gain all the advantages of them (without a drop in kits disadvantages) is to retrofit a set of oem hid projectors into housings with clear lenses.

Im not pointing fingers anyone here as i know people will just keep dropping hids in housings not designed for them anyways.

Just trying to get the whole story out there so people can make an informed decision...



One last thing: drop in kits or retrofits are all (by the letter of the law) illegal. It's just the way the laws are written.

But you're far less likely to have trouble with a retrofit than a drop in.

Thing is, you're not going to get a retrofit for 30 bucks off eBay. Do it yourself and you're looking at around 300-500 bucks (depending on how good a scrounger you are). Pay someone to build you a set and you're looking at more like 500-700 smackers....

Thank you for clearing that up. Retro would be nice but I don't have the patience or money to do that. Hahaha. In assuming you have done your own?

 

[great white]

Thank you for clearing that up. Retro would be nice but I don't have the patience or money to do that. Hahaha. In assuming you have done your own?

Yup, Acura TSX projectors in aftermarket housings:

You must be registered for see images attach

PITA to do, but they're possible.....light output is outstanding!

Cars in front of me leave a black spot in my beams because I overpower their halogens and I can watch them drive by my light. My cutoff is razor sharp (like all tsx lights are) and I can see it hit the car in front of me just below their neck line right about shoulder height.

Oh, and thanks for understanding I wasn't "attacking you" with my post. I';m always holding my breath when i try to get info out that seems contradictory to what someone is saying. You never know when someone is going to take it wrong and fly off the handle.

 

[MOBS]

The way we've always told people to adjust their low beams, and this is DOT standards, is to pull up behind a midsized sedan, put your headlight assembly exactly 30ft behind the trunk, then aim them up or down to where the cutoff is in line with the bottom edge of their rear glass. This way you have maximum output with no powerful light entering their cabin. When headlights illuminate someone's cabin, it causes their view of the roadway to become increasingly diminished.

 

[Blind]

my lights have an extremely sharp cutoff line, I just used some junkyard projectors, bulbs, and ballests from a ty bmw and cut out the rear of my stock lights and aimed them through the stock lenses.

Still have stock high beams and haven't done the 4-hi mod, but I think this cost me under $100 to do, all junkyard parts from a pick and pull local to me in socal...

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[MOBS]

Your light output is being compromised by filtering the projector beam through the factory lenses. If you cut a hole in the factory lens about the size of the projector lens(or go a little bigger to fit the bezel around projector lens), then bring the projector assembly forward so it sticks out of the lens, then you will see a major difference in light output.

 

[Blind]

oh it's plenty bright, I haven't done the 4-hi mod yet because the light from the high beams is substantially dimmer than these and I barely notice a difference when doing the 'hold the high beam switch halfway so they both work' trick.

it is not as bright as the factory hid setup on my wifes `08 mustang gt, but it's not enough to worry about changing to clear lenses on the truck IMO, I'd say it's 80% as bright as that cars and being that the tahoe is up higher it seems to have more side throw on the edges of roads.

 

[great white]

The way we've always told people to adjust their low beams, and this is DOT standards, is to pull up behind a midsized sedan, put your headlight assembly exactly 30ft behind the trunk, then aim them up or down to where the cutoff is in line with the bottom edge of their rear glass. This way you have maximum output with no powerful light entering their cabin. When headlights illuminate someone's cabin, it causes their view of the roadway to become increasingly diminished.

Hmm, that would be about right since my truck hits about mid/upper shoulder height at a traffic light and I typically see it hit the top edge of a compact car in front of me when driving. I might even be a touch low when I think of it.

I usually aim with the box at the garage (designed for aiming headlights off the little "nibs" on the lens), but these are at the "20 feet away and measure" height since they've been altered from stock....they're also "chinese" housings so I doubt the nibs are in the right spots anyways.

now that I think of it, I'm not sure they even have the aiming nibs at all......

 

[Sampuppy1]

Yup, Acura TSX projectors in aftermarket housings:

You must be registered for see images attach

PITA to do, but they're possible.....light output is outstanding!

Cars in front of me leave a black spot in my beams because I overpower their halogens and I can watch them drive by my light. My cutoff is razor sharp (like all tsx lights are) and I can see it hit the car in front of me just below their neck line right about shoulder height.

Oh, and thanks for understanding I wasn't "attacking you" with my post. I';m always holding my breath when i try to get info out that seems contradictory to what someone is saying. You never know when someone is going to take it wrong and fly off the handle.

It takes alot to get under my skin. Usually repeated obvious verbal assaults get on my nerves. But I'm a sponge when it comes to information. I love it. I got my eyes on a set of lights and kinda wanna have projectors retro'd. What would it cost if I sent lenses and projectors. I don't even know what else is really needed

 

[great white]

It takes alot to get under my skin. Usually repeated obvious verbal assaults get on my nerves. But I'm a sponge when it comes to information. I love it. I got my eyes on a set of lights and kinda wanna have projectors retro'd. What would it cost if I sent lenses and projectors. I don't even know what else is really needed

Dunno, you need to contact someone who does them.

You're basically paying labor at that point.

Well, you'll also need ballasts and whatever type capsule you projectors take.

I used tsx projectors because of their quality and they are small enough to fit in the relatively small housing. They are also short enough to clear the batteries. Mine is a diesel so have batteries on both sides. I still had to cut away the rad support behind the lights for clearance.

Most of my money and time is tied up in the housings and projectors. In had to "cheap out" at the end and went with some ebay slims and d2s capsules. Working fine so far but ebay stuff is always a crap shoot.

For high beams I just chucked a cheap 9006 based ebay kit in. Not the greatest but with my low beams as good as they are i dont even need them. I just use them to light up road signs further down the road (highway) when theres no traffic since the signs are above my low beam cut offs.

I also had to do A LOT of work on the chinese housings to get them right. The lights them selves weren't bad, but the mounting and aiming mechanisms were utter and total crap. I ended up using the oem mount bases, the oem plastic tabs, the oem screw adjusters and lots of jb weld to take up the horrendous clearances that let the light housings bounce all over the place. I'm still not competely happy with it, but the are solid and aimable enough for use.

Theres also issues with sealing them up again and fogging at times. Still working on getting rid of those problems.

Check out hidplanet.com for ideas. Lots of retro's over there. Be warned though; they really don't like "plug and play" kits....