SSkeeter

Taken from the planet-

I really hope this thread can help you guys. Ur making the road more dangerous than it already is by adding a HID kit to your car. so please do HID the right way by doing a retrofit.

HID kits are illegal due to the glare that they cause. Glare is Light that is emitted in a Uncontrollable path. When light is traveling in a uncontrollable path it can hit other vehicle operators affecting there vision because of the High amount of uncontrollable light that is being Emitted from a HID kit in a standard Halogen housing. If you have ever turned a flashlight on right in front of your face while it is dark out, that is the same feeling that the other drivers on the road experience from a standard HID kit.

OEM Vehicles such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus are all equipped with HID or Xenon Headlights. Some use reflector housing’s without projectors. Others use HID projectors.

The Lexus IS300 is a Prime Example of a HID reflector housing. It does not use a Projector. It uses a Specially designed Reflector housing that is meant to use HID. This does not create the Super sharp cutoff. But it does control where the light is being Emitted.

Other vehicles such as the Honda S2000 Use HID projectors, These Projectors are meant to use HID. They are Specially Designed and have been tested Hundreds of times to get the right projection of light while maintaining a Good Cutoff.


Here are pictures of Halogen housings mated with a HID kit


9006 6000k HID Kit... mad glare


This teg is a prime example of Glare. This is what it looks like to oncoming traffic


Disaster pix. HID kit in Halogen Housing




NOW THE GOOD ****..lol

This is what HID is suppose to look like.. Pictured is a STi


Talk about a Razor Sharp Cutoff. Pictured is a S2000 OEM setup


another S2000 Retrofit… YUMMY

Article stating why the kits are illegal.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html

Comparison.. Pictured is a Acura TL-S with HID from the factory vs H4 6000K civic
See the difference?








Its not just honda's either. Here is a mid 90's Lexus with a HID kit..

To date, NHTSA has investigated 24 HID conversion kit suppliers; all investigations have resulted in recalls or termination of sales.

RM Racing
Astex USA
Kmax International
FET, Inc.
J. Liu LLC
Gourmet Garage
JC Whitney
Lighting Research
SPW Industries, Inc.
Pacific Micro-lite
McCulloch Motors, Inc.
Santeca Electronics
JF Manufacturing
Streetglow, Inc.
Outback Products, Inc.
Nu Performance
GR Motorsports, Inc.
Global Premier
New Clor
Importhookup.com
DG International
MTC Lighting
Umnitza
Liteglow
American Products Company
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Kritter

Damn fine write up, although the pic of the HID in the Halogen housing against the wall creates a design that would look cool from an artistic standpoint. I definately see how that kind of light emission could screw up an oncoming driver bad, no good for road use...

Mercury

Damn you. I was going to make my own comparison with cobalts and my retro. Oh well.

SilverSS/SC

I am not diagree'ing with you here at all . In fact I will be going back with my headlights and retrofitting in a true OEM HID ~or PIAA 90 mmm DS2 housing into my headlights . Until then , I am running my HALO conversion kit .

Again keep in mind Im not disgreeing with you on the thread topic , BUT ....the Cobalt housing seems to be WORLDS friendlier to a HID conversion than almost any other headlight housing Ive seen . With a stock Halogen bulb set on low beam , there is a 1/2 moon looking shape of dead area at the bottom of the reflector . I'm still maintaining the same reflector pattern with the HID bulbs , though I did have adjust my headlight housing down a little bit to maintain it . After I readjusted them , I still have that 1/2 moon area of deadspace ( I assume its where the high beam is cast ) . I verified with alot of people , including having someone else drive my car so I could see it coming up the road and folloing my to check for blinding glare , and mine just doesnt do that . Shining on a wall , also , they dont cast a broke up scattered pattern either ....its as uniform as the stock beam pattern . Same goes for the way the light is cast on the road . The stock headlight adjustment cast the HID beam to high , so the above was a result of spending time adjusting my housings on a wall so the center of the HID beam was at the same height as the halogen beam . Theres also a member on here who did the Halo HID on a Cobalt , and his brother did it on a Redline ,and he even commented on the Ion getting glare and the Cobalt not . I wish I had a good enuff camera to take GOOD night pics of mine , any kind of light at all appears as a big blob though , I dont have enuff ways to adjust for conditions .

Trust me , Im as senstive to the hatred of blinding , glaring headlights as anyone ....if they would displayed those properties in my car they woulda been gone in heartbeat . And until I finish my HID projectors with a actual 4200 DS2 bulbs , the halo kit in my car currently is a improvement over stock .

This pic represents that 1/2 moon area I was talking about .

SSkeeter

haha you should do that bro. Place the HID bulb inside the housing and take pics. Then place your retro next to it. I think everyone here will be shocked at just howe much performance and safe lighting they'll see from your pics!

Mercury

Better yet, I have a friend with a cobalt ss with one of those 6k kits. I will get a comparison shot with that.