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This is why HID Kits are illegal...





http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

The top pic for reference is the horrible glare that will be blinding other drivers...

The bottom one is when you do a HID projector retrofit and do it right, notice there's like 0 glare above the cutoff... more light where you need it, none wasted.

In the top pic, I don't think the HIDs are probably even useful... Retro or bust.

 
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Exactly, HID's need a shield, not only to eliminate the glare, but to focus the beam. A coworker of mine did aftermarket HID's and modified the shield of a Mercedes HID kit. End result was perfect. Do it right or don't do it all.

 
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Thankfully my kit doesn't look like the top picture.

 
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Here are some forums to get you started:

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/index.php

http://www.hidretro.com/

There's a right way to do something and a wrong way to do something... for the same price as modifying a shield you can get HID projectors in the first place... but I salute the people who take the time to do good shield work...

projectors still are the best option, and not much more work or $ than a cheap rebased bulb swap... IMO I would urge people to conisder that...

 
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The people that drive with w/ lights like the top pic are just going to get flashed by annoyed drivers...

I want HID's...

 
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ditto

 
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Not all kits are THAT bad... Its also not always the kit but, the headlight.



http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=180718


Official HID pic post:
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=164422

some retrofits are out of peoples price range also... IMO, Its worth it though

 
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Oh, definetly, it's like 99% the reflector that is the problem... you got some hot lights there buddy :-)

I paid 400$ for my Bixenon parts complete... that's not much more than a kit... and you get SOOO much more, I love em.

 
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Well I have some aftermarkets in my stock housing, but they have a shield and they are aimed down. Only problem is there's just naturally brighter, so I get flashed maybe once a month from old people. I've seen worse here than the top pic tho. People slap in hids in some cheap projector lights and drive around like a ricer.

 
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no, thats why stupidity should be illegal..

 
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damn that's some glare

 
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there legal in Canada

 
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I don't think canada has "approved" them per se, as much as they haven't moved to ban them yet... every country in the world has banned them pretty much... Europe has far stricter lighting standards than america, same with Japan (strict)... They're going to probably redo the DOT standard and come up with some stricter rules soon hopefully...

Not that they're going to ban HIDs, just in certain situations like SUVs they will should be illegal. As long as their is a valid reason for them, they will continue... And certainly more and more OEM manufacturers will be including them in their vehicles, so at least retrofitting will continue. I imagine Kits will probably continue to be sold ad infinium until everybody has HIDs and kit's will be useless...

I'd rather have everybody on the road with HIDs than nobody with them. All I am trying to encourage is a little glare reducing thought for people looking into HIDs.

 
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Yeah at least get a glare shield. My hid in stock housing looks the same or better than some oem hid I've seen on suv, trucks, 350z, and some acuras. Alot of those are much more distracting. The only really good ones are on audi, bmw, mercedes, honda s2k, etc.

Kind of a bad pic, but it's my kit shining on a cargo container. What do you think? Not as good as retrofit, but still better than the top pic right?

 
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I think yours look good. The problem has gotten better because newer headlights have better designed reflectors, and don't rely on the lens as much to aim or diffuse the light as they used to... the bad pic is from a 92 civic...

Well designed elliptical HID reflectors can look as nice as Projectors... it's really just a preference, pros and cons for both. I prefer projectors.

BUT... Halogen and HID have different design specs, so you ought to try and use the right reflector/projector for the purpose.

As you've show you can get by, but alot of people probably don't take the time to do any glare reduction.

 
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Thanks. I'm using the catz 4300K HID kit which comes as OEM equipment in Japan. I've seen a civic with halo projectors and blue hids with crazy glare. Looks like the fars are on and there's a big blob of light blinding you.

 
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The top pic is J_J's friends car.
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=180148

 
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I think he was just playing...

I thought honda used Stanley (Matsushita?) for all their HIDs...? Maybe Catz is a retail brand of Matsushita? I know in their acuras and honda HIDs that the ballasts say Stanley, which is an OEM manufacturer

 
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It says it in the instrustions that they're oem on some honda vehicles. So yeah prolly a brnad name then. The bulb says made in Japan at least.

 
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I didnt read the entire post haha my fault.

Bellof of Japan is the parent company of Catz. Thats what I've been told by many on HIDforums.

Bellof is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, accredited by RvA, IQNET Management System Certified, UKAS Environmental Management 091-C and 091-A certified, and JAB EMS Accreditation RE006 and R009. I have no clue what they mean except for ISO 9001.
This is printed on my instructions for the Bellofs.

I'm sure the JDM Cats would have the same things.
Brand name for sure.

 
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I'm sure their brand name, but to get back to my point of the post... Any aftermarket HID in a Halogen reflector is a problem.

There are reflectors for HIDs and reflectors for Halogen. Same for projectors, halogen and HID projectors are incompatible because the Halogen and HID illumination is different. When you talk about taking energy from a 1-2mm piece of tungsten and transform that into a 25' wide light dispersion, that's a huge multiplication. HID arc tubes are like 10mm and the lighting pattern from the two are different which make the beam pattern so different.

Swapping in any "kit" into the incorrect reflector/projector is anybody's guess how it will turn out. No way to know how "your kit" is going to perform until you try it. That's why I advise against it, regardless if it's Phillips, Osram/Sylvania, Catz, or wonder joe HID... the reflector/projector is the part that is inappropriate, not the quality of the bulb/ballast.

 
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Yup, good info. You know your hid. Now I have seen some cars with stock hid reflector housing and it looks pretty bright imo compared to projector. It seems that projectors can get away with looking less distracting without sacrificing brightness. I think mercedes had a really good idea by making the lens foggy instead of clear.