EJOman

For all of you who have HID kits, please give some advise on how much price cooresponds with quality.

If your kit was expensive, was it worth it?
If your kit was cheap, was it reliable?

I have been looking for a while now, and just don't know if it is worth the extra two or three hundred dollars to get a "Top of the line" kit if I could get the same product quality for $100 on ebay.

Well if you have any insight into this matter, let me know! thanks

EggRollBandit05

iTrader: (7)

subscribed... thinking about getting one as well

chawski

iTrader: (1)

Just about everyone I know who has started with a $100 ebay kit has slowly updated to oe equipment, myself included. I would really recommend just spending the money first, and then not having to worry about it later. If you go with an ebay kit, chances are that you will be replacing the bulbs or ballasts within the first year. theres $100 down the drain.

blouisgod

iTrader: (14)

^ oem is best, but it costs a ton. try and look on honda-tech for HID threads; theres a ton there. For 01-03 civics, make sure you get a kit with h4 bulbs built with shields, without the shields in the reflector housing, you need to point the headlight way down to eliminate most glare, and you eliminate you seeing anything.

rjngo

iTrader: (3)

i bought a xenon hid kit with phillips light bulbs and ballast and i would say that its worth every penny because its already almost 2 yrs and it still the same as when i first turned them on

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

yea unless u do it right i heard hid kits on oem was garbage... yea it looks cool, but there is way 2 much glare and hot spots.

So.Ill.EM2

yeah i'm thinking about an HID retrofit into my TYC projectors. i was thinking about getting the valeo set listed here

do you think these would be good??

0H3ebpEM2

iTrader: (2)

yeah either do a retro or buy quality parts. If you go cheap the parts are going to suck and break on you every 6 months. Save the money now and buy decent parts (OEM). I think Dong on here is selling his HID kits. From what ive heard so far they seem to rank pretty well.

burke420

iTrader: (4)

get the parts for the kit to get retro'd into your housing. thats whay i want to do, but im a going to slowly piece that while my Mcculloch works fine!

roll_outz

Quick Q? guys I have TYC Projector on my 01 coupe and im thinking to buy HID kit on them. DO U think I hav to buy the plug N play. And how The HID's Work to TYC.. Right Now I'm using H1 bulbs on it. PLs. Advice me.. tank U..

So.Ill.EM2

i'd definitely recommend replacing the whole projector...this is the actual retrofit. without doing this, you're gonna be shooting light everywhere. that's just the nature of the TYC projectors.

chawski

iTrader: (1)

yes, valeo stuff is really good. its the same projector in most audi's and the E55.

1) your grammer sucks...sorry...
2) no, dont do it. the focal point is completely different. hid's in a h1 projector will look horrible, and put off less light than halogen

D5cIvIc

iTrader: (18)

ok i had two aftermarket hid kits, one of them being mcculloch too. I installed them and took them out a week later.

The fog up the back of my housing because the cheap bulbs release the gas that is contained within them.

I since then bought some OEM phillips bulbs and ballast. I also had to buy a wiring harnass and casper shields to make the OEM phillips d2r bulbs work in the h4 housings. ever since then i neve rlooked back

dopeyboy247

I have those plug & play HID kits. I bought mine a year ago from thexenonstore.com for $300. No problems at all, yet..

They are Prolumen 9006 5000k (white) HID kit with a LIFETIME WARRANTY. I have them in the stock chrome housing headlights on a 05 Civic coupe. Not much glare as I thought I would have when I bought them, since my car is lowered I would say.

This beats halogen bulbs in brightness & whiteness, but a retrofit done right would be even Better.

D5cIvIc

iTrader: (18)

retro fits aren't that great ppl, i've sat in several s2000 retrofits and they are nice, but it seems that hid kits in the halogen housings are a bit brighter.

this is due to the fact that since the projectors reflect the light off so evenly it doesn't seem taht bright when you're driving. when parked it looks bright, but when driving, its watevers.

My friend had a s2k retrofit into his integra and that crap looked a BIT brighter than normal lights, but you can see the cut off from across the street while driving though. Not worth all that money imo.

FALKEN

iTrader: (55)

i had the Xtec HID kit for awhile...believe it or not, i got tired of them and went back to the stock halogen

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

yea that may be true, but think of all the oncoming people u are blinding. Like, thats just what i heard about the glare with PNP HID kits for oem lights. i dont wanna get hit coming around a curve cause i blinded someone.

chawski

iTrader: (1)

the reason that your lights appear brighter in your halogen reflectors is bc you are using the entire reflector with a hid bulb. when running lows, you only use the top of the reflector, and when using hi beams, you hit the middle to bottom of the reflector. since the focal point is different on the hid bulb, you end up hitting the entire projector with light, which reflects it from the ground to way above oncoming drivers. you really have to consider the size of the bulbs. with a hid bulb being about 3cm, moving the focal point only a few mm will throw off the focal point 15-20% in the wrong direction. this is what causes all the glare. a projector or a hid reflector is really the only safe way to go about an hid upgrade.

d5civic, can you post some output pics with your shields?

EJOman

Wow this turned into quite the thread! I think that link that Ill.EM2 posted had some good prices on seemingly quality set up's...guess I will be blowing half of my next paycheck there lol. I also have TYC projectors, does anyone have pics or a DIY of retrofit install? seems like there would be some cutting...

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

here man
http://retrofit1.dirtysamurai.com/

D5cIvIc

iTrader: (18)

yes i'll takes of the output tomorrow night with my shields. I however never, so far, have gotten flashed by on coming drivers. My headlights are aimed fine in my opinion. The casper shields do their job quite well, of course there is a little bit of glare, but its very minimal. I'll take pics of how my headlights look, the entire bottom half of my reflector housing is cut off from the shields.

i'll post pics of the output tomorrow.

Retrofits are nice don't get me wrong, i'm just giving my honest opinion on them. yes they are the way to go if you're wanting to do them right, but to me it's jsut not worth it. thats just me though

D5cIvIc

iTrader: (18)

my kit does not blind on coming drivers. Why do all you guys think the pnp hid kits blind everybody, the ones that blind ppl are the ones that buy cheap kits without aiming their headlights. I've asked countless of my friends and my gf included to drive in front to me to let me know if i'm blinding them and none of them have ever said YES.

exactly, this is what you have heard. of course there will be stories of ppl saying that hids are blinding them because of a few ppl who don't aim their headlights, but do you ever heard ppl going on this forum to say

"oh i saw a bunch of HIDS in reflector housings not blinding me today"

of course not, ppl will only tell stories that are either entertaining or about things that they hate on the road most of the time.

i have 10 million other drivers blinding me with their HALOGEN bulbs than ppl with hids, but how come no one here complains about them? we all know you guys have been blinded more times with ppl and their halogens then ppl with hids.

Maiko25

well i'd go for ignited there $300 but its worth the price check out my buddy shop www.highendperformance.net and that's the only kit we use

sentbacktothesu

i really want HID's but i want my high beams too. i have an 03 civic coupe.. h4's suck lol. you cant even get a good silverstar.

dopeyboy247

I agree with D5. We drive Civics that are lower to the ground. My brother has an H2 Hummer with Stock halogen bulbs and people always flash their highbeams at him. Imagine if he were to get HID's

There are also some cars that come Stock with HID's but with out the projectors. Like the older model Escalades & some 90's Acura's. I can tell you because My friend has an Escalade. It looks like PnP White/yellowish HID's without the projectors, and that was Stock, lol.

This Escalade Model.


I have also noticed some Stock cars that come with projector HID's blinding people especially me! Like the New Escalade & the Range Rover's. I would say because their headlights & projectors are Way up since those are SUV's.

If you go with the HID's inside Halogen housing then just aim them correctly, and test them until you reduced some of the glare. Shine your headlights towards a wall,etc... And lower your car a bit if you haven't already.

dopeyboy247

I have noticed that the Lower the car is, then the less it bothers people driving in front of you and incoming traffic, etc...

Look at the picture of the Escalade above. Those Headlights are Way higher then any Civic. Even if the Civic was at Stock height. Actually, even if the stock Civic was Lifted 2 inches, lol. I think that SUV's and trucks that are High bother & blind people the most.

chawski

iTrader: (1)

yes, but the reflector is designed for use with a D2R bulb. Anyone who has taken freshman physics knows about a focal point. these headlights are designed for the focal point of the hid capsule. The ones on your civic are designed for the focal point of a h4 bulb. Also, as of recently, no oe will have a reflected hid. all will be projected.
There is a lot more design that goes into a headlight housing than you may imagine. its a lot more than "hey, stick this light infront of this mirror and look at all the pretty light". if you feel that you are doing it safely, by all means, its your car. just realize that it is illegal.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

i've got TSX projectors retro'd into TYC housings. the projectors, bulbs and ballasts are all OEM. the quality is good that route, but the problem is that when you buy the stuff off ebay used, you don't know how far into it's life it is. i'm running a 4300k HID PNP kit in my Blazer projector fogs. i actually like the output of the PNP bulbs better than the OEM Philips in my low beams. biggest piece of advice i have for anyone doing HID's is..........

USE A WIRE HARNESS!!!!!!!

the tiny stock wires are not designed to handle the high load of the ballasts.

"but HID's are only 35w's each," you say.....

true, the bulbs are 35w output, but that would assume 100% efficiency of the ballasts. so the ballasts will use more than 35w to drive the bulbs at 35w. the big problem though is during startup. the ballasts (especially the cheap ebay ballasts) can pull in excess of 12amps. that's way more the the stock wires are rated to handle.

"but i've been running HID's for 2 years without any problems," some say.

well, tell that to the people that have melted their stock wires, even causing fires in some cases. me, i'm not willing to risk that. i have a harness for my lows (HID's), highs (100w each) and my fogs (HID in these too). 4 relays, 4 fuses, 14ga wire everywhere. i know i'm not burning up my car........you decide about yours. a harness only costs about $20 on ebay.

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

Dude i complain about the people whit their halogen bulbs blinding people, but its less likely for me to see them. Every time i go to a car meet like almost all of the people there with PNP HID kits, they approach me while im walking around or something, and the glare is horrible ... like i have only seen about 2 people do it right... wait no prolly only 1 person. so i guess if i saw yours you would be #2.

LiKEaFeRiO

iTrader: (29)

Heres my review although its kind of pointless but I'm taking a break from studying.

1st set up:
Brand: Bellof (JDM; Parent company of Catz)
Size: Hi/Low H4 (1 HID bulb with built in servo that retracts; not 2 separate bulbs).
Color: 6000k
Wattage: At the time Bellof offered 3 different ballasts. 1st was normal wattage, 2nd was a bit higher but streetable, and 3rd was for race use only. I bought the "2nd stage" ballasts.
Cost: Bought it in Japan. Equivalent to a wee over US$1000. Remember that this was for a dual beam H4 kit with upgraded ballasts and a full wiring harness back in 2003 or 2004.
Review: I loved them. With proper aiming, I never once was high beamed by oncoming traffic. They lit up the road really well compared to stock halogens. The high beam feature was the best...I never had to use my horns. They would have lasted me forever but I got moisture into the headlight and they blew on me after 2 years or so.

2ns set up:
Same as above but with single beam 8000k eBay HID H7s that was rebased to H4.
Cost: $60 for the bulbs.
Review: CRAP. Uneven colors. One died out in a couple of months. Took a bat to both of them.

3rd set up:
Bosch single beam HID projectors retrofitted in TYC headlights.
4700k Osram bulbs with the same Bellof ballasts and modified wiring harness.
Cost: Less than $250 total for bulbs (new), projectors (new), TYC housings (old), AMP to D2S connector, and wiring + materials.
Review: OMG I miss these and kind of regret selling them.
IMO, there's no point of getting HID's if you aren't going to retrofit them into their proper housing, whether it be HID reflectors from an IS300 or HID projectors from a TSX.
Halogen reflectors + HID = Crap compared to true HID setups.