SlimRisk

I love the look of HIDs on any car. I think it gives a sweet modern look. The problem is that HID bulbs are not cheap, and I'm on a budget saving up for my paint job in the spring. My friend owns a 2001 Audi a6 and his lo beams emit a clean white light. Are these HIDs? And if so, could I pull the lo beams from an Audi at the junkyard for a cheaper alternative?

Also, gearbox provided me with this helpful diagram, on how to use HIDs in my tyc headlights. Since tycs have a seperate lo beam and hi beam bulb, could I replace both of them with HIDs?

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

Don't do the high beams.

iridehonda

Without projectors the high beams will scatter so much light making them worse than your low beams.

SlimRisk

I'm a noob at lightbulbs and stuff so bear with me but, what is the projector?

lowlife9

since when aren't hids cheap ??
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W

SlimRisk

That is cheap! Are they a plug-n-play?

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Go with theretrofitsource.com plug and play kit for around $160 its well worth every penny.

SlimRisk

That's out of my budget. $40 sounds like a good price and I heard very good things about ddmtuning

I'm thinking of getting the 35 watt, 6000k for a white light and a hint of blue. What else do I need to consider?

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I ran with a DDM kit for a while.. After a while, switched over to a theretrofitsource.com (TRS) morimoto D2S kit with TRS bulbs. I like these a bit better than the DDM ones. My DDM ballasts buzzed, even with a relay harness. The TRS ones don't.

back to the high beam thing.. another reason its a bad idea... You're not supposed to keep turning HIDs on and off. You're supposed to keep them on for a few minutes before turning them off. I remember gearbox saying that a while back, can't quite remember what thread that was in, plus I'm feeling particularly lazy right now. In any case, doing so can "shock" the ballast (I believe is how he put it), and that can shorten the life of said ballast.

Why do I bring that up? Well, most people use the high beams for 2 reasons:

1) no one else on the road, want more light. Perfectly understandable and safe for HIDs.
2) To flash someone because they forgot to turn off their highs, to warn them of cops in advance, or when you're stuck in a 4-way stop pickle. This is the one I'm more concerned with. These instances would be very momentary, and possibly bad for the ballast.

I kinda am talking out of my *** right now, but it's information I've soaked up over the years. Someone else can probably chime in and shed technical light on what I'm trying to explain. However, if my point is moot, then disregard this post. lol

but, yes, like iridehonda previously said, the reflector will make the HIDs scatter gd everywhere, and you'll blind everyone and their half brother. Kinda the reason why aftermarket HIDs are kinda illegal.

Also, if you wanna see the difference between an HID retrofit and shoving HIDs into TYC projectors, click here. The first picture in the first post shows the difference, top being the TYC projector and the bottom being a TSX HID projector. The difference is night and day.

I'd recommend saving money and doing HIDs the proper way. You'll spend less money in the long run that way. In the mean time, do your homework and find out what it means to do it properly.

SlimRisk

So retrofits are a replacement for the tyc projector so it can use hids better? I mean ive seen sweet pics on stock tycs with hids, but then again I've seen pretty shitty ones

lowlife9

your tyc headlights already have projectors rite ?? or are they stock replacements. if there projectors you just need hids. ddm are plug and play they alsohave the raptor kit for 30 dollars your goingto alsowant a relay harness.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

An HID projector retrofit (putting an HID projector in a non-HID headlight housing) disperses the light properly as opposed to a halogen projector.

SlimRisk

A retrofit is slightly out of my budget, so I think im gonna go with the ddm tuning hids and just see how they are. If theyre not for me, you might see them for sale on here.

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/56...-my-civic.html