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i currently have the expensive PIAA H4 Extreme White Plus bulbs installed in my car, great light output and it lights up the road great, but i've recently been looking into HIDs because ive been told their amazing. given the fact i already have what is considered a high performance bulb installed, will the HIDs really make that much of a noticable difference if i get them?

 
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I have Hids and hid Foglights and I love them they also make the car look very nice you can get them in diffrent colors mine are blue to match my car but you can get pink, orange and some other colors but they do look nice other drivers might not like them so much but I love mine

 
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i know they look like but so do these PIAA bulbs, they've gotta a nice light blue tint to the output, im just trying to see if performance wise HID's would be better or not

 
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depends on the year. don't get colored ones though, they look retarded and attract the attention of cops who know they're illegal. the main drawback is the light you'll scatter and be blinding oncoming drivers. that can be dangerous, which is why the aftermarket PNP kits are illegal. halogen housings are not designed for HID's and the reflectors don't handle them right. if you truly want higher performance, retrofit a set of D2S projectors in your headlamps. you can see mine in my sig. www.hidplanet.com has tons of info in their forums.

if you still decide to get a PNP kit, get either 4300k or 6000k. also, buy a relay harness and save your stock wiring from going up in flames. the PNP ballasts can pull over 12amps apiece during startup. your stock wires are not designed to handle this.

good luck and hopefully you'll make the right choice.

 
Rep Power: 259

what is this relay harness that you speak of and where can i get it

 
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usually you make one, so the hid uses those wires and not stock. relay is sold at any auto store, and then you just hook the wires to it, and to your stock harness as a trigger, and to the hids

 
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My Hids are perfectly legal I even had a cop ask me where I got them so he can have them installed on his own car As long as your not breaking any laws you shouldnt have any problems..

 
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so you have a factory equipped hid vehicle? thats the only way they would be legal. modifying a headlamp that was once halogen is completely illegal in all 50 states in the usa. now if youre overseas, nobody cares. i have bmw e46 projectors in my civic headlamp and while it looks exactly the same as a bmw with NO glare at all and properly aimed, mine are still illegal. not all cops are smart either. and my chances of getting pulled over are slim to none because i did hid the right (and safe) way.

 
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im in canada, so id need to check on my countries laws on that, but i know in a few situations so far u.s. law regarding vehicle modification has been different here in canada

 
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http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

 
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my old cutoff CATZ hid bulb in 2002 civic halogen housing. glare everywhere.



and a ground shot, not much better (if not worse) than stock



stock halogen output for comparison



and my current bmw hid projectors



and on the ground

 
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ok so basically what your telling me is if i want to go with an hid setup, i should upgrade my headlights to projector stlye or retrofit a projector housing into my current lights before installing the hid inorder to reduce the glare put out if installed in the stock housings

 
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you need to use a REAL hid projector such as those found on bmw, acura TL, s2000, etc. so that you get the proper beam pattern without causing glare to other drivers. check hidplanet.com forums and also ebay there are tons of projectors for around 100-200 a pair. then you just need bulbs and ballasts. you can easily put together a new headlight retrofit with hid for under $500 including buying new clear headlamps from ebay.

hid projectors around $150
aftermarket ballasts $100
philips d2s hid bulbs around $100
aftermarket clear civic headlamps $100
wire harness diy for $10

 
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yeah they're a sound investment. i've never regretted doing a retrofit for my civic. but please don't use hid with the same honda stock housing, buy a projector. you could probably retrofit a projector into the stock housing, if that's the look you're going for, instead of replacing the whole housing.

 
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THANK YOU!!! +1 for you.

 
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Comfire has the right idea. A retrofit projector does provide much more usable lighting from an HID setup on the civic's headlight design upon initial installation. It also looks really good, done properly.. You see, the OEM civic headlight, like many non-HID cars out on the road, are custom designed to maximize your halogens lighting output. HID bulbs and Halogen bulb are very different in every aspect and HID lighting requires different shielding and reflector angles within the housing.

However, you still CAN, through trial and error, get good usable light out of your stock headlight with HIDS as well.. It really falls to what is your budget and how much time are you willing to tune your HIDS in the stock headlight.

I have HIDS on my F-150 and Edge.. It took me a good 2 weeks to properly tune my HIDS to balance lighting, angle, oncoming traffic comfort and lighting usability.. I looked at my lights from EVERY angle at 20ft, 30ft, 50ft, 100ft, 200ft and finally 500ft to ensure that my lights were tuned for my visibility and the comfort of those driving opposite from me. To date, I have NOT been stopped by police nor flashed by oncoming traffic. I've had them on the truck for 3 years and on the edge for 7 months. Spend some time on them and you'll be just fine.

 
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So what vehicle should I get a projector from? Is this going to bolt into my 6th gen?

Something like this...?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ACURA...Q5fAccessories

 
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there's nothing "bolt on" about a retro. especially TL's. there's 2 months worth of cutting, drilling, grinding, screwing, gluing, etc.

 
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yeah its pretty much a cut and paste project trying to stuff projectors in the current reflector housing and make it look good, keep the adjusters, etc.

 
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awwwwwww boy, sounds like more fun that I can stand, haha

thanks for the input though, guys