sweet_t883

I just bought an 97 civic and I'm a noobie to the civic world. The guy I got it from said he put hid lights in it. It is wired up and has electronic boxes in the wires that say it takes a 35 Watt bulb. The low beams light up blue and could stand to be a bit brighter. The high beans shine a yellowish light and are awful. I need to do something here. I can't be driving without at least better high beams.

BRBRT03

The boxes are the ballasts for the HID kit. How many boxes are there total? Sounds like he put two seperate sets in if you are getting two very different colors when they are low vs high.The color is nothing more than the "temperature" of the bulb, so when you look at bulbs you want, 4000k will be in the Yellow range while 7000-12000k will go from white/blue to blue to purple.

Ideally for best visibility you want to go with a 5000-6000k bulb. Should be able to figure out what bulb(s) it has by removing one (dont touch the glass, skin oils+bulb=bad). I get my HID stuff from TheRetrofitSource or DDM tuning.

sweet_t883

There are two ballasts, one on each headlight. And I did take the bulb out on the passenger side. Looks like both bulbs are made as one unit.

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

Sounds like a crappy aftermarket system. +1 to TheRetrofitSource. I'm waiting for mine to come in the mail. I agree with everything else BRBRT03 said except 4300k is technically the brightest (sunlight-colored). Not the WHITEST, but it has the most usable light. What brand is your system? Can you get a picture of the setup and lights/pattern?

BRBRT03

Two distinct tubes or is it just one single tube? I just had to look up dual HID bulbs, never seen that before. What brand are the Ballasts?

BRBRT03

Please do. Im pretty curious as to what those are

Im running 5500k in my Stratus and I love the clean cold white light with just a hint of blue.
What are you retrofitting with? I've got Morimoto Mini H1 Projectors with Mini Gattling shrouds, xB LED white rings mounted to the front of the shroud and a red led Demon Eye inside the projector fitted into my Stratus coupes stock headlights. The 5500k with the Mini projectors give a nice clean white output with a blue flicker at the top that hits every street sign.

sweet_t883

Two tubes hooked as one unit to plug in.. The ballast says digital hid system.

sweet_t883

Well from what I see from search Google, this system doesn't have high beams. Most other people that have it say when they switch to high beams the lights go out. Why the heck would someone install these!? Lol

BRBRT03

Because Cheap
Because "cool"
Because Racecar(a=i).

I highly recommend getting a real HID system from either DDM tuning or The Retrofit Source. DDM is the cheaper option but is a good quality system for the price. The ideal way to go would be retrofitting projectors in but that gets pricey.
Or go back to stock, either way. Hopefully the PO didn't cob up the wiring when he put those in. My kit piggybacks off the factory bulb sockets to control hi/low and just has a power wire that links to the battery. Easy to remove
You want a Bi-Xenon system with the relay built into the harness.

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ is the correct answer! :-/

sweet_t883

This kit is plug and play. Doesn't look like anything was cut, just plugs into the factory harness. So if I unplug this kit I should be able to just simply buy the standard bulbs and plug them in? Also will the factory lights be bright enough? I would put a good kit in it but with Christmas ice not got the money right now. I'm not a tuner I just got the car for mpg for work. Thanks for the help guys

BRBRT03

Should be able to. If your going stock bulbs I would go with Sylvania Silverstars. A few bucks more, but worth it for Halogens. As good as you get without going HID/projector.

Depends on your definition of bright enough. Honda thought they were when they made the car. My '96 Civic has stock lights and I was surprised the first night I had it out how bright they actually were. Best factory lights in a car I have owned yet.
First thing I changed on my Stratus coupe were the lights. Factory lights on that were terrible. Thus the Morimoto projectors and HID kit.
MPG is the same reason I got my civic. 40 mile round trip to work adds up the $$ quick at $50/tank on the Dodge.

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

I agree with the xenons. I'm running those now (at least for another week!!!) and they're noticeably brighter than stock. Just make sure you:
1.) Reseal once you replace the bulb in the housing to prevent letting moisture in. I made the mistake of not doing that last year and I have some cleaning to do when I open mine up.
2.) Polish the lights regularly. It was insane how much better my visibility got when I stopped neglecting that!

Hell yeah. I use that argument all the time when my friends make fun of my dinky little import. :-)