HID fitted...

[vampirej]

Hi all,

Went to Impulse yesterday, just for a bit of a chat... then all of a sudden, my bonnet was opened and I found that a set of HID had been fitted to my bonnet, and I'm 150 pounds lighter...
I haven't had a chance to post the pics yet, but will do so as soon as I get to work tomorrow, so should be able to post some pics by tomorrow night.




It's a lot better at night, and it looks sooooo much better.



Jon

[vampirej]

pics updated... The original ones screwed up... so will resize and re-attach...

[OSiRiS]

Very nice. What temperature?

I have 8000k and this is what it looks like in the daylight even!

[vampirej]

I think they are either 7500 or 6500, but didn't really read the box... heehee
They surely make a difference, especially down the country lanes at night

[nodding_dino]

150 isn't bad for a decent view of the road! Where abouts did you get them done? I live out in the sticks and could really do with some extra light out front when driving around the twisties!

[vampirej]

Got them from Impulse Performance - www.d2racingsport.co.uk

[BraindG]

Looking Good! - when ive got the cash, thats another one on the list..

[SGHOM]

this kit any good ??
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9500K-Xenon-HI...QQcmdZViewItem

[OSiRiS]

Yup that'll do the job

[ShadyNZer]

how much were yours osiris? and from where?

[OSiRiS]

I can do them $300.00 installed.

[bernmc]

Got them from Impulse Performance - www.d2racingsport.co.uk

Vamp, how much modding needed to be done to get them to fit? There are a couple of threads on the forums where members have had to dremel and tweak a bit to get the bulbs to fit properly - did you have to do this, or was it a straight fit?

I leave for work when it's dark, and come home when it's dark - haven't seen daylight it months (It Burns! It Burns!), so I'm desparate for decent lights! My current 80W bulbs keep frying their connectors!

[OSiRiS]

The kits I install in NZ are a straight fit in about 30 minutes with NO cutting needed at all.

[ShadyNZer]

3 hundy aye....hmmm

[I-S]

From what I've read the cheapest kits available on ebay and the like have fairly unreliable ballasts. One kit that is well thought of in the uk is the Pilot kit from www.hids4u.co.uk, for £225.

The other issue is colour temperature. As you increase colour temp, you decrease brightness. For an open reflector (like the galant/legnum 8g) the optimum is around 4500k-6000k for a compromise between whiteness and brightness. Higher colour temps give less light output, and 12000k (as are available) are not only quite dim, but so purple that plod will stop you the first time they see you. Buying a 9500k kit won't get you any more light than a decent bulb (eg osram silver star), just a different colour.

[ghanda]

Mine are 8.5K's and being totally honest, they're a little too blue - however, the light output is stunning.

[WildCards]

So... sorry to be a dunce but are these kits aftermarket Xenons or are HIDS different to Xenons?

BTW they look very good, would deffo be something i'd be interested in if/when i get a VR4, Also, can you get an extra bright bulb fitted so I can outshine the kuntz on the way home from work in the evening?

[I-S]

There are two methods used to create light for headlamps (until LED headlamps hit the scene in a couple of years time, then there'll be three):

1) Incandescent. This is your normal lightbulb with a hot filament in an inert gas.

2) HID - High Intensity Discharge. This is where a high voltage is applied to a tube of gas, producing a very bright arc.

The confusion arises because "Xenon" is used in conjunction with both types. The brightest incandescent bulbs use Xenon as the gas because it allows the filament to run hotter (and therefore brighter) without burning out. In an HID system, the arc is struck in Xenon gas. HID is the very bright, bluish lighting you see on mercs, bmws, audis, lexus, etc.

[WildCards]

Thanks you Isaac. So these kits would be equally as good as standard German manufacturer factory fit Xenon bulbs. Cheers.

[I-S]

Not quite. Factory-fit HID systems are lower colour temp arcs (usually 4200k) in a particular design of projector lens which gives a colour shift to the blue colour. The 4200k arc is brighter, but in the reflector housing of the galant would give a fairly normal bulb-like colour (and the bluish colour is part of the perceived improvement of HID lighting, because it is much more similar to the light on a clear (blue sky) day). Using a 6000k HID kit in the galant's headlamp will give a similar colour to factory-fit systems, but not quite as bright. Using a 4500k will give the brightness, but not the colour.

The only factory-fit HID systems I know of that used a reflector housing rather than projector were the Lexus LS400 mk 4 (98-01) and the Renault Laguna II (01-05. The 05-on facelift version uses a projector).