Anybody been stopped or ticketed for running HID conversions?

[speedracr79]

I have 35W 6K HID's in mine never had an issue here. Their white of course but still brighter than halogen bulbs soon im going to retrofit my headlights and also put a HID kit in my Fogs.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Geez. So all of you are ok with blinding everyone in front of you? Not cool.

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Come on man, get off your high horse. Aimed properly, HIDs don't "blind everyone in front of you". Are they a bit more annoying? Yes, but so are stock HIDs in projectors.

 

[GraySurf]

thats not entirely the case, depends on the jurisdiction of the officer. police can pull over any car at any time (ever driven past a sobriety check point?). in most cases provocation is needed for search and seizure or use of force but anything from a loud muffler, to a stuck turn signal can result in flashing lights and sirens. its up to the cop and how much time s/he has on their hands.

there is also no such thing as retrofitting HIDs the "right" way as all retrofits are illegal and unsafe. the use of projectors and hard cut offs only serve as a cosmetic disguise while not actually providing any legal recourse.

You are right. But i would say 98% of the time police will ignore HIDs as long as they are aimed correctly and white. Here in California it is illegal to drive with your fog lights on but like someone said earlier if you don't give police more of a reason to pull you over (i.e. speeding, racing, DUI..) They will look the other way. But like a lot of members on here I had yellow bulbs in my fogs and within 3 months of having the car i was pulled over and issued a warning to not drive with my fogs on. I swapped the bulbs to stock and haven't been bothered since. So just remember that HIDs are a lot brighter and therefore will attract a lot more attention to your car, But most cops could care less about your headlights just don't be stupid.

(fyi- I come from a family of police officers and have an associates in Administration of Justice so I'm pretty familiar with Police procedure.)

 

[JDM_Pro5]

I've got to get inside and fix my "aim" on my headlights. I have my HIDs positioned well, but something is wrong with my passenger side High beam. My driver side highbeam is aimed well by my pass. side points to the tree tops. I lower and lower it and then something clicks and it pops back up. I guess something is off. Not that I use my high beams much.

 

[speedracr79]

Yeah i have to agree all the higher end vehicles and some lower come with HID's/Projectors so how is that any different then installing one in our vehicles. The reason they are there is to increase visibility when driving. Especially in not well lit areas, example my Subie it has Halogen projectors that arent worth a damm the fogs suck too they dont even look like they are on. My wife dives it to work at 630am so its dark and her road dosent have many lights so she has to use her brights often. We live in the city not out in a rural area but hopefully this weekend im swapping out her projectors for some HID ones and upgrading her fogs to projectors as well.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

My wife had issues with her halogen projectors on her Genesis Coupe being lame where they didn't even seem to be on. Looked about like driving with our stock fogs only. I dropped 35w 5000k H11s in there and it was a world of difference. You could 100 times better and nobody was ever flashing their brights at her.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

aimed properly, hids don't "blind everyone in front of you". Are they a bit more annoying? Yes, but so are stock hids in projectors.

this !

 

[phunky.buddha]

Come on man, get off your high horse. Aimed properly, HIDs don't "blind everyone in front of you". Are they a bit more annoying? Yes, but so are stock HIDs in projectors.

It depends on the housings. Stock HIDs from the factory in projectors have a very sharp cutoff line that prevents light from going above it. I've seen HID plug-in kits in halogen housings that have just a little glare (which the 5 seems to be like, so maybe most Mazdas are), but most other vehicles really screw up the beam pattern when you shove HIDs into them. I guess halogen projectors do a better job shaping the beam than others since there's already a cutoff shield and other optics in the way.

Around here, you see quite a few trucks and cars with reflector halogen housings, and those really do blind everyone on the road. You see these guys/gals driving around with everyone clearing the road because they're lighting up every single road sign above the freeway and blinding people through their rearviews. It's not a high horse. It's really dangerous.

Yeah i have to agree all the higher end vehicles and some lower come with HID's/Projectors so how is that any different then installing one in our vehicles. The reason they are there is to increase visibility when driving. Especially in not well lit areas, example my Subie it has Halogen projectors that arent worth a damm the fogs suck too they dont even look like they are on. My wife dives it to work at 630am so its dark and her road dosent have many lights so she has to use her brights often. We live in the city not out in a rural area but hopefully this weekend im swapping out her projectors for some HID ones and upgrading her fogs to projectors as well.

It's totally different. The light source from the filament in an incandescent bulb is a completely different shape than the beam arc between electrodes in an HID capsule- and it runs in a completely different direction. The headlight housing in a car that COMES from the factory with HID headlights is completely different than one that has a halogen housing. You can't just swap bulbs/capsules between the two.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...point-of-blinding-other-drivers-with-HID-kits
http://forums.evolutionm.net/04-06-...32-why-hids-dont-belong-halogen-housings.html
http://www.hidretrofits.com/

 

[repthemazdas]

I get flashed all the time oops lol I cant aim my headlights because they are EDM Glass with the electronic levelers, which I dont have the switch/wiring for. Out on the highway I light the reflective parts of the signs about 1/8 mile down the road, and I havent been stopped yet.

My girl on the other hand has Pink HID's and she got stopped ONCE in Massachusetts and given a warning. Otherwise we've taken her car all over CT, NY, NJ, RI and never been stopped in almost 3 years other than Mass.

Yes I said PINK

i had pink on my 3 and got stoped and ticked for them lol

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Around here, you see quite a few trucks and cars with reflector halogen housings, and those really do blind everyone on the road. You see these guys/gals driving around with everyone clearing the road because they're lighting up every single road sign above the freeway and blinding people through their rearviews. It's not a high horse. It's really dangerous.

I suppose the definitions of "blind" and "dangerous" are what's at stake here. Are they bright? Yes. I've never seen anyone "clear the road" because of my HIDs, nor have I received one highbeam flash in the last two years of running them (because I re-aimed the lights once installed). As far as dangerous, I'm curious if there's any evidence that they actually cause accidents? I mean, in some cities, they're rampant, and yet I haven't seen any outcry about all the accidents they cause. People don't like them, but I don't like stock HID projectors either...I find them "blinding", but I deal with it. They're annoying, at least in my opinion, but out where I live (unincorporated farm land), my HIDs are far safer for spotting wildlife, and I don't have to always worry about a bulb burning out on a dark back road like I did with the stock P5 bulbs.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't agree, and I don't think there's convincing and significant evidence to prove they're anything more than a little annoying.

 

[repthemazdas]

damn yall type alot (popcorn)

 

[bikingpro5]

damn yall type alot (popcorn)

that's because not all of us post useless posts to up our post count and post things that actually make sense or relate to the topic at hand..

I've been in cars around here that have Hids in halogen housings and noticed they are flashed a lot more then i am in my car with retrofitted lights. Also around here they wont pass a car with HIDs in the headlights unless they were factory option.

 

[phunky.buddha]

I suppose the definitions of "blind" and "dangerous" are what's at stake here. Are they bright? Yes. I've never seen anyone "clear the road" because of my HIDs, nor have I received one highbeam flash in the last two years of running them (because I re-aimed the lights once installed). As far as dangerous, I'm curious if there's any evidence that they actually cause accidents? I mean, in some cities, they're rampant, and yet I haven't seen any outcry about all the accidents they cause. People don't like them, but I don't like stock HID projectors either...I find them "blinding", but I deal with it. They're annoying, at least in my opinion, but out where I live (unincorporated farm land), my HIDs are far safer for spotting wildlife, and I don't have to always worry about a bulb burning out on a dark back road like I did with the stock P5 bulbs.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't agree, and I don't think there's convincing and significant evidence to prove they're anything more than a little annoying.

DFW area is pretty bad... and some around here do glare badly enough to clear the highway. I've literally been in traffic at night and see people jump out of the way of cars with really bad HID glare- enough that an entire mile 3 lanes wide in front of those cars is completely devoid of cars.

that's because not all of us post useless posts to up our post count and post things that actually make sense or relate to the topic at hand..

I've been in cars around here that have Hids in halogen housings and noticed they are flashed a lot more then i am in my car with retrofitted lights. Also around here they wont pass a car with HIDs in the headlights unless they were factory option.

It's actually making news media (mostly print) every now and then around here- not sure who will pass or not since I haven't tried myself.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

If HIDs are illegal if they didn't come oem in the car, then retros are no better in that respect than kits. Same illegality. Let's turn down the kit hate and the retro-worship because neither are any more legal than the other. Ill pointed s*** blinding others comes in every package - oem halogens, oem HID, retros or kits. All of those blinding ill pointed things are still safer overall than people driving around with burnt out heads/tails or too black'd out lenses or just oblivious/drunk and don't have them on. Let's have a movement to eliminate all that then doin the nut cuttin over 500.00 retros vs oem whichever vs 40.00 kit HIDs will make a lot more sense.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Yes, it's all illegal. So are 90% of the mods everyone on the forums does to their car. You go ahead and keep blinding people, I'll do it my way.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

I have done nothing illegal on my car and am blinding no one.

 

[brettbabin4460]

10000k blue and not a problem, lots of cops around and never been stopped

 

[EGTT91]

I just found a manual override for my adjusters and lined them up nice. Now I feel they're not as blinding.
I thought I was fked because the headlights have electronic height adjustment and I dont have the switch/wiring/relays for them