builthatch
Member
this is a response i sent to a PM about a comment i made about retrofitting HID's....
i thought it might be of use to someone or fodder for debate, so here it goes--
When an OE manufacturer comes up with a headlamp design, every single aspect of that lamp is designed around one thing- the bulb and specifically, the filament placement. The spot where the bulb goes into the housing, how deep it sits, the angles and design of the reflectoreverything is meant to get the most out of the light bulb and provide the best light for that light angle (low beam, high mean, etc.)
When you take an HID bulb and put it in a halogen housing, you change the very foundation for the design of the housing. The filament is no longer where it should be, in fact, there isnt a traditional filament any longer at all. The light source is coming from the wrong place now. The biggest detrimental effect from that is that now light will be going in places it shouldnt- mainly into peoples eyes. The light will now be scattered everywhere, there will be no real cutoff for each light angle, and you defeat the purpose of having aimed head lights. This also is true for projector beams, but from what Ive seen, its not nearly as bad as open reflector designs. Still bad though ; )
I have to note that of course many OE lamp designs are flawed, or compromised in some way due to vehicle design constraints (aesthetics) and also the DOT bulbs provided in many cars are made for extremely long life but suffer in the performance department. The most ideal solution is to retrofit a true HID projector setup from another cars OE setup. In the Honda world, people use TSX projectors and HID, Lexus RX series, etc. The problem here is that it is an exact science because you need to not only cut the light properly to install the new projector, but also make sure it stays in place and that where its position will yield proper lighting. When done properly, it can mimic OE HID lighting. But its expensive and very skill intensive. The second best solution is to simply upgrade the bulbs in your stock housings. This is cost effective and can yield fantastic results for most applications. Your Mazda is one of those applications. Every single bulb on the front of that car can be upgraded in a manner where you will get marked improvements in performance. The best bulbs currently on the market that I have experience with are the Hella off road wattage HP blue bulbs (gotta be careful about application with these due to high current draw), their regular DOT wattage HP bulbs (leaves a blue reflection in the housing when off though), the Osram H7 Hyper, and the Toshiba HIR bulbs (I use the HIR in my fogs and just did a write up on them on the forum). Ive heard good things about the Osram Nightbreaker as well, but I have no experience with them. Sylvania Silverstars are comparable to the DOT wattage Hella HP bulbs, but the Hellas have longer bulb life.
i get all my lighting needs fulfilled at www.rallylights.com. they are really knowledgeable and have a great product selection.
hope that info helps.
i thought it might be of use to someone or fodder for debate, so here it goes--
When an OE manufacturer comes up with a headlamp design, every single aspect of that lamp is designed around one thing- the bulb and specifically, the filament placement. The spot where the bulb goes into the housing, how deep it sits, the angles and design of the reflectoreverything is meant to get the most out of the light bulb and provide the best light for that light angle (low beam, high mean, etc.)
When you take an HID bulb and put it in a halogen housing, you change the very foundation for the design of the housing. The filament is no longer where it should be, in fact, there isnt a traditional filament any longer at all. The light source is coming from the wrong place now. The biggest detrimental effect from that is that now light will be going in places it shouldnt- mainly into peoples eyes. The light will now be scattered everywhere, there will be no real cutoff for each light angle, and you defeat the purpose of having aimed head lights. This also is true for projector beams, but from what Ive seen, its not nearly as bad as open reflector designs. Still bad though ; )
I have to note that of course many OE lamp designs are flawed, or compromised in some way due to vehicle design constraints (aesthetics) and also the DOT bulbs provided in many cars are made for extremely long life but suffer in the performance department. The most ideal solution is to retrofit a true HID projector setup from another cars OE setup. In the Honda world, people use TSX projectors and HID, Lexus RX series, etc. The problem here is that it is an exact science because you need to not only cut the light properly to install the new projector, but also make sure it stays in place and that where its position will yield proper lighting. When done properly, it can mimic OE HID lighting. But its expensive and very skill intensive. The second best solution is to simply upgrade the bulbs in your stock housings. This is cost effective and can yield fantastic results for most applications. Your Mazda is one of those applications. Every single bulb on the front of that car can be upgraded in a manner where you will get marked improvements in performance. The best bulbs currently on the market that I have experience with are the Hella off road wattage HP blue bulbs (gotta be careful about application with these due to high current draw), their regular DOT wattage HP bulbs (leaves a blue reflection in the housing when off though), the Osram H7 Hyper, and the Toshiba HIR bulbs (I use the HIR in my fogs and just did a write up on them on the forum). Ive heard good things about the Osram Nightbreaker as well, but I have no experience with them. Sylvania Silverstars are comparable to the DOT wattage Hella HP bulbs, but the Hellas have longer bulb life.
i get all my lighting needs fulfilled at www.rallylights.com. they are really knowledgeable and have a great product selection.
hope that info helps.
