side-by-side comparo of GT HID's vs' Sport HID's

[rapter]

All aftermarket HIDs are illegal in the US (not sure about Canada). That's why all the HID kits will say something like "off road use only". And just because you have something that's technically illegal on your car and haven't been ticketed for it doesn't make it less illegal. For the most part HID kits aren't a problem unless people install them in reflector housings, they're horribly misaimed, or they use a super high color temp.


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Yes thats true, i also have front heavy window tint, i have been pulled over for speeding but the cop never mentioned anythign about the window tint, althought one time i did get a warning.
ok i think mine are just in the stock reflector housing, do you mean reflector housing as, thats what my protege has, if you dont have Projectors. hmmmmm interesting, and i have 5K color

so what do you think? looks bad, ive always wanted projectors but i wasnt aware you could install them over a stock housing.

 

[icspots]

Yes thats true, i also have front heavy window tint, i have been pulled over for speeding but the cop never mentioned anythign about the window tint, althought one time i did get a warning.
ok i think mine are just in the stock reflector housing, do you mean reflector housing as, thats what my protege has, if you dont have Projectors. hmmmmm interesting, and i have 5K color

so what do you think? looks bad, ive always wanted projectors but i wasnt aware you could install them over a stock housing.

The problem with putting HIDs into a stock halogen reflector housing is that there's no control as to where the light's going. HIDs put out 2-3x as much light as halogens, so just spraying that light everywhere can easily blind oncoming drivers. Projector housings have a shield which provides an upper cutoff for the light. Basically it's bright as hell from about someone's side mirror down, but above that it's dark. There are some cars with reflector HIDs, however they're specially designed to control where the light goes, and they use a different HID lamp. You can install a projector where a reflector dish is, it just takes a bunch of fabrication to do. HERE's a great walkthrough where someone retrofitted HIDs into a scion tC. If you're not up to that amount of work you can always go with a company which does stuff like that like http://www.customlightz.com/ ....... of course you pay more for that, but check out their gallery and you'll see how good their work is.

 

[rapter]

wow thats some great stuff, man i thought i new alot on HIDs, you really made me do more research, thx man.
Hmm maybe ill just aim my HIDS alittle more down then, but oyu know i have them on all the time, day and night, and nobody has really complained yet, and i have asked them too, you know what i really need to do is drive in front of my car in someone elses car and see for myself. thats the only way to really tell.

OK so your saying i cant take alike a BMW projector lens and install it into my car, i have heard others taking Mercs projectors and modifying it to the car, is it just a lens?

 

[icspots]

wow thats some great stuff, man i thought i new alot on HIDs, you really made me do more research, thx man.
Hmm maybe ill just aim my HIDS alittle more down then, but oyu know i have them on all the time, day and night, and nobody has really complained yet, and i have asked them too, you know what i really need to do is drive in front of my car in someone elses car and see for myself. thats the only way to really tell.

OK so your saying i cant take alike a BMW projector lens and install it into my car, i have heard others taking Mercs projectors and modifying it to the car, is it just a lens?

If you're talking about adding a projector lens to your reflector housing, no that won't work. What you actually do is install the entire projector inside the reflector, or remove the reflector dish (i.e. cut it off) and put the projector in it's place. Here's a pic from that scion retrofit showing what I mean about sticking the projector inside the reflector. Basically the way to get perfect HID performance is by using a HID projector.

He actually ended up cutting away the entire reflector and fabricating a mounting plate in it's place. Anyway the end result.

Before

After

 

[rapter]

Ok yeah, makes sense the Projector can not be installed with the reflector housing in their becuase it would just disturb the light, thought of that when i was going to bed, lol.
ok so now i understand, just two questions left,
1. I can basically place some kinda of Nice adhesive on to the reflector housing inside, so it i just looks flat? correct?

2. Does the projector actually have some kinda for electrical hook up, or is it just a lens?

 

[mr_mazda329]

2. It is just a lens

 

[rapter]

SWEET!!, this Sounds GREAT, IM gonna do this, FIND some MERC or BMW, at a WRECK place, and install it into my car with my HIDS. ill find some Carbon fibre adhesive tape, and im sure it will look great

THANKS ALOT GUYS!, this had to be the best thread yet.

 

[icspots]

Ok yeah, makes sense the Projector can not be installed with the reflector housing in their becuase it would just disturb the light, thought of that when i was going to bed, lol.
ok so now i understand, just two questions left,
1. I can basically place some kinda of Nice adhesive on to the reflector housing inside, so it i just looks flat? correct?

2. Does the projector actually have some kinda for electrical hook up, or is it just a lens?

Whether or not you remove the reflector housing the projector will still be in the same location. Some people opt to cut only a small hole in the back of the reflector for the back of the projector to stick out of, whereas others will completely chop off the reflector from the housing and just make their own backing plate to mount the projector to. The projector is not just a lens, however it also isn't "electrical". The projector consists of a reflective bowl, and shield, and the lens. The lamp is inserted from the back (just like your current headlights) and sits inside the bowl, just behind the lens/shield. The entire thing is self-contained. Now assuming you install into the reflector it would look kind of silly as you'd be seeing the entire projector housing (note the first pic above). In this case you would put a projector bezel onto the front (note the last pic above).

 

[rapter]

oh yeah got it, yeah it would look stupid, yeah that nice housing with the projector would be nice, other wise it would just be sticking out int he middle of the air. hmmm well this calls for some custom work then. but before i do that i gotta get a Relay for my Hids, cause right now there running off my High beam power setting.

sounds good,