HIDs?
06-11-2008, 05:47 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Santa Cruz / Fremont
Posts: 1,596
Car Info: 07 Wrx
HIDs?
I was wondering what type of HIDs i should buy. I want brighter lights, i cant see **** on the road and i gotta highbeam alotta times on the road at night. Just wanted some opinions from people who have them on their subbys. I gotta 07 wrx and i would like to hear some input!! thank you!!!
Gene.
Gene.
06-11-2008, 06:03 PM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Santa Cruz / Fremont
Posts: 1,596
Car Info: 07 Wrx
Hmm - yea, i thought about halogens, but i always liked how the HIDs lookd from inside and outside the car. My lights need to be reaimed also...but **** it imma just get HIDs hahah. Any suggestions? =)
06-11-2008, 08:41 PM
#6
Registered User
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: East Bay / Pomona
Posts: 3,670
Car Info: '02 PSM WRX
My biggest suggestion, is if you're going to do this, do it right. I hate people who think getting an HID kit and putting it into their stock housings are fine. It blinds everyone because the light goes off in all directions blinding not only the people coming towards you, but anyone going the same direction in front of you. Make sure you get HID projector housings, or if the STi headlights are direct swap, that's another option.
As for temps, I prefer 5000k vs something in the 4000ks. I like the slightly blueish tinge to it. My HID kit that I have with my EDM HIDs were from Kalex. The distributor is in North Milpitas, so pretty close if you live in Fremont.
623 Arbor Way Milpitas, CA 95035 USA.
kevin@kalex.us
Tel: (408) 661-2668
Fax : (408) 268-6410
I've had them for over 3 years, and the only problem I've had is a bulb went out after a guy tried to break into my car and thought ripping my headlights out would stop my alarm (so, basically not the company's fault). I'm not sure if they've updated their kit, but I had to rig my own relay system with a Radio Shack relay which can be slightly confusing, but pretty easy once you see how the relay works.
As for temps, I prefer 5000k vs something in the 4000ks. I like the slightly blueish tinge to it. My HID kit that I have with my EDM HIDs were from Kalex. The distributor is in North Milpitas, so pretty close if you live in Fremont.
623 Arbor Way Milpitas, CA 95035 USA.
kevin@kalex.us
Tel: (408) 661-2668
Fax : (408) 268-6410
I've had them for over 3 years, and the only problem I've had is a bulb went out after a guy tried to break into my car and thought ripping my headlights out would stop my alarm (so, basically not the company's fault). I'm not sure if they've updated their kit, but I had to rig my own relay system with a Radio Shack relay which can be slightly confusing, but pretty easy once you see how the relay works.
06-11-2008, 08:57 PM
#7
Registered User
iTrader: (15)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Arnold, CA
Posts: 9,171
Car Info: 2003 PSM WRX, 80 Brat ready for Chevy 350 Swap.
putting HIDs into a bugeye headlight will not make it go everywhere, and will get better lighting if done right, the lighting will go into the same direction as would with a normal bulb(non hids) the only thing different will be the light out put..
06-11-2008, 09:30 PM
#8
06-11-2008, 10:10 PM
#9
Registered User
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: East Bay / Pomona
Posts: 3,670
Car Info: '02 PSM WRX
Originally Posted by website
HID lighting on vehicles other than those that come to stock is now illegal in the USA. The reason is improper use of HID lighting systems and their unintentional blinding of drivers. A lot of inexperienced drivers put HID into halogen headlights, obviously not designed for such a system. Most halogen headlights use reflector type housing. Light from a halogen bulb is directed out to the reflective pieces of the headlight housing and than reflected onto the road, whereas the lighting from an HID bulb is focused directly onto the road. If the HID bulbs are put into a reflective type housing the light will be directed incorrectly and the focus of the HID bulbs are misdirected as well. In this case the light is being directed elsewhere and actually being directed onto other motorists.
Originally Posted by website
Halogen headlamps and HID headlamps require very different optics to produce a safe and effective—not to mention legal—beam pattern. How come? Because of the very different characteristics of the two kinds of light source.
A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source -- the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.
A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source -- the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.
Last edited by STi-owns-evo; 06-11-2008 at 10:12 PM.
06-12-2008, 01:19 AM
#13
Here's pics of my headlights when I got my HID kit. The ones on the right were PIAA 4300k halogen bulbs (slightly brighter than stock ones), and the ones on the right are 8000k HIDs.
Hope this helps your search in some way
Hope this helps your search in some way
06-12-2008, 04:22 AM
#15
so in addition to filling in the cut-off shield, (still assuming your headlamps are similar enough to mines), you may need to aim your headlamps a tad bit lower (esp. on the drivers side), even w/ the shield plugged in, if your lamps are aimed high enough regardless, you're gonna blind someone on the road.
as far as hid's, there's a lot of great vendors on here and other carclubs selling off their hid kits. i'd recommend a kit somewhere in between 4000K - 6000K at highest... anything higher is just simply for looks and loses functionality.
btw.. pm'd you too.