The price for these HID hi/lo kits has gotten very low. It looks like it is not tough to do. I might make a good winter project in my garage while it is
10 below out and I can't work outside.
I would love to hear more comments about how well these Xenon headlights work. I was considering getting the 35 watt 3000K (yellow) colour lights. I did not want these lights to attract attention and possibly a ticket. So I wanted the same colour as comes with halogen bulbs.
They claim that the bulbs last 3 times longer than halogen. Do they really?
I have gotten a lot older, 68 now, and my vision at night has degraded. The brighter lights would help me see.
I added some low beam assists in the form of separate fog lights just below my bumper. However, this turned out not to be such a great idea. The four wheel drive allows me to plough through high snow, but this tends to damage these fog lights. I need all the brightness I can get in my regular lights. I want to remove the lower lights.
"Boomer" wrote in news:ZAb5p.667334$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-11.dc.easynews.com:
Retrofitting HIDs to halogens is not a good idea. Headlamps are a whole package: Bulb, lens, and reflectors must be designed to work together, otherwise you will annoy and endanger oncoming traffic with excessive glare.
The guru of automotive lighting says so.
Those are disgustingly glary. If you install these on your car, I will personally come over to your house and shovel all the snow from your lawn onto your driveway. Then I will tamp it down good and hard so you can't get it off again.
Won't happen. HIDs are always different from halogen.
OEM Honda (Stanley) bulbs last ages, often the life of the car. GE Nighthawks are close second.
Forget SilverStars and other fancy ephemera.
Brighter lights will blind other drivers. Please think of them too.
If you (like me) find your eyes no longer as night-friendly as they used to be, then slow down, and keep your lenses clean.
Your fog lights are too low to provide proper illumination.
I recommend GE Nighthawks. You may have to ask for them at the parts counter.
If you really want something to do a Rudolph for you, look into bullet lights. The ones I've seen sit just inboard of the headlights on the bumpe. One of the guys I used to AX with has some on his Acura and claims "50, maybe 60 miles". :-) But it really looked like about double regualr highs. I can't remember the exact wiring, but it seemed to be somewhere between dead simple and easier to write a check.
They shouldn't. The whole idea of fogs is to keep the beam lowish so you don't get as much backscatter. I checked mine before I posted this. They sweep lower and the pax side really goes toward "the ditch" while the driver's side is mostly forward. I actually find them useful driving at twilgiht in the country around here. I'd rather take a deer with a .270 than a Fit.
Yeah, but these lights are used RATHER THAN highs. If you drive around with your highs on all the time, you may find that a stone cracked one of your lenses. I may have to whack the lens with the stone several times.
Yeah, but these lights are used RATHER THAN highs. If you drive around with your highs on all the time, you may find that a stone cracked one of your lenses. I may have to whack the lens with the stone several times.
Tegger wrote in news:Xns9E9DBD4309F0tegger@208.90.168.18:
Especially high up, in that CR-V.
I come across your type all the time: those who think that dazzling oncoming drivers--or drivers ahead of them--makes them somehow "safer". "Stupid" is the only word for your kind.
That the new lights "overwhelm" your auxiliary lights ought to be telling you something, but evidently its not. That you went ahead and did this anyway tells me you're beyond reason.
Tegger wrote in news:Xns9E9DBD4309F0tegger@208.90.168.18:
Especially high up, in that CR-V.
I come across your type all the time: those who think that dazzling oncoming drivers--or drivers ahead of them--makes them somehow "safer". "Stupid" is the only word for your kind.
That the new lights "overwhelm" your auxiliary lights ought to be telling you something, but evidently its not. That you went ahead and did this anyway tells me you're beyond reason.
"Boomer" wrote in news:mG7cp.736708$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-15.dc.easynews.com:
True, but there is considerably more "scatter" with lights that are significantly /brighter/ than intended.
All lamps (flashlights, spotlights, house lights, etc.) exhibit a certain phenomenon that's known as "falloff". Falloff is the decay of the beam from the middle "hotspot" where it's brightest, to the periphery where it's no longer detectable. The degree and rapidity of falloff will depend on several factors, and one of them is the intensity of the light. Make the light more intense, and the falloff cone will expand.
Falloff is also known as "scatter". Headlamp engineers make careers out of minimizing scatter while maximizing available light to the driver.
Only from the perspective of the occupants of /your/ car. Scatter is seen by /others/.
Here's a test you can perform: You lend your CR-V to a helper. You get into another vehicle. This "other vehicle" should be a CAR, not another high truck. Now the two of you start a few miles apart, and drive towards each other, eventually passing each other. Also make sure you test this situation with the vehicles pointing uphill relative to each other, and with the road curving to the LEFT for you, and the RIGHT for your helper.
Now try a test with your helper driving behind you, with you still in a CAR not another truck.
I have given up on flashing the dazzlers. Mostly they never shut off their high-beams, because they /intend/ their high-beams to be on, beyond all sense. And sometimes what I thought was their high beams was actually their LOW beams! I know this because they flash me in return.
So don't expect too many flashers; others have probably given up on the dazzlers as well.
I'm 49. My 84-year-old mother considers me young, and seeing what she's going through now, she's right.
Okay, add-ons. I was thinking OEM. Most people seem to think that fogs should point straight out. Well, that does work. BUT, the lights have to be behid you. And you have to be driving a rally car or a SCORE car or truck.
I'm an x-ray technologist and scatter can be your enemy or your friend, but you have to know how to "use" it, how to compensate for it and when to just damned well do everything possible to avoid it.
Headlights fall into category 3.
Yeah, particularly trucks. I could have sworn there was some kind of requirment that passenger vehicles have their main headlights mounted no higher that 42" off the deck. When I see trucks with lift kits that have the headlights in my face while I'm standing (I'm 5'10") that's a little absurd.
I'd love to see some flashers while I'm driving.
Oh, lights. Never mind.
I rarely even see people flash for cops anymore. I don't think many people even understand "the code" (once-get out of my way, twice-go ahead or thank you, thrice-cop/speed trap, lots of times- there is something really, really bad ahead of you/behind me)
I'm 54 and agree with Tegger on this point.
The lights are designed as a system. Would you change the cam alone?
I'm an x-ray technologist and scatter can be your enemy or your friend, but you have to know how to "use" it, how to compensate for it and when to just damned well do everything possible to avoid it.
Headlights fall into category 3.
Yeah, particularly trucks. I could have sworn there was some kind of requirment that passenger vehicles have their main headlights mounted no higher that 42" off the deck. When I see trucks with lift kits that have the headlights in my face while I'm standing (I'm 5'10") that's a little absurd.
I'd love to see some flashers while I'm driving.
Oh, lights. Never mind.
I rarely even see people flash for cops anymore. I don't think many people even understand "the code" (once-get out of my way, twice-go ahead or thank you, thrice-cop/speed trap, lots of times- there is something really, really bad ahead of you/behind me)
I'm 54 and agree with Tegger on this point.
The lights are designed as a system. Would you change the cam alone?
The road lighting is not exactly the same thing as the engine. Often the headlight designs from the factory are abysmal failures. I remember a 1990 dodge caravan that had what must have had the poorest headlight design ever. Factory designs are rarely what I would call the gold standard for lighting.
I have changed the lamps in my headlight assembly already. It is done. I have them adjusted where it appears that the low beams are have the top edge below the oncoming windshields. Time will tell if this mod worked. The final answer will be found if and when oncoming traffic flashes their brights at me, indicating they think I have my brights. on. The mod was relatively inexpensive and easily dropped back to incandescent bulbs. I have no self esteem invested in this project. If I find that I must go back to incandescent lighting, I will post it here. I think it would be good information for the group to know how an actual conversion attempt worked out.
If I must replace my gas discharge bulbs with incandescent, it will reinforce Tegger's opinion. I value his opinion on almost any subject here. He has a lot of experience. However, he has not tried using gas discharge bulbs.
I am 68 years old. I have cataracts in both eyes. They are not bad enough yet to rate surgery. My doctor said that he could not remove them at this stage without going beyond normal and accepted medical care standards. So, in order to drive safely, I need a little more light on the road in front of me.
BTW, I don't care for the 4300K colour of my headlights. If I find that I am going to keep these lights, I will change the bulbs to 3000K.
"Boomer" wrote in news:Ilkdp.250105$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-16.dc.easynews.com:
Yes I have. I have been forced to "try" them as a consequence of having people like you drive towards me, or drive behind me.
You, as the driver, may not see the scatter you create. Scatter that is invisible when reflected off a surface can be dazzling when it hits a human retina.
Don't count on other drivers flashing you. They too may have given up on your kind.
Ah, so that's it. To compensate for your own failings, you dazzle and annoy others. Lovely. Get off the road at night, or get somebody else to drive for you.
Just passing by and note that my doc said that one of the criteria for replacement is trouble seeing at night. I'm 73 and have had one replaced, the other will be next month, and I drive at night. I'm a chorale singer so have to read music at music speed, which is harder than night driving (and was my criteria for replacement.) You might check with another doc. The lights in my 2010 Honda Pilot Touring seem very adequate, in fact better than any previous car I've owned.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.