that supra and BMW in your "glare" pics probably have real projectors. the only difference i see is the ability to take pictures of bright things vs an amateur photographer.

i wouldnt go back to oem bulbs for nothin!

Well, some error is possible with the photos but as a general HID retrofits not done properly (With a projector housing) provide dangerous glare to other drivers. Ever noticed how you have never seen a "HID bulb"? Because cars with HIDs have projectors. The usual $100 made in China kit available on eBay and ZZPerformance are pretty cheesy seeing as quality kits with nice ballasts are around $500 or more. I might some day do the high quality HID kit conversion, but to me nasty HIDs that glare and have poor pattern dispersion on the road are no better than those stupid blue painted headlamp bulbs. Well except those blue painted bulbs aren't that expensive or hazardous to other drivers.

I quote someone from the North American Subaru forums:
"The filament in a bulb produces light in one spot. Lighting engineers shape the reflector and optics around where that filament is placed. The reflector and optics will place the light in a pattern in front of the car so you can see. If you move the location of the filament, the location of where the light is going changes as well. So when you put an HID retrofit in one of these halogen housings the light scatters into places you don’t want it to go. The light will most likely go into oncoming traffic instead of right in front of your car. So putting HID’s in a lamp housing made for halogens will not only be unsafe to you, but they are illegal as well."

Another helpful link to read:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Obviously, any aftermarket mod isn't going to behave like stock. I'd like to see a shorter HID 'bulb' that would protrude the same length as a halogen, perhaps that would help fix some of the glare. I've been very lucky so far and my conversion has very little glare without me having to adjust the light aim down.


Personally I don't think there's any difference between the $100 and $500 kits besides pricing and brand names. Sure the more expensive one has a warranty and is more reliable, but for every one of the 4 Chinese ballasts I've had burn out, I got a free one for the cost of mailing the broken one to California. About $20 of shipping added to the $117 or so I paid, I'm still well below $500 and I get excellent, no-questions-asked service. Make sure the people you buy from are good in the customer service department and you should be fine.

Well, the good ballasts are made by Phillips (Ironic since their home electronics are subpar). The ballasts like those are what are used on cars that are factory equipped with HIDs. The $500 kits include projector housings as well as the quality ballasts. If there's one thing not to be trusted, it's Chinese circuitry and electronics. Consider if you will a lot of home audio equipment is made in China - the low end stuff. I have several pieces which are made in Japan, all the nicer models (and vintage) are made in Japan. I mean think how well something made in China in a sweatshop is compared to something that was carefully constructed in Japan. Given Japan's small size as a country, they don't have near the factory population like China does so they can't just toss people in a factory and pay them a dime a day or whatever. You have much lower chances of getting something just slapped together too quick since Chinese factories are all about speed and mass numbers than making high quality products.

Oh, I thought you meant just the HID bulbs and ballasts, not the projector housings and stuff too! I agree about the quality, believe me I prefer non-Chinese stuff, but for the price it works out favorably. If anything goes wrong, I can swap the halogens back in place in about 10 minutes.

I LOVE my HID's wouldn't trade em' for stock ever

What's more important? Looking cool or actually lighting the road up better? Poor dispersion patterns put out by HID bulbs in the incorrect housings are not as effective as standard halogens. If you're interested in it only for looking cool then go get some blue painted bulbs. Doing stuff like this for looks only (And by looks I mean the looks of your car over the function) is really ricey. Like:


Think about it - if HID bulbs are closed off on the edges and all the light is reflected out the front through a rounded lens to provide an accurate pattern what do you think happens when you don't have that closed off enclosure to focus the light through or the lens? It turns the entire plastic lens into the same thing...except the lens isn't made for HIDs, it's made for halogens so the pattern is wrong and it's not evenly lit. On a car with true HIDs not the rice package, they go through the projector then they go through the plastic lens on the car. Think about how bright a flashlight is - now think about how bright it is if you remove the reflector inside. It's really common sense if you stop and think about it...

You dill weeds with HID'S should have your a$$ kicked! There is a reason why they are illegal as after market units. I can't tell you how many times I have been blinded by a cheap set of these units.

Yep, if you aren't going to aim them don't bother to put them in. I should start swerving at them instead of just flashing my highs.

Halogens really are the DARK side!!

Has anyone found the best place to order replacement bulbs for the Xentec kits? I'd like to keep one or two spares handy.

i believe their store has stuff separate, but i dont think it is the bulbs that usually fail. i just had to warranty my 2nd ballast with them. they are taking forever to get it back to me too...

The ballast is what fails more often than not, but any HID light will work. Make sure it's a real HID bulb though, not a halogen painted with blue nail polish. Yes though, it is cool to have a pair of show bulbs like 30k's that you put in once you're at the parking lot. If you want spares go ahead, but if your ballasts go out just call up whoever you bought them from originally and they should replace them for the cost of you shipping out your bad ballast.