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HIDs?

11K views 56 replies 19 participants last post by  HeavyDuty 
#1 ·
So I'm tired of dealing with the dim stock headlights on my truck. I'd like to put in some HIDs, but I have some questions.

First. I'm assuming I'll need projector housings for them. Is there a reasonable retrofit for these, or any good quality aftermarket projector housings out there?

Second, I know a lot of the HIDs on the market are cheap crap that won't last. Anyone able to recommend a good manufacturer, or seller?

Thanks
Sam
 
#2 ·
I don't have a picture of mine but I have 55w Bi-Xeon 4300k on my truck I aimed the lights down a tad.
There awesome never have been flashed and been told they look oem there in the stock housing.


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#4 ·
You are going to want to find a kit with some ballasts that use ASIC chips, which just means that the chip in the ballast is specifically designed for controlling HID bulbs. A lot of ballasts out there use generic chips that are not as efficient and will not have near the lifespan as an ASIC chip. I also recommend making sure that the ballasts are fully potted to ensure that the components are safe from moisture.
 
#6 ·
I just ordered a HID Kit from Diamond Lighting Technology.

It should be here in like a week. They're mainly a high end LED product company, but their LED headlights are like 200 bucks. The HID kit I ordered was $100, with a 1 year warranty. So it better be good.

I'll post pics when I get it in.
 
#7 ·
The Retrofit Source (TRS) is where I got my kit from. I did my own retrofit and I now have the best headlights ever on my truck. If you don't want to do your own work you can have a vendor do them for you. I was planning on having someone else do mine but they hedged on it so I decided to tackle the job myself after doing a couple of practice runs on old headlights.
 
#8 ·
To be honest, you don't need projectors to use the HIDs. i had them on my Civic for 2 years (no issues) and didn't need to adjust or anything. This is the place i bought them for my Civic : Car Xenon Hid Conversion Kits | Xenon Head Lights | Made In Germany

It is recommended by most to use the projectors but not a must.

i do agree, the HIDs do provide more light compared to stock. LEDs are better overall but you're gonna spend the money on those.

Good luck with your choice and i hope you can get a good setup for cheap!
 
#11 ·
Please don't give advise on things you don't know about. You absolutely do need projectors for HIDs and here's why:
The short version:
Without them you will be blinding other drivers.
The long version:
First, you must understand the differences in the light output of HID vs Halogen bulbs.
HID Bulb:

Halogen Bulb:

Upon first look it seems that these two bulbs would put out light with roughly the same beam pattern but that is not the case. HID bulbs use a ball of plasma which puts off nearly equal light in all directions, where Halogen bulbs use a coil which primarily puts out light to the sides. In the case of halogen bulbs, the light being emitted to the sides means that almost all of the light is directed towards the reflector bowl it bounces off of the reflector bowl and is directed where you want it. HID lights are completely different. Since the light is emitted in all directions when installed in halogen housings, some of it will be reflected off of the reflector bowl as intended, but a large amount will also go straight out through the lens and into the eyes of oncoming traffic or the mirrors of cars in front of you. The plasma ball is also in a different position than the filament would be in which means the angle at which the light is reflected will be different, potentially also going directly into the eyes of other drivers.

The second thing you must understand that HID bulbs emit much more intense light which means even more glare in other driver's eyes.

Lastly you need to understand how a projector works. Projectors cone in basically 2 flavors. Xenon and Bi-Xenon. The first of which is a single beam projector (typically low beams only) the second is a dual beam setup meaning it handles both high and low beams in a single projector. This projector consists of both a reflector bowl to reflect the light forward and a lens to focus the light. They also have a cutoff shield which would be stationary in a Xenon projector and moves in a BiXenon projector. The purpose of this cutoff shield is to block the focused light from the top part of the light to keep it out of other people's eyes. This is how high beams are achieved in a Bi-Xenon projector, the intensity of the light does not change. Only a small actuator moves which flips the shield either open or closed.the intensity of the light coming from the bulb is not changed.

Some factory headlights are better than others at properly directing light from HIDs, but most are terrible. The 2nd gen Frontier has among the worst I have personally seen. I was followed by one a couple of months ago and even with my mirror flipped up, I was being blinded in it. Completely unacceptable.

I would be happy to go more in depth if anyone is still interested.
 
#10 · (Edited)
#16 ·
I agree completely.

However, someone making the blanket statement that HID's are ALWAYS housed in projectors is a different kettle of fish.

HID's are so 20th century anyways - laser headlights are starting to appear on some cars in Europe so maybe we'll see those in the US in a couple decades.

Laser headlights (in their current iterations) also rely on reflectors not projectors. Just sayin. :)
 
#19 ·
To summarize what a lot of people have been saying. HID's should be placed in the appropriate housing (be that a designed reflector or projector) but the OEM frontier housings are not appropriate.

Projectors are easier to retrofit than to modify a reflector housing to behave properly. I pulled a bunch of projector housings from self serve junk yards for a hot rod project. Around here it is $15 (Canadian) per headlight, I pulled 4 headlights and 2 of them were double projectors... so 6 projectors for $60 (4 low beams/2 high beams). You want to spend the extra on dual function projectors though for a frontier so you can get both high and low beams out of the same projector, which are far easier to source new and should be easier to fit since the frontier uses a single high/low halogen.
 
#24 ·
Alright, so the consensus is that No HID's without projectors, and there aren't any great off the shelf options for projectors for this truck.

In the same line of thought, do LEDs require projector housings? I know that the bulbs themselves cost more, but other than that, is there anything to be aware of with them? Lifetime LED is based about half an hour from my house, and they seem to have a god quality product.
 
#26 ·
Most of the LED bulbs I have seen are designed to try to simulate the light output pattern of halogen bulbs so, in theory at least, they should be fine in halogen non projector housings. The main difference is that the LEDs put out light directed upwards and downwards, the top LED (someone correct me if it is actually the bottom) functions as the low beam and the bottom LED functions as the high beam. I have read 2 problems with them which would make them not desirable for me, 1. Longevity, most people that I followed had theirs die in about a month. 2. High beams - everyone says they are useless. I drive 1.5 hours per day in the dark and for at least half of that I need my high beams. For people who drive less often in the dark and/or don't need their high beams as often they would probably work pretty well.
 
#27 ·
I will stick to my hids in my stock housing all the hype of the projectors and leds seem a waste.
The frontiers housing are a lot better compared to my last two fords on light scatter, the frontiers seem a lot more focus.
I have been ask by police if the truck came with the hids they said it looks like it came from the factory.
It is all about reaiming the light after you install them you can't throw them on and call it a day.
That is my two cents?


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#29 ·
#41 ·
I'm pretty sure you took the last one of these threads so I figure it was my turn. Lol


CStone, I understand what you're saying and agree. I only stated that there is "no real need for projectors" because not everyone can afford a projector setup (or time to build one) and need more light. Using the stock housing will scatter the light more than normal. Agreed. Probably different scatter than other vehicles due to being higher than most cars.

I think I'm just gonna do an off road LED bar for my non street driving and stick to my stock bulbs.


When it comes to safety, yes, you should go projector for HIDs.
I'm glad we can agree, and even more so that we could do so without this thread becoming a huge argument complete with name calling like many similar threads have degraded to in the past.

The LED light bar to supplement stock headlights is a great choice for those who need the extra light while away from other drivers. :thumbup:
 
#36 ·
CStone, I understand what you're saying and agree. I only stated that there is "no real need for projectors" because not everyone can afford a projector setup (or time to build one) and need more light. Using the stock housing will scatter the light more than normal. Agreed. Probably different scatter than other vehicles due to being higher than most cars.

I think I'm just gonna do an off road LED bar for my non street driving and stick to my stock bulbs.


When it comes to safety, yes, you should go projector for HIDs.
 
#37 ·
**sigh** another one of these HID threads. MMMkay - been posted before, I'm gonna cut and paste again.

Here is a good write-up I found for the USA:

In the USA, headlights are only legal for use on public roads if they are DOT approved. (Similar laws apply in all other "developed" countries and many other countries.) This requires that samples of the headlights be sent to the proper testing laboratory and certification must be obtained that the design is approved. Approval is only with specific bulbs tested in the lab in the samples and DOT approval is invalid if a different bulb is used.

It is illegal to use on public roads homebrew headlights or headlights using a bulb other than what they were DOT-approved to use. For example, a headlight that is DOT approved and normally uses a 9005 halogen bulb is almost certainly not DOT approved for anything else - especially not a D2S for example.

Many HID conversion kits come with disclaimers to the effect of "off road use only". Such disclaimers may appear in the kit seller's ads, web site, or on the kit packaging. Less honest retrofit outfits may merely fail to let you know that such a retrofit is not road-legal. More dishonest retrofitting outfits may even falsely claim that their headlights or ones modified with their product/service are road legal.

DOT requirements have lower and/or upper limits (sometimes both) on candela ("beam candlepower") into many different directions, as in various angles above, below, and to each side of straight ahead. In the unlikely event your headlight meets all of these and other technical requirements, it is still illegal unless it is submitted for testing and certification.

As for what can happen if you use illegal headlights?

1. Often enough, nothing. This depends on location. In some USA cities, law enforcement of traffic regualtions in general is lax. Police are generally not equipped to do headlight photometry anyway.

2. Some unlawful HID retrofit headlights are obvious to a few cops. It is more obvious if you have the really bluish or aqua-ish or obviously dichroic fake HID bluish headlights that are known to some cops to be a safe bet to not meet the complex photometric and colorimetric standards.

If the cop believes you have unlawful headlights, you can be stopped and ticketed. Depending on your state, the violation may be having an invalid inspection sticker or whatever violation of headlight law. Depending on your state and the mood of the cop, you may in extreme cases be barred from driving the car at night (or at all) until it has legal headlights and it has passed inspection again with the legal headlights.

3. Excessive light in some directions can dazzle other drivers. It is possible for you to be legally liable if this causes or contributes to an accident. Modified headlights might have insufficient light in some directions, and you could be held legally liable if that causes or contributes to an accident.

4. You may have trouble with your insurance company if you have an accident while driving a car that cannot legally pass inspection or has fraudulently passed inspection, even if the inability to legally pass inspection did not contribute to the accident. You might also have trouble with your insurance company if you are cited for driving without valid current inspection stickers or are cited for having fraudulently passed inspection.

Note that at least in some states, "off road" lights must be inoperative when driving on a public road. This may mean having opaque covers on the lights and/or having wiring to the lights disconnected.
 
#39 ·
Zedbra and anyone else advocating NOT putting an HID ebay kit in a non-HID housing is absolutely correct.

The average person has no clue how much engineering has gone into making the headlights on the car they drive. The headlights on modern vehicles are designed around the optics and limitations of the human eye.

People think brighter is better at night but that simply isn't true. The more you brighten what is in front of you, the iris in your eye will close down and you will lose definition in your peripheral vision where there may be an animal or child poised to run across the road that if your headlights weren't too bright you'd be able to see in time to avoid it
 
#40 ·
#42 · (Edited)
Not a problem. I wasn't going to take it to that level bro! lol. Safety FIRST, always.

I'm more grown up than that and i used to Mod a Civic Forum back in the day.

The disagreements are fine, but it does get ridiculous when grown men start getting into a cat fight over nothing. :D
 
#43 ·
So kinda of weird but hell I say anyways like mom always say "now go hung and make up now."


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