my question is

I have the proyector headlamps and the bulb it uses is a h3 honestly the lighting from the projector is pretty weak. so I bought an HID kit from a friend, and the bulb is significantly larger than the h3. I already cheked for clearance on the proyector and it in the hole for the oem bulb. but because the bulb is larger will it affect the lighting design of the proyector? i mean with stock bulbs proyectors iluminate like a straight line in front. would that be affected? thanks in advance

Did your "kit" include new projectors designed for the HID system? Probably not. I would not put HID bulbs into halogen projectors. Most of these aftermarket projectors are of poor quality. When I saw the ones in my headlights compared to some good OEM ones, I almost laughed. They were very shoddy, and these weren't even ones from eBay. If you want to do HID right, check out these threads:

Tech Article

HID "Kits" and why not to use them

Do it once, do it right, and not only will you be happier, so will everyone else on the road.

thanks trystan, but were can I buy, the proyector design for the HID? mine came from a BMW. i dont know what type of bulb it. i mean 9004,9006,h1 ect.. dont know.

I want them to be like the ones on the s2000. with the fine cutoff. that looks very nice

What exactly came off a BMW? The bulbs? The ballasts? The projectors?
If you have all the necessary parts, then a retrofit will be the best way to go. I have very sharp cutoff and wonderful light and color. My projectors came off of an Audi.

the ballast and bulbs came from a bmw. did you buy the audi proyectors new? if so how much are they? IM going to chek with my buddy and see if has them for sale. cause I know he told me he had the bmw front headlamps.

if your just buting in the bubls and not the holder you will melt the lights

i know becuase i did it
check out this site http://www.hidtech.com./
they have ok prices but if you call they will help you in any way
for info!!

HIDtech is where I got all my supplies...they gave me excellent service and answered my question in a timely manner. To answer your question, no I didn't get the audi projectors new. I got them from HIDtech. Where they got them from, I really do not know.

suncad. what do you mean bye buting in the lights? please explain more.


trystan.
I just finished installing the system. with the proyectors I have. and it actually has the cutoff line like on the s2000. I still have to work on how im going to secure the bulbs to the projector.

ok I want to connect them to turn on and off, with the OEM switch. anyone know what color is the wire for the lamps, on the steeringwheel? or were else can I connect them so that they work like OEM.

any tips? should I use a relay for each light?

buting = puting

proyectors = projectors

maybe that will clear some confusion for everyone, it sure did clear some up for me.

BTW Trystan & Suncad great article and links.

I had to build a wiring harness for my HID setup, it wasn't really that difficult. All you need is some wire, a heavy duty relay, and a few inline fuses. As far as holding the bulbs in the projector, you will probably need to get some adapter plates. My setup came with them, but you maybe be able to purchase them separately. Put some pics up, I'd love to see your results.

sorry
some times i type and not look at my spelling
i thought i tryed to type buying

i e-mailed HID Tech last night to see what the cost would be to take a set of aftermarket projectors and turn them into true HID projectors. i dont have the e-mail in front of me but the cost, which included: parts, labor, shipping, etc., was roughly around $650-700.

now i read the articles above and understand that theres a difference between true HID and an HID kit that gives the "HID look". but would any of you seriously pay $650-700 to have a set of HID's retrofitted to a set of projectors?? i say phuck that, ill just pay $200 for a set of not so real HIDs for the look and stay away from doing alot of drivnig in the rain or long trips as night. i mean i cant see my stock bulbs in the rain as it is now, so not a big difference. also, they were charging $150 (i think) to change my fog light bulbs to the bright yellow Lexus fog light bulbs. maybe im wrong but i can get a set of yellow bulbs for my fog lights off Ebay for 20 bucks.

i guess if you have the money laying around then it would be smarter to go for the retrofit, ofcourse i know you can DIY for much cheaper, but i dont have time nor the expierence neccesary to not phuck something up. i just think thats a lot of money for some bulbs and a projector lense.

if you just put bulbs in your head light's you will get a glare and that is not a good thing
you will get pulldover
the hid are a lot brighter and if not focus on the ground you will shine people
check out this site one more time and look at the cut off point
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162142

if you do the search the is a post on the whole deal
if people keep doing this hid in non oem car's will be outlawed
and that is not good

i am just giving my 2 cents
and it is not hard to put them in at all

I found it
I think we should read this one
one of the best write up's I have come across fore hid's
check this out


http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164646

theres gotta be another way to keep the lights from glaring people in the eyes. bc paying that much money is bullshit. and unless someone rights up a good tech article with lots of pictures i doubt ill ever make my own. <----- that was a hint

600 for two simple HID projectors? DAAAMn that cant be right. TRYSTAN how much did you pay for your audi projectors alone? on one of the links you guys posted, there were instruccions on mounting the projector on the headlamp. so I only need the projectors. but I wont pay 600 por those dumb things. tomorow Ill start looking on every auto graveyard to see if i can find a car with the projectors. I want them to look like on the S2000. I think those are the best projectors out there. by the way my HID bulbs are 9003 style. and I wont be installing them until I find the right projector. I really dont want to damage the bulb or anything. cause this things are not cheap. though on my projectors I can see the cutoff line but my HID are 8000k they are blueish and when I installed them they look yellowish. and dont look as bright as HID's are because of my low quality projectors.

but Im willing to experiment with my projectors. any link with instruccions on how to modify the low quality projector?

I just want to clarify:
Although those end pics look like there is glare, I assure you there is none. The cutoff is very sharp, and the lights do not shine in people's eyes. I would take pics of my cutoff, but it's hard for cameras to do it justice.

I paid about 600, but that was for the projectors, the ballast, and that included an extra 150 for my 6000K Ultinons. You can get a whole setup for 450 with 4300K bulbs. You think it's a lot, but like so much in cars you get what you pay for. You want to spend 150 for some universal ebay kit? Go ahead, but expect poor optics and glare. Those cheesy kits are what are illegal, not a true retrofit. As someone posted, I have a walkthru to do it yourself and save a good chunk of money. Or you could really save yourself some money and just buy silverstars. They are whiter and brighter than stock, and a fraction of the cost. But it's not HID.

trystan I just noticed that one of the links a black GST is yours. man those hid look awesome. specially the pic from the inside of the car. nice job. I want mine to look just like those. man unbelevable the difference a quality projector makes.

I had te silverstars on the prjectors and they dont iluminate that well. OK you paid 600 for everything. thats a good price because you got everything. but do you know how much they charged you for the projectors alone? my HID are not from ebay. they are from BMW. BMW sells each ballast alone for $600. of course i didn't pay that for mine

BTW chek out my car at www.cardomain.com/id/armandovivoni

ohhh I found the cost of projectors at hidtech. they go from 95 to 150 a pair. thats a good price. now they say they need the size of the projectors or headlamp. TRYSTAN since you did the mod. do you know the size? I have the same headlamps you do. thanks

Here's the projectors:

Valeo spec projectors (Audi S4 OEM Components) produce amazingly sharp cutoffs with abundant amount of blue and purple spectrums above the cutoffs. These are some of the most colorful projectors available. The Valeo's are recommended for retrofit into smaller headlamps.

The dimensions for the Valeo are 5.5" length, 4" width, 3.5" height. The diameter of the lens is 2.5".

Is there a big problem using "HID kits" - in other words, HID bulbs into your standard incandescent projector assemblies?

Yes and no.

If your projectors are decent, you'll more than likely see decent cut-off lines and overall beam pattern on a cursory inspection. Pull up close to a wall, and you'll likely see that your HID bulbs produce much the same cut-off pattern as your original incandescents did, and from the driver's seat, you'll more than likely see "the same" illumination pattern. Don't believe me? Hop in to a previous-generation Integra w/projectors that have been switched to HID.

However, once you get farther away from the light source, you'll start to see pretty nasty light scatter - your cut-off won't be nearly as sharp, and you'll start to see glare head-on.

Why? Because the optics of the incandescent lights are designed for just that - the incandescent bulbs. Incandescent filament burns - and thus produces light - with very different characteristics from HID, and this causes enough concern for the factory engineers - those with really, really, really deep pockets for proper R&D - to go the length to design proper, safe, reflector and optics assemblies specifically tailored to HID lighting.

Can you block out the worst of the oncoming glare by fabricating some sort of shield to aid cut-off? I'd say that such a home-project isn't out of the realm of possibility nor practicality. However, even though you'll less-offend oncoming traffic, you'll still get plenty of scatter during bad-weather, and that's definitely not a time you'll want to have inferior lighting.

The question of will you see better, in the case of the bulb-only retrofits, is, in our case with DSMs, going to depend highly on the projector assembly and its optics. If that's crappy to begin with, there's no reason to believe that a switch to HID will net you any more benefit. In other words, the switch to HID isn't going to be a cure. IMHO, seeing the vast amount of complaints of rather horrible beam pattern and light throw from aftermarket projector kits for the 2Gs, you're much better off just doing things right, and doing a full (i.e. optics/reflector + bulb) retrofit. Otherwise, I'd advise a good auxiliary low-beam system, but that in and of itself presents the problem of foreground vs. long-range lighting which itself is detrimental, according to some.

As far as legality is concerned, by the book, yes, just about all - if not all - of the bulb-only retrofit systems are illegal.

But then again, so is driving above the speed limit.

Will you get busted?

Probably only if you have your headlights grossly misaligned and have them aimed so high up as to totally offend oncoming traffic - otherwise, a combination of typically at least passable close-range cutoff as well as how low our vehicles sit to the road, plus some considerate aiming of your improper retrofit, should not produce much complaint. Going the extra mile and not getting bulbs that produce light that is visibly too blue/purple should further keep you out of trouble with respect to law enforcement.

-A
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