Lets see your HID Retrofit!

[BoostedinSoFla]

Before I make my post, I just wanna say that I was very annoyed 15 mins ago by a ricer Civic that pulled up behind. The glare almost blinded my ass from looking in my rear view mirror.

Now, InfiniteGSX; your first post that I commended you on were somewhat correct but now you've taken it to another level with incorrect shit. Like FiReBReTHa said, please post up some literature about OEM going over 5000k. It seems like some of the shit you get but some of it you don't. AZDAVE's post pretty much summed it up. I'll be waiting.

 

[Killa_dsm]

Wow after seeing everyones nice Retrofit job I think I'm gonna change my mind on getting the "hid kits" for my stock housing. I didn't think the glare would be that bad if they are angled down, but I guess it still makes a difference. Thanks guys, you convinced me to do a retrofit later on down the road when I'm ready, it just looks soooo clean!

 

[gsxAWDdsm692]

Yea. I didn't do my research before I started messing with HID kits and such. I just saw my buddy add the same HID kit that I got on his RSX and you can just tell the difference between. His reflector housing was made for HID bulbs and the stock 2gb reflector housing wasn't. It probably makes sense that Acura uses the same headlight housings for halogen and their HID kits, it works for both.

Looks like I will be attempting a HID retrofit myself. I have a brand new set of 2gb headlights that I bought just for the HID kit I purchased and an older pair that came with my car. Since I already have a really nice 9006 4300K HID kit, could someone tell me a good set of projectors to get that will fit 9006 bulbs? I saw from what I read that the TSX projectors will fit, is that correct? I'd appreciate the help. Thanks guys.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

gsxAWDdsm692, Not only that. Reflector housings use a different HID bulb. They use a D2R bulb. It has a small little plate or masking on the bulb thats supposed to block all of the beam that produces glare. Something I should have bought. Instead I bought D2S bulbs which are designed for Projectors only. 2000 Nissan Altima's have Reflector HID's. They use a D2R Bulb. I belive its HID Planet or another HID Place shows the differences.

Now that I think about it... RSX has OEM HID's? Unless I'm confused he probably just installed a 9006 D2R Bulb. If I'm wrong on this, thats fine! I just have never seen a RSX with OEM HID's. Therefore if I am correct, the Reflector housing in the RSX's would be no different then that in a Eclipse. So the only difference could be a D2R bulb over a D2S. Lately I've been thinking of installing a little plate under the bulb, to block the beam going down on the reflector housing, which is creating some of the glare. But then again I'll be doing a new retrofit soon anyways.

And for anyone that wants to argue with me, http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-bulbs.htm

What is the difference between D2R and D2S?

The main difference is the U-shaped masking on the D2R that blocks out unpredictable light in certain directions. Also, the base has different notches. Name of base is P32-d2 for D2S and P32-d3 for D2R. D2R was developed so that Mercedes could still use their reflector based headlights in the mid 1990s. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used to accomplish a straight line, but a mask painted on the bulb was cheaper to make and had better precision. Other (near) luxury cars (Lexus, Infinity and Acura) followed Mercedes and equipped their cars with D2R bulbs in reflector based headlamps. Using a D2R in anything else than a OEM HID headlight designed for the D2R bulb makes no sense. It will only reduce output. Some HID kits comes with D2R bulbs. Some amateur kit designers will even claim that D2R genrally reduces glare in a retrofit. This is nonsense. The D2R bulb masking is around 3-4 a'clock and 8-9 o'clock when bulb is in right position. Those are not the (only) sectors that creates glare.
As an example, here is the data on Philips 2 versions:
D2S: 3200lm, 4250K, 91lm/W, 35W
D2R: 2800lm, 4150K, 80lm/W, 35W

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[gsxAWDdsm692]

gsxAWDdsm692, Not only that. Reflector housings use a different HID bulb. They use a D2R bulb. It has a small little plate under the bulb thats supposed to block all of the beam that produces glare. Something I should have bought. Instead I bought D2S bulbs which are designed for Projectors only. 2000 Nissan Altima's have Reflector HID's. They use a D2R Bulb. I belive its HID Planet or another HID Place shows the differences.

Now that I think about it... RSX has OEM HID's? Unless I'm confused he probably just installed a 9006 D2R Bulb. If I'm wrong on this, thats fine! I just have never seen a RSX with OEM HID's. Therefore if I am correct, the Reflector housing in the RSX's would be no different then that in a Eclipse. So the only difference could be a D2R bulb over a D2S. Lately I've been thinking of installing a little plate under the bulb, to block the beam going down on the reflector housing, which is creating the glare. But then again I'll be doing a new retrofit soon anyways.

And for anyone that wants to argue with me, http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-bulbs.htm

I am not too sure if the entire headlight housing for a RSX is different between the one that comes with HID's or the one that comes with halogen bulbs. RSX's have the option of OEM HID's I am sure about that.

One thing that I also would like to know is that I see that people retrofit into the eBay projector headlights. Can say, TSX projectors be retrofitted into a 2gb reflector style headlight? I'd like to know what the best way to go is.

Right now the HID kit I have now in my stock 2gb headlights looks terrible. I will post up some pictures tomorrow night of em. There is one huge hot spot per headlight. Just wanna know if I have to buy yet another set of headlights to get this done the right way. I just have a fetish for sexy HID headlamps.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

And for your question about the Projectors, any non HID Projector will work. But the easiest to come by and use, would have to be from a Daewoo or Hyundai. DO NOT touch Integra Projectors, as they are one with the high beam. I've noticed Daewoo Projectors are kinda square on thier mounting base and are pretty much perfect for mounting in a retrofit. They also hold a 9006 bulb. Almost all Non HID Projectors hold a 9006 Bulb, minus a few here and there. 92-96 Lexus ES300's use 9006 and 9007 bulbs in thier dual Projector headlights. A Projector for lows, and highs. I don't know how thier base is designed... but its a thought.

Alot of people love arguing with me about this one, but I located, inside of a wrecked BMW at the local U Pull It, some Projectors that had a 9006 Socket Base. Which pretty much lead me to belive, Non HID Projectors. But everyone says that BMW Never came with non HID Projectors. Thats what I used in my last setup, which I posted pictures of above. Light was amazing.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

I am not too sure if the entire headlight housing for a RSX is different between the one that comes with HID's or the one that comes with halogen bulbs. RSX's have the option of OEM HID's I am sure about that.

One thing that I also would like to know is that I see that people retrofit into the eBay projector headlights. Can say, TSX projectors be retrofitted into a 2gb reflector style headlight? I'd like to know what the best way to go is.

Right now the HID kit I have now in my stock 2gb headlights looks terrible. I will post up some pictures tomorrow night of em. There is one huge hot spot per headlight. Just wanna know if I have to buy yet another set of headlights to get this done the right way. I just have a fetish for sexy HID headlamps.

I'm actually going to be doing a retrofit inside my stock 2gb headlights... I'm going to build my own custom headlights. I did a retrofit before in ebay Projectors. Another guy who posted above did the same, I think he used TSX Projectors.

I forgot what page it is, and how to find it... But maybe I can find it, it shows stock 2gb headlight with a Projector housing bolted on the inside. I dislike how he mounted it... but it works.

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found here... http://home.gwu.edu/~nloke/eclipsehidretro.html

 

[gsxAWDdsm692]

I'm actually going to be doing a retrofit inside my stock 2gb headlights... I'm going to build my own custom headlights. I did a retrofit before in ebay Projectors. Another guy who posted above did the same, I think he used TSX Projectors.

I forgot what page it is, and how to find it... But maybe I can find it, it shows stock 2gb headlight with a Projector housing bolted on the inside. I dislike how he mounted it... but it works.

haha yea thats what I have been looking for. I found that a while ago and thats what I am talking about. That looks like what I am trying to do. Might be too hard for though. It looks like mounting HID projectors in a eBay projector housing is a hell of a lot easier. I donno, any suggestions?

 

[InfiniteGSX]

That guy mounted things soo wrong from the looks... I'm either going to use some universal Hella Projectors which you see on race cars, and are made for retrofits, mounted as far back in the housing as possible... then make it look OEM. Or I'm going to use some Bi-Xenon Projectors. The only thing you gotta do is just make sure you get the projector mounted perfectly level, and so it wont move around through the bumps and lose its leveling. then you just use the stock leveler. I have 2 sets of headlights so I have some room to spare, for error.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

Also, there's a talon going around that has his 2ga stock headlights painted black with a retrofit... and it looks hella bad ass!

 

[gsxAWDdsm692]

That guy mounted things soo wrong from the looks... I'm either going to use some universal Hella Projectors which you see on race cars, and are made for retrofits, mounted as far back in the housing as possible... then make it look OEM. Or I'm going to use some Bi-Xenon Projectors. The only thing you gotta do is just make sure you get the projector mounted perfectly level, and so it wont move around through the bumps and lose its leveling. then you just use the stock leveler. I have 2 sets of headlights so I have some room to spare, for error.

Yea thats what I was going to ask you. Those things had to be mounted pretty god damn good you know?
I donno what I'm gonna decide to do. Maybe cutting a hole out in the reflector to meet the roundness of the back of the projector could work. Secure it with epoxy, silicone or hot glue. that sounds butcher though. I donno. I got some thinking and research to do. Thanks for the help bro. I appreciate it.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

I was just going to drill a hole the exact size of the rear of the projector, so it fits snug... doesn't move around much if any... and then bolt its ass down. Doing the epoxy would be a good idea if you are capable of screwing the back headlight plugs on afterwards, to seal it. But you need to make sure there is no possible way to move them.

 

[Beemer92]

Since we are on the subject I have a question for all of you. I had planned on redoing my oem headlights on my Talon. I would prefer to not get a premade setup from ebay. I would much prefer doing a custom setup. I'm leaning more towards projectors for the lowbeams than halogens. Any suggestions would be great. I'm in college right now and won't be able to afford the setup till summer.

 

[black_gst]

the last post on this thread was in 2007. read time stamps

 

[GooeyGus]

Even though this is old, I will post my 1GA PSEUDO-retro. It's the best that I've come up with so far. Still trying to get OEM projectors in the headlights, but here's what I have so far:

HID's in the head lights, 4300K, headlights are wired to always stay down, except when a switch is triggered. This makes the light output less than the original sealed-beams, but bear with me. I keep them down because they are reflector housings, and send light EVERYWHERE. Basically they are just there to "look" like headlights so I dont get into any trouble with the law. My main lighting comes from another source.

I ripped out my factory fog lights, and mounted some nice projectors. They have a GREAT cutoff line, and come highly recommended from the folks at the HID planet forum. If you've ever browsed that forum, you know that they are serious about HID, and only suggest good quality HID projectors. These are also 4300K and provide 99% of all my light.

Now, the factory pop-up reflector headlights DO serve a good purpose. They are aimed way up (which doesn't make any difference when they aren't popped up). This allows me to use them as my high beams. I push a button and *voila*, headlights pop up and I have some pretty awesome high beams.

Yes, the projectors are mounted a bit low, but the 1Ga is VERY hard to work with as far as retrofitting goes. Anyway, here are the pictures!!

Just "fake" headlights:

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As you can see, no glare to oncoming drivers, but hardly any light output either.

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Now, here is with the projectors. Note how the "fake headlights" are no brighter than the projectors above the cutoff line, just to get an idea of how little light they actually put out. My iPhone camera makes them appear brighter than they actually are.

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Output of projectors... lots of light! And they throw very far. If you look at the mailbox post, you can see the nice cutoff of the projectors.

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Here is a picture right at the cutoff line. This is why HID's appear to flash blue or violet in your rear view mirror, when they are actually white.

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And here is below the cutoff line... blinding white!

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And one last picture of the whole thing:

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I hope this helps some of you 1Ga guys with your retrofit. It really is a pain to get anything to fit. I'm still working on the headlights, so I can actually have projectors in the right location. But so far I am very happy with the results I got with my current setup. Oncoming cars get less light in their eyes than a regular halogen reflector would throw at them, yet I can see almost like it's daylight. It's great!!!

Oh and to throw in a few corrections to the thread: NO car was ever made with bulbs higher than 5000k installed from the factory in the united states. Also, just because you have a re-based D2R bulb doesn't mean you can throw it in any halogen reflector and it will work just like an OEM HID reflector setup. The HID reflectors are designed SPECIFICALLY for HID bulbs, a D2R bulb in a regular halogen housing will still perform VERY poorly.

4300K is perfectly white, puts off the MOST lumens per watt, and just looks gorgeous. Anything above 5000k (6000K at the absolute most) looks ricey IMO. Now that HID's are so cheap, every kid goes out and buys a 10,000K kit for his car, trying to have purple lights like the OEM cars, but they dont realize that the purple they see is coming from the cutoff line, not the color of the bulb. A friend of mine put 10,000k HID's in his car and let me drive it. I couldn't see ANYTHING, they are just too damn dim and the color of light is horrible for nighttime driving. He quickly switched to 4300k. 4300K is the way to go.

 

[StManTiS]

There's more of a risk to get pulled over if you have HID's period, weather in "Legal" Projectors or in Non HID Reflector housings. I've seen Stock BMW's get pulled over for thier lighting. But I have never been pulled over.

Another thing, last note... If you buy aftermarket headlights... the projectors inside of them, are cheap peices of isht! Your fog lights produce better light then they do. Thats why so many do retrofits in aftermarket headlights.

I think it must be your region...up here i rolled around with 4 blue HIDs none of which were in a projector and never got pulled over or in trouble for them. The one time a police officer mentioned them is when he pulled me over for a B$ reason and was trying to find something wrong with my car.

 

[FullMetalJack]

Also, what FiReBReTHa meant by "Ricer Kits" are somewhat of what you stated in your previous post; which are installing a cheap HID kit (mainly from Ebay) in your stock headlight housings or even in Ebay projectors. I guess because you're not taking the time to "do it the right way" it's called "rice" nowadays.

yes, that's the way I and all my friends see it. but I see people talking about "illegal" HID kits...? maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the only illegal HIDs are bulbs over 12000k, at least that's the highest temperature they'll let anyone run here. not trying to be a douche, but am I missing something here?

 

[GooeyGus]

ALL HID kits are illegal unless your car came with them from the factory.

Modifying the stock lighting in any way is illegal.

 

[FullMetalJack]

ALL HID kits are illegal unless your car came with them from the factory.

Modifying the stock lighting in any way is illegal.

An "HID kit" is simply bulbs and a ballast for the power source. you aren't really modifying anything, just replacing the bulbs. It must be laws in certain regions that restrict HIDs, but here it's just a different color bulb, as long as the color is above 3500k and below 12000k you're good. retrofitting projectors into a headlight housing may be illegal, but HID bulbs aren't, they're only replacement bulbs down here.

 

[boostedgst523]

Is there any "real" way to get a HID retrofit on a 1ga? My night time visibility is terrible and am almost tempted of getting a police spot light installed.....(Just kidding) Yes, it's that bad at night.

 

[GooeyGus]

An "HID kit" is simply bulbs and a ballast for the power source. you aren't really modifying anything, just replacing the bulbs. It must be laws in certain regions that restrict HIDs, but here it's just a different color bulb, as long as the color is above 3500k and below 12000k you're good. retrofitting projectors into a headlight housing may be illegal, but HID bulbs aren't, they're only replacement bulbs down here.

Replacement bulbs MUST be DOT approved in order to be street legal. Any "kit" bulb is not going to be legal.

And even if your car has OEM HID's, anything above 5000K is not legal for road use.

Is there any "real" way to get a HID retrofit on a 1ga? My night time visibility is terrible and am almost tempted of getting a police spot light installed.....(Just kidding) Yes, it's that bad at night.

Yes there are ways to do it. Take out the sealed beams and fit an OEM projector housing in there.

My problem is that I want to retain my pop-up function. That complicates things quite a bit. Another hurdle with the 1ga is that there is a not a lot of depth in the headlight bucket to work with. Again, if you're not worried about keeping the pop-up function, this isn't as big of a deal.

 

[907gs-t]

Up here in Alaska the Law seem's not to care who run's H.I.D.'s considering I've seen all kind's of Car's & Truck's up here running everything from the 3,000k to 10,000k & everything in between on the street's up here on a daily basis.

 

[FullMetalJack]

Replacement bulbs MUST be DOT approved in order to be street legal. Any "kit" bulb is not going to be legal.

And even if your car has OEM HID's, anything above 5000K is not legal for road use.QUOTE]

Must just be Washington. That's why all the manufacturers say "check local laws". I had 25000k bulbs in mine and the cops just looked at them as they rode by. They were almost the color of the cop car blue lights. Maybe my point is that no cop around here is gonna pull out your headlight and see if it says "DOT Approved" and so whether it's DOT aprroved or not isn't enforced but only the color is enforced.

 

[AndrewD5418]

Replacement bulbs MUST be DOT approved in order to be street legal. Any "kit" bulb is not going to be legal.

And even if your car has OEM HID's, anything above 5000K is not legal for road use.QUOTE]

Must just be Washington. That's why all the manufacturers say "check local laws". I had 25000k bulbs in mine and the cops just looked at them as they rode by. They were almost the color of the cop car blue lights. Maybe my point is that no cop around here is gonna pull out your headlight and see if it says "DOT Approved" and so whether it's DOT aprroved or not isn't enforced but only the color is enforced.

They were deciding whether to pull over your riced up POS or not.

@GooeyGus
Which projectors are you using? Maybe find a smaller one? Bi-xenon too...

 

[ttetzner]

Replacement bulbs MUST be DOT approved in order to be street legal. Any "kit" bulb is not going to be legal.

And even if your car has OEM HID's, anything above 5000K is not legal for road use.QUOTE]

Must just be Washington. That's why all the manufacturers say "check local laws". I had 25000k bulbs in mine and the cops just looked at them as they rode by. They were almost the color of the cop car blue lights. Maybe my point is that no cop around here is gonna pull out your headlight and see if it says "DOT Approved" and so whether it's DOT aprroved or not isn't enforced but only the color is enforced.

I think the average cop is gonna know enough that your 11-21 year old non-high end(Bmmer,Benz etc) car didn't come with HIDS. Even if you don't get pulled over your car will fail inspection because they test your headlights for glare, and where the beam is. Leading you to fail the inspection YouTube - Illegal HID Convesion Kits Explained

I'm still gonna get a set of HIDS with ebay projectors, a few of my friends have gotten pulled over for them but they were all 10k+ kits. I don't think the cops are gonna hassle you for anything 8k or under but you'll fail a proper inspection