HID Headlights?

Wagon Master

Amateur Racer
Feb 16, 2012
125
1
0
New Jersey
Has anyone converted their H4656/H4651 headlight set up to HID? There is so much out there, especially on eBay, it's hard to tell what's good and what's junk. And I would like to buy from some one reputable. What should I look out for when buying one of these set ups?

thanks
 

80Grand_LeMans

Dragway Regular
Jun 4, 2008
1,249
0
0
Peabody MA
All I did when I put HID's in my 76 cutlass was order the glass housing from advance auto and then get a H7 HID kit (i think it was h7).
 

Wagon Master

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 16, 2012
125
1
0
New Jersey
I took your idea of getting the glass first and then get the HID's. Found this website that sells the glass, http://rimiusa.com/. The have a kit where you can buy both the low and high beam glass so they match. I went with the clear diamond ones. So now I just have to find a H4 HID kit.
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
I had some in diamond cut headlights too. It depends on what conversion kit you get, most of the conversion headlights (from sealed beam to replaceable bulbs) use the H4 bulb.

Make sure you pick the right temperature, the higher you go the less visible light the bulb will produce. I stick with 8k on all my vehicles because it has great light out put and the color is perfect.
 

Wagon Master

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 16, 2012
125
1
0
New Jersey
Thanks for the advice on the color temperature, I was debating between the 6k and 8k, so i'll go with the 8k.
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
No prob to me 8k is the perfect temperature for those head light housings specifically. They weren't designed for HID bulbs in the first place the lower the kelvin the bright the light is and vice versa. Manufacturers typically use 4300k and 6k which is fine for projector equipped vehicles, because they can aim the light without blinding on-coming drivers with ridiculous amounts of light that is not aimed correctly.

You can aim those housing successfully but getting a softer light color like 8k will keep oncoming traffic from flashing their brights at you. BTW on our cars the best thing to do, is to get the relayed harness that runs off of battery power and uses the bulb plug as a 12v trigger. Running the HID's right off the plug will reduce their life significantly.

Hope this helps.
 

Wagon Master

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 16, 2012
125
1
0
New Jersey
In reading up about the HID's, I did see some talk about the relays and most people said that it wasn't necessary. But for the few bucks it will cost, I'll go with your recommendation and put it in.

Thanks!
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
yeah it's a small insurance cost to make sure you don't have to keep on changing ballast, because if you hardwire them into the system you will be changing them. I've had HID kits on all the cars I've driven since 04' and back then the very first kit I bought was $350 bucks. Like with all good things the market was flooded with dirt cheap imitations.

I've gotten all my kits from vvme.com and if something ever does happen they'll replace it for free you just have to ship it to them. Normally you can save yourself the hassle by just getting the harness.

The reason I recommend them is because upon vehicle start-up there is a surge of electricity that goes through the harness of any vehicle. If it is hooked directly to the bulb harness it can zap the ballast and make it flicker upon it igniting the bulb or just eventually go out all together. The harness keep the line dead until you yourself hit the headlight switch. Plus the extra wiring allows for a tidey install.

Sry for the book, but even though its only like $30-40 for a decent kit, burning out crap and having to ship it back in the long run will cost way more.

Post some pics of your car when you put them on, I have a long roof myself but no HID's as of yet.
 

LS6 Tommy

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 15, 2004
15,847
1
38
North Jersey
Most of you guys know I'm not one to flame anyone, so don't take this as an attempt to insult anyone that has HID lighting. There's LOTS of misinformation floating around on car websites about converting to HID.

H4 bulbs are not HID. They're incandescent. Keeping that in mind, using a "plug & play" HID bulb in an H4 reflector is a sure way to spend good money to put less light on the road & blind people coming the other way. HID bulbs use an electric arc to make light. Incandescents use a filament. The HID arc is perpendicular to the H4 bulb filament. There's no possible way to use the reflector for an H4 bulb with an HID bulb & get any type of usable beam pattern. The HIDs are designed for projector lenses, period. Another thing most don't mention is that you will almost definitely lose either your low beams or your high beams unless you spend some pretty good money.

My suggestion would be to get in touch with Daniel Stern. He can hook you up with a relay kit, REALLY good H4 reflectors & bulbs to optimize your headlights without spending anywhere near as much as you would for a true high/low beam HID system with decent electronics/ballasts. At the very least, there's good info there to read.


Now, if you're dead set on getting an HID conversion kit, get relays like TTLSX418 mentioned & don't be talked into getting anything without a separate, quality ballast.

Tommy
 
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TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
LS6 Tommy said:
Most of you guys know I'm not one to flame anyone, so don't take this as an attempt to insult anyone that has HID lighting. There's LOTS of misinformation floating around on car websites about converting to HID.

H4 bulbs are not HID. They're incandescent. Keeping that in mind, using a "plug & play" HID bulb in an H4 reflector is a sure way to spend good money to put less light on the road & blind people coming the other way. HID bulbs use an electric arc to make light. Incandescents use a filament. The HID arc is perpendicular to the H4 bulb filament. There's no possible way to use the reflector for an H4 bulb with an HID bulb & get any type of usable beam pattern. The HIDs are designed for projector lenses, period. Another thing most don't mention is that you will almost definitely lose either your low beams or your high beams unless you spend some pretty good money.

My suggestion would be to get in touch with Daniel Stern. He can hook you up with a relay kit, REALLY good H4 reflectors & bulbs to optimize your headlights without spending anywhere near as much as you would for a true high/low beam HID system with decent electronics/ballasts. At the very least, there's good info there to read.


Now, if you're dead set on getting an HID conversion kit, get relays like TTLSX418 mentioned & don't be talked into getting anything without a separate, quality ballast.

Tommy

Ok there are a number of things that are wrong in this response so I'm going to pick this a-part and shed some light on the subject.

1.) First there IS an H4 HID bulb and there IS an H4 incandescent bulb. The HID bulb just has the same mounting base as the incandescent which allows the HID part to be retrofitted AND the HID bulb (or the correct HID bulb) has the proper reflectors built onto the bulb base.

2.) ALL HID bulb arcs are perpendicular to their bulb, even the ones that come stock on vehicles from the factory. The electric arc is ignited by the ballast and heats the noble gases (xenon, krypton, and argon) that are in different concentrations coherent to the temperature you purchase when you order the lights. That is why the lights look like they "pop" when they turn on and get brighter as they warm up, because they are in fact warming up all the gases. (4300, 6k, 8k, 10k, 12k, 15k, 30k,)

3.) HID bulbs ARE NOT designed strictly for projector housings. There are plenty of vehicles that come from the factory with normal headlights, having no projectors in them, that utilize the HID bulb. For example... first gen G35 coupe/sedan, first gen prius (that have the option), second gen escalades.... the list goes on. It is all about aiming the reflector. The bulbs are better used in projectors lenses but are not specifically for them.

4.) You WILL NOT lose your either your low or high beams if you purchase an HID kit. They have what is called single beam HID kits and Bi-xenon kits which have a magnetic actuator that will pull the actual bulb back into the position the high beam would take. I know this because I have some on my daily, and they work great. Again that is called BI-XENON. Google it.

Don't be scared of HID kits, they put out GREAT LIGHT but using them safely and aiming them properly is KEY to being friendly to everyone on the road.

I read that site you posted and he has a lot of great points, but you don't have to go through retrofitting a projector lense to get great light output from one of these kits. I know he argues against every single point that I have made, but I am basing my knowledge/experience off of trial and error not reading books or cruising ebay for cheap knock-offs.

Don't be afraid, these kits will work safely and effectively if you take the time to set them up right.

No disrespect to LS6Tommy, but that's just the plain truth. If you have any more questions let me know.
 
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