HID Headlights?

LS6 Tommy

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 15, 2004
15,847
1
38
North Jersey
You have some absolutely very valid points, so first let me say thanks for updating me on some things. I'll admit forgetting about the H4 HID bulbs & the cars that had factory HID without projectors. I was flat wrong. I may have come off sounding like I want people to avoid retrofitting HID like the plague. I'm not. Uncountable guys have done it, using both the cheapo Ebay stuff & well thought out systems like you mentioned. They are obviously happy.

I didn't mean to have Daniel Stern's link there to try to prove my point. I just put it there so the OP had access to the info about the relay kits & incandescent upgrades.

As I do now & then, I'm just throwing in my $.02 playing Devil's Advocate because I just want all our members to get to hear as much info as possible from both the "pro" & "con" points of view to help them plan their stuff.

I'm still not being argumentative, but now let me make my friendly rebuttal. :lol: Those H4 HID bulbs indeed have a reflector, but I'm pretty sure they're not designed to be a drop-in replacement for an H4 incandescent bulb. Do they work? Yes. Are they brighter? Oh yeah yes. Are they optimized? Probably just a question of subjectivity, but I can't see how. In terms of proper optics, the housing must be designed for a HID from the word go. The Lexus & Prius you mentioned did not have projectors, but the housings were designed for HID from the beginning. It wasn't just a standard H4 incandescent bulb housing they stuck an HID into. Both the G35 & the Prius use H4 Halogen bulbs on the standard headlights & HB5 HID bulbs for the HID headlights. The bulbs are not interchangeable. They both have different part numbers for the HID & Halogen headlight housings, too. All I'm saying is if it were as simple as swapping the bulb & adding the ballasts, the OEMs wouldn't have two different assemblies.

I didn't say you will completely lose your high beams or low beams. I just said it would be a lot more expensive to do it.

In the long run, I always say "it's YOUR car, do what YOU want with it". I firmly believe that just because someone wants to do something I may not do doesn't make them "wrong" or stupid. I also love the fact that we can disagree on issues here & put our points forward without hurling insults & hopefully everybody finds out what they want to know. That's one of the reasons why MalibuRacing.com is the best G-body website on earth.

Thanks for airing things out with me. Hopefully we got decent info out for the members.

Tommy
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
I love respectable information full rebuttals, it's the only way mature people can have conversations and learn from each other.

That being said... I'm not quite sure where you are getting your part numbers for the G35 or the Prius, but many of the vehicles using HID's from the factory are using the same kind of bulb. It is used on many vehicles by different manufacturers.

You will find either the D1R, D1S, or D2R. The Inifniti and the prius have the D2R, the Escalade has the D1R, and the D1S is a newer style bulb that has the ignitor built on to the base of the bulb eliminating the ballast.

I'll completely agree with you that the bulbs should not be interchanged between housings, however if you can safely aim the headlights then why not? They give a great clean crisp look to the front of your vehicle rather than a dull burning element from the days of Benjamin Franklin.

And truthfully HID days are numbered with so many manufacturer's switching to variant LED lighting in their headlights, I've been reading on some of the new ideas they are coming out with and I can't wait to get my hands on the new technology. I want to crack them and figure out ways to use them. Most of these are available overseas but out government lacks in keeping up with them.
 

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
1
38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
I haven't read the full replies, but I'm still considering HID myself. I would likely use a bi xenon style, where part of the filament is covered until a solenoid is triggered... probably try it in my current housings (already have H4s on the Malibu), and then decide whether or not I would want a projector. The Retrofit Source is one site I've been pooking at stuff, they have small retrofit projectors to get a more correct projector for HID.
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
If you have a choice don't get the diamond cut headlights for the HID's, get the headlights that have diffusers on the front lense like the original sealed beams do. The light will scatter better than a solid clear lens and you won't blind oncoming traffic.
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
don't get me wrong they are a great addition if you are going to keep an incandescent bulb, but the flimsy reflector in them won't sufficiently scatter the light from an HID set-up.
 

LS6 Tommy

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 15, 2004
15,847
1
38
North Jersey
TTLSX418 said:
You will find either the D1R, D1S, or D2R. The Inifniti and the prius have the D2R, the Escalade has the D1R, and the D1S is a newer style bulb that has the ignitor built on to the base of the bulb eliminating the ballast.


Yeah, IDK what I was thinking when I typed HB5. D2R is what I SHOULD have typed. I can't even blame spell check on that one! :lol:

Tommy
 

TTLSX418

Amateur Racer
Apr 23, 2013
108
0
0
Baton Rouge, La
Doober said:
The scattering is why I'm considering a projector. I had a 300ZX last year with some drop-in HIDs in a glass housing. They were bright as @$#% but, like you said, when they weren't aimed almost right at the ground they blinded everybody else.

Yeah to be honest I've contemplated taking them off and replacing them with the factory set-up because with the car hitting as hard as it does it makes one of the reflectors in mine bounce. That's annoying because while I let it warm up it looks like it is having a seizure because the reflector is bouncing so much.

You get what you paid for tho, like Tommy said... the more money you spend the better quality kit you get and retro-fitting a projector is the best way. So clean too.
 

Wagon Master

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 16, 2012
125
1
0
New Jersey
Wow, i'm really impressed with the info on HID's and the level of maturity of the members of this forum. That exchange on any other forum could have gone down hill very fast and it didn't here.

I already purchased the clear Diamond cut glass before TTLSX418 suggested not to. But supposedly the glass has the "european" light pattern that some of the newer cars have. See here http://rimiusa.com/index.php?main_page=page_2. So hopefully i can aim them properly as to not blind oncoming traffic.

Now, regarding the relay kits, I have a question. My Malibu has the 4 headlight layout so it works as follows; in low beam, just the low beam filiment is lit and in high beam (in addition to the dedicated high beam headlight) just the high beam filiment is lit on the lo/hi headlight. Will the relay kit keep the (HID) low beam lit when going to high beam? Do I really need the Bi-Xenon for the lo/hi headlight or can i just put a single H4 HID in the lo/hi headlight position, which the relay will keep on in low and high beam, and just have the dedicated high beam headlight switch on and off?

I have a Pontiac G8 with factory HID headlights and that is the way the lo/hi works in that car (HID lo on all the time and the hi switching on and off).

Who knew that putting in HID's could get so involved? :)

thanks,
Scott
 

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