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Recessed HID

nik12937

New member
Basically, I don't have the know how or money to retrofit projectors on my GP, and from what I've heard the ones from Spyder... suck.

I'm ordering HID's, but I don't want to blind other drivers (or get pulled over), and I know I can try just aiming my headlights farther down, but would it be possible to simply have the HID's mounted slightly farther back in the stock housing to give a more "correct" pattern? I figured the biggest (or easiest to fix) reason HID's shine EVERYWHERE in stock housings is because they sit too far forward...

I actually got this idea from a search, I read something about the difference in mounting depth between HID's and halogen bulbs and I thought this up...
 


yes, it has been done. you basically use a spacer on the bulb so that it sits out farther. the exact measurement of the spacer alludes me though.
 
I'm thinking the spacer should alter the distance to allow the light emitting portion of the HID to sit where the light emitting part of the halogen would be, so when I get my HID's in I'll try lining up the base of both lights and measuring the distance between the two.

Would you happen to know where you put the spacer? I'll definitely try several distances when I get them and make a "how to" with pictures and such, save some people the trouble I'm likely to have :D

Edit: Maybe I'll just wear some rubber gloves and be very careful... and adjust the light while it's on until I see a good pattern, then measure the space with a caliper or such... might be dangerous but I want to get this right...
 
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the spacer would for sure have to go between the bulb and the housing, but the problem is that youre no longer going to be able to use the locking ring unless you do something custom.
 
And for the record, these are no good? 04-08 Pontiac Grand Prix Halo Projector Headlights - Black

I heard bad reviews about the Spyder ones, and now that I've looked around, EVERY projector for 04+ seems to be this model, just rebranded... but it seems like the reason they didn't work out for some people is because these are actually meant for halogens, i.e. you have to recess the HID's like in the stock housing. I could be wrong, but on another forum that I'd rather not join, a member recessed his and the pattern looked pretty good actually... I'll post a link if anyone would like to see, but I have to see if that's against forum rules, not too sure.

DSCF3920.JPG


^Decent side by side comparison of the 9006 halogen vs HID. The filaments of both seem to be close to begin with, so the amount of adjustment should hopefully be minimal...
 
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