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Seeing the road



So I've been thinking a lot about this and I think I am going to go with HIDs in new stock housings solely because of the money factor.
 
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nos4blood70 said:
And the labor for aiming and installing everything... You guys think a retro is like changing oil or something?
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Installing the retro inside the housings, or installing the housings with the retro already done?

I consider myself fairly mechanically adept. Move just a little too quickly and you'll have a cracked lens. As Classy Pontiac said, the adhesive is $50 by itself.

Plug and play retros for $375 sounds cheap to me. When I get a few extra sheckles, I might take Classy Pontiac up on that offer.
 
I bought a pair of hids for my stock housings.. LOTS of light on the road. I get flash once or twice a month.. We have too many stupid drivers around here for me to worry about putting a retro fit just so they won't be blinded... My safety comes first!! :-)
 


tc300 said:
I bought a pair of hids for my stock housings.. LOTS of light on the road. I get flash once or twice a month.. We have too many stupid drivers around here for me to worry about putting a retro fit just so they won't be blinded... My safety comes first!! :-)
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Wouldn't blinding oncoming traffic affect your safety as well? Just saying
 
Nope seeing as how natural response is to steer away from the light... I had the same feelings.. As long as I can see that's all that matters.
 
Ok, so worst case scenario here. They swerve right, hit the car or some object to the right of them. Which in turn causes a chain reaction accident. Playing devils advocate. My understanding here (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that the HID in a reflective housing causes a lot of unfocused light and glare.

Wouldn't the ideal safe situation be to not go HID until you have a housing that properly utilizes it? Not looking to argue with anyone but if my driving ability was affected due to someones lights glaring in my face, I would not be pleasant about it.
 
Well do you run off the road every time someone forgets to turn their high beams off before they go by you? Same basic thing. Does it cause glare? Yes. Is it as bad as everyone says? No I don't think so. I ran HIDs in stock-style housings for over a year. I only got flashed a TOTAL of 4-5 times.
 
Most times I don't flash. The light is still glaring in my face, however in some cases I can't tell if it's highbeams or not. So I don't flash in case I'm wrong.
 


Iceman6669 said:
Well do you run off the road every time someone forgets to turn their high beams off before they go by you? Same basic thing. Does it cause glare? Yes. Is it as bad as everyone says? No I don't think so. I ran HIDs in stock-style housings for over a year. I only got flashed a TOTAL of 4-5 times.
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What HIDs did you run?
 
Classy Pontiac said:
The relay harness is a hoax. You dont need it. Basically does nothing. Supposedly "saves" your factory harness. Factory already pushes out 12 volts to a bulb, whats the difference if it pushes 12 volts to a ballast?....Nothing! If the harness is free, then fine, its worth it, other than that, i wouldnt spend a penny for one.
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Really? So you think... You are more than doubling the AMPERAGE on the headlight circuit when you upgrade to 55w HID's. it might work for a while, but sooner or later something is gonna break, or burn, lol! It's not the voltage that's important and you USE the relay and separate wiring harness that is made to accommodate the higher amperage and avoid any potential failure which could result in a nice little burn, I.e., fire!

like I mentioned earlier, look/search for the HID thread on properly aiming HID's in stock housings. All it takes is a drill bit, small tap and small screws you can buy at a good hardware store. I think the thread was on clubgp, lol, I claim no credit, it was BACKINBLACK who posted it.

basic gist of it was...

You want to duplicate where the center of the filament is, while seated in the housing. If you measure this in the stock lamp, it's approximately 1.75" from the seat/flange of the lamp holder. You can use a #43 drill and drill three hole under where the rubber gasket ring is. These holes get tapped to 4-40 and you use the small Allen head 4-40 screws here. The little tab inside the lamp holder needs to be removed too. Then you'll have to play a bit, pulling the HID lamp in/out to the 1.75", lock it down and put it in the housing and see what it looks like. Don't forget to put the rubber gasket back and don't tighten the screws too much.

(If you're interested I have screen caps of the original thread, pm me.)

anyways, I adjusted my HID's a little low to avoid the possibility of glare, flashing, etc. the 55's light much brighter and are fine. Without the focusing lenses of retrofits, they won't throw light further up the road, but they still are worth it in my book.

good luck
 
coolone said:
Really? So you think... You are more than doubling the AMPERAGE on the headlight circuit when you upgrade to 55w HID's. it might work for a while, but sooner or later something is gonna break, or burn, lol! It's not the voltage that's important and you USE the relay and separate wiring harness that is made to accommodate the higher amperage and avoid any potential failure which could result in a nice little burn, I.e., fire!

like I mentioned earlier, look/search for the HID thread on properly aiming HID's in stock housings. All it takes is a drill bit, small tap and small screws you can buy at a good hardware store. I think the thread was on clubgp, lol, I claim no credit, it was BACKINBLACK who posted it.

basic gist of it was...

You want to duplicate where the center of the filament is, while seated in the housing. If you measure this in the stock lamp, it's approximately 1.75" from the seat/flange of the lamp holder. You can use a #43 drill and drill three hole under where the rubber gasket ring is. These holes get tapped to 4-40 and you use the small Allen head 4-40 screws here. The little tab inside the lamp holder needs to be removed too. Then you'll have to play a bit, pulling the HID lamp in/out to the 1.75", lock it down and put it in the housing and see what it looks like. Don't forget to put the rubber gasket back and don't tighten the screws too much.

(If you're interested I have screen caps of the original thread, pm me.)

anyways, I adjusted my HID's a little low to avoid the possibility of glare, flashing, etc. the 55's light much brighter and are fine. Without the focusing lenses of retrofits, they won't throw light further up the road, but they still are worth it in my book.

good luck
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I'm not trying to be an ass, but I had to wonder how a 55 watt HID bulb drew more current than a 55 watt halogen bulb. Ohms Law suggests that at 14.7 volts, which is nominal automotive voltage, there would be about 4 amps per bulb either way.

Then I considered start up and warm up. Maybe that's where the draw is. It doesn't look like that's an issue either. At any rate, the fuse or breaker will blow if the current exceeds the capacity of the wire. That's what the fuse is there for.

  • From a cold start, both 50/55 watt HID kits draw significant current, over 10 amps for almost 250ms. This is not long enough to blow a 7.5 amp fuse.
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douger said:
I'm not trying to be an ass, but I had to wonder how a 55 watt HID bulb drew more current than a 55 watt halogen bulb. Ohms Law suggests that at 14.7 volts, which is nominal automotive voltage, there would be about 4 amps per bulb either way.

Then I considered start up and warm up. Maybe that's where the draw is. It doesn't look like that's an issue either. At any rate, the fuse or breaker will blow if the current exceeds the capacity of the wire. That's what the fuse is there for.

[/LIST]
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Hahahaha, not being an ass at all. Glad you said something, made me look as to why I posted it and found... was somehow or another thinking the fog lamp wattage, lmao! My bad!

I still recommend the relay wiring harness though :D as its usually just a few bucks more and isolates the HID wiring from the vehicle wiring.
 
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