Need your opinion guys, I'm planning on buying a HID KIT for my 04 WRX. Has anyone been pulled over before with any HID kits? I heard they are illegal to install, unless it is from the factory...Anyone here know which K is the STi? I think the 10000k is to Blue/purple hue and I might get pulled over. What Kit should I get? 3000k is Yellow and 5300k is more white and 10000k is more blue/purple. I'm also planning on smoking my front Headlights as well, if that helps change your opinion.
id do the 5300k and do a thing layer of tint..my friend did his and they looked light before he installed them but once they were on they were black.. and that was only 3 thin layers of the spray on stuff
Yea..I was thinking of a 2layer of thin coat on the headlines...I have about 6 coats on my taillights now...
5300 Kelvin is the closest to the color temperature of daylight, and will be the easiest on your eyes, while not sacrificing lumen output to achieve higher color temperatures. For the kit, what kind of lamp will it be replacing (i.e. H4, H3, etc...) If you're putting it in a housing that was designed around filament photometrics then it's probably not really worth the money. Housings, especially reflector based units (as opposed to projector, which are the funny little rounded lenses) are designed to take light from a certain location, and disperse it in specified directions. When you swap to something like an arc-lamp (HID) there is no filament, and the arc that replaces the filament is in a different location than the fixture was designed for. This throws off the photometrics of the fixture, and causes light to be thrown in places that it wasn't intended. (Think back to geometry class. Remember the billiards questions, that the ball will bounce off the wall at the exact angle it came in at. Light works the same way) The other issue is that a housing built for a filament based lamp, again, reflector based will be worse than projector based, is designed to throw a certain percentage of light up into the air, off to the sides, and straight ahead. That’s what causes signs, etc... to light up, but a large amount of light is still being directed down to the ground. When you put an arc lamp in one of those fixtures, that same percentage (if not more because of the misplaced light source mentioned in the previous bit) of light is thrown up into the air. So even though you gain lumen output, most of what you gain gets dispersed to places where it's not needed, and becomes wasted. This is what causes it to blind oncoming drivers. If you replace the whole headlight assembly with one that’s designed for an HID, then you get the correct light spread, a nice sharp cutoff as to not blind people, and the areas that are within the spread will have a significantly higher light level. One last bit, even if the kit says it's a genuine Phillips lamp, or one of the manufacturers, it's not quite telling the truth. The lamp itself is actually from the manufacturer, but it's purchased, has the mounting assembly removed, and is inserted into a modified version of whatever lamp your car takes housing. In the OEM factories, they have an extremely low tolerance for error, because 1/10 of a millimeter can make a major photometric difference. The companies who modify and resell these do not have that level of quality control, so it can also be hit or miss on how well placed the center of the arc is in relation to the reflector system. There's my $0.52 on the issue, but if you plan on doing it, 5300 Kelvin would be your best bet for practical use, and the strain on your eyes.
^ i have heard the same thing, and honestly the discussion has been beaten to death about it, but i have ridden in Jason's (readymixx) car and the hid lighting is better then the stock lighting. he has his stock WRX headlights. If there honestly is any diffrence between the WRX, and STi housings, i dont think it is much. If you read anywhere on nasioc you will hear the same thing over and over about how not to use your stock WRX housings, but i dont belive everything i read....
I didn't say that it would be worse, but it's just no where near it's potential. I know it gets talked about a lot, and I've read tons of mis-information on the topic, but I promise that I'm not talking out of my @$$, it is what I do for a living, working with lights, and the big brothers to HID, (HID's are 35 watt), the 500 to 1000 watt arc discharge lamps that are used in moving lights.
agreed, and understand i was at the same intersection he was as to get hid's or not and i read, and read, and read about them and it got me no where, so i just asked jason for a ride and it convinced me.
I was actually thinking of the 8000k...Because of the Blue Hue...It will still be the WRX housing I will use...But with a slight tint on the headlights..I have a week to decide..
If your intentions are for the best lighting that you can get, 5300 is better, if you're more interested in cosmetic effect, then the 8000's or 10k's are your best bet. You will loose actual output with the higher color temps, but it won't be a drastic loss, like using tinted lamps with a filament.
I'm more worried about getting pulled over if I get the 5300k because of the brightness. The 8000k is a little more mellow with a Blue hue to it...THe 10000k is way way too blue for me. Definately anything I get will be brighter than my stock Halogen ones. I'm somewhat torn between the 5300k and 8000k...I may just go with 6000k
Mine are 8500K. I haven't been pulled over. Aim them properly and you should have no problems with the law. Another thing to consider is projector retrofits. I'm going to do mine eventually.
^I knew sooner or later u'd post...haha...hmmm...8500k? I saw it and I guess it wasn't overwhelmingly bright which is good...So I may go 8000k...Plus I'm tinting the headlights as well so it should be fine then...
I just put 9500's in my STI two nites ago. They have an awesome purple color to them and I didn't notice any loss of light or vision compared with the stock hid's(4500 i think for STI's stock..not sure tho). If it does make a difference its not noticable by me.
Yeah, it's a real funky ordeal, color can raise the percevied brightness, while lowering actual light output. We run into it a lot when mixing conventional lights (read, using a filament) with lights that use a discharge lamp (followspots and moving lights). You have to "up" the color temp to make the lights appear the same to video camera's. But to do a full blue correction (3200K to 5800K) which makes both appear just as white, the gel actually only transmits 38% of the light output. Thats why you shouldn't buy blue tinted bulbs. that blue tinting can actually reduce the true light output by up to 70%, all the while it may still look just as bright. END: photometrics 101 (read: I'll STFU now)
It gets confusing with all the options I can get...No need to STFU, feel free to keep express'in. It is good insight. The place where I'm getting it from is www.ultrabrightlights.com check it out and let me know what u think...I think the price is fair and a plug and play type install...It also looks like a quality product...Mostlikely I'll be going with the 8000k...I do care to be the brightest bulb in the block, but have a nice blue hue and still brighter than stock...
I've heard good things about McCulloch, but never personally used anything of theirs. Which kit were you looking at? If you want to do more research, there's a wealth of information on the HIDPlanet.com forums (http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/) You have to register, but unter the HIDPlanet University section, you can learn almost anything you ever wanted to know about HID's, and there are a number of threads that show the difference between a full retrofit, and an "upgrade" http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3505 Good thread.
www.hid-lights.com The X5 kit. It's plug and play aside from needing to drill the rear headlight housing a bit (extra wires require extra holes) Pretty easy, takes about an hour.
Not sure if you remember seeing my lights when I picked up the AP from you. But I have supposed to be 12000K Hid's in mine but I think they sent me the wrong ones so I have 10000k's. I am using the stock wrx housing and no problems with them or the law. I've had them for over a year now got flashed once by a cop but as someone stated if you angle them properly you should be fine. I must say I can see hella clear with them. Now trying to drive my forester at night, can't see %$#@!%$#@!%$#@!%$#@!. I'm thinking about getting a set for the forester as well. If you'd like to go for a ride or check out the lights sometime just holla at me.
Thanks, Juicy..I actually saw it while you were pulling in...and it looks great! But I'm looking for less Blue than the 10000k. So I'm 99% sure I'm going with the 8000k. Plus I'm tinting my Headlights as well so it should give me some hue to the Blue that the 8000k puts out. I just got my car back from tinting the taillights and I'm still drool'in over it..haha...It is different from just smoked.
I have the 8000k in my car from hid-lights.com and they're awesome. Granted the bug-eye lamps are meant for a dual filament bulb, and look like my high beams are on when they're not. I haven't gotten any crap from cops, and plenty of them have seen them heads on! I caught more greif from my blue license plate lamps than I did from my HID's. 4700k is factory for STi's, and any higher in kelvin, you loose some brightness.
www.UltraBrightlights.com Not definate yet...I'm still waiting to hear from my local vendor....I want to make sure they are German made HID Kits, not German engineered or design and it is a true Plug and Play deal, warranty, blah blah blah...Just making sure it is a good quality peice and at a good price...Out of curiosity how much did the HID kits cost you guys? The ones that have them installed in their Suby already...
