8th Generation Honda Civic Forum - View Single Post - What you need to know about HID vs HID kit

***striker_1818*** · 12-23-2006, 06:47 PM

First of all, I've been getting alot of critizism about people because they think their cars look "good" with an pnp(plug and play) HID kit throw in stock halogen headlights.
First you need to know the basics so here it comes:

-Projectors will make the enjoyable of HID lightning work at its maximum potential. Projectors control the ammount of light on the road but you may be asking HID bulbs shift light everywhere? how could a projector enhance the performance of my HID bulbs? Well, there's this thing built inside the projector called "shield". A shield will control the shifting of light thus producing a beam with the maximum light possible to the road. The projector itself can be adjusted and you have the maximum light output at its maximum potential.

1) HID: High intensity Discharge lightning that produces an arc shifting light everywhere. In other words, this means that light from HID is basically uncontrollable. It shifts up, down, left, right. But what are the advantages and consecuences of having HIDs in your car?

A) OEM Projectors with HID's. These come in luxury cars. Great output, and road visibility is superb for those with poor visibility or weak eyes. If you love the look of it, then this is a must for it not only enhance visibility but the colorful cut-off makes you scream how could that be possible? The trick is in the lenses itself but I'm not gonna get into that here.

15ft by 30-40ft road output with a nice arc.

Pros: Superb visibility during night-time driving and when the weather gets bad really. Excellent during the rain and really noticable if you change from halogen headlights to OEM HID with projectors headlights. A wider road output The colorful cut-off band above the cut-off line makes you wow. The looks of a car with HID is just amazing. You can chime in and add your own experiences.

Cons: Poor road sign visibility. projectors make it hard to see those tricky and hidden road signs atnight unless they glow in the dark.

B) HID kits on ebay and elsewhere which claim to "enhance your light output on the road like true HID with projectors from luxury cars".
Reason why I hate pnp kits is that they lie their butts off to sell such hazard products which put in danger innocent lives while they make a profit out of it. Products which are sold for 100, 150 and/or 200 are just garbage. If you want a true pnp hid kit which will not have as much glare as others will be a good 400+ kit. Remember, you get what you paid for.
As I said before, HID bulbs produce an arc of light which shifts in every single direction: up, down, left, right. However, if you put a pnp kit in a halogen housing(reflector), you will have the effect of an HID without projectors, thus making that high intensity discharge lightning work to its minimum. Why? Reason why HID bulbs do its job shifting in the +/-x, and +/-y. You cannot control the shifting with a reflector. It has NO shields. This will case in glare coming from every single spot of the headlight. In other words, scattered light will be coming out of the headlight. This is the main complaint about pnp HID kits.
Let me show you.

You get a brighter light, more light output than halogen but the essential work HID bulbs are made for is not being properly used to get its maximum potential.
Now, a real picture would be from a fellow 8thcivic member.
HID's are installed (6000k)
you can find the picture there. As you can see, he's approximately 6ft tall and is aiming the camera down to take a picture of his headlights with a pnp HID kit. Have in mind that when you're driving on an opposite direction driving from whom he'll be driving, your eyesight will be at 4-1/2 to 5 ft above the ground while his headlights will be at 3' above the ground. And that picture was taken at approximately 6ft above the ground yet you can see glare coming from the left. That's what i mean by "HID bulbs lightning shifting in every direction".
But, you may be asking I can lower the aim of my headlight thus causing less glare. Yes you can and IT WILL CAUSE LESS GLARE. But this will backfire you. Why? You will not see as far as with a properly aimed halogen or hid w/projectors headlight. During night-time driving, that is a NO-NO.
You can also paint your housing black, thus minimizing the glare. YES IT WILL MINIMIZE THE GLARE but it won't be much.
As far as the widthness of the output, you can look at yourself here in the following diagram...approximately 8ft by 20ft ground light output.

Pros of having a pnp kit: It will light up the road twice as a normal halogen will. You will be ab le to see road signs clearly.

Cons of having a pnp kit: widthness of light output isn't great. True cause of using an HID will be misinterpretated. Glare to oncoming traffic will be alot causing yourself to be a road hazard on wheels. Reducing the glare will in fact make your headlights aim down the ground more than they should which will backfire you. This backfire will be the loss of light output further down the road. IT IS ILLEGAL IN ALL STATES.
Read more:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html

Now, draw your own conclusions and if you want a get a pnp kit because you want to improve your night-time driving and don't want to spend lots of money on retrofitting, then by all means go ahead but before you decide to get one, do your research and do it right. Get one that has a known brand name and is also known for reducing glare. If you decide to save money and greatly improve your night-time driving, then a retrofit with oem projectors is your best bet.
There are many great retrofitters in this website.

12-23-2006, 06:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
*striker_1818* VIP Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Farmingdale, New York Age: 24 Posts: 11,874 I Love Kristina iTrader: 18 / 100%	What you need to know about HID vs HID kit First of all, I've been getting alot of critizism about people because they think their cars look "good" with an pnp(plug and play) HID kit throw in stock halogen headlights. First you need to know the basics so here it comes: -Projectors will make the enjoyable of HID lightning work at its maximum potential. Projectors control the ammount of light on the road but you may be asking HID bulbs shift light everywhere? how could a projector enhance the performance of my HID bulbs? Well, there's this thing built inside the projector called "shield". A shield will control the shifting of light thus producing a beam with the maximum light possible to the road. The projector itself can be adjusted and you have the maximum light output at its maximum potential. 1) HID: High intensity Discharge lightning that produces an arc shifting light everywhere. In other words, this means that light from HID is basically uncontrollable. It shifts up, down, left, right. But what are the advantages and consecuences of having HIDs in your car? A) OEM Projectors with HID's. These come in luxury cars. Great output, and road visibility is superb for those with poor visibility or weak eyes. If you love the look of it, then this is a must for it not only enhance visibility but the colorful cut-off makes you scream how could that be possible? The trick is in the lenses itself but I'm not gonna get into that here. 15ft by 30-40ft road output with a nice arc. Pros: Superb visibility during night-time driving and when the weather gets bad really. Excellent during the rain and really noticable if you change from halogen headlights to OEM HID with projectors headlights. A wider road output The colorful cut-off band above the cut-off line makes you wow. The looks of a car with HID is just amazing. You can chime in and add your own experiences. Cons: Poor road sign visibility. projectors make it hard to see those tricky and hidden road signs atnight unless they glow in the dark. B) HID kits on ebay and elsewhere which claim to "enhance your light output on the road like true HID with projectors from luxury cars". Reason why I hate pnp kits is that they lie their butts off to sell such hazard products which put in danger innocent lives while they make a profit out of it. Products which are sold for 100, 150 and/or 200 are just garbage. If you want a true pnp hid kit which will not have as much glare as others will be a good 400+ kit. Remember, you get what you paid for. As I said before, HID bulbs produce an arc of light which shifts in every single direction: up, down, left, right. However, if you put a pnp kit in a halogen housing(reflector), you will have the effect of an HID without projectors, thus making that high intensity discharge lightning work to its minimum. Why? Reason why HID bulbs do its job shifting in the +/-x, and +/-y. You cannot control the shifting with a reflector. It has NO shields. This will case in glare coming from every single spot of the headlight. In other words, scattered light will be coming out of the headlight. This is the main complaint about pnp HID kits. Let me show you. You get a brighter light, more light output than halogen but the essential work HID bulbs are made for is not being properly used to get its maximum potential. Now, a real picture would be from a fellow 8thcivic member. HID's are installed (6000k) you can find the picture there. As you can see, he's approximately 6ft tall and is aiming the camera down to take a picture of his headlights with a pnp HID kit. Have in mind that when you're driving on an opposite direction driving from whom he'll be driving, your eyesight will be at 4-1/2 to 5 ft above the ground while his headlights will be at 3' above the ground. And that picture was taken at approximately 6ft above the ground yet you can see glare coming from the left. That's what i mean by "HID bulbs lightning shifting in every direction". But, you may be asking I can lower the aim of my headlight thus causing less glare. Yes you can and IT WILL CAUSE LESS GLARE. But this will backfire you. Why? You will not see as far as with a properly aimed halogen or hid w/projectors headlight. During night-time driving, that is a NO-NO. You can also paint your housing black, thus minimizing the glare. YES IT WILL MINIMIZE THE GLARE but it won't be much. As far as the widthness of the output, you can look at yourself here in the following diagram...approximately 8ft by 20ft ground light output. Pros of having a pnp kit: It will light up the road twice as a normal halogen will. You will be ab le to see road signs clearly. Cons of having a pnp kit: widthness of light output isn't great. True cause of using an HID will be misinterpretated. Glare to oncoming traffic will be alot causing yourself to be a road hazard on wheels. Reducing the glare will in fact make your headlights aim down the ground more than they should which will backfire you. This backfire will be the loss of light output further down the road. IT IS ILLEGAL IN ALL STATES. Read more: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html Now, draw your own conclusions and if you want a get a pnp kit because you want to improve your night-time driving and don't want to spend lots of money on retrofitting, then by all means go ahead but before you decide to get one, do your research and do it right. Get one that has a known brand name and is also known for reducing glare. If you decide to save money and greatly improve your night-time driving, then a retrofit with oem projectors is your best bet. There are many great retrofitters in this website.