For those of you whom have 55W HID's using a stock reflector do you find that you are causing too much glare and wouldn't recommend the purchase? I have a 2009 Civic Sedan.
I don't want to bug every driver coming at me but I live in the forest and extra brightness is a great safety feature. I can re-adjust the aim if that is what is needed to make this work.
I am going to go with the DDM 55 watt slim ballast with 6000K bulbs.
I understand the harness issue, the projector issue, DDM vs KLight, etc and will likely go with a relay harness but can't afford projectors.
Anyone using the 55 watt lights manage to aim them so that they don't annoy incoming traffic and still do a great job?
I noticed that my drivers side low beam already is aiming slightly lower then the passenger side. I don't know if this is deliberate from Honda or a screwup.
Thanks HondaFREAK, I'll watch this thread for more comment but since you indicated that you had the 55's and got rid of em it looks like I'll probably go with the 35 watt kit.
There is a guy in town with 55w HID's in the stock reflector housing and they blind you like mad. I suggest doing a retrofit or stay away from HID's. They are too intense to not have a cutoff for oncoming drivers. Please do everyone a favor and do it right from the beginning, and save yourself a ticket.
Ryan p17, I'm gonna buy the 35w ones I guess. Most of the people that install them do so without the projectors and there's few to none I've ever seen which bother me. A local shop here told me they do 100 a week and he doesn't see many retrofit kits. Perhaps his units are just weaker or something. I'll keep an open mind though on the issue.
I'll tell you right now, if you are asking the people on here 9 out of 10 are going to tell you retros, even though half of those people can't afford it themselves:laughing:.
Lilwolvy3, I'll install em without the retros and if I need to I'll pull em out or upgrade. To me the stock lighting is kinda poor on the low beams for where I'm driving (we're talking deep woods with deer jumping out pretty frequently) and I need to do something.
I have HID's, if you want better visibility i highly recommend 4300K bulbs as it will light up much better. If it's in your budget you should do a retro. If I could afford it I would do it in a heartbeat... Since money is kinda tight for me I went with HID, 6000k at first but then switched out to 43000k for better visibility...
stealth, what was the difference in color and brightness? Is the 4300's stilll white just without a blue halo or something? I can't afford the retro's either.
4300 is like bright stocks...i use the 8000k and the blue isn't bad, on the road it looks white...and yes i aimed them down a little and don't blind anyone...
I have the 55W kit in the stocking housings and would not recommend anyone to get it. The glare is excessive and isn't helpful to anyone. At least you can see the inside of the housing relatively well with the 35W kit. Once the 55W kit is turned on, all you see is glare.
You could get some cheap ebay projectors. They'll provide a million times better cutoff and you should be able to use your HIDs in them without the horrible downside of reflectors. Should be able to get a set for about a hundred bucks or so. It'll also look a million times better than reflectors.
Not to change the subject but whats the difference btwn the Ebay projectors and $400 ones? I love those halo lights which are pretty inexpensive. Ive never noticed those out there on a Honda.
They're the same item, but they are very different in terms of quality. There are OEM projectors, such as the S2000 or TSX that will project light a lot better than an aftermarket eBay projector will. The biggest downfall to picking a retrofit is cost. Everyone seems to over exaggerate the price difference, or at least I think so anyways. There are retrofits lingering in this site's classifieds every week or two and some of them are very good deals. I've seen a set of retrofits for $600 + your headlights and it included everything that you needed, bulbs, ballasts, headlight unit with the projectors in place and a harness. Ask yourself what you're paying for eBay projectors and an HID kit and you'll see the difference can be minimal.
I'm learnin' fast here thanks to you all. Saved me from some mistakes.
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