HIDs

[Kalgatha]

Hi guys, I have been looking around alot and am thinking seriously about purchaseing a HID conversion kit. Other than power efficiency and greater output are there any other pros for HIDs? What kind of kit do I need? I was looking on the XenonDepot site and they have about 15 differant kits and I have no idea what the difference is. How hard would it be to install it in my gen 4 camry? should I replace anything else other than what the kit gives me? I saw that some of the kits have HI/LOW beams, should I get one of those? Im sure theres more but I can't think of it right now >.< thanx guys

[Curry]

Stay away from kits and go spend some time reading here:

Everything you need to know about them, how they work, pros, cons and all that jazz.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/

[mr.pringles]

Originally Posted by Curry

Stay away from kits and go spend some time reading here:

Everything you need to know about them, how they work, pros, cons and all that jazz.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/

dont neccessarily stay away from HID kits, just do a projector retrofit first because otherwise with halogen headlights and HID produces a bad output, while projectors and HID are the best way to go, just like a real luxury car

[Curry]

What I mean by "kits" are the cheap knock offs.

[Kalgatha]

What about the ones from XenonDepot? this thread (http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t194054.html) says there good. Are they?

[Curry]

Got this info off HID Planet. If you havent already checked it out give it a look.


Quote:

HID kits are illegal due to the glare that they cause. Glare is Light that is emitted in a Uncontrollable path. When light is traveling in a uncontrollable path it can hit other vehicle operators affecting there vision because of the High amount of uncontrollable light that is being Emitted from a HID kit in a standard Halogen housing. If you have ever turned a flashlight on right in front of your face while it is dark out, that is the same feeling that the other drivers on the road experience from a standard HID kit.

OEM Vehicles such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus are all equipped with HID or Xenon Headlights. Some use reflector housing’s without projectors. Others use HID projectors.

The Lexus IS300 is a Prime Example of a HID reflector housing. It does not use a Projector. It uses a Specially designed Reflector housing that is meant to use HID. This does not create the Super sharp cutoff. But it does control where the light is being Emitted.

Other vehicles such as the Honda S2000 Use HID projectors, These Projectors are meant to use HID. They are Specially Designed and have been tested Hundreds of times to get the right projection of light while maintaining a Good Cutoff.


To date, NHTSA has investigated 24 HID conversion kit suppliers; all investigations have resulted in recalls or termination of sales.

RM Racing
Astex USA
Kmax International
FET, Inc.
J. Liu LLC
Gourmet Garage
JC Whitney
Lighting Research
SPW Industries, Inc.
Pacific Micro-lite
McCulloch Motors, Inc.
Santeca Electronics
JF Manufacturing
Streetglow, Inc.
Outback Products, Inc.
Nu Performance
GR Motorsports, Inc.
Global Premier
New Clor
Importhookup.com
DG International
MTC Lighting
Umnitza
Liteglow
American Products Company

[CamryOwner98]

Kits = not reliable (ballasts with short life, bulb burns out quick)

OEM kits = reliable (high quality, durable)

Like mentioned before, halogen headlights aren't made for the intense output of HID bulbs. Therefore, you'll need HID projectors to properly disperse the lighting for an even and wide illumination.

Just simply showing kits into halogen housing will not give you the HID benefits. It will cause glare and give you illumination with little to no control. In some cases, worse than halogen because it's not meant for that type of bulb.

X2 for HID Planet. Read up. I learn all I know from there basically.

[bigbird]

this is waht HIDs look like in a non projector housing.


scattered and rather pointless since most of the light is dispursed so much that ur factory halogens are almost better.

this is what other drivers see.


be kind...dont blind.(saw that on a sign in SC one time )

now personally i like the look of the gen3 without projectors better, but it really is the way to go.

[Venom_5]

might as well get Sylvania Cool Blue's instead of HID if you want that look ^

like everyone else has said, put projectors on if you use HID on a gen3

[geoff5093]

I know I have a completely different size bulb, but they are basically the same.

If all you want is a cool blue effect, just get some high temp color bulbs. I have 7000K in mine (see the sig). They do a decent job of lighting up the road, but I have them for show.

And for all the bashers out there, my true HID Conversion Kit is on backorder from the XenonDepot, but should be here early June.

[Venom_5]

geoff, ur car looks clean anyways ... but put some pics up when ur kit arrives!

[Kalgatha]

how much money/customizing would i have to do to get projectors put in?

[Venom_5]

u can do it urself like Curry ... check his posts in the Gen 3/4 section ... he's only paying like $20 tops i bet

or you could make it cost like $300 if you want to be really professional about it

it all depends on how much youre willing to do

[Kalgatha]

is there a DIY I could look at?

scratch that i found one.

what about a wireing harness? i would need one of those wouldn't I?

[geoff5093]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

geoff, ur car looks clean anyways ... but put some pics up when ur kit arrives!

Thanks, it's backordered until June 2nd or 4th. I also have TRD springs sitting in my garage waiting to be installed as well