so i was on a local car forum, and a few other people had mentioned an excellent website for plug and play HID kits. so i checked it out. i was completely shocked when i saw these kits for sale at only 29.99, with a lifetime warranty! i figured they were going to be junk, but my curiosity got to me, so i ordered 2 sets. one for my current 99 front end, and the correct set for when i swap to the 01-02 front end. even better, i lucked out because the conversion headlight for my miata use a h4 bulb like the 99's... LOL
i ordered both kits in 6000k. anyways, on with the pics!
Apexcone V2 raptor HID kit.
stock halogens on the left, 6000k HID on the right.
that glare is not that bad. i have seen much worse. anyone with 8000k or higher have much worse glare due to the scatter of blue lighting. i dont blind anyone, as i did multiple tests with friends in stock and ultra low cars. non of which said they were blinding, mostly because i went and reaimed my headlights. before and after pic was before i went to reaim them.
The most dangerous part of the attempt to "retrofit" Xenon headlamps is that sometimes you get a deceptive and illusory "improvement" in the performance of the headlamp. The performance of the headlamp is perceived to be "better" because of the much higher level of foreground lighting (on the road immediately in front of the car). However, the beam patterns produced by this kind of "conversion" virtually always give less distance light, and often an alarming lack of light where there's meant to be a relative maximum in light intensity. The result is the illusion that you can see better than you actually can, and that's not safe.
It's tricky to judge headlamp beam performance without a lot of knowledge, a lot of training and a lot of special equipment, because subjective perceptions are very misleading. Having a lot of strong light in the foreground, that is on the road close to the car and out to the sides, is very comforting and reliably produces a strong impression of "good headlights". The problem is that not only is foreground lighting of decidedly secondary importance when travelling much above 30 mph, but having a very strong pool of light close to the car causes your pupils to close down, worsening your distance vision...all the while giving you this false sense of security. This is to say nothing of the massive amounts of glare to other road users and backdazzle to you, the driver, that results from these "retrofits".
I-71 northbound just past Zorn Ave. so you know your way around louisville?
Yea, my wife grew up in the St. Matthews area and went to Assumption High. Her parents and family still live there and in Douglass Hills. We make it back about twice a year. We head up 71 to La Grange to visit friends whenever we're in town. There's something about the exit signs...
so i was on a local car forum, and a few other people had mentioned an excellent website for plug and play HID kits. so i checked it out. i was completely shocked when i saw these kits for sale at only 29.99, with a lifetime warranty! i figured they were going to be junk, but my curiosity got to me, so i ordered 2 sets. one for my current 99 front end, and the correct set for when i swap to the 01-02 front end. even better, i lucked out because the conversion headlight for my miata use a h4 bulb like the 99's... LOL
i ordered both kits in 6000k. anyways, on with the pics!
Oh, but they ARE junk, due to being unsafe and illegal.
ive read that and most other pages on HID's before. the problem is that what hes talking about does not hold true with my set. i DO see farther. there is more light, but it is properly focused. not to mention they cam with the proper anti glare shields. even though the price was cheap, they have all the makings of a higher end kit.
as for them being illegal, they are sold with the words off road use only, because they are illegal in some states. IIRC ky is not one of them. my headlights are also aimed properly. they do not go higher than the body trim on most vehichles (i say most because some vehicles are made higher or lower than average) i have also been next to and behind tons of cops here locally. if i were blinding someone then i think a cop would have been the first to say something about it. if they were soo unsafe a cop would have done something. i know, the ones close to where i live do nothing all night. and i pass them once a night, every night, monday thru friday and occasionally on the weekends. yet nothing. because they are properly aimed. i do know of people with plug and play kits, around here, who did put them in but did not reaim their headlights. they have been stopped for them. i have not.
Hmmm..... Seems like this Corolla forum is full of haters!!! Haha if someone likes HID's then let them enjoy them. I don't have them on my car, but I've been considering installing them. I've ridden in my friend's Civic that has them, and you can definitely see better at night, but maybe the difference isn't worth it. Have to admit they look a lot better than stock bulbs.
Why would the beam pattern be any different than the pattern with a stock halogen bulb? The light is still reflected the same way... Not trying to stir the pot, but I've never heard of this before.
ive read that and most other pages on HID's before. the problem is that what hes talking about does not hold true with my set. i DO see farther. there is more light, but it is properly focused. not to mention they cam with the proper anti glare shields. even though the price was cheap, they have all the makings of a higher end kit.
as for them being illegal, they are sold with the words off road use only, because they are illegal in some states. IIRC ky is not one of them. my headlights are also aimed properly. they do not go higher than the body trim on most vehichles (i say most because some vehicles are made higher or lower than average) i have also been next to and behind tons of cops here locally. if i were blinding someone then i think a cop would have been the first to say something about it. if they were soo unsafe a cop would have done something. i know, the ones close to where i live do nothing all night. and i pass them once a night, every night, monday thru friday and occasionally on the weekends. yet nothing. because they are properly aimed. i do know of people with plug and play kits, around here, who did put them in but did not reaim their headlights. they have been stopped for them. i have not.
plenty of unsafe cars/trucks pass cops and don't get pulled over. i ran without a front plate for 2 years without getting pulled over, it was still illegal. so that argument is pretty invalid.
lights/cars are FEDERAL level, not state level. USDOT is who approves headlights/bulbs not state DOT. so 50 state illegal, just like gutting a cat.
you don't see better, you think you do because its putting out a batshit crazy amount of light. its like going from a flood light to a spot light, yea you can see see that one small area really good, but you can't see outside of it. things outside of the HOLY SHIT BRIGHT AREA are going to be nearly invisible to you.
shields help, but don't put the light source in the correct area to be properly focused by the reflectors without glaring. take a photo against a wall from 50 feet away.
Hmmm..... Seems like this Corolla forum is full of haters!!!
man, you got that right lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanschillinger
Why would the beam pattern be any different than the pattern with a stock halogen bulb? The light is still reflected the same way... Not trying to stir the pot, but I've never heard of this before.
So say your HID bulb is perfect and makes the same exact beam pattern that you had with halogen. The problem is that the entire beam is twice as bright. This includes the glare and light thrown up at signs etc. Too much glare. That is why projectors are the way to go, because there is a little metal blocker inside which prevents light from going up at all. Can be as bright as you want without any glare
Weird, I never thought of that. Next time I'm in my friend's car, I'll pay more attention to this stuff.
BTW Gold94, your's has to be one of the cleanest looking 93-97's I've seen. Do you have a build-up thread or anything? I've had 3 of that body style, but none of them looked that nice!
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