H.I.D.'s

[Bonez]

I have a 93 Civic Hatch Cx and the lighting where i live is horrible! I was

thinking about getting HID's for my car but most places only have the

single beam pattern. I need a Dual Beam H4 7500k or 7000k headlight set

but the prices are up there for these. Doesn anyone know where to get

them for cheaper or is there another solution?

 

[chet]

i would make sure your headlights are working up to their potential.

aftermarket lights will be of lesser quality and look like shit.

 

[E_SolSi]

a true HID conversion kit will cost you in the area of $500... it will be bright as fuck but because your housings are not designed for them you will have a fuck load of glare and a shitty beam pattern..... a better solution would be to get some glass polish and clean up your lenses... then go to a honda dealership and make sure to get Stanley bulbs (some dealerships carry GE bulbs as OEM these are not as good).... they are better than any other hallogen bulb you will find... they are not going to give you the "hyper white" or blueish look... but they have been tested (with a light meter not some guy saying "these look brighter") against other "premium" and "auto parts store" bulbs and put out almost 3X the light of the cheap bulbs and almost 2X the light of Piaa platinums... those are the only bulbs i will ever run

 

[phunky.buddha]

Hmm. The specs I saw were only a 16% loss going from the Stanleys to the 55W PIAA Platinums, and about 50% loss going to the cheapie bulbs. If you get the 85W PIAAs, you'll be brighter and whiter than stock. Don't get a blue/purple tinted bulb with the same wattage as stock if you want to be brighter than your current setup- make sure you get something that pulls a lot of juice, then be careful that you don't fry your headlight wiring harness.

Another way to increase your headlight brightness is to wire them directly to your battery with an upgrade headlight wiring harness- then use a relay connected to your OEM wiring to close the circuit to your headlights.

E- The HID upgrade kits are actually pretty good. I was trying to decide whether or not to go back to OEM housings with HIDs or drop HIDs in my projectors, and I really like how the HIDs look in the stock setup. If you just throw HIDs in, you'll get tons of glare- but if you get a proper H4 kit, you'll have the shields needed to keep the light from bouncing off the high beam reflector. I checked out one of my buddy's HID installs in his 95, and it looks/performs awesome. There's not much extra glare at all- the shield system takes care of it.

 

[E_SolSi]

Calesta, thanks for the info ... i couldnt remember the exacts on that light test... and i havent really seen too many HID conversions, the ones i have seen look like shit though... thats cool if they have a setup that works, i might have to look into those

 

[phunky.buddha]

Sure thing E- I actually read that test yesterday, so I remember it pretty well. I guess I got lucky since this post popped up this morning.

The HID conversions that I've seen are all pretty good. You just have to keep in mind that some of the light needs to be shielded from the reflector so you produce the right beam pattern. I've been trying to track down good high/low beam kits too, and I'm leaning towards the Catz kit.

 

[sportlinecrx]

before spending money on an HID setup, i would look into a set of PIAA super white platinum bulbs. they are supposed to be very close to HID and only cost about $70 a pair.

a guy who owns a speed shop out here says they are the brightest non-HID lights he has seen, and he carries alot of those aftermarket brands.

 

[asmallsol]

just dont get non piaa bulbs, i am sorry i did. my little aux lights on my sol, normally they are ment for show and nothing else, because i could not find any XENON lights for them, i kept them halogen and they are brigher than the headlights with Reactive bulbs. Biggest waste of $15.

 

[sportlinecrx]

Originally posted by asmallsol@Dec 19 2002, 07:07 PM
just dont get non piaa bulbs, i am sorry i did. my little aux lights on my sol, normally they are ment for show and nothing else, because i could not find any XENON lights for them, i kept them halogen and they are brigher than the headlights with Reactive bulbs. Biggest waste of $15.

ive gone through at least 4 brands of cheap "hyper white" / "xenon super brite" bulbs that were all under $20 and they all sucked. right now ive got regular halogens, but am thinking of trying the PIAAs

 

[phunky.buddha]

Originally posted by rixXxceboy@Dec 19 2002, 06:11 PM
ive gone through at least 4 brands of cheap "hyper white" / "xenon super brite" bulbs that were all under $20 and they all sucked. right now ive got regular halogens, but am thinking of trying the PIAAs

Let's see... I've been through:

Cuzo 55W (crap, tried the H4)
Hiper (several sets) 85W (crap, tried the H4)
Naxos 100W (good but too blue, tried the H4)
PIAA Platinum SuperWhite 85W (many sets, tried H4 85W, H3 55W, H3 85W, 9005 65W, 9006 51W)

The Naxos Blues are pretty bright- but that's just because they draw almost twice as much wattage as the stock bulbs... and you lose most of the usable light to the really dark blue tint on the bulb glass.

The PIAAs are the only ones I've had that actually perform better than stock- but you want to make sure you get the higher wattage version. The 85W H4 bulb actually performs better than the stock Stanley bulb, but the 55W may not, since it still loses light to the tinted bulb glass. PIAA uses a different glass tinting process that doesn't block much light, but it still keeps some of it from leaving the bulb. The SuperWhites have a really light purple tint on them that just screens out the yellow- it lets the most light through out of any aftermarket "Hyper White" bulb that I've ever seen. The light output looks almost pure white, with no hint of blue or yellow. Next to 5000K and 6000K HIDs they do look a bit yellow though.

The PIAAs are worth the cash, and they come with a 1 year warranty too. I haven't tried to replace any under warranty though.

 

[95_civicext]

I solved my problem by fabricating PIAA 1100x driving lights into my projector lights low beam. Those aftermarket projector kits suck! Now i have two sets of 1100x's and i have NO problem with driving at night..... I can see anything.

Just look closely at the light on the drivers side. I'm about to do the same thing to a set of stock EG headlights for my buddy. If you want, i can let you know if it improved lighting any. L8z.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Very nice! I'm still going back to OEM housings though... I just think they look better, and the HIDs work really well in them too.

 

[micah]

i have street glow hyper white bulbs and they are really good, not very blue but alot brighter than my stock ones, they cost like 25-30 a pair, dont really remember