Car Question / Upgrade ?

[mac_shinobi]

Hi

 

Basically looking on ebay or the likes for a Xenon light conversion kit just for my cars head lights ( currently got a 2001 honda civic executive II )

 

1. Which conversion kit should I go with ?

2. What does the HID mean ?

3. What is the difference between 3000k, 5000k, 8000k etc mean ?

4. How much should I be looking at paying for said conversion kit in total inc the xenon bulbs etc?

 

I basically want a pure white colour and obviously need it to be road legal as noticed one of the disclaimers on one of the ebay sellers store was they sell all types of xenon conversion kit for off road use and that you need to ensure the one you get is road legal if you are purchasing for a road legal car or the likes ( obviously )

 

Also is there anything else I should be aware of etc ?

Edited August 28, 2012 by mac_shinobi

[SYNACK]

The higher the k number, the more angry the people coming the other way will be when you turn them on. Personally I would not go down that route as lights that are too bright can actually cause accidents when other drivers get blinded/dazzled by them.

 

Just my view though, its alright if they are the high beams.

[mac_shinobi]

The higher the k number, the more angry the people coming the other way will be when you turn them on. Personally I would not go down that route as lights that are too bright can actually cause accidents when other drivers get blinded/dazzled by them.

 

Just my view though, its alright if they are the high beams.

 

Fair enough - what would I need to do just to change the high beams to xenon lights ?

[SYNACK]

Fair enough - what would I need to do just to change the high beams to xenon lights ?

 

Depends on the bulbs that the high beam kits and if you can get a kit with just them, you may get out of it cheaper just having to replace those.

[DMcCoy]

I'm sure you'll be adding self levelling too so you don't blind everyone else...

[crc-ict]

I was under the impression that none of these conversions were road legal? Leaving you open to prosecution and invalidation of your insurance. You would also have to declare the modification to your insurer.

 

It's something to do with an absence of E marking - to achieve an E mark a replacement part must be of the same type as the original. And as DMcCoy points out, self-levelling systems are essential to prevent dazzle from Xenon lighting and I doubt that can be easily retro-fitted.

 

If you feel you must have something whiter, probably best to try one of the ultra bright, ultra white replacement standard bulbs from a reputable lamp maker.

[mac_shinobi]

I was under the impression that none of these conversions were road legal? Leaving you open to prosecution and invalidation of your insurance. You would also have to declare the modification to your insurer.

 

It's something to do with an absence of E marking - to achieve an E mark a replacement part must be of the same type as the original. And as DMcCoy points out, self-levelling systems are essential to prevent dazzle from Xenon lighting and I doubt that can be easily retro-fitted.

 

If you feel you must have something whiter, probably best to try one of the ultra bright, ultra white replacement standard bulbs from a reputable lamp maker.

 

From you and DMcoy saying this - might be more hassle than its worth

[teky]

I've read from a site that unless HID lights are fitted by the cars manufacturer (factory fitted), then any HID kit that is fitted to a car is not exactly road legal and can be a failure on an MOT, the same goes for the Xenon ultra white lights that can replace the normal headlight bulb. You may also get slightly more attention from Mr Plod.

 

Ironically I have the Xenon white lights in my saxo but put the normal ones back in before each MOT.

[michael2k6]

I'll clear this up once and for all (again)....

 

Anywhere in europe, any HID (High intensity discharge... xenon) light fitted to a car MUST have self levelling function and ALSO washers.

It is why if you spec it on a new car you'll notice the washers are added too.

 

Any car not having these will fail an MOT if the MOT tester is doing their job right.

 

There's another thing to consider.... depending on the lens you have you might send light all over the job, or nowhere at all. If you have the kind of lens where the pattern is on the back, this will be the case. If you have the kind of lens the pattern is on the front, this will be the case. If you have the 'projector' style lens, you can generally get away with the 'pattern' of light being correct (MOT testers use pattern testing to check the angle of the light), so that will pass the MOT and most importantly not blind everyone else until your next MOT, but the fact that they don't self level will still blind everyone and fail it.

 

Another thing to consider is the canbus, if the ballast isn't the right resistance / you dont put the correct resistor between the ballast and the loom, you'll get a canbus error telling you that your lights have failed. This will annoy you, bring it to the MOT testers attention, and I believe is actually an MOT fail itself- on all cars of a certain year (i'm sorry I don't know which) that are CANBUS driven, it must alert you to failed bulbs (head light, tail light and stop light). I could be wrong about the last bit, but the rest I can vouch for.

 

So many people drive towards me on dark roads at night with aftermarket HID kits, and blind me, and one of these times I'm going to chase them, catch them, and go to prison for what i'll do to them for endangering the lives of other road users with unecessary and quite often visibility decreasing bits of kit - bear in mind if you're blinding someone else, you're not lighting the road ahead of you, so you're worse off than with standard bulbs.

 

I absolutely urge you, with all of my being, if you want to improve the view at night, get some road legal ultrabright halogens, and make the world a better place. They'll cost you less too.

 

Also remember not to touch the bulbs when fitting, regardless of which kit you upgrade with, so as not to get greasy finger marks on there or they'll blow soon after when they heat up and cool down (the glass expands and contracts at a different rate where it'd been touched).

 

Stay safe man, and don't try to kill me in the process, ta.

 

 

This post if my own and does not represent the opinion of my employer or their associates.

[Arthur]

Get the Philips X-treme Vision bulbs. Fully road legal, very easy to fit (just a straight swap) and much brighter than standard lights. I had these on my old car and they were brilliant.

[CyberNerd]

As an all weather motorcyclist (I do dark, winter nights too!) I would testify that overly bright headlights are downright dangerous to me.

On a wet winters night I can just cope by looking towards the curb to avoid the full beam of an oncoming car. Water on a visor causes a large amount of light diffraction with well adjusted and legal headlights. The only thing that p**ses me off more than non standard headlights is car drivers who have blown a headlight so think it's ok to drive around on full beam!

 

In the last 20 yrs of riding bikes, being blinded by very bright headlights is probably the most dangerous experience that I have had. On many occasions I've been lucky enough not to drive into a ditch of just hit the car head on.

@mac_shinobi PLEASE keep your OEM lights.

Edited August 28, 2012 by CyberNerd

[pcstru]

As an all weather motorcyclist (I do dark, winter nights too!) I would testify that overly bright headlights are downright dangerous to me.

 

I'm not an all weather, dark night motorcyclist and overly bright, badly adjusted headlights are a big part of having to make that decision. I'm lucky I have a choice. I can only add to the pleading above. Please, please please, just keep your OEM lights.