non projector hid retro idea
 

well i was thinking, and i am not in any way a fan of the retro projector for hid's mod in our headlights. sorry guys, i think its very ugly. some of you may have seen a post on one about the install and i said it looks nice, but i refer to the quality of the install itself, and not the actual project.

this will be so much cheaper anyway, with the oem look. order a set of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-99...#ht_1220wt_939 because they come with hid's from the factory w/o a projector headlight. they are cheap, yes you are just ripping them apart and throwing them out for the reflector, but hey it costs a helluva lot less than the other option. and doing the instructions seen here http://www.vqpower.com/v2/articles.php?article_id=152

what do u guys think? this would work out fine no?

edit: the only thing that may be off is the high beams, as these headlights on ebay have seperate housings for the lo and hi beam function, does anyone know or think that this will throw off the high beam pattern?


edit again this link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-03...ht_1792wt_1165

I used to think I was the only person who thought projectors look ugly on a 4th gen.

Good to know I'm not alone.

The Acura CL's headlights aren't that big... Why can't you put both of the reflectors in a 4th gen's housing? Have you measured them? If not I'll stalk a CL and do a ghetto mock up to see.... If you can use both reflectors then the rest is easy wiring.

Those are not HID reflectors, they clearly say for 9006 and 9005. Not D2R.

I think HID reflectors are terrible, if your gonna do a retro I prefer projector, but thats me. I think you can do your reflector retro but u just need actual HID reflectors

I've always been a fan of projectors in the 4th gen. But the main reason I put projectors in my car was to reduce glare. Idk of any reflector that can reduce glare as well as a projector...

After more thought, goonz got things messed up, only the 2nd gen CL has HIDs, I just assumed he was right. The link he posted was to the 1st gen CL.

DEPO and TYC and the other ebay knock-off brands do not do any actual optical engineering.

OEM lighting equipment is designed in CAD by an optical engineer and then manufactured to specific tolerances.

DEPO and TYC just take the OEM lighting equipment and try to make a reflector that is vaguely the same size and shape as the factory one.

That's why people complain about terrible output on R34s. Depo took a set of 9005/9006 headlights, tried to reverse engineer it, and ended up with something that has a beam pattern that lets you see the road, but which is inferior to the original equipment.

Everyone who buys R34s complains about the output. The R34s have 1000/1700 lumens hi/lo at the bulb. The factory 4th gen headlights are 700/1200 lumens hi/lo at the bulb. Because the R34s are poorly designed, the factory 4th gen headlights put more light out on the road, despite having a much dimmer bulb.

Those Depo CL headlights are not actual HID reflectors. They're just cheap 9005/9006 reflectors that fit the CL, just like the R34s are for the 4th gen. Look at the bottom. If they were designed to be HID, the bulb type would be D2R not 9006. They're just generic knockoff halogen headlights with a plug-and-play HID kit. If you're really dead set on having HID reflectors, then at least go to the junkyard or Ebay and try to find real OEM HID reflectors from like a 5.5gen Maxima or an old Acura, because those will actually have a passable output and were designed for HID.

Why not just use the Volvo HID way? its pretty easy and it works.
You could also rip apart the Acura TL 99 headlights and use there peice.
Heres a link...
http://www.vqpower.com/v2/articles.php?article_id=152
Its in the how to's

yeah...i think it takes away from the car. no it was just an idea. havent measured anything.

i meant acura tl. oops. those come w a 9003 low and high beam hid from factory.
i thought they did too..i meant to type the tl not cl.
that was my idea from the beginning. i made the mistake of the wrong car. i meant tl w the 9003 lo/hi beam headlamp
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-03...ht_1792wt_1165

Yup those are the right one. That generation had D2R HID lowbeam reflectors.

Where in Jersey are you? I'm curious about this, and I wouldn't mind stopping by and lending a hand, and maybe do a comparison of stock housing vs. HID reflector vs. HID projector.

Just make sure you get OEM TL headlights, not aftermarket ones. The quality is just not there with aftermarket.

Id say go for the Volvo ones, I worked on a buddies TL a couple weeks ago and to get the headlights out on those...well its a pain!

Oh, so they DO have HIDs in the 1st gen CL, ahh, very interested... subscribed.

well, what about the 5.5th gen maxima with the projector reflectors? maybe i can cut that out and retro it in the other side of my housing somehow :D

I'm also in Jersey, and on the northern end. I agree and think the projectors are generally ugly on ALL cars...including these 4th gens. I'm interested in having more light output...but not by adding a projector....so i like where this is going.

What about something from an older Subaru Legacy? Didnt some of them come with HIDs?

im in the union county area. my thing is that i have a baby on the way so the $ isnt there to be guinnea piggin around if you catch my drift.


well im guessing any car w factory hid's...weather it be volvo, honda/acura, lincoln (mark 8's or 5's...w.e. the roman numeral is lol)

This is the first and probably last time I say this, but bake open the headlights, paint the flat bottom part black (it makes a lot of glare, and very little usable light), and just put in a 9004 HID kit.

You're unlikely to get a significant lighting improvement from HID reflectors. They're really not all that much better than halogen reflectors.There's a reason that they were fooled around with for a couple of years, and then discarded by manufacturers in favor of projectors.

If money is a serious concern, this isn't going to be a cheap project. HID retrofits, projector or reflector, can be a huge headache sometimes. Mounting and aiming the reflector is probably going to be a major PITA, especially if you want to retain adjustability.

It's fine and dandy if you've got a bunch of time to spend tinkering with fine adjustments, but if you want to just bang something out in an afternoon and make it work, this seems like a very difficult project that has never been done before, and it won't be the day-and-night improvement that HID projectors have.

Does painting the bottom shiny part actually work well? Does it create a better beam pattern for HID in the stock halogen housing? Sorry i've never heard of that and I find it very interesting if it works well.

The bottom section doesn't contribute anything to the beam pattern (the beam pattern is formed by the square reflector segments). The reason it is chrome is just because the rest of the headlight is, and for cosmetic purposes. It always seems like there is a lot of glare coming from there with HID kits.

I've never gotten a chance to verify my theory on 97-99 headlights, but it has helped somewhat on other manufacturers' cars AFAIK.

I've been meaning to try it on the 97-99 headlights, but I don't have a set laying around at the moment.

that sounds interesting nalc. but i totally understand what you mean how that bottom part of the head lamp can cause a glare. and i do have black paint lying around from a previous project. hmm...