I'm thinking of getting the Philips Hid kit. Is this the same exact HID as the bmw and the mercedes, or is it much weaker than them.

This is the best price I found on the web. Plus it has instructions showing how easy it is to install.


http://www.groupbuycenter.com/buy.as...ad&row_id=1570

also check this site out, this seems to give more info. $599

http://www.jbcsafety.com/HID/hid.html

 

HIDs do not work well AT ALL with 9004 housing... you will have horrible glare....

check the faq.

-shing

 

HIDs do not work well AT ALL with 9004 housing... you will have horrible glare....

"glare?" hmmmmmm. i guess it doesn't look anything like the s500 xenons.

 

The reflectors aren't designed for HID light. Far too much will be pointed upwards to reflect back at you in the rain or blind oncoming traffic. It will be a big improvement over any normal bulb, but there's always a price.

 

so would it be better to get the piaa fog lights that are HID?

 

Well, I guess the question is what's the purpose? To see or to be seen? If you honestly want to see, get a set of Philips Blue Vision headlights... and some PIAA H-3 SuperWhites for the fogs... those are some bright SOB and you will see the road a lot better, plus this will set you back maybe $60... PIAA HID driving lights will cost you a lot more than $60. But if you want to be seen at no cost(wallet or otherwise) go for it.

-Shing

 

I've installed a D2S Sylvania Osram kit before, the beam pattern was nasty. The light on the ground looked like spider webs and was not focused directly in front of the car. After a ton of adjustments, I took them out and got a Philips D2R Kit. The D2R bulbs provide preliminary shielding and provides a "better" beam pattern. It was close to decent, but not quite what I was looking for. There were 2 hotspots in front of the car (what it would look like if you aimed the headlights as low as they could go).

I took interest in the HID retrofit because of light output and performance, and little on the looks. Anyway, I ended up modifying the bulb to appropriately shield the necessary areas for a non-glaring effect.

Let me tell you, it's a lot of trouble with the 9004 housing. Any housing that shares the low and high beams in the same housing will have this similar beam pattern destruction.

I ended up wraping the bulb with aluminum sheet metal all around the bulb except for the top portion above the xenon gas capsule. This took about 2 weeks of trial and error and talk to some Japanese HID retrofit experts in Japan. After the kit and modification on the bulb, the costs came to around $650-700 and the loss of high beams. They are very bright and I would say they are brighter than those on the new 7 series BMW.

My opinion, be prepared to be disappointed in terms of beam pattern compared to OEM HIDs (unless you modify it).

 

WHERE CAN I GET THE PHILIPS BLUE VISION AT?

 

Got some pictures of the modified bulbs... just curious... thanks!

 

K-Mart.