HID Conversion Group Buy?

[MazdaManiacMx3]

Ok well lets meet at a happy medium here . Yes the kits work .. to an extent. But The lens on our Mx-3's restrict the full potential of these lights.My honest opinion is if you get these lights take off your lens and do some countless hours of sanding to it and clear the lens.Then at least you will have "decent lighting". Our hosuings suck too nothin you can really do there though. But If you are sold on these buy em , do a writeup and Then start a groupbuy .
My 2 cents
Kris
Legallity also may become a issue.
Not intended to flame just a suggestion.

<small>[ October 21, 2004, 01:46 PM: Message edited by: MazdamaniacMx3 ]</small>

[Franko]

Yeah, I know.. the lenses suck but at least with a hid bulb in there I will be able to see better than how I can see now. Hitting animals like moose around is all too common.. I actually almost got killed by one a few months back.. It was so close.. he actually ran into the side of my car and did some damage.. It sucks but I hear when you hit them they come right through the windshield and thrash around inside your car trying to get out.. Killing you in the process.. The brighter the lights I can get, the better..

Check out where his foot hit the side of the car at 75 kph, When I looked at the side of the car I could see alot of dust scuffed off where his massive body bruched up against the car... It sucks but it could have been worse.. ALOT WORSE!!!!

<img src="http://tinypic.com/dqpzs" alt=" - " />

ALOT WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<img src="http://tinypic.com/dqq21" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://tinypic.com/dqq8l" alt=" - " />

<small>[ October 21, 2004, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: Franko ]</small>

[mx3frik]

midundstanding, wrong, wrong and wrong. while it's good to see enthusiasts eager to improve the quality of the lights coming from those 9004's, there are better ways than just putting in a conversion kit and blind everyone else on the street (yes it will be blinding!)

okay both JDM and me are HID mx'ers. the key is we went through 50-100 hours of labour and months and months of planning to make sure our light output look nothing like an HID kit. Why? here goes: they're completely different lighting system, both in terms of beam pattern and technologies.

for starters, notice how the stock beam doesn't have a cut off, you have two blobs, and the light bleed above those two blobs so you can see what's ahead of you and slightly beyond. what happens when you put in a bulb thats' 3x brighter? you can reeealy see what's ahead of you and beyond, but without a proper cut off you're blinding everyone that's ahead of you. i meant for sure you'll have the lighting, it's 3x brigher than stock, but at what expense?

and no sanding the lens with the use of conversion kit is a horrible idea, the ridges on the lens are used to diffract the beam so they spread out, without those we'll jsut get two spots on the ground. if you're dropping in projectors it's another story. i strongly urge you to put in projectors instead of conversion kit, or at least "make" a cut off that works for both low and high beam if you so insist on using a conversion kit.

and don't get me started on the color temp. 12000K just won't cut it, look at this pic

or at least we can get the conversion pics and retrofit pics to appear on the thread?

cheers,

E

[Taras]

Franko,

No need to appoligize. I know where you are coming from, you really want an HID kit. If you really want an HID kit, then get it. We are not here to stop you, it's your decision and your money to spend. You've asked for opinions and thoughts, so you got them. And, I do not need to calm down.

Just wish to make a few points that you referred to:

I have spent a few years hanging out on lighting specific bulletin boards to learn what's what and to build my own headlights. I have seen a lot of people buy HID kits, drive with them, test them, have them fail on them, burn their wiring, have them recalled (NHTSA ruling), have them flicker, turn green or pink. I have seen the same people throw those kits in the garbage or sell them on eBay. Same people later on advised other inquiring minds to stay away from the kits and get a proper set-up (read: OEM HID retro). All this does not mean that HID kits do not work well. Sometimes they do. And that sometimes is usually an H1, H4, H7 and an H9 halogen application when using OEM components (ballasts, capsules). Still not the best but could be pretty good.

If you would have read all the links and did some search on the lighting forum link, you would also have found some negative feedback for the kits. As Eugene has pointed out, our 9004 headlights are the worst halogen beam quality ever produced. Stick an out of focal point HID capsule in there and you have got three times worse.

To your reference of "...It would seem that it comes down to people who actually have them saying that they work and they love them and you and aiden, who I can only assume dont have them, telling the guys who have hid kits that they arent any good..." My friend has an HID kit in his Mx-3. Does it work? Yes(thank god he has rebased Philips capsules and they have not turned green or pink on him yet). Have I seen the beam pattern? Yes. Do I have HID's in my car? Yes I do. Do they work? Sure. Is it an HID kit? What do you think?

In your reference to "...the fact of the matter is that the top car makers in the world put hid kits in their cars because they are by far better than anything else...". Car makers do not put HID kits in their cars. The HID components that go into top of the line cars are certainly not manufactured in Taiwan or China and they do not buy them on eBay or through websites. Car manufacturers get specialized companies (Hella, Philips, Osram, Koito, Stanley, Valeo, Matsu****a, Bosch) to make application specific designs for them utilizing the best lighting technology possible. Millions of dollars are spent in research to assure relaibility, quality and legality. Luxury car buyers could be very demanding.

HID kits in our cars are like a set of chopped off springs to lower the car. Easy to do, cheap, look cool, but perform crappy.

Read some of the links provided previously, do your own research. This way you do not have to listen to me, Aiden, Eugene or anyone else who does not advise you to do an HID kit route. Of course the best way is, buy your own set, take some beam pattern pictures for me and then I can post mine for you to compare. And by the way, all the happy and raving Mx-3 owners with their HID kits have never posted any of the beam pattern pictures before. So it would be great if you could. This way we all can see how wrong we are and may be more people will buy them.
Regards.

[mx3frik]

Originally posted by JDM:
Franko,
....This way you do not have to listen to me, Aiden, Eugene or anyone else who does not advise you to do an HID kit route.

ooooh it'll be so much fun if we can get Aiden to appear in this thread

[Taras]

Still considering an HID kit, check This linky. Although this is on US, it eventually will get to Canada. There must be some good reasons.

[RoundTop]

I wish they would do that on cars that come with HID. because jeez they hurt in the rearview

[millionflame]

Originally posted by Eugene H.:

Originally posted by JDM:
Franko,
....This way you do not have to listen to me, Aiden, Eugene or anyone else who does not advise you to do an HID kit route.

ooooh it'll be so much fun if we can get Aiden to appear in this thread

[mx3frik]

For reference's sake:

Comparison between HID kit and proper retrofitting

Both HID's, with careful shopping will come to the same price....

Cheers and happy halloween,

Eugene