HID Retrofit kits?

[bubbaflaat]

Alright, I've searched a bit and not really came to any conclusion. I know that JDM, and Eugene, seem to have quite a bit of knowlage on lighting. So have petty on my stupid question. Is there a decent HID conversion kit that is a resonable price, that actually works? I do not have the skill to make awesome projectors like some of you guys are doing. So is there any way to spice up the lighting of my '92 mx-3 to an HID setup? I'm running silverstar light bulbs in my car right now, and they are prolly the best bang for your buck halogen bulbs in my opinion. (being that I work at an Advance Auto Parts store I have cheap access to them) Is there a all to easy conversion I can do?! Help an idiot out!!

[millionflame]

Originally posted by Bubbaflaat:
Is there a decent HID conversion kit that is a resonable price, that actually works?

No HID kits work properly. Just analyze the physics in them coupled with improper housings, and you'll see they're JUNK.

There's enough evidence anywhere, including here, to prove this.

Originally posted by Bubbaflaat:
So is there any way to spice up the lighting of my '92 mx-3 to an HID setup?

Yes, OEM HID projectors.

There's no other way to do it and stay legal, or get the look of true HID.

Also, it really isn't hard at all to do a retro-fit. It's just time consuming.

[mx3frik]

I very much agree with what Aiden said, if you ask any retrofitters they all saw the strnegth of OEM projectors and anti-kits.

I dunno why it didn't occur to me earlier, but if you're looking for a cheap and quick HID, sylvania xenarc could be the way to go...

tho for hte same price i'd invest the time to put in real projectors and have both high/low beams working in HID's.

oh Aiden if you see this could i get you to send me pics of your setup to aishi @ rogers.com? (no space). I ment to ask you but kept on forgetting.

Thanks,

Eugene

[bubbaflaat]

Yeah, so it basically mean I have to do work... I'm in the middle of painting my car, and putting the motor BACK in the car... i want my ride back!

[bubbaflaat]

Ok now tell me this. What would be one of the best halogen bulbs, i've heard a little about the phillips 50%+, I think thats what they call them. I have the silverstars now, is there a better bulb? I know PIAA's are decent, but they are really expensive, and i've used them before and not been all that impressed with the output.

[bubbaflaat]

so I wasn't even close on the name of that light. LOL They are the crystal vision, and vision plus. Has anyone had experiance with these?

[Grants]

I've used the +50% and they are very good, much better than standard and the manufacture quality is good, ie they last a long time.

I think a lot of the others are gimmicks (but I don't know about the silverstars cause they're not available here). Some just blow all the time and are a complete waste of $$$.

So carry a couple of spares or put your old ones in the glovebox if your gonna try some new ones.

<small>[ November 15, 2004, 03:01 AM: Message edited by: Grants ]</small>

[bubbaflaat]

I wanna be co How much will ya sell me yours for Eugene!!! LOL

[mx3frik]

Originally posted by Bubbaflaat:
Ok now tell me this. What would be one of the best halogen bulbs, i've heard a little about the phillips 50%+, I think thats what they call them. I have the silverstars now, is there a better bulb? I know PIAA's are decent, but they are really expensive, and i've used them before and not been all that impressed with the output.

If you like the crisp white look then silverstar will be it. For brighter light a good bet will be to build a relay circuit (~15-20 bucks of parts and 2 hours of labour from building to having them installed) and get overwatage bulbs (not the ricey ones with a blue coat, but just over-wattage uncoated ones).

Right now I'm toying with the idea of using a dual-beam system to compliment my low and high beam, something like the hella optilux 2020 since I don't have the time to do another retrofit (this is on a scooby legacy). Mounting will be crutial since fog light's low angle means higher reflection faster so it might bug other people with bad aiming. I'm hoping if the housing and the lens can handle overwattage bulbs i might throw in some 100W H3's (outputting >2000lm of light).

Enough with me babbling look around there are lots of possibilities to boost your lighting performance.

cheers,

E

[bubbaflaat]

Wow, how the hell did you learn so much about lighting? Thats awesome. I haven't really seen too many overwattage bulbs that aren't the ricy ones. I know with most of the good projectors out there come with a aftermarket wiring harness to handle the higher output bulbs. My projectors I had on my civic had that. And it just used the stock wiring harness as a trigger. Any good high wattage bulbs come to mind?

[Taras]

Some good bulbs are: Philips Vision Plus or a Euro version of Osram Silverstar (not painted blue). Unfortunately, none of those come in a 9004 version, because it a pure DOT bulb and Europeans do not run their lights by DOT regs. The next best thing is Philips Hi-Vision (basically a Euro Philips Premuim +30 bulb, I've seen them in WalMart). A wiring harness would be a good idea to give it full 14v of voltage.

Eugene: don't forget that serious overwattage bulbs last only about 100+ hours. Lots of spares needed.

A goos source for lamps is www.suvlights.com

[mx3frik]

Originally posted by JDM:

Eugene: don't forget that serious overwattage bulbs last only about 100+ hours. Lots of spares needed.

[/URL]

The weirdest thing is I thought of the exact same thing after my post and just about the same time you posted this reply! I think it will only be for the driving light circuit that I'll do the over-wattage since I don't use it so much anyways.

The scooby community is pretty small unless one is a full-blown rally head so I hope you guys dont' mind me lurking and popping my head into the mx-3 forum so often

Cheers to all, hope your week's going better than mine.

E

[bubbaflaat]

What is bad about the 9004 bulbs? What makes them dot special? What do non DOT mx-3's use?

[Taras]

9004 bulbs are used only on North American spec vehicles and our lighting standards are pretty archaic. It was very common for early 90's cars to use 9004 bulbs as a dual filament one of choice, although a much better H4 was already used elsewhere, but was primarily for Euro market. DOT regulations do not allow use of E-spec lights unless a specific state makes an amendment, like WA state has. DOT regulations require a certain amount of light bleed-off to the upper part of the beam to light up overhead signs. E-spec lights have a sharp cut-off line to their beam beacuse the majority of overhead signs are lighted in Europe and E-code beams have a Right-Hand flare for the side of the road and its signs.

Generally, why 9004 is so crappy. First, it only puts out 700/1000lumens at low/high beam. They do run at 45watt on low beam too. For comparison, an H4 does 1000/1450lm at 55w/60w and H7 - 1500lm at 55w, H9 - 1850lm at 65w, HID - 3200lm at 35w.

9004 uses a full 360 degrees of the reflector to make a beam, and it definitely needs it, that is also why it is such a poor contender for HID conversion, because there is no way to control the beam, it's just a big blob with no horizontal spread or any evenness to the beam compared to H4 for example.

It's a very inefficient bulb that wastes too much light elswhere but where it needs it. No wonder you can't see anything at night.

<small>[ November 17, 2004, 01:58 AM: Message edited by: JDM ]</small>

[Taras]

Oh, non DOT Mx-3's use H4's like in the rest of the world. I have J-spec lights in the box and they are H4. E-spec ones are as well.