HID conversion kits

muddyl

What are peoples thoughts on these?

I wanted to replace my headlight bulbs, but with good one's rather than standard cheap one's like I usually do.
A good set of is anywhere from £20 upwards, closer to 30 for top ones.
But I have seen HID conversion kit's on the likes of ebay from £40.
What are peoples thoughts on these? Are they worth it?

Joe_Horner

Don't touch them with a barge pole.

HID lights MUST have automatic self-leveling devices and headlamp washers by law and the aftermarket kits don't - at least, the £40 ones don't, there may be some out there that do but they're gonna be EXPENSIVE!!! That makes them illegal (and bloody annoying for other drivers) to use on road.

As of this year, the self-levelling is part of the MOT so you'll be fitting £40 worth of big fat fail. Not to mention dazzling other drivers all the time!

eta: just double checked and the new MOT regs have been watered down - now they're only failing for faulty levellers . washers "if fitted". Guess that must be caving in to all the people who've already fitted them. Doesn't stop it being a C&U offence not to have them though, and did I mention that they're bloody annoying for other drivers?

Lum

What car is this for. Installed in reflector headlights they are bloody annoying and you wont get a proper cutoff at the top of the beam. Installed in projector headlights they aren't so bad.

Though at £40 it's likely that the kit you're looking at is pretty bad and will not properly replicate the output of whatever bulb you currently have. I remember one cheap Chinese kit that became popular on a certain car forum, the fix for the terrible blurred beam patters was to put a washer over the bulb to bring it back a few mm. I also remember another kit which didn't have a proper replication of the H7 bulbs so in this particular car you had to throw away part of the bulb retaining mechanism and use a cable tie.

And after all this, you'll still end up with a car looking like a badly blinged up chavmobile.

Just get the Halfords Extreme Brilliance bulbs, they're actually just as good as the Osram Nightbreakers and the Philips version, and they last a hell of a lot longer than the Osrams. They're £18 each but can often be found on a 2 for 1 deal.

At least I think they still can, I fitted mine in early 2009 and they're still going.

gilbert_and_sullivan

I wouldn't touch them, for a small increase in your own light (debatable), you risk blinding someone coming the other way, which may not bother you till the blinded one hits something they might otherwise have seen and end up head on into you, Darwinism in action.

Good quality bulbs correctly adjusted inside clear and clean lamp units are fine, unless you have seriously bad sight.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i wouldnt bother personally the propper kits are in excess of £200 and for a good reason they come fully legal and are specified to that vehicle and within uk road laws. a resident here has these cheap kits fitted to his corsa C it just failed mot for that kit being fitted, and whoever plumbed it in before he had the car bodged it so badly to repair it he needs a whole new wireing loom for the lights and replumbed back into the fuse box a new set of headlamps (auto leveling was hacked off to fit the bulbs in) so he looking in the region of £4-500 just to replace this without that kit fitted would have been a pass and no money spent.

richard734

+1 for not bothering.
What car have you got? You can do simpler upgrades for a lot less than a decent kit. EG swapping out reflector units for projector units if available for your car - Ebay for either new aftermarket or recovered/salvaged units.
Normally a case of simply swapping units - an hour or 2 work and a trip to the MOT garage to check alignment

Weird_Nev

Go for Osram Nighbreakers, they hit the sweet spot of cost vs light output for standard halogen bulbs.

Polish up your lenses if they're dirty or cloudy, or replace with "new" if they're going really horrible and yellow.

HIDs can be a great upgrade, but they're a lot of work to fit and you really do need to pay attention to the light design to get them to work correctly. It's not jsut bulbs, but ballasts to find room for and fit, a secondary power supply, and when I did mine Imade up a relay so that thye only ignited when sidelights were on, so a "main beam flash" didn't ignite the HIDS and then shut them down again (this shortens their life and is annoying for other road users).

Jakg

In decent housings (projectors), they are great.

In reflectors, they are rubbish... illuminate brilliantly, but blind everyone as well!

Notmyrealname

muddyl wrote: »

But I have seen HID conversion kit's on the likes of ebay from £40.
What are peoples thoughts on these? Are they worth it?

You need to add another zero to the price. Those kits are mickey mouse ones that aren't likely to be CE marked and as pointed out, not likely to pass a MOT as they're not self levelling.

waynedance

I have hids and can understand why people want xexon lights as there is no standard bulb that can match the light output. They are superb at lighting up the white lines and road signs at great distance.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Jakg wrote: »

In decent housings (projectors), they are great.

In reflectors, they are rubbish... illuminate brilliantly, but blind everyone as well!

not to mention they burn hot, any plastic around the unprotected bulb is subject to being warped and marked if not placed in the projector.