Just installed HID = Very happy!

[noone]

Well you're getting HID's convinced me to get new Bulbs (main headlight only).

Found it really hard to find out what was legal and illegal.

Eventually, looks like 4000K is legal (went with the Phillips BlueVision), the 4300K (CrystalVision) are not.

This relates to the Australian Standard ADR51 apparently... If you want to read it for yourself, you can find pages of fun here.

[Manaz]

HID's are different. They use a different gas to create light and are generally a lower wattage than standard. What makes them "brighter" is the light temperature not wattage. Just because they are 6000k does not mean they will cause the lenses to discolour, you'll probably find that they produce less heat than the standard ones.

What makes a HID bulb brighter is that they're MUCH more efficient at converting electricity into light. The colour temperature has very little to do with it, and colour temperature and heat output are generally unrelated.

[Manaz]

This relates to the Australian Standard ADR51 apparently... If you want to read it for yourself, you can find pages of fun here.

FYI, HIDs are not filament lamps, and are not covered by that ADR.

The ADR you want is this one.

You must have headlamp washers and auto-levelling installed for your HID installation to be legal.

[JCM308]

What brand HID's did you install????

Looking at doing this to my Pog but not sure which ones to get. Have heard that some cars don't like HID's so don't want to install a kit that kills my electrical system.

[T Go]

Just wondering if Im not understanding right...
Alot of ppl confuse replacement lamps that are higher in temp as HID, as opposed to actual HID... (I used to).
Is gettin HID a simple install as stated???
I was certain it involved more than just changing lights....

I have DiamondVision on my GTI, low beams rock, but high beams arent anything to write home about...
but these are NO comparison to my gf's Accord Euros HID... theyre on another level!


Am I wrong here?

[Manaz]

What brand HID's did you install????

Looking at doing this to my Pog but not sure which ones to get. Have heard that some cars don't like HID's so don't want to install a kit that kills my electrical system.

A HID retrofit generally involves finding HID bulbs to suit the existing sockets (not terribly hard, there are plenty of retrofit kits out there) and installing them along with ballasts, which sit between the 12v power feed and the bulbs. It's the ballasts that take the 12v feed from your car battery and ramp up the voltage to be high enough to create an arc inside the HID bulb and thus produce light.

As already stated several times, HID retrofits are not road legal unless you meet the ADR requirements (I linked to the relevant ADR earlier). And even then, they're a bad idea in standard reflectors becase the light source is different to a filament bulb (longer, and generally in a different orientation) and the standard reflector ends up throwing light around everywhere which ends up dazzling other drivers. HIDs belong in projector headlamps.

[JCM308]

A HID retrofit generally involves finding HID bulbs to suit the existing sockets (not terribly hard, there are plenty of retrofit kits out there) and installing them along with ballasts, which sit between the 12v power feed and the bulbs. It's the ballasts that take the 12v feed from your car battery and ramp up the voltage to be high enough to create an arc inside the HID bulb and thus produce light.

As already stated several times, HID retrofits are not road legal unless you meet the ADR requirements (I linked to the relevant ADR earlier). And even then, they're a bad idea in standard reflectors becase the light source is different to a filament bulb (longer, and generally in a different orientation) and the standard reflector ends up throwing light around everywhere which ends up dazzling other drivers. HIDs belong in projector headlamps.

Thanks for that. I'm well aware of the legalities of HID's and I will be looking at getting projector headlamps (just deciding which ones I like. Found 2 sofar).

I have been involved in installing HID's on a few different cars (mostly jap) so know how to install them. I was discussing this with a friend who installs HID's quite a bit and he mentioned that some cars (mostly euro's) have electrical issues when installing HID's. That was my main concern with trying them on the Polo.

Most of us have cars that aren't 100% road legal, it's just dependant on how much you care

[Maverick]

Why is it illiagle if they come stock on some cars like the honda accord eruo??

I have an explanation and diagrams here
http://www.my-gti.com/734/retrofitti...ector-housings

This has been done to death on a number of the other forums here but cars that have xenons are designed to take them and have the correct components to support them.

Fitting these kits is illegal, stupid and dangerous to other road users and anyone thinking of installing these kits should take some time to research first.

Here's a previous post on the subject http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...non#post311244

If you do a search you'll find a heap of info on the subject.

[JCM308]

Fitting these kits is illegal, stupid and dangerous to other road users and anyone thinking of installing these kits should take some time to research first.

Like with alot of mods, if it is not done properly then it can cause harm to yourself or someone else.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am looking at installing HID's AS WELL AS PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS.

I'm basically more interested in results from people that have already installed these for any adverse effects with the car, that is my main concern.

[Maverick]

Like with alot of mods, if it is not done properly then it can cause harm to yourself or someone else.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am looking at installing HID's AS WELL AS PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS.

My post wasn't in response to you, if you read the posts that I linked to I made mention that if using projectors this will not affect other road users as much as using reflectors (providing the projectors are decent).

I'm basically more interested in results from people that have already installed these for any adverse effects with the car, that is my main concern.

The biggest problem is that you have these cheap kits that sell for 1/10th to 1/30th of what decent setups cost, they have no safety devices built in to protect the car if something does go wrong and they can catch fire. The globes are poor quality knockoffs, decent globes made in Germany and of similar quality to OEM will cost you as much as these complete kits.

You may have no problems at all but you may also have your car burn to the ground or damaging the wiring loom and insurance may not pay out for any of this damage.

If you can pickup decent gear this is the path I would head down however you have the problem that there are huge amounts of counterfeit goods coming out of Asia that you could end up paying a premium and getting the same rubbish as the $200-250 kits.