*pictures*(56k warning)Installed HID's, one small problem

*pictures*(56k warning)Installed HID's, one small problem

Just received the HID's yesterday from xenondepot.com. Install took about 2 1/2 hours :rule: (they sent no bloody instructions ). What took the longest was finding places to mount things like the ballasts and relays.

I temporarily mounted the ballasts behind the front bumper, on the beam. I know it's not the greatest place in terms of water protection but, damn have you have tried to find a place to put those things? It's difficult to find a flat area. Knowing me I'll probably forget and just leave it there .

What they sent me was IMO awesome. Everything was wrapped up nicely in either electrical tape or plastic tubing. Very professional product. The ballasts are very thin except where you plug in the wires, it bulges out right there. I really wish I had a digital camera to document the entire installation. But, hey, I'm no Vamp .

Ok, here's my problem. I drove around tonight and noticed a huge amount of glare all around. Looking out on both sides while driving, I see white lines of light, shining into cars right next to and slightly ahead of me and on the walls I pass by. I examined other cars w/ HID's as I drove around and noticed that they don't have this lateral glare.

When I got home I researched this problem (google is your personal professor) and found that they sent me D2S bulbs (which are for projector housings) instead of D2R (for reflector housings). My bulbs are now officially used. I don't think they'll take them back for an exchange.

On their website there's no option to choose between the type of application. I wrote them an email explaining the situation but left out the part of me already using the bulbs. Is there any way to determine whether the bulbs have been used or not?

Is there anyone here that would like to purchase Philips 4300K D2S bulbs that are 9006 based? Only been used for less than an hour.

You don't have glare because you bought the wrong bulbs - you have glare because your housing isn't an HID-reflector. They're not designed to reflect that amount of lumens correctly. If you want a nice beam with a cutoff and everything, you either need a) HID-Projectors, or b) HID-Reflector Housing. And unfortunately with our rollas, you're not gonna get b), so a) is your only option.

even if you had D2R's rebased to 9006's, you'd still have that nasty glare.

What about these? http://www.xenonfactory.com/products/hid/rebased.htm

Did you do your own retrofit? Wanna do mine?

2 1/2 hours??? most kits are plug and play, u just plug it into your stock harness.

Those are d2s as well. Most important thing is you reflector, not the bulb.

Can you take some pics so we can see how bad the glare is??

When i blacked out my headlight i removed the center metal cover on the low beams. since it no longer exsits my headlights have no glare at all and when we put the HID's on my friends 01 LE it removed the glare it once had. so both mine and his do not have the center metal cover and i am running on silverstars for the low beams right now and they look a lot brighter for being stock type.so try that.

"What took the longest was finding places to mount things like the ballasts and relays." Plus, remember I said it didn't come w/ instructions. So I had to lay out the entire kit and see what connected to what. Another thing that took awhile was routing the wires (which reminded me of the Sentinels from the Matrix) and zip-tying it all down.

I know they are D2S, and I just received an email back from xenondepot.com explaining to me the differences between D2S and D2R.

In terms of D2S or D2R, Our HID conversion kits use a D2S bulb. We have
done various experimentation over the past year and for a retrofit
application or OE application out side of Europe the D2R bulb is not
required. The stripe on the D2R lamps helps hide the salts which would
appear as parasitic images in the light dark transition area of the European
Assymetric dip pattern. On a retrofit or DOT beam pattern (Your headlight)
you do not have this light dark transition requirement therefore the D2S
bulb is just fine for any application.

It says on the website I just provided:
"Our rebased xenon HID bulbs start their lives as Philipsâ„¢ D2 bulbs. We rebase the bulbs with custom molded bases and optically align the primary components using lasers. They can be installed directly into your factory halogen headlight assembly with no modification whatsoever.
[...]
Unlike other bulbs with glued bases, these professionally rebased bulbs’ focal points are optically aligned during the rebased process to ensure absolute correct beam pattern and maximum performance."

I Don't have a digital camera, but I can "steal" one from work tonight and see what I can do w/ that.

That means pulling the headlight apart, right? Ok, thanks! Time to go throw it in the oven. Well, at least after I take the pictures.



Now, you wanted me to remove which part? The red, blue or yellow...I'm guessing not the blue.

Oh, and this is what the ballast looks like.

hmm makes me wanna get HID for my 00 rolla, i think it would work fine on my car, even though i would loose high beams

I've got the pictures.













And here are the problematic glares

dude if it was me......i wouldn't care about the glares......cuz it looks like its shining light everywhere and you can see better.....so i would just live with it........thats just me tho....

Another thing, right now I have my lights pointed almost as low as I can get them. So they illuminate about 150-200 ft of the road in front of me. How far are these suppose to go without blinding the person in front of me? FYI I'm lowered w/ Eibach springs (about 1.3" drop).

I just don't want to piss too many people off while I'm driving.

I know you don't want to piss too many people off...but HID's are everywhere...they gonna have to get used to them sooner or later...

you could play that off as a ghost.....jk man, lol....yea, its bad enough getting blinded head on from a car with HIDs....but its like salt on a wound gettin glare in your eye one last time before the car passes...

did you have to take out your dRL? I heared it can mess up the HID if you don't disable those.

canu take a pic iwit ur HIDs and high beams on at the same time too?

Yes, I disabled them a long time ago. Using, none other than, Vamps DIY.

This crowd is so demanding. Yeah, I'll try to get pictures w/ all of the lights on. I was suprised when I turned on my highbeams, the low's stayed on. So if I want, at any given point, I can be driving down the road w/ 3 sets of lights on. Now, if only I could figure out a method of getting only the fog's to turn on (and no I don't want to go the separate switch/relay route).

those look good man... i have those glare on my 99 too... idk... it looks pretty cool when im on the freeway... coz it puts a line on the side...

i wish i had fogs....
But if i get HID i will only have one set of lights, but it shouildbe more then enough i'm hearing.
If only waited an extra 5 months i could have gotten a 01 corolla, i love the front end of it, plus lights are alot easier to work wit

When I got my car I thought the same thing...If only I had waited a couple more months I could've bought an '03.

There would be some glare problem whenever you install HID in an housing designed for halogens. I have yet to see a plug and play kit with no glare whatsoever. Speaking of which I was driving home from work yesterday night and some jackass in an integra pulled up behind me with a HID kit putting out a shit load of glare, its like being in front of some idiot whod driving around with his high beams on.

That's what I'm worried about. But at this point when I drive behind someone I can see a clear line just below their trunk line. So I'm not really blinding them. However if you look at the picture I posted w/ the car pointed at the wall (w/ the double blue doors), you can make out some scattered light above the main light.

Was it an older generation Integra? I thought the latest gen. had projectors.

Eventhough the last gen integra has projectors, but they are not meant to use with HID, it still produce glare.

I saw you pic now. There is glare above the cutoff line. Although there's only just a little, it's still bright enough to blind people. You need to fix that.I dont know how to fix it, but I think you can take apart your headlight housing and play around with it. It can be fixed.

even my 00 rolla has slight glair from silver stars and my moms headlights also have slight lines too, she has a 05 rolla wit silver stars

our lights are aimed proporly too so its not that

nah it was the "new" integra with the ghey pimple beam headlights. Those OEM projectors they have is horrible for HID, but its easy to do a HID projector retrofit on them. I have a HID setup as well which I would be getting rid of soon, I have glare hotspots just like you which is why I have my headlight aimed at the lowest position.. at that point having HID dosen't even help. The color's nice tho.

its not because it'll piss people off, or that it looks ugly - its a safety hazard to have intense lights shining in ppl's faces as they're driving at night. You know how it reduces your vision when a big SUV comes up behind you and their lights are hitting you from every mirror in your car, its hard to see the darker background as you're driving if you've got lights in your face.

yeah, I did my own retro, Sean hooked it up w/all the parts, lenses, ballasts, bulbs, wires, and I retro'd my own. He does retros too though, and i've seen his work - superb. throw him a PM, his username is sean2sean.

if you check out my cardomain you can see pics of my output before I put my shrouds on. You can see the sharp cutoff line the ECE-spec projector lenses produce. The little glare you see in those pictures are now gone because I wrapped my lenses with a shroud. Oh, and not to mention, since the beam is beautifully projected, and concentrated where you need it (ie on the road, not in ppl's faces), it rival's most factory HID's.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/809216/2

also check out the hid planet forums at http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/, lots of ppl who've done retros, and they have pics and what not.

My opinion is, if you want to get HID's... get it done the right way!
You'll be much happier with the result, and the ppl around you will be as well.

oh, and watch out for the chippy's in OC, its REALLY easy to pick out a car that has an illegal hid kit, and you'll most likely get a fix-it ticket for it.

everything is a safety hazard, i wouldnt spend the money on doin retro's unless they were premade, i dont see a need for em, WHAT IF u do retros, does that stop the SUV's from shinin their lights behind u? or does it stop the stupid drivers who tailgate you that you cant even see their headlights? if everybody who had hid's had to do retro's, then every women driving a SUV should retake their road tests.

^Retrofit owns. I like mine too.

okay, everyone's entitled to their opinion. however, making mods to your car that are a safety hazard to YOU, vs. a safety hazard to others on the road, is a huge difference.

So, you're essentially saying that it's okay cuz everyone else does it, or what? Why can't someone take steps to being safer rather than making the problem bigger?

I hole sawed mine out and installed actual projector assemblies with lenses from a porsche and I still get the glare. I actually have grown to like it

yes, since many cars already have this "too bright and glare" problem on the cars to begin wit, it wont make that big of a deal if u had hid's. it would just add u to the millions of ppl who drive suv's, trucks, etc.

and yes if ppl have to get retros, then all those 5'2" 105lb women should stop driving those fuckin hummers and yukon's cuz its like road rage without intent.