Dear CHP...
Nobody likes the tuna here
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From: BAIC Wagon Clique
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I have the factory HID's on my wife's Forester. They are not in a projector housing. They look like a typical Halogen reflector style, but the reflector in the HID ones are slightly different than the Halogen to make sure you don't blind people.
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This guy nailed it:
^ this. I've been on all sides of this I used to use hid's in my stock 07 projectors for a little and I always got complaints from my friends at night unless I had them adjusted all the way down, if you look momentarily into a stock projector with a hid vs. Halogen in it you'll notice how bright they really are(that is what other drivers have to see) hell I used to blind my self because how poor it distributed light because it would bounce off of road signs back at me, most of them out their im sure are not using 4300k but 5000-6000k which I have found to reflect the road signs and painted lines way more giving you the illusion that they are brighter. You may not have noticed it but when you hit a bump or something that causes the front end of your car to go up even just a little or coming over a hill the car oncoming is going to get the full beam right in their eyes. At this point cut off points are irrelevant and those hot spots created by projectors/reflectors made for halogens that have been fitted with hids are dispersing light all over the place ie. drivers eyes
Take this into thought, hid's can produce up to 250% more light, halogen lamps still have a cut off and let a certain amount of light past (ambient light) to see road signs but not blind oncoming drivers. In this affect when you add 250% more light to that housing that was made for a certain type of bulb your also adding that much more light into that area above the cutoff point. Projectors still have that area above the cut off to see above but not blind
$40 hid kits usually aren't a good buy and almost never come with a harness to have them directly connected to your battery with fuses protecting your stock wires.
(There is someone on here who's fog lights caught on fire from this)
$140-$200 will usually get you a good hid kit with the harness.
Now take another $100-$160 you can buy a good retrofit kit which will have everything you need and you get the plus of having bi-xenons on a lot of good projectors (morimoto) you'd now have the best bang for your buck and about the best light output possible for your car. Most of all you'd have in the back of your head your not endangering oncoming traffic and your more safe with more usable light.
for 08+ owners take a look at this
2008 Subaru Impreza WRX - The Retrofit Source Morimoto Retro-Quik System - Modified Magazine
^ The projectors on the 08+ look identical to 06-07's
I'm not trying to be mean or anything but whoever thinks subaru's going to use the same reflector for both hid's and halogen bulbs, I highly doubt subaru is going to risk the safety just to be cost effective, otherwise why would they add levelers and obviously different projectors for the newer sti's that wouldn't be cost effective if they didn't care about safety
Take this into thought, hid's can produce up to 250% more light, halogen lamps still have a cut off and let a certain amount of light past (ambient light) to see road signs but not blind oncoming drivers. In this affect when you add 250% more light to that housing that was made for a certain type of bulb your also adding that much more light into that area above the cutoff point. Projectors still have that area above the cut off to see above but not blind
$40 hid kits usually aren't a good buy and almost never come with a harness to have them directly connected to your battery with fuses protecting your stock wires.
(There is someone on here who's fog lights caught on fire from this)
$140-$200 will usually get you a good hid kit with the harness.
Now take another $100-$160 you can buy a good retrofit kit which will have everything you need and you get the plus of having bi-xenons on a lot of good projectors (morimoto) you'd now have the best bang for your buck and about the best light output possible for your car. Most of all you'd have in the back of your head your not endangering oncoming traffic and your more safe with more usable light.
for 08+ owners take a look at this
2008 Subaru Impreza WRX - The Retrofit Source Morimoto Retro-Quik System - Modified Magazine
^ The projectors on the 08+ look identical to 06-07's
I'm not trying to be mean or anything but whoever thinks subaru's going to use the same reflector for both hid's and halogen bulbs, I highly doubt subaru is going to risk the safety just to be cost effective, otherwise why would they add levelers and obviously different projectors for the newer sti's that wouldn't be cost effective if they didn't care about safety
BanHammer™
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From: Wagonmafia Propaganda Lieutenant
Car Info: 2014 Forester XT
the 05 STi had HIDs but without projectors
HIDs not always need projectors to work correctly, but they DO need the proper cutoff as not to blind everyone.
don't just jump to a conclusion that someone with HIDs and no projectors are an *******.
HIDs not always need projectors to work correctly, but they DO need the proper cutoff as not to blind everyone.
don't just jump to a conclusion that someone with HIDs and no projectors are an *******.
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From: Sterling, VA
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Not the same.
Other cars with HID reflector optics: Escalades, IS300s, Nissan Maximas and Acura TLs.
Lurk said it right, the rednecks are now adding HID's to their stupid giant trucks too. That is always lovely...
Last edited by grambo; Oct 22, 2012 at 12:02 PM.
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