the box cost more than the hid HAHAHA

why you take pic of the box and not the car with it install ???????

 

jus wanted to shwo the cool box hehe, i havent installed it yet, wen i do ill post pics

 

meilers is right, there are a lot of issues that go along with putting HIDs in reflectors made for Halogens. This sums it up nicely:

HID retrofit info

The quote from this article that completely convinced me was:
"Having a lot of strong light in the foreground, that is on the road close to the car and out to the sides, is very comforting and reliably produces a strong *impression* of "good headlights". The problem is that not only is foreground lighting of decidedly secondary importance when travelling much above 30 mph, but having a very strong pool of light close to the car causes your pupils to close down, *worsening* your distance vision...all the while giving you this false sense of security. This is to say nothing of the massive amounts of glare to other road users and backdazzle to you, the driver, that results from these "retrofits"..

Moral of the story: if you get HIDs, get projectors or new reflectors. Halogen bulbs emit light in different directions compared to HID bulbs, so reflector design is completely different between the two. Merely pointing your halogen reflectors properly for HID isn't the same as getting an HID reflector or projector lens.

 

honestly... i have no clue or idea wat you guys are talking about.. i read everything trying to understand.. can u guys just tell me simple straight english?

im not trying to disagree, im just trying to understand exactly what you guys mean, so if i put this hid kit on my wrx.. in simple english. what is gona happen? besides its a waste, that doesnt help me understand. id like simple straight english like is t he hid light not gona show or wat.

either way ima do it and see wat happens, ill post pics to let you g uys know.

 

They are trying to say, if you get hid and use it on your reflectors headlight, it give out low output of light. It basically scatter lights everwhere and blind people (i have hid on my 04, no problem at all. Just simply aim them down)

If you have a projector with HID it helps shoot out more light. So it works more efficiently.

 

Ok so the biggest disadvantage to putting HIDs in halogen reflectors is that the light from the HIDs - VERY bright - is concentrated near your car, instead of being "shot" out in front of you (where you want the light). Think of it this way - if you have ever played with a MagLight, you can take the top of the flashlight off (lens/reflector) and it will just be the bulb alone. Now with the bulb completely uncovered, it will look brighter - but at the same time, it doesn't light up what's in front of you as well as if you had the reflector on. (What lights up stuff in front of you better, a flashlight or a candle?)

With HID it's the same thing, because the reflectors are different for halogens, it doesn't focus the light properly when you switch to HID. Since all the light is concentrated close to your car (because it scatters), it will look brighter to you, but actually, all that does is make your pupils shrink (meaning it lets less light into your eyes) and this basically reduces how far you can see (in front of you) at night. With a projector lens, it focuses the light properly and the beam pattern "shoots out" further, illuminating the road better, whereas halogen reflectors will scatter the light from the HID bulb and not focus it properly.

It's also not a question of efficiency - that article basically says that using HIDs in halogen reflectors is LESS efficient than using plain halogen bulbs because of the reason I mentioned above. Your eyes (and mind) will fool you into thinking the light is better with HID, but that's because the light is BRIGHTER (for sure) but that doesn't mean it illuminates the road better. After reading that article, people on other boards (with HID retrofits) said that it was true, they never noticed that their long-distance vision decreased at night with HIDs, but it had.

HIDs are definitely cool, if it's just the look you want then go for it, but if you want better road illumination and better performance than your current lights, then an HID retrofit in a halogen reflector is not the way to go. If I was in your shoes I would try and find a set of EDM projectors to go with my sweet new Hella HIDs... Hope that helps, I can try to make things more clear if I am still confusing you...

 

nandanrp, you have a good point but,,,

The HID lights do produce 2-3 times more light than stock halogen lights which all of us have had. The reflector on the Subaru does not scatter the light as bad as most people think (I should know I have a website and I've had my HIDs for over a year now)

I can honestly tell you from expierence that driving with and with out HIDs at night is the difference between night and day. I do agree with you regarding the fact that STi Projectors, Morettes, UK300's and other good aftermarket projector headlights are ideal for HID purposes but not every one has $300+ for an HID Kit and then another $600+ for a set of headlights.

 

some pictures of my car with 8000K



Darkish Alley:

 

very nice... i have the Hella 5200k HID kit for my STi bug eye headlamps...


in time i know the hid will wear down and i will need to replace the bulbs...

if i want to get more of a bluish tint... say 7200 - 8000k... do i just buy bulbs? or do i have to buy new balasts?

i am going to search on hella's website after this... thanks!

 

Wow, that IS night and day.

 

oh jee that picture sure is scattering the light, by the way i have 04 headlamps

 

No need to get sarcastic, I was just trying to pass on the information I know...I love HIDs, I was thinking about doing the HID swap in myself, until I read up on it. I have driven two cars with HIDs, one factory (Cadillac CTS with projectors) and my friend's Honda Accord coupe (HID in halogen reflectors). The CTS's headlights are absolutely amazing, just blows halogens away. The accord looks great with the HIDs and driving with them on was great, but it's not the same as a projector lens - I haven't driven the car enough to judge whether distance viewing is not as good as the CTS though.

HIDPlace.com, you make a good point, it is a cheap alternative to buying projectors. I probably would save for projectors, but hey that's me.

Good luck with them downshift, let us know how they look.

 

I had the 04 lights with no hid's just halogen and I can gaurantee it spreads the light all over the place. The signs on both side of the highway light up and its hard to see directly in front of me. I usually need the foglights on to help out. All 04's here are like this. They appear to shine higher, as my girlfriend who has come towards me and has been followed behind by me can testify. Sometimes when the other 04 wrx's are in the opposite lane coming toward me I think that their highs are on but they don't seem that bright. From in the cabin, it looks pretty lacking, but the reflectors on the road light up a 1/2 a mile away. Now the light pattern on the STI focusses everything right in front of me. The signs are visible but not lit up by the hid's. And it gives the impression of a brighter cleaner light. I guess the housing does affect light output when it comes to hid compatibility vs. halogen ones.

 

i had a similar situation at first but there is a simple solution, if you lower the level of the headlights by a tiny bit less than stock. it actually fixs some of the glare.

 

I believe the STi reflectors are different from regular '04 reflectors, since the STi's were designed with HID in mind...