HID's vs. projectors, need some clarification Options

[6gcnoob]

hey everyone. i missed out on that GB everyone did for the HID's. im looking to change my low's as well, and i just wanted to know what the diffrence is, which one is better and anything else that could help me to go further with this mod. thanks.

[BloodyStupidDave...]

hey everyone. i missed out on that GB everyone did for the HID's. im looking to change my low's as well, and i just wanted to know what the diffrence is, which one is better and anything else that could help me to go further with this mod. thanks.

HIDs are a type of lightbulb (the technical term is lamp) where as projector is a type of lamp housing.

Generally it is considered a very bad idea indeed to put HID lamps into housings intended for standard halogen lamps as the beam pattern is different - HIDs tend to 'leak' light above the cut-off point. This can cause it to appear asif you are flashing other drivers or can even dazzle other drivers with potentially dangerous consequences.

Projector housings for our cars are still intended for halogen lamps but with modern, good quality, HIDs arguably the 'leak' effects are better than with non-projector housings.

One final point to note is that in some US states and many countries outside the US it may be illegal to use HIDs in housings not intended for the purpose. For instance, in the UK HIDs are not road-legal as an aftermarket mod unless the car both has auto-levelling headlights (auto-leveling means without any user intervention) and headlight washers or wipers. In the UK, driving a car that is not road-legal invalidates your insurance and carries heavy fines.

Here are a coule of links about legality:
Daniel Stern Lighting
UK DfT policy on aftermarket HIDs

If you are looking for the cool look or visibility of HID headlights and are from a part of the world where HID mods are problematic, there are a couple of options:

* HIR bulbs such as Toshiba HiR, Polarg Spec-R. These are Halogen bulbs with a silvered tip that reflects the infrared light back into the bulb, heating up the halogen gas more than the filament can on its own. They burn between 80% and 110% brighter than standard halogen at the same wattage (HIDs are between 80% and 300% brighter than standard halogens depending on the colour tempterature). By default they give a much whiter light than traditional Halogen bulbs but are also available with blue glass to give a more exotic look similar to the higher temperature HID bulbs. HIR bulbs are used in the Scion tC and the Camry among others.

* Toshiba bulbs aren't available aftermarket but a number of vehicle manufacturers sell Toshiba as their own. For instance, the John Deere AH211917 is actually a Toshiba HiD 9011.

* Xenon bulbs such as Philips X-treme, Osram Silverstar or Nightbreaker. These have a high pressure Xenon gas and a tungsten element. They burn up to 80% (Philips) or 90% (Osram) brighter and around 10% whiter than standard halogen bulbs and run at the same wattage.

Which is better - HIR or Xenon? There doesn't appear to be any consensus - please leave a comment if you have experience with both and have an opinion. One final note - any coating (blue, yellow or any other colour) will reduce the light output further.

This post has been edited by BloodyStupidDavey: Jan 18, 2009 - 5:31 PM