HIDs Upgrade

I did this a few days ago. It's been a LONG time since I last made a new thread, so I thought this would be a good way to come back, lol.

Lights on. Another crappy Sylvania Silverstars I've been buying went out. This was the last straw with them and me still buying them.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9968/dsc00072ui.jpg

Bumper off

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6199/dsc00073q.jpg

HID Kit

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2544/dsc00075l.jpg

First attempt at ballast install.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/471/dsc00076br.jpg

Close up of first ballast install attempt. The wire harness does not reach the ballast so I had to figure out where else to install the ballast.

Figuring this part is what took me the longest of the whole install.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/7333/dsc00077n.jpg

Another angle of my first ballast install attempt.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/527/dsc00078ez.jpg

The OEM intake resonator. I was thinking about leaving it off. I decided against it though.

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/6941/dsc00079zh.jpg

Figured out the driver's side. Wire harness reached after cutting off some tape.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4896/dsc00080wo.jpg

Both ballasts installed =)

http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/263/dsc00082ief.jpg

Lights on, camera flash on.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6460/dsc00083i.jpg

Lights on, camera flash off.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1273/dsc00084dt.jpg

6000k

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/8752/dsc00085sq.jpg

Ballast going stealth status.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7379/dsc00088wb.jpg

Ballast going stealth status, part 2.

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/422/dsc00089ph.jpg

Passenger wires from HID bulbs plugging into their harnesses.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3751/dsc00092ln.jpg

Drivers side.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/4941/dsc00093pm.jpg

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/8076/dsc00094v.jpg

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6664/dsc00095e.jpg

Seriously, you have to know what you're looking for here.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1113/dsc00096is.jpg

just keep your high beams off when behind me, or i'm break-checkin' ya.
wow! those are way brighter than stock for that model....

My HIDs are brighter than my high beams now :-p. These border on the "gray" area for legal on my car, haha. I gotta adjust them still (point down a little) and then take some night time pictures.

I'm extremely happy with these as they are much more brighter than stock like you said. I can actually SEE the road now!

Wow. Reminds of those lights on the spacecraft in Close Encounters. How bright is too bright, might I ask?

"too bright" would be having lows, highs, and fogs all on 55w HIDs....

I just reciently did the same conversion on my Dodge Ram 1500. So much better. I did lights and fogs. Makes me wonder how I drove at night before I had these things. I will throw up a pic later.

looks very nice now get some dirt on the wire tubing so they don't look so clean and shiny
and how much did that kit run ya?

The kit ran me $55 for everything.

I want to get some fogs for my car and then put those on 35w HIDs as well from the same company. I'm thinking 3500k color for the fogs though.

stay away from anything in the blue range for fog. it will blind you. amber, not yellow, is best. if you are going to mount them at leat make sure they can do the job. otherwise they will ljust be aux driving lights.
as you might surmise i haven't the foggiest idea ( ;) )what those XXXXk color range #'s mean

wow thats a really good price

I've been thinking about doing HIDs on my car. Need to look around at prices cause like you guys said I have heard its a huge difference at night.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blacksmith1

stay away from anything in the blue range for fog. it will blind you. amber, not yellow, is best. if you are going to mount them at leat make sure they can do the job. otherwise they will ljust be aux driving lights.
as you might surmise i haven't the foggiest idea ( ;) )what those XXXXk color range #'s mean

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The color spectrum starts at 2200k all the way up to 12000k. Basically, the lower the color, the more yellow it'll be. The 3500k I mentioned earlier is an amber type color. Most cars out there right now have a bulb color between 4000k and 4500k in color which is why they are a bit yellow and not white. There are higher colors, but sometimes they don't list them with a number and instead just give them a name. Here's a link for you to reference. :)

http://www.ioffer.com/i/hid-xenon-li...bulb-156675195

This will only give you an idea of what it'll look like, but an image on a screen does not compare to what the light output will actually be ;).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by borschtBomber[SS]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James86

wow thats a really good price

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I've been thinking about doing HIDs on my car. Need to look around at prices cause like you guys said I have heard its a huge difference at night.

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lol, $55 is a good price. Here is where I bought my HIDs from. I bought the Advanced HID kit towards the lower side of the bar on the left.

http://www.thirdgp.com/

The "Slim HID" kit is by the same company, Advanced HID. The difference is that the ballasts are much slimmer, probably about 0.5in thick. The ones I got are the regular ones which are about 1.5in. thick. Cost was a deciding factor in as to why I got the standard ones.

The JDL brand HIDs are supposed to be one of the best in the industry. As a result, they're also like $200, lol. I'd have to compare some of those JDL ones to my Advanced HID brand to see how much better those are and if they are worth $200.

those might be overkill for my civic hybrid but for 55 bucks I might be able to convince the wife

Just keep in mind everybody, these are likely going to be illegal unless you properly retrofit them with projector headlights..