[UnknownJinX]

HID in halogen housing is a bad idea. The light will go all over the place except where you want it.



LED in halogen is a mixed bag. Some designs try to mimic the halogen filament locations, but the light emission pattern will still be a bit different just because LED can only emit light at 180 degrees, not 360 degrees like halogen bulbs.

Basically, it comes down to if you want vanity or functionality. Functionality wise, there are H7 bulbs that use the H9 filaments and they are very bright. I believe H9 is actually the brightest halogen bulb specification on a car. It's gonna be yellow light, obviously.

Vanity wise, Retrofit Source has some quality parts.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/le...cecategory:asc

I personally like 5000K bulbs as it's a pure white without blue or yellow tint. 6000K is a bit too blue for me. Anything over that is ricer garbage.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

HID in halogen housing is a bad idea. The light will go all over the place except where you want it.



LED in halogen is a mixed bag. Some designs try to mimic the halogen filament locations, but the light emission pattern will still be a bit different just because LED can only emit light at 180 degrees, not 360 degrees like halogen bulbs.

Basically, it comes down to if you want vanity or functionality. Functionality wise, there are H7 bulbs that use the H9 filaments and they are very bright. I believe H9 is actually the brightest halogen bulb specification on a car. It's gonna be yellow light, obviously.

Vanity wise, Retrofit Source has some quality parts.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/le...cecategory:asc

I personally like 5000K bulbs as it's a pure white without blue or yellow tint. 6000K is a bit too blue for me. Anything over that is ricer garbage.

Actually, if you have "projector lens" in your headlights, HIDs are fine to retrofit into a previously halogen headlight assembly... I've done the retrofit on my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2012 Hyundai Sonata and my 2016 Hyundai Sonata all with excellent results (all were previously halogen BUT had projector lens in the assembly)... Night and day difference going from Halogen to 6000K HIDs...

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

Actually, if you have "projector lens" in your headlights, HIDs are fine to retrofit into a previously halogen headlight assembly... I've done the retrofit on my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2012 Hyundai Sonata and my 2016 Hyundai Sonata all with excellent results (all were previously halogen BUT had projector lens in the assembly)... Night and day difference going from Halogen to 6000K HIDs...

If you do it properly, yes, it will be an improvement.

Key emphasis on properly, AKA actually spending money and effort into retrofitting a proper projector.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

If you do it properly, yes, it will be an improvement.

Key emphasis on properly, AKA actually spending money and effort into retrofitting a proper projector.

I didn't have to retrofit a projector, all of these cars had projectors already... Simply swapped out the bulbs (and added a ballast)

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

I didn't have to retrofit a projector, all of these cars had projectors already... Simply swapped out the bulbs (and added a ballast)

That's still not optimal. HID projectors and halogen projectors are different. It's just not as bad as putting HID bulbs in a reflector.

This is out of an RX-8. The left one is the HID unit on the higher trims, the right one is the halogen unit out of a lower trim. Note the difference in the cutoff shield and the reflector curvatures.





I've never done this myself to see how bad it actually is. I usually just use a high quality halogen bulb, which works well. The only thing is that they burn out faster and you have to replace more often.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

That's still not optimal. HID projectors and halogen projectors are different. It's just not as bad as putting HID bulbs in a reflector.

This is out of an RX-8. The left one is the HID unit on the higher trims, the right one is the halogen unit out of a lower trim. Note the difference in the cutoff shield and the reflector curvatures.





I've never done this myself to see how bad it actually is. I usually just use a high quality halogen bulb, which works well. The only thing is that they burn out faster and you have to replace more often.

The "cut-off" on all of my cars is incredibly sharp, my 2007 Santa Fe has had HIDs since 2010 and my 2012 Sonata has had HIDs since late 2011 (I bought it in Oct 2011 and installed them immediately) and I have NEVER (not a single time) been flashed by anyone regarding the headlights and between the two that is well over 175,000 miles of driving...

BOTH of these cars are on their originally installed HIDs...

[arpad_m]

I use Sylvania SilverStar Ultras on wifey's SUV, it's a much brighter and cooler color temperature halogen bulb than the OEM bulbs the truck came with. At 40-45 bucks a pair and full compatibility it's a pretty good value. As UnknownJinX says, they do burn out faster, but the output and color difference is literally night and day.

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

The "cut-off" on all of my cars is incredibly sharp, my 2007 Santa Fe has had HIDs since 2010 and my 2012 Sonata has had HIDs since late 2011 (I bought it in Oct 2011 and installed them immediately) and I have NEVER (not a single time) been flashed by anyone regarding the headlights and between the two that is well over 175,000 miles of driving...

BOTH of these cars are on their originally installed HIDs...

Cut-off isn't all there is to it... The distribution below it is pretty important.

But whatever, it's your car. As long as no one is putting HID in a halogen reflector, we are cool.

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I use Sylvania SilverStar Ultras on wifey's SUV, it's a much brighter and cooler color temperature halogen bulb than the OEM bulbs the truck came with. At 40-45 bucks a pair and full compatibility it's a pretty good value. As UnknownJinX says, they do burn out faster, but the output and color difference is literally night and day.

Yeah I used them in my beater Accord. Very good bulbs but with a short life. At least they lasted the half year I needed them. I just had to make sure to clean my headlights constantly.

Sent from toaster or something

[legendary70]

arpad....what color do yours look like?

jinx what do you mean have to clean your headlights constantly?

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by legendary70

arpad....what color do yours look like?

The SilverStar Ultra has a color temperature of ~4100 K. For comparison, the factory DRL LED is 4300 K (slightly cooler, closer to blue, but still warmer than perfect white).

Here's another color temp chart that shows more detail in the 3000-6000 range than Rhobz's diagram above.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

Cut-off isn't all there is to it... The distribution below it is pretty important.

But whatever, it's your car. As long as no one is putting HID in a halogen reflector, we are cool.

I agree, I would never put them in a halogen reflector housing, seen too many of those and it just blares light everywhere...

The HIDs in all of my reflector housings do great, excellent light distribution and a sharp cutoff, made a night & day difference in nighttime driving...

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by legendary70

arpad....what color do yours look like?

jinx what do you mean have to clean your headlights constantly?

The bulbs are fine. My headlights get covered in mud and grime constantly because it was snowy. I have to clean the headlights to make sure I can see anything at night.

Kinda wish I had those headlight cleaners that squirt water onto the lights to clean them or even better, the little wipers you see on those old Volvo's.

Sent from toaster or something

[Chr1spy]

TheRetrofitSource sells an HID kit by Morimoto with a lifetime warranty, and I swear by them. Been running them in all my cars for years. This is quite literally my first post on this forum, I don't even have my Camaro yet, but I had to chime in on this thread to make sure you don't get anything from Amazon or eBay.

I literally have better output with one HID bulb out (while I waited for the warranty replacement to arrive, free with free shipping) than any of my cars did with both halogen bulbs active. You can also see a clean, wide throw from the halogen projectors with a clean, solid cutoff right around where the license plate on a normal car would be if it was in front of you. I've only ever gotten high beamed while I was coming over a hill, and we all know why that happens with all cars. If anyone knows how I can send OP a pic of these lights in action without having the proper post count, please let me know.