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HID Bulb/Glare Question


NashSS

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Ok well as some of you know I was having problems with my HID's which I got worked out and are working great. I have the 4300k kit and people keep flashing me and yelling at me to turn off my high beams until I switch to my high beams and then back then they shut up but its starting to annoy me so I was wondering if going with a higher kelvin rating would reduce glare/brightness? I was thinking of the 6000k kit or possibly even 8000k kit. Please let me know. Also these kits are legal right? I just don't wanna get pulled over for them being a road problem/hazard and get a ticket for them. Thanks

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According to physics, 4300k, when measured, puts out more lumens than 6000k or 8000k... So i guess you would need to go for a higher number than 4300k.

 

I'm using 8500k HIDs and they're really good (I think so). They're not too obnoxius for oncoming vehicles but still give you very good visibilty.

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Ok well as some of you know I was having problems with my HID's which I got worked out and are working great. I have the 4300k kit and people keep flashing me and yelling at me to turn off my high beams until I switch to my high beams and then back then they shut up but its starting to annoy me so I was wondering if going with a higher kelvin rating would reduce glare/brightness? I was thinking of the 6000k kit or possibly even 8000k kit. Please let me know. Also these kits are legal right? I just don't wanna get pulled over for them being a road problem/hazard and get a ticket for them. Thanks

 

 

I doubt going to a higher bulb would help any. One thing you might want to try is to aim your headlights a little lower towards the ground so they don't hit drivers in the face.

 

As for being legal, as far as I know, anything that didn't come from the factory with HID's is illegal. There are no so called "legal" retro kits. That's the main reason why I made sure my kit was a true plug and play kit so if/when I had to remove them due to an infraction, it wouldn't be such a PITA.

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:withstupid: I would aim just the driver's side lamp downward a tad; I leave the passenger one aimed a little higher to make it easier to read road signs but the difference isn't much, like maybe 3-5 degrees. I've got the 50W kits and I've never been brighted by oncoming drivers, but I've been told by others that they're definitely noticeably brighter than other vehicles around me, they really stand out but not enough to be a hazzard.

 

The only way that aftermarket lighting is legal is if it has a "DOT Approved" mark on it, and none of the HID conversion kits are technically legal however the better ones are aimed well and have very good performance. About the argument with light output, the 4300K vs. 6000K vs. 8000K: a 4300K bulb puts out just as many photons as a 12000K bulb but we (as humans) cannot register them with our eyes. Another thought, your bulbs in the next few months will gain some color, after a while they'll blue-up a bit and look more like 5000K or even 5500K, this is completely normal.

 

Mr. P.

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:withstupid: I would aim just the driver's side lamp downward a tad; I leave the passenger one aimed a little higher to make it easier to read road signs but the difference isn't much, like maybe 3-5 degrees. I've got the 50W kits and I've never been brighted by oncoming drivers, but I've been told by others that they're definitely noticeably brighter than other vehicles around me, they really stand out but not enough to be a hazzard.

 

The only way that aftermarket lighting is legal is if it has a "DOT Approved" mark on it, and none of the HID conversion kits are technically legal however the better ones are aimed well and have very good performance. About the argument with light output, the 4300K vs. 6000K vs. 8000K: a 4300K bulb puts out just as many photons as a 12000K bulb but we (as humans) cannot register them with our eyes. Another thought, your bulbs in the next few months will gain some color, after a while they'll blue-up a bit and look more like 5000K or even 5500K, this is completely normal.

 

Mr. P.

 

 

:withstupid: In my dad's car (the Phaeton), one of the projector headlamps is very noticeably aimed around 2-4 inches lower (at about 50ft range), like P said, it's only a few degrees, but it seems to make all the difference in the world to oncoming traffic...

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I doubt going to a higher bulb would help any. One thing you might want to try is to aim your headlights a little lower towards the ground so they don't hit drivers in the face.

 

As for being legal, as far as I know, anything that didn't come from the factory with HID's is illegal. There are no so called "legal" retro kits. That's the main reason why I made sure my kit was a true plug and play kit so if/when I had to remove them due to an infraction, it wouldn't be such a PITA.

 

 

what kit are you using that is true plug n play? you can pm me if you dont want to say here in public.

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The only way to do an HID upgrade legally, and the only one I personally condone, is an actual retrofit. Meaning you take the actual HID projector out of a car that came with facotry HIDs and retrofit that into your OEM housing. That completely eliminates the glare factor and gives you a much better beam pattern. Get E-Class Benz or TSX projectors fairly cheap on eBay then use whatever HID kit you want that will fit them.

 

Good reading here: http://www.intellexual.net/hid.html#oemkit

 

Hella makes a good capsule as well, which is what I'll be using.

Rallylights has it in a kit with ballast and adjusters here: http://www.rallylights.com/hella/90mm_modules.asp

Note you would need two of those, which is a little under $1000 - but at least it's done right and you have little no chance of blinding anyone or getting hassled by the cops. They also offer Bi-Xenons for a little more.

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