My HID thread

[Qxxx4]

I got the kit! it was a ***** to install the mounting brackets. absolute *****. My dad did pretty much all the work cuz i had such a hard time. ended up having to take the air filter box and battery box out. Once i started it up, i had a feeling itd happen and it did...one side worked, the other didnt. So i checked the wires for continuity, it was fine, i found the problem was a blown fuse...so i replaced the 15 amp...twice...it kept blowing as soon as i turned the car on. tried a 20A. it blew. im not going higher. Lucky for me i bought the kit from ontario, and i ACTAULLYY got a phone number and contacted the seller. He said my ballast is defective and i can keep it and hes going to send me a new one via ups, but i have to pay shipping ($15) ah well. it was "free" shipping for the lights. So for the meantime i dont do night driving lately but i reinstalled the halogen on one side for now until i get the new ballast. the guy seems nice so far so lets see if the replacement solves the problem, which im almost certain it will. once thats done i will have pics up for you guys!

[fueler]

nice!

[Qxxx4]

just paid $18 for the shipping on the replacement ballast...thru paypal. if he doesnt take my money and run i should have it in sometime this week. In the meantime i spent $10 on fuses just now at crappy tire just in case and will be taking pics tonight of the difference between haolgen and HID since i have one each installed haha. The high beam is great feature btw, its just a haolgen bulb next to the xenon. Anyways the sellers been real cooperative and hes not making me send the defective ballast back so i have extra wires and ballast parts for later (since its cheap ebay **** that will break agian probably!) illl keep you guys posted

[Qxxx4]

ok guys i got the replacement ballast and the lights are working like a beauty!!! their VERY bright, theres quite a bit of glare, but MOST of the light is pointed down. their very bright if you look at them. Wont be so bad for people i drive behind but it will be for people coming at me i think. I have bad vision at night so i really do need these its not just for show...but they look soooo damn good...i love them! and they look great in the rain in daytime. Thier only kinda blinding at night. The colour is hard to say...its a light blue kinda baby blue kinda purple. the camera doesnt do its justice...you guys are welcome to meet me around brampton and check them out and if you need a tutorial i can make one...but unless you REALLY want HID's i say avoid the install, its not worth it if your unsure you want them. It took me and my dad 3 hours to get the mounts installed securely, then another hour troubleshooting why the other ballast wouldnt work (defective) 4 blown fuses and a new replacement balllast ordered their finally working.

The ones i got are from ebay, shipped out from gloucester ontario. They are "german design" and i use those quotes strongly. They are bi-xenon....well they call it that...the high beams are halogen. the kit cost me $85 free shipping. The seller was really nice, i actually got a phone number and the seller picked up! he sent me a new ballast but the jerk charged me $18 to ship it. All in $120 for the kit, and extra fuses i had to buy, plus id say well over 4 hours of work to figure this **** out. In the end...to me...it was worth it..now i cross my fingers i dont get pulled over! LOL enjoy guys~

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2344399

I hear they are adjustable, but i really dont want to mess with success here, their working. if i get pulled over THAT will be my excuse. if you guys have ever changed the headlight bulb on these ud know that putting that retainer pin back is excruciatingly hard.

MY MESH GRILLE WAS SHIPPED YESTERDAY! CANT WAIT!

i also did another semi synthetic oil change at mr lube yesterday and changed the front diff fluid..just got the transfercase left and im good for another 40,000 kms! 113000 kms and going STRONGER then ever...i love my Q!

[Adnan]

oh man they look great..i couldnt get a close up they look pretty bright and not as annoying as some other carswhat the kelvin rating?

[Qxxx4]

8000k iceberg blue

[Adnan]

looks pretty good..are you gonna do up the fogs?

[Qxxx4]

nah man, theres no room for more ballasts, or at least in my opinion. Plus these HID's are really bright, drivers will HATE me if i had headlights AND the fogs. I kinda like the yellow too....its not the bulb thats yellow its a piece of the housing, so even if I did the HID's itd remain yellow. Im considering buying silvania cool blue xenons and slapping em in there...maybe itll show yellowish blue n look real diff. Or i might figure out how to remove the yellow lens. In the meantime, i dont really use my fogs, dont need em!

[fueler]

hey im thinking of going HID since they are so cheap now, Qxxx4 you said that sometimes people flash you, let me know if aiming the headlights helps or not.... how bad is the glare? Youre the best person to ask since you have the same exact headlight as me...

[Qxxx4]

my original bulbs were pretty damn glare-ey, but i got flashed once in 6 months. One bulb died last month and i ended up buying two new ones from the seller. I guess if you dont change them in pairs the colours dont match. LIES> ones sides more purple than blue.

I get flashed constantly with them on since i installed the new bulbs. They are definately aimed too high but i am not sure if i CAN aim them low or not. Its a pain in the a** getting those bulbs out but i will get to it eventually.

Right now, I use my halogens (my hids have two bulb each side...halogen wired to high beams and HID wired to low beams) The halogens are just like OEM and are proper, the HID's make for GREAT brights. when i drive on really dark roads with no oncoming traffic, they light up everything like crazy, but the way they are, they are good as highbeams only. This would be great for you if you go off roading at night.

My plan is to

a)tint the lights, but then when a bulb goes out again, my halogens are uselessb)figure out how to aim them lower, although the colour difference bugs me and there is STILL glarec) buy junk yard headlights, take them apart, paint inside, throw HID's ind) ditch the H4 headlight HID's, throw silverstars in there and wire up the ballasts to NEW white HID bulbs installed in the foglights.....then I get crazy brightness, not blinding other people. Only problem is the light will be yellow.

the HID's were alot of fun when first installed, super bright but not TOO bad on other people, but the parts are cheap and crappy and be prepared to replace things. its a hassle really. I will figure out a solution but in the meantime...im enjoying my fog light mod with the halogens, and my cool HID high beams (which i use to blind other drivers who are going too slow in front of me. tailgate, throw the HID's on and just ride behind them till they GET OUT MAH WAY!!)

[K03sport]

In all honesty, you really should not be running HID bulbs in a housing designed for filament bulbs. You really need to get projector lens meant for an HID bulb.

Just because Xenon lights are all the rage, doesn't they will work for you. All the cars from the factory that come with HID lights, have the right lens for them. You don't have the right lens, in fact, you have a reflector and it isn't meant for what you are doing.

Please do everyone a favor and take out your HIDs and put your filament bulbs back in until you can get the right projectors for your Q.

Are other people out there doing wrong too? Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to join them.

Worst case scenario, you get the HID projectors, some supplies from a home improvement store, epoxy, paint and tear into your stock lights and make the projectors work with a DIY project.

Your HID lights really need the proper cutoff to keep from blinding oncoming traffic. Sometimes the "I want that too, but I'm not willing to spend the money to do it right" bug really gets on my nerves.

[Qxxx4]

k03, you really should read things closely before speaking your mind. Either you didnt interpret what I said (or i more likely said it poorly), or you didnt read the last post. I installed my HID kit months ago, and i knew all about the reflectors and such. (and what a nuissance i may be to other drivers)

I went with a DUAL LIGHT kit. meaning each headlight has two bulbs, a high beam consisting of a regular halogen bulb, and the other, a xenon. controlled through choosing high or low beam inside the vehicle. I went with a dual light kit for that reason, I wanted to be able to still run halogen.

I never had issues with my old bulbs, they were bright, but not exactly BLINDING. What pisses me off is that the cutoff of my NEW bulbs that are aimed way too high are still lower and cleaner than my regular halogens....

My halogens spread the light less efficiently yet since they arent "blue" people dont even realize this.

I run my halogens all the time now. I use my HID's as brights, when no oncoming traffic or cars in front are anywhere near, on those dark county roads......DONT tell me to remove them. or "please" remove them. I know damn well what I'm doing and I dont need someone telling me these things.

Go yell at the damn toyota and honda drivers that are driving with their brights everywhere. A friend of mine has a 2009 Rav4 and the dealer didnt explain the lights properly, their confusing. He drove with his brights and didnt even realize it, i noticed dozens of people flash their brights as we passed them, he was baffled. I explained the situation to him and he then turned them to what he thought was his low beam. which really was his DRL's. Now you have someone driving with No rear running lights, and dangerously low amount of light on the road.

He had to go through the manual until he finally realized the right way to turn on his low beams. And i see this dozens of times a week, new, OEM vehicles with idiot drivers. at least us "HID punks" knowingly blind you. LOL in all seriousness though, i hate people that drive with their brights, which is WHY i use my halogens almost all the time. Consider my HID's as auxillary lights, happy? I dont even have DRL's and i did the fog light mod so i can have just the fogs on during the day.

[fueler]

qxxx4, judging by the pics id say your lights are aimed too high either way. With your qx4 parked 25' away from the wall, the cutoff point should be no higher than the center of the headlight itself. Try adjusting the screws on the back of the headlight and see if that makes a difference.

I ordered a 6000k bixenon kit, not the kind with one HID and one halogen, but rather one HID with a shield that moves back and forth via solenoid.

will post results soon

[Ron Burgundy]

fueler,

How much did that cost you and where did you buy it from?

That would be the set-up i'm looking for if I were to go HID

[slickroger]

i bought a bixenon kit like that about 6 months ago first one bulb was giving me trouble turning off and on when it felt like it now the relay with the kit fried.

Im going to get another one because it made such a difference in lighting with my tints and ill be getting a kit for the fogs 3000K Yellow on the bottom and 8000-10000k in the headlights.

my kit was like $150 but im going to really look into it this time.

[Qxxx4]

replacing bixenon bulbs are $$$$ and believe me, you will need to replace it soon. and both of them.

[fueler]

fueler,

How much did that cost you and where did you buy it from?

I paid $140 at a local place that promises lifetime warranty.

well my 6k install is done, i'm just waiting for night time

[black2blackQX4s]

cool. can't wait to see them

[Qxxx4]

nice! lifetime warranty! dude get some tint on those headlights and the glare wont be so bad. post pics asap

[fueler]

yeah its a shop thats been around for 15+ years so i dont anticipate them leaving anytime soon. They also told me that if i want to change the bulbs to a different color, i can come back within a week and theyll swap them out to whatever i want - for free. I decided to spend a few bucks more and buy my HID kit locally (versus online) since some of you guys reported having defective parts.

[Holidazed]

fueler: I bought my kit locally for $150 also with a 1 yr warranty. It was easier for me to pick it up locally so I could go back with any questions or problems or for help on the install. everything has been working fine for about a month so far, and the look great. I love the HIDs (6000k).

[fueler]

^^ post pics !

[UndeGuy]

k03, you really should read things closely before speaking your mind. Either you didnt interpret what I said (or i more likely said it poorly), or you didnt read the last post. I installed my HID kit months ago, and i knew all about the reflectors and such. (and what a nuissance i may be to other drivers)

I went with a DUAL LIGHT kit. meaning each headlight has two bulbs, a high beam consisting of a regular halogen bulb, and the other, a xenon. controlled through choosing high or low beam inside the vehicle. I went with a dual light kit for that reason, I wanted to be able to still run halogen.

I never had issues with my old bulbs, they were bright, but not exactly BLINDING. What pisses me off is that the cutoff of my NEW bulbs that are aimed way too high are still lower and cleaner than my regular halogens....

My halogens spread the light less efficiently yet since they arent "blue" people dont even realize this.

I run my halogens all the time now. I use my HID's as brights, when no oncoming traffic or cars in front are anywhere near, on those dark county roads......DONT tell me to remove them. or "please" remove them. I know damn well what I'm doing and I dont need someone telling me these things.

Go yell at the damn toyota and honda drivers that are driving with their brights everywhere. A friend of mine has a 2009 Rav4 and the dealer didnt explain the lights properly, their confusing. He drove with his brights and didnt even realize it, i noticed dozens of people flash their brights as we passed them, he was baffled. I explained the situation to him and he then turned them to what he thought was his low beam. which really was his DRL's. Now you have someone driving with No rear running lights, and dangerously low amount of light on the road.

He had to go through the manual until he finally realized the right way to turn on his low beams. And i see this dozens of times a week, new, OEM vehicles with idiot drivers. at least us "HID punks" knowingly blind you. LOL in all seriousness though, i hate people that drive with their brights, which is WHY i use my halogens almost all the time. Consider my HID's as auxillary lights, happy? I dont even have DRL's and i did the fog light mod so i can have just the fogs on during the day.

Did you ever adjust your aims?

I wonder if the problem is the type of HID you used. Fueler and I (excuse me while I clump ya with me) used Bi-xenon bulbs, so we have more defined cutoffs.

Even at 25 ft, I can see my cut off clearly (even in a lit parkage lot).



It is a pretty bad picture (not to mention how lit up the place is in general), but it should be enough to show the cut off (especially how it angles up on the right). The same cut off that I don't see in your lights (no angle up).

I'm assuming your bulb looks like this

http://www.made-in-china.com/i...-.jpg

Notice how the link says the Xenon is H (assuming H is for High beam) and the Halogen is L... I find that interesting (and more true based on your pics).

Anyway, my point is... the halogen is not in the center, so it is DEFINITELY out of the focal point. Throwing the high beam pattern, who knows where.

So here's the question... is the gas chamber of the Xenon bulb roughly the same distance as the low beam filament in a regular H4 halogen bulb?

Because it might not be, and that could be why it's throwing such a pattern.

Not having the HID bulb in my hands, I can only look at the crappy HID sim I took out... and the "center" of the low beam filament is about 1 cm away from the high beam filament. So, again, if your HID kit looks like the above link, that definitely doesn't look like 1 cm, they look almost level. Which mean, it could very well be throwing a high beam pattern.

With the Bi-Xenon bulbs, the position is practically the same as the H4 halogen bulbs.

On your meet, you could try a little testing, if one of the other drivers have Bi-Xenon HIDs in them, swap one in for a test (easier if the bulbs are interchangeable, harder/impossible if not).

[Qxxx4]

there is no way of adjusting them, i even tried putting them in differently but theres only 1 way. They are aimed nicely their just too bright i guess. As I said I decided to use them as high beams instead of all the time. I dont need such brightness in most conditions. I never had an issue before but now with the new bulbs too many people are bothered by it and ive lost all patience. Right now i would much rather do up the fogs's with HID's and shut the other drivers up. itll be bright but it wont be lighting up the interiors of their crappy hondas.

I also use my HID's for when im pissed off. Say im on the highway and a crappy little corolla decides to cut in front of me and go to slow, i go right up behind them, turn my HID's on and you see the whole inside of their s***box GLOW, they get the F out of my way.

[Holidazed]

Here's some pics of my HID's. same type of kit as Qxxx4's with HID for low beams and halogen bulb for high beams. I have had my kit in for almost 2 months now I think an not once have I been flashed by another driver because of my lights being to bright. the are damn bright though, but I guess they are either aimed low enough or the drivers in Vancouver are used to the HID lights that they don’t do anything about them. I'd say one in 10 cars here in the downtown area (where I drive most) have HID lights either from the factory or added on. It’s quite common here nowadays.

[Qxxx4]

here in toronto its the same, lots of aftermarket HID's. its just that the QX4 is higher up so its a higher profile. i am going to aim my reflectors lower, i didnt know i could do so! That should fix the issues. If not im going to do up the fogs instead (i might do that anyways)