HID

[dave406]

had some HID's in my old car as i drive a lot in non light country lanes. The car was of the age that it didn't operate on can bus system. Will the HID kit go straight into the oug

[Welly]

Yes you can fit HID's but you will instantly become a nuisance to other road users; the 406's reflectors are massive so the glare will be unbelievable (I know they do 'shielded' bulbs but it will be bad just the same) you will be fitting a light source that was not designed to be used with the reflector.

On top of this most people seem to go for a 'cool' 6000K output; this is very blueish and studies have shown this to reduce visibility. 4500K is the best but not usually available due to the demand or fashion for this blue colour.

The standard units, correctly aimed, and fitted with the new Osram Nightbreakers would be hard to beat on the road.

[steve_earwig]

You am Osram's shill

What's that game where you're supposed to speak about something without saying a certain word? In this case the word was "illegal"... Over here the cops can confiscate a car's numberplates and force owners to take them back for homologation before they can be re-registered.

Would these be to replace the dips or mains? If it's mains then I suspect it's all irrelevant anyway.

I seem to remember they had some issues over on the coupé club, presumably due to the chokes feeding hf back into the system.

[Welly]

It's a bit of a pet hate of mine but there's a guy I see every morning in his Astra festooned in Blue light from his reflector lenses and the glare is massive and very distracting. The point being that the focal point of the HID light source the "arc" is not the same as the light source from a traditional filament so the beam pattern is compromised and the light scattered all over the shop. This is why manufacturers limited there use to Projector Lenses only.

See here, the most popular choice is 8000 and 10000K which have a lower Lumen output

[dave406]

They are 4300 mine were adjusted correctly and passed the mot a plod evern commented that they were no issue

[Welly]

a plod evern commented that they were no issue

Is that the same policeman that will back you up if you ever had an insurance claim against you?

[dave406]

I guess these will always be a bad point

[Welly]

Fella, I'm not trying to cause grief, but yes you're right it is a subject few can agree on.

I believe that if something's not correct then someone, at some point, will throw it back at you - particularly the insurance industry.

Imagine you're driving down an unlit country lane, it's pissing it down with heavy sleet, an oncoming driver takes discomfort from the glare of bright headlights and clips the curb - over corrects - and has a head on collision with you, killing the driver........later the insurance inspector finds your Balasts and wiring looms hanging there and thinks "aha!".

[davew]

that's the problem 99% of the time you won't have a problem but in the event of a big claim the first thing the insurance company will do is to think how can we get out of paying out.

[Busman]

The insurance companies catch you with this phrase ''is the vehicle altered in any way from it's original condition''.

I spend a lot of my life in Dartmoor's lanes and find the standard lights to be very good. And I'm using cheap bulbs.

[briangoo]

tbh as a taxi driver who does over 20,000 miles a year plz don't bother these lights are blinnding & irritate other drivers eyes