Are hid's Legal?

[hendrixvodu]

ya i hate to see better in the dark also:down:

2x

yea damn that visibility hahah! , new cars all have this technology clearly because HID's are junk

[AndrewBird]

Basically ANY modification made to the car that is not DOT approved is technically illegal. This includes lights, wheels, suspension, brakes, EVERYTHING.

Doesn't stop people from doing it though. And in many cases, aftermarket is better/safer then stock.

[Slyder]

BMW BUM, it's very clear that you've never driven in a vehicle that has properly installed HIDs. HIDs are HANDS DOWN (IMO) better than any other lighting upgrade you can do. A couple of things to bear in mind is that HIDs are NOT intended for non-projector style lights. They do work very well in e30 projectors, TSXs, etc. As was stated earlier, standard headlight housings designed for halogen bulbs don't properly distribute the light from the HIDs, and that's where you get intense glare and difficulty in aiming.

Now, I can't speak for other states...but I have read up on the current CA Vehicle Code and essentially you are not allowed to make any modifications to your vehicle's lighting system that was not originally available for that car. Euro-elips, HIDs, etc that many of us install on our cars are NOT legal in California...period. DOT has also passed regulation on the wattage a light bulb can output for highway use. Lowbeams are 55W, high beams are 65W. There are some companies like PIAA and Hella that have been able to pass the DOT tests with bulbs (Xenon gas filled) by meeting the wattage requirements, but because the gas has a different effect on the filament, they are able to gain an output of light. (I'm not an expert on this, but this is my understanding of why they have 55W bulbs with equivalent 110W output).

Additionally, at least for CA, taking a DOT-approved housing and installing a newer (i.e. e46 HID system) into them is NOT legal due to the fact that they were not originalyl installed on the car.

If anyone is really adamant about reading the stuff verbatim out of the Vehicle Code, I can dig up the code numbers and post them...but essentially that's the long and short of it.

[nando]

yeah, it definitely varies state by state. But for DOT purposes at least, I don't think it's illegal to swap entirely different housings into your car.

[CleanAzzE30z]

Mike and Jason suck




Mariano

[DCColegrove]

In California they are borderline legal, but only 6000K, and only in US market Ellipsoid cases.

(there are no other DOT approved lenses available that will accept a bulb).

[bmw325csi]

^ why 6000k though? I would think like 4300-4500k since it has less of a blueish tint to them.

[Slyder]

In California they are borderline legal, but only 6000K, and only in US market Ellipsoid cases.

(there are no other DOT approved lenses available that will accept a bulb).

Not to be a nit-picker...but there's no such thing as 'borderline legal'. It's either legal or it's not. I can't imagine giving a CHP the excuse "But Sir, they're almost legal..."

CA Vehicle code doesn't allow HIDs in cars that didn't have them, nor do they allow you to modify a DOT-approved headlight system. HIDs on e30s in CA are illegal, period.