Lighting

[Bishop]

They r, theres info missing from this equation. Mini, what kind of headlights do u have right now? Ellips? Sealed, smilies?

[Cloudbase]

I'm really impressed with the smilies and H1 bulbs. I think the quality of the light is better than the 4500w HID's I have in the M Coupe. The euro cutoffs are super crisp, if aimed correctly you could do HID's without being a jackass to oncoming traffic.

[Roland H]

Ellipsoids have plates in them to make a perfect cutoff. I don't know what the big deal is about? There is no washing out like the people that just put in HID's into their ford F150's and destroy everyone's eyes.

I got the 4500 and I think it is too blue. It gives that nice HID look and the light is actually pretty white, but I will go warmer next time. I don't like the HID look at all so 4500 ends up being perfect for most people.

Still has serious hotspots, which you can't get rid of without doing a proper projector. Trust me, go drive a new Acura, then we will be on the same page.

So you are saying car manufacturers are doing it illegal too?? Cops said as long is not blue like the jdm kids use or red, the rest its ok... so no big deal here

Car manufacturers use proper HID projectors, not rebased HIDs for H1 projectors, there's a big difference.

if aimed correctly you could do HID's without being a jackass to oncoming traffic.

It's still pointless IMHO unless you do a full projector retrofit (which is worth the money btw).

[Roland H]

*not trying to be an ass or anything. I don't think less of you for running HIDs, I'm just a firm believer in the church of the real projector retrofit (for good reason).

[Bimmerman325i]

Im with Roland. I have acura projector retrofits in my subaru, and anyone here will agree they provide more usable light than the rebased hid kits do. I will even put money on it. They were the single best thing i did to my car, and when i can afford it, im doing the same to the m3.

I had great halogen upgrade bulbs in my e30, which were great. The hid kits are brighter but dont provode light where you need it. Btw, ben, your hids are really annoying to be driving in front of. They are brighter, but the blue and glare are annoying as hell from the standpoint of other drivers.

[blefevre]

Hmm. I agree that new HID projectors are much better. But I am also confused why there would be "hot spots" in a H1 projector with HID's and NOT with H1 bulbs. The HID bulb just produces more light in the same housing. Both beams of light will get aimed by the shape of the reflector, then gets cutoff by the cutoff plate. Why wouldn't a H1 bulb in a projector have hot spots?

I aimed mine with a guide on headlight aiming and I have the nice ________/ beam pattern just like I should have.

Is there an article on the what a new HID projector vs a standard projector with HID retrofit is? I am just curious as I don't get what these hot spots are all about as I have never seen them.

[Bimmerman325i]

The short version is due to optic geometry.

A projector is a projector is a projector, but the halogen bulb filament and the HID bulb gas-arc are NOT in the same place relative to the designed optics of the projector, which causes too much light to be thrown in areas that aren't wanted and not enough where it's needed.

For the long read: Click Me for info

and for a video to show the issue:


and a test on 9004 vs 9004 HID kit, skip the text jargon and scroll down to the beam patterns. It'll show you very distinct hot spots.

Click me and scroll to Beam patterns, page 8 vs 10

hopefully that answers the question....lemme know if not. I did a bunch of research on this topic when I was getting fed up with my E30's headlights, and ended up getting upgraded halogens that did the job quite nicely.

[blefevre]

So I read the article and I think we might be talking about different things.

1. I get that HID's in my ellipsoids will produce less light then a HID projector housing. I never doubted this as I have driven many cars with real HID's and they have about 5x times the light. The article explained this very shortly with just an overview, probably so they didn't have to go into physics. I am not doubting that I don't have the "ideal" setup.

2. I thought our concern was with the beam pattern and blinding other drivers.

The low beam of ellipsoids will not "wash out" and blind other drivers. Their video showed a situation of a normal car that they just put in HID's, something I would never do nor recommend to anyone. That is like all those trucks with their HID's without cutoffs, it sucks. The cutoff plates of the low beam ellipsoids will prevent other drivers from being blinded if aimed correctly. The article clearly states that the light below the cutoff will not be ideal, which I get. I still don't see the problem with getting HID's in the low beam of ellipsoids. I had sealed beams and I couldn't see, then I did normal ellipsoids and still couldn't see that good. That is when I put HID's in the low beams. Now if we are talking about putting HID's in the fogs and high beams, that's a different story.

Maybe I am just confused as to what we are talking about...

[Bimmerman325i]

I am too, I was talking hot spots below the cutoff shield, because you're right on that one. They do work.....but they're far from ideal.

[blefevre]

Gotcha. Just don't put HID's in your fogs or high beams to the OP.

The HID conversion in lows will still provide more light, at least in my experience. I didn't have euro lights though so maybe the H1 bulbs are brighter.

[Roland H]

Gotcha. Just don't put HID's in your fogs or high beams to the OP.

Pretty much, especially in the high beams, as HIDs don't like the quick on/off use that high beams see.

The HID conversion in lows will still provide more light, at least in my experience. I didn't have euro lights though so maybe the H1 bulbs are brighter.

They'll be about the same from what I've seen. :shrug:

[Bimmerman325i]

Roland, m3f suspension thread. go now.

[Roland H]

Roland, m3f suspension thread. go now.

shitshow commenced.

[Bimmerman325i]

shitshow commenced.

word. there's much amusement there.

[Bishop]

Lol me and Vrad had the exact same steps leading to now... Sealed, sucked, ellips, sucked, add HIDs, sucked a little less. Needs new ballasts and temp