HIDs and housings

[DanMan2k06]

Here's some fog beams converted to 3000k. About 8 feet away on my ceiling. I was surprised at how little the pattern changed.

Halogen

HID

 

[hubs97xj]

They're the driving beams. I wanted fogs, but for $10, I figured they'd be good enough.

 

[bigdaddyjlove]

Does anyone have a good source for quality housings? I've done a little searching, but I'm warry of getting a set off of Ebay.

 

[zachhooters]

ddmtuning.com for hids (lifetime warranty on there hid kits)
they make the housings to
i have their hi/low kit with the rampage headlamp conversion hosings and they work great.

 

[Talyn]

ddmtuning doesn't make any housings. The housings they sell are the usual cheap ebay crap diamond cut/clear lens housings and shouldn't be used with HID, much less anything else.

 

[ZachsXJ]

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't go to HIDs unless you're willing to shell out the coin for projectors and then retrofit them into H4 housings. Not terribly hard, just takes some time and creativity.

Cops don't exactly like being blinded driving past people, and most of the ones I've met will ticket you in a heartbeat for that

I have been running 55W hi/low HID's for about a year and a half since I first got my 95 XJ in Hella housings and they are the best lights I own on any of my 3 vehicles. Hands down awesome. No issues.

ETA my bean patterns are great too. I got my lights from DDM tuning.

You're the type of people I want to throw things out my window at.

Regardless of how "great" your beam pattern is, you're probably blinding everyone who drives past you going the other direction.

Some are worse than others, but I can ALWAYS tell when someone threw HIDs in Halogen housings because the glare is horrendous.

 

[Fastdemise]

I'm running the Hella E-Codes. Ive tried the DDM hid kit as well. I just ended up putting tape on about half the housing to give me the cutoff I wanted. ^_^ It looked awful but was very effective and was nice and bright. But with all the hills I was always blinding people as I crested the hills and the other drivers didn't like it so I'm using IPF bulbs and built my own headlight wiring. I strongly support proper wiring as your first upgrade. Same goes for fog lights.

 

[CherBear]

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't go to HIDs unless you're willing to shell out the coin for projectors and then retrofit them into H4 housings. Not terribly hard, just takes some time and creativity.

Cops don't exactly like being blinded driving past people, and most of the ones I've met will ticket you in a heartbeat for that



You're the type of people I want to throw things out my window at.

Regardless of how "great" your beam pattern is, you're probably blinding everyone who drives past you going the other direction.

Some are worse than others, but I can ALWAYS tell when someone threw HIDs in Halogen housings because the glare is horrendous.

The glare is horrendous when people don't know how to aim headlights properly. You are correct, anything but a proj housing is less than optimal, but with proper adjustments, it can be made safe and useful. Just not perfect.

 

[O-Gauge Steamer]

I hace thought about doing the Commander Headlight conversion as at the least, it would give dedicated High/Low beams with the opportunity to keep the Lows on when the Highs are on. They use 9005 and 9006 bulbs in them.

I looked at, and recoiled in horror from, the 2010 Commander HID Projector housings. The cheapest I could find them is $350.00. On eBay. On line, used, much more. Oh, did you want bulbs and ballasts for those houdings? Investing close to $1,000 for headlights is just not my bag to drag.

Makes the halogens look really cost effective...

 

[DanMan2k06]

I replace Lexus headlights all the time at work, and from the dealer you can't buy ballasts separately. Most of them are right around $2k. For ONE. I take the used ones, pull out the bad ballasts, and sell the housings on ebay. Haven't had one go for less than $200 yet.

 

[CarbonXJ]

Love the info here. I already made a relay for my headlights, not for the fogs as I don't use them often. I'll toss a photo of the beam from the Autopals up when I get off work in a hour or two. For the work involved and the fact that halogens are readily avail, I am going to stick to what I have. Simplicity.

But, , my good buddy is not. He is going with a Kensun kit he got off Amazon (6k hi/lo & 3k fog). We will try to get a comparison of beam patterns with different types of lighting, Including a projector mounted in the housing, which he is building now. SO, stay on the line :callme: