H.I.D Conversions

[Gary Mead]

Been having a read up about the HID lighting kits,as with everything they seem to vary in price and power ratings/output etc...what do people think of them?worth the effort?easy to fit(or not).Or is just bulb upgrade sufficient?..My headlights do seem very dull compared to lots of others,have never changed the bulbs in the headlights so they are very old.

cheers Gary

 

[x_shaun]

yeah they are good i have them in my beast

 

[Charlie]

One of the simplest and most effective upgrades on my truck, however I believe not technically legal.

 

[Graham]

I would dearly like to fit some HID to my 120.
I feel the standard lights are little better candles.

I have seen some Bi-xenon in our local market for £45.
But was a little concerned about the quality, they just seemed so cheap.
They came complete with ballast's and simply just needed the head light plug, pluging into the new wiring socket.
As simple as that.

Graham

 

[Dave Docwra]

When I see these fitted to vehicles incorrectly & illegaly it makes me sad, there should be massive fines & vehicles impounded for incorrect use of these dangerous kits, they should be made illegal to supply without all the correct lenses & fittings.

Apart from that they are ok.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

must admit they are a bit annoying when they've been retro fitted and as an oncoming driver you catch them at the wrong angle and get dazzled for that reason I never considered fitting them.

 

[adrianr]

hi gary

you might want to check the voltage at your lights

some 80's are pretty poor - you can upgrade the wiring to compensate - also you can fit higher wattage bulbs that do make a difference.

good luck.

 

[Towpack]

After reading of people fitting these kits and having good results I had a chance recently to try them out before actually buying. Tried the H4 'Bi Xenon' with the electrically operated shroud that 'dips' the beam and also a H1 kit.

The results I found were:

The H4 kit.....Very dissapointing. The light was indeed MUCH brighter and gave a lot more useable light but the beam was all over the place (half expected this) and the adjusters didn't have much effect.

The H1 kit in the inboard main beam headlights.....Excellent and adjusted up OK. Also tried this kit in some new Hella auxilliary driving lamps with the same results.

So the upshot is I fitted a kit to the inboard main beam headlights and also to the Hellas and left the dip/outer mains with the Halogen H4's in place. Short of actually buying some new projector beam headlamp housings I reckon this is the best compromise for extra night vision without the danger of dazzling oncoming drivers when you dip.

 

[Dave Docwra]

Well done, excellent compromise

 

[Graham]

Thats a good write up.
Helps otheres make an informed choice.

Thanks,

Graham

 

[paulm]

i put some in my passat, which had the projector headlights - gave a great beam pattern.

my only concern is on the cruiser with the reflectors, if you're going abroad then the dazzle will be awful

 

[Paul]

The dazzle in this country would not be good either.
I like the idea of them in the high beams/spots only. It should be enforced more that they are illegal, unsafe and anti scoial in any other use.
I even think the factory fit ones should be banned.

 

[nivapilot]

HiD systems will soon be a part of the MOT, so if fitted retrospectifly will fail.?

 

[Chas]

my only concern is on the cruiser with the reflectors, if you're going abroad then the dazzle will be awful

I've got HID's in main and dipped and the beam has a very sharp cut off on the road in front of the truck, I do keep the beam height adjuster turned right down though, especially in town.
I was in the EU for the whole of August this year and wasn't flashed once , I did have the beam diverters stuck on, but I really couldn't see what difference they made, but I never got flashed so I suppose they were working
I have been flashed in the UK, but very rarely, I think it's just that the headlights are a much brighter white light that oncoming drivers object to rather than actually being dazzled.
I remember when HID's first started appearing, IIRC it was BMW's, where they seemed to be dazzling, but there are so many makes that use them now I've got used to the brightness of oncoming traffic.
If the HID's are going to be part of the MOT how will they be checked, will it just be to check for beam spread? in which case I would think mine are OK

 

[Toby]

Chas,

As I understand it, you'll still need to pass the beam pattern check as in the current MoT, but if you've retro fitted HIDs to a car without headlamp washers and a levelling system you'll be failed.

All the best,
Toby
1990 HDJ80
1994 HDJ80

 

[Towpack]

As far as legality is concerned, I believe type approval also comes into it. The headlamps themselves, ie. the reflector and lens, are type approved for a particular bulb type wether it's Halogen (filament) type or HID. Retro fitting HID's into the old type theoretically loses it's approval for road use. AFAIK all OE fitted HID systems use seperate bulbs for dip and main and not the BI-xenon type. As many may know the problem when replacing filamant bulbs with HID is due to the light source within the bulb being a different shape and in the wrong place, hence the beam scatter. As it is I'm happy with my setup. HID designed projector beam headlamp units are available for the 80- series but they are pricey, certainly compared to the many HID kits that are now available.

 

[mike54]

When I see these fitted to vehicles incorrectly & illegaly it makes me sad, there should be massive fines & vehicles impounded for incorrect use of these dangerous kits, they should be made illegal to supply without all the correct lenses & fittings.

Apart from that they are ok.

Agreed. Without levellers there are illegal full stop, as someone said about "technically its illegal", there's no technically about it, and it would fail and MOT. Besides, there's nothing wrong with decent output bulbs anyway.