Hi, would like to ask if anyone here has HID installed in your car? i saw cheap full sets going for around the $150 mark... any recommendations? or anything to look out for? every advice counts... oh and i am having normal headlights at he moment and not parras... thanks in advance... cheers...

if u looked just one post up u'd have seen this:
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23184

or if u searched...

Hi thanks for your constructive reply, but if i was looking for those answers i wouldnt have posted a new thread would't i??
anyway do u have HID kits on? or do u even know about them? any information would be good... thanks...
pls anyone with hid pls give advice on what to look out for when buying one...

Hi thanks for your constructive reply, but if i was looking for those answers i wouldnt have posted a new thread would't i??
anyway do u have HID kits on? or do u even know about them? any information would be good... thanks...
pls anyone with hid pls give advice on what to look out for when buying one...

u see now that shows u havent read that thread... because it explains HID's, and why they arent a recommended upgrade for a magna... theyre r a number of ppl who have looked into these as an option, wise ppl who properly checked them out, rather than just seeing them on Ebay, and they went to the effort to write a full FAQ on the questions ur asking.

to quote from that thread (if u indeed actually read it):

Q: What about a HID kit?

A: Read the background information links on HID first to get some information. I can speak from personal experience with HID kits (and retrofits, which I will explain later) in 3rd
Gen headlamps.

OK - while you can get a HID capsule to work OK in a Magna Executive headlamp, it isn't as
simple as just throwing a plug and play kit into it. All of the kits I tried had insufficient shielding, and caused excessive glare to oncoming drivers (a lot of people flashed high beams)

As an experiment, I used two Philips 4300K D2S bulbs (3200 lumens), two Hella Gen 3
ballasts, some modified Casper's electronics Billet Aluminium shields (very well designed
and made) painted matt black, and fitted with a nose shield (to shield oncoming drivers from
looking at the bulb) it produced an acceptable beam pattern on the wall (no glare) and a
beam pattern with a lot of hotspots.

Properly aimed, it was not glaring to other drivers, but the amount of shielding required to
produce a safe(ish) beam meant that a lot of the output of the bulb was lost, meaning that
the increase in output was not at all worth the effort.

Apart from the colour, its output level was indistinguishable from a Philips Rally overwatt bulbs, with relay, and the beam pattern from the Philips Rally was better, not to mention the fact that you still have two
high beam filaments!

And for those with parabolic headlamps - a H7 kit does not fit. The return wire (at up to
25,000V potential) touches the glare shield. First time you power the bulbs up, you risk a
fire at worst, and blowing your $500+ HID kit at best.

Not recommended - don't waste your money, especially on a high kelvin (>5000K kit).

if there is nothing in that thread that answers a question u have, then post up, put ur questions so far have already been answered in the thread i provided

u see now that shows u havent read that thread... because it explains HID's, and why they arent a recommended upgrade for a magna... theyre r a number of ppl who have looked into these as an option, wise ppl who properly checked them out, rather than just seeing them on Ebay, and they went to the effort to write a full FAQ on the questions ur asking.

to quote from that thread (if u indeed actually read it):


if there is nothing in that thread that answers a question u have, then post up, put ur questions so far have already been answered in the thread i provided

So just because someone fitted a HID kid like 2 years ago and gave a comment at that point of time it still stands now? would technology be the same now?? its like comparing asking someone to buy a GPS system 2 years ago and now.. would u recommend someone to buy it 2 years ago at $2000?? would a street directory be good when u have to pay $2000 but now its just $400 for the whole australia and everyone is buying it and why?? technology changes so does the price.. if one day HID is only $50 or if u are going to get a new car and they offer u HID would u reject and say no u wouldnt want HID cause someone told u that aftermarket ones are not worth the money and u rather pay $50 extra to get osram bulbs...

jees where to start...

1) yes technology gets cheaper and gets better, but that hasnt happened with HIDs, and a proper kit (not an ebay job) will still set u back a few hundred $$s

2) so what if the tutorial was made 2 years ago? it was made to answer ppls questions. heath has done extensive work with magna headlamps, and still does, trying to get the best lighting and beam pattern. ur just gonna disregard that because he wrote it up 2 years ago? get off ur damn pedestal.

3) if u really feel like reading up on them, b4 u go buy some ebay cheap job, then read some of the links in that thread, ie
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/disadvantages/disadvantages.html
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html
http://www.intellexual.net/hid.html

and actually learn wat ur putting in ur car. i dont think anyone has bothered retrofitting HIDs into their magna, because they know from other ppls research that it wont work.

now go do some reading, which is wat my first reply directed u towards

Compared with your existing halogen lamp, which emits light through a heated filament, the HID Lamp has no filament. This means there is no filament to burn out, hence MUCH longer service life. Additional advantages of the HID Lighting Systems are about 40% reduction in power consumption, 3 times the luminosity of conventional lamps, and a 5 times increase in life span over existing halogen lamps. Since the HID system consumes only 35W of power, it produces lesser heat.
HID would not burn your wiring nor would it melt your plastic.
HID has a better light cutting than whichever bulbs u can get.

Compared with your existing halogen lamp, which emits light through a heated filament, the HID Lamp has no filament. This means there is no filament to burn out, hence MUCH longer service life. Additional advantages of the HID Lighting Systems are about 40% reduction in power consumption, 3 times the luminosity of conventional lamps, and a 5 times increase in life span over existing halogen lamps. Since the HID system consumes only 35W of power, it produces lesser heat.
HID would not burn your wiring nor would it melt your plastic.
HID has a better light cutting than whichever bulbs u can get.

From memory its got largely to do with the reflector in the existing headlights. Something about how normal head lights reflects the light different compared to a head light that would have HIDs as stock. Therefore not working as well.

Compared with your existing halogen lamp, which emits light through a heated filament, the HID Lamp has no filament. This means there is no filament to burn out, hence MUCH longer service life. Additional advantages of the HID Lighting Systems are about 40% reduction in power consumption, 3 times the luminosity of conventional lamps, and a 5 times increase in life span over existing halogen lamps. Since the HID system consumes only 35W of power, it produces lesser heat.
HID would not burn your wiring nor would it melt your plastic.
HID has a better light cutting than whichever bulbs u can get.

from what i can tell, that was a very similar description from this site (http://www.vertexauto.com/ShowItem/197852%20Porsche+H7+Xenon+Light+Kit+8k+-+Blue+In+Color.aspx). Its very important when reading up on things like this to look for more scientific and fact based sites, where people actually know wat theyre talking about, rather than just a company's site who r trying to just sell it. Theres a number of sites that have investigated retrofitting of HIDs, in some cars they can be good, in others not so good, but its these sites u should be doing ur research on.

ok put it this way, if u were lookin at getting a turbo on ur car, u'd research it properly right, making sure it matched up 2 ur engine first and suited ur needs b4 buying it yeah? and where would u look for info? commercial sites selling them, or fact based sites of ppl that have put the turbo thru its paces and made sure it doesnt die after 100k's. same with this. do ur research first, then find a quality kit if u decide to go thru with it, but please look towards the research ppl have done, and not what it says on commercial sites or in ebay listings.

"but please look towards the research ppl have done, and not what it says on commercial sites or in ebay listings."
==> i am trying to get people who have HID to come give me advice...
you are right to say that i should not say what commercial sites say and should ask people who have it... I guess this forum is used to exchange valuable knowledge among members.
* valuable knowledge = things that u had done or seen someone done.
* invaluable konwledge = things that i think, u think, tom thinks, dick thinks and harry thinks... but it all comes to :" i was told this by harry"
i am sure someone here has HID on and is very happy with his fittings i bet it looks nice...
And i am sure there is someone out there with HID on and is unhappy...
so all i am asking is to ask for people with HID experience...
I am very sure everyone would agree with me that HID is not ugly nor it would work badly when compared to normal globes.
cars are cars, if i am looking at how to change my air filter it would be possible that i didnt use the "search" button. cause there cant be another way to change the air filter. what i am asking now is something like " is AMD better than intel?" 2 years ago if u are using AMD most prob u are on a budget, but now its a different case with Turion being a 64bit processor and not a 32 bit processor... so what i am highlighting here is that i am sure HID has improvemnet on it and you shouldnt just condemn it...

i am trying to get people who have HID to come give me advice...


There is only one such person on these forums (as far as I know). So you can sit here having keyboard wars with Spackbace til this thread gets closed, or you can go searching for posts by heathyoung regarding his experiences retrofitting a HID kit into a magna. Then if you still have questions after reading and understanding everything he has posted on the subject, maybe you should PM him about it.

There is only one such person on these forums (as far as I know). So you can sit here having keyboard wars with Spackbace til this thread gets closed, or you can go searching for posts by heathyoung regarding his experiences retrofitting a HID kit into a magna. Then if you still have questions after reading and understanding everything he has posted on the subject, maybe you should PM him about it.


Megatron has HID's and he loves them, and when you are behind him they are awesom,,, but when your infront they are the worst thing in the world.

might be worth asking him about them.
as he has the kit in his car now and only had it done several months ago.


there ya go, the most constructive information in this thread:bowrofl:

HID's in Magnas.
I think that you will find that the person that has posted such detailed information on his investigations on whether it is a sensible thing to perform a HID conversion actually knows what he is talking about.

Reason is that he works for the manufacturer of Magna headlights.

I have a little experience from the UK with the early development work in the 80's.
The engineers had 2 major problems.
1) was to get the light to warm up quickly
2) was to rethink reflector and lens shapes so that the light output could be properly controlled..

Yes go ahead an do it yourself.
Please then post an objective critique of what is good and equally what is bad.

HeathYoung has obviously spent many hours researching and experimenting before making his results known.

I am an older member and have learnt many times not to rush in an make the same mistakes as people before me.
However it is instructive to read the previous posts. Then if you see an alternative way, please go ahead, try t and let us know. That way we can all share and benefit form improved knowledge.
Gerry

the cost of HID's outweight benefits, you may as well get those really good normal bulbs

i had HIDs in the 380 the high/low H4 the ballasts are still in there plus all the wiring but i took them out cause they were W-A-Y too bright! the 380 has massive reflectors, even when i aimed them as low as they go they still light up street signs kms down the road. i pulled them out cause people keep adjusting there mirrors in front. :(

most cars with HID have small headlights, but lexus and mercs have big reflectors. they are good though. but i went back to normal globes until i can adjust the lights lower.

Despite the fact that the FAQ was written 2 years ago, the only thing that has changed with HID kits of late is the quality (or lack thereof) of the ballasts.

BTW: Bain actually worked for Hella (who made the made the headlamps), I just modified them to within an inch of their life.

Years ago, when you bought a HID kit, you actually had a chance of getting a decent philips ballast or bulbs - now you are only getting cheap knockoffs that last 500 hours or less.

Bulb life is terrible. The only H7 kit that fits is the autolamps online kit, it actually uses Philips bulbs and ballasts, but it is $500 (UK manufacturer)

The reason for the big kit dump on ebay at the moment is the fact that US traders now have all been served a cease and desist trading order - that is, if you continue to sell them, you get hit with a 2K US fine PER DAY.

The H4 kits on the market are a joke as well. Trust me on this one. Fit a Philips Rally 100/90 with decent relays and 100W H1's on the exec headlamps and they will absolutely kill any xenon kit for beam pattern and output. In fact, I will take a comparison photo for you - Genuine Philips bulbs and hella ballast H4 kit Vs. 100/90's. You get close to double the output from the halogen bulbs.

There is a LOT of misinformation being pedalled about HID kits by the sellers - longer lifetime, only uses 35W so you don't need to upgrade your wiring (never mind the fact that the ballasts draw 15-30A on startup). Bluer light is better to see blah blah.

Read the FAQ, read the links. Don't buy the rubbish on Ebay, its just been dumped on our market.

If you buy a kit and get defected, or a ballast or bulb dies after 6 months (about the average lifetime) dont whinge here. :)

Cheers
Heath Young

Also, cars fitted with HIDs must have auto levelling devices otherwise it is illegal. Imagine,
you with the HID going over a crest which makes a bend at night, someone coming
towards you from the otherside of the crest gets blinded by you HIDs and smash right into
you. I bet you'll be kicking in your grave.

My 2c worth.

Also, cars fitted with HIDs must have auto levelling devices otherwise it is illegal. Imagine,
you with the HID going over a crest which makes a bend at night, someone coming
towards you from the otherside of the crest gets blinded by you HIDs and smash right into
you. I bet you'll be kicking in your grave.

My 2c worth.

lights light doesnt matter the source it would happen too in a good setup with normal bulbs the effects in ur scenario would be the same.

hear hear, listen to the oldies here will ya.

I think you have to pm those who have done it personally if you are still game to do it.

But like most people here I agree its not worth the effort and the cost is just too great for our magnas.

Plus good bulbs can give really good lighting. On that note, were you going to try with normal Executive lights or the parabolics/Verada lights?

If you were going to do on the executive, I be thinking why would you want to do it. If you were going to do it on parabolics, Especially the one piece construction please keep in mind that the lens is plastic.

At this stage if you did not know the diffrent kinds of Magna lights, I suggest a read up before you move on.

lights light doesnt matter the source it would happen too in a good setup with normal bulbs the effects in ur scenario would be the same.

Normal light is tolerable. HID is not.

Also, if you want better lighting, just clean you headlights weekly. There is a big difference
to the amount of light even with one weeks worth of dust.

Normal light is tolerable. HID is not.

Also, if you want better lighting, just clean you headlights weekly. There is a big difference
to the amount of light even with one weeks worth of dust.

Totally with you on that one... I was driving around in the hills the other day and some ricer car came around a corner behind me with a HID retrofit. He followed me all the way down the hills - and this is about 8pm at night, and I actually ended up putting sunglasses ON at night time coz of the reflections in all my mirrors blinding me (I would have pulled over if there was anywhere safe to, and if I could even SEE what was next to me!!!). Come to a straight in the road and he literally lit up the road for what seemed like km's ahead. I would hate to be anyone driving towards that guy!

Just don't bother with retrofits. If the car is designed and calibrated and tested for HID's, then sure that's fine, and in that case, actually do look much better than halogens. But with retrofits, just follow the advice from everyone else in this forum and forget the whole idea. Sure you may see km's ahead of you, but just consider it from the point of view from other drivers - both in front of your car and heading towards you!!!

thank god the kj2 mirror is the auto-tinting one... jees sunnies at night to avoid it :o

Totally with you on that one... I was driving around in the hills the other day and some ricer car came around a corner behind me with a HID retrofit. He followed me all the way down the hills - and this is about 8pm at night, and I actually ended up putting sunglasses ON at night time coz of the reflections in all my mirrors blinding me (I would have pulled over if there was anywhere safe to, and if I could even SEE what was next to me!!!).

dont 1st gens have a mirror with a tab u flick and it cuts out glare? wouldnt that be safer than driving with sunnies at night?

dont 1st gens have a mirror with a tab u flick and it cuts out glare? wouldnt that be safer than driving with sunnies at night?
Correct, however the side mirrors don't have it, and the rest of your cabin lighting up like a christmas tree because of the clown behind you doesn't really help.

Yep the first gen does have the tab on the centre mirror... but even that didn't work all that well coz the lights were just literally making the whole cabin insanely bright... not to mention the massive glare I was getting from the windscreen! Side mirrors just made it impossible to drive without sunnies at that time, as they are obviously aligned so that I can see what's behind me (if i looked in them all i saw was a mini sun in each of the mirrors lol) so I had no choice. Even with sunnies on though - this guys lights were lighting up the road in front of me enough so that I could still see where I was going even with sunnies on. I swear some people just have absolutely no idea what they are doing... I mean who seriously needs that much light for ANYTHING??? I just run standard Narva +40's and it's plenty of light for most things. I don't need to see things that are 1km ahead! *sigh* the stupidity of some people :rant:

Hopefully that guy gets caught and gets his car pulled off the road before he causes an accident! He's not going to be hard to find with lights like that!

Yep the first gen does have the tab on the centre mirror... but even that didn't work all that well coz the lights were just literally making the whole cabin insanely bright... not to mention the massive glare I was getting from the windscreen! Side mirrors just made it impossible to drive without sunnies at that time, as they are obviously aligned so that I can see what's behind me (if i looked in them all i saw was a mini sun in each of the mirrors lol) so I had no choice. Even with sunnies on though - this guys lights were lighting up the road in front of me enough so that I could still see where I was going even with sunnies on. I swear some people just have absolutely no idea what they are doing... I mean who seriously needs that much light for ANYTHING??? I just run standard Narva +40's and it's plenty of light for most things. I don't need to see things that are 1km ahead! *sigh* the stupidity of some people :rant:

Hopefully that guy gets caught and gets his car pulled off the road before he causes an accident! He's not going to be hard to find with lights like that!


maybe he needs to see 1km ahead cos his ricer go so so so fast :bowrofl:



are you sure that there wasnt someone welding in the back seat of you car

better than wearing sunglasses at night and risk crashing cos you cant see where your going:nuts: just adjust your side mirrors a few deg so the light dosent blind you the re adjust later, or even better still, pull aside and high beam the ****er

i had HIDs in the 380 the high/low H4 the ballasts are still in there plus all the wiring but i took them out cause they were W-A-Y too bright!

I recently got myself a platinum 380 - was torn between getting a series III es sports or the platinum. I was going to ask what HID kit TJ would suggest in a previous post until I read this (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=954736). Good site - I highly recommend reading the links from Daniel Stern.

Basically, HID kits as an "upgrade" is unsafe if you are not going to replace the reflectors to something designed for HID bulbs. I've been on the receiving end of badly done HIDs a number of times and don't want to do the same to other drivers.

the sets im getting (for the driving lights and head lights plus parkers) is $500 installed (very neat job) the guy did my silvia too!

i read somewhere - im not sure if its correct or otherwise so dont quote me on it:
that HIDS are illegal in cars that didnt leave factory with them (as an option on the model run)

the old - the reflectors are not designed for the light pattern does hold true.
some cars have a more 'forgiving' reflector design that will allow you to 'get away' with it because they dont send light every which way and get other drivers blinded.

i know one such car that can get away with hid conversion is the hyundai elantra XD2 range - again the reflectors wernt the best for it, but people used to be able to get away with it.

as always - before undertaking any modification to your car, do LOTS of research, and do NOT rush into it.

(personally though, if it was a viable modification to do to these cars... dont you think more people would have done it allready?)

stay away from ebay for hid as well - waste of your time and your hard earned $$$

My mate has a set in his R33. Everytime im in the car with him at night i think he has high beams on. I admit, they do make the road very nice at night but i have no idea if its causing problems for incoming traffic.

Next time i see him ill ask if we can do a little test and ill take pics. I was thinking of putting a set in the 1st gen but id be ****ed if im going to. Its hard enough replacing a standard globe on the passanger side. Installing HIDS would be impossible.

HIDs are illegal in cars that do not come factory fitted with them. Period.

You need autolevelling* and washers to meet ADR requirements.

*If your headlamps did not come with any form of levelling adjustable from the drivers seat, then they comply with levelling requirements - (legal Loophole)

HID's in parabolics have a ****house telemetry with bags of glare. Have a look at the attached and you will see the colour and quality of the beam compared to the (audi TT/BMW E46 projector) HID retrofit I did on the paras.

$500 is ridiculous - The HID kits that are being fitted by every backyard hack (in bulk) cost $80 a pair - I have this on good authority from an Auto Electrician. Considering OE ballasts + bulbs are close to $380 a pair from a reputable (and price competitive) source, maybe you should ask yourself WHY are they so cheap???

I give up.:gtfo:

HIDs are illegal in cars that do not come factory fitted with them. Period.

You need autolevelling* and washers to meet ADR requirements.

*If your headlamps did not come with any form of levelling adjustable from the drivers seat, then they comply with levelling requirements - (legal Loophole)

HID's in parabolics have a ****house telemetry with bags of glare. Have a look at the attached and you will see the colour and quality of the beam compared to the (audi TT/BMW E46 projector) HID retrofit I did on the paras.

$500 is ridiculous - The HID kits that are being fitted by every backyard hack (in bulk) cost $80 a pair - I have this on good authority from an Auto Electrician. Considering OE ballasts + bulbs are close to $380 a pair from a reputable (and price competitive) source, maybe you should ask yourself WHY are they so cheap???

I give up.:gtfo:


^^ on the money! but the $500 i mentioned was for the 2 headlights, the lower driving/fog lights and HID parkers too.

Ive got a mate who has them in both his liberty and 4wd wagon, they are great in the liberty, but in the wagon he gets flashed at night all the time because people think he has his high beams on. I guess it depends on the design of the lights. Are the parabolics on the 2nd gen more suitable for this??? Would also be keen to hear of the other bulb combos people have put in these lights. Im debating on trying out a pair of HID's

Ollie

Isn't the latest fad about to hit, LED headlights? I can see a big plus in this: Better colour, spread and best of all, they arn't a bulb which means they have a much longer lifespan and won't blow (as easy).

I got OEM factory fitted - whatever HID's in the RX8 and they are bloody fantastic.. driving towards them at night they arent blindingly light as they have the auto-levelling which keeps glare to a minimum.. they just appear blue-ish.

Lights up the road like nothing else and has a very distinct, sharp cut off line where the light stops (like in the pics heath posted) although i dont think they are as bright as when i first got the car - probably coz i am used to them now.. everyone else passes comment on them though.

Mum's Pug 407SV has them also, but the beam pattern on them is crapola compared to mine and dont seem to light up the road anywhere near as much. Although they look awesome when you turn them on when you are parked near a wall because the lower all the way down, move around a bit then reset their level to the correct level..

I'd find it hard goin back to a car with normal halogen lights but i would never buy the cheapo kits, would be a case of real deal or nothing for me..

Isn't the latest fad about to hit, LED headlights? I can see a big plus in this: Better colour, spread and best of all, they arn't a bulb which means they have a much longer lifespan and won't blow (as easy).

i think Audi are gunna be the first ones to have it on production cars right?

one day when i was out work, was out the front having a smoke, and this black audi came down the road - VERY nice looking car, but i couldnt tell you the model for it unfort.
it looked like it had LED's for the driving/fog lights - and they are VERY VERY bright, my eyes went like i had been doing some welding without the helmet/lense on!

i think Audi are gunna be the first ones to have it on production cars right?

one day when i was out work, was out the front having a smoke, and this black audi came down the road - VERY nice looking car, but i couldnt tell you the model for it unfort.
it looked like it had LED's for the driving/fog lights - and they are VERY VERY bright, my eyes went like i had been doing some welding without the helmet/lense on!


Seen a few Hilux utes through work with aftermarket plastic bullbars that have LED fog/driving lights. Look as bright if not brighter than normal ones, but have a proper white light.

i think Audi are gunna be the first ones to have it on production cars right?

one day when i was out work, was out the front having a smoke, and this black audi came down the road - VERY nice looking car, but i couldnt tell you the model for it unfort.
it looked like it had LED's for the driving/fog lights - and they are VERY VERY bright, my eyes went like i had been doing some welding without the helmet/lense on!

Would have been an S6, they have a strip of LED's on each side.