HID high beams
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,506
Likes: 5
From: Milpitas CA
HID high beams
I have the ACA headlights with projector low beams. Like most newer cars with HID's the high beams are normal quartz bulbs. I wanted more light so I got some of the ebay type replacement 50w(normal is 35w)HID's for the high beams. I know opinions vary greatly on the HID replacements. Some people love them, some people don't think you should put HID bulbs in a non projector lens. I agree with the later, but figured it would be ok for high beam since I won't be blinding anyone inadvertently.
Oh, I also have Piaa's and additional driving lights. The Piaa's come on with low beam when selected, the driving lights come on with the high beam when selected. The driving lights are located where the front plate normally would be.
Here are some shots I took tonight during the upgrade. You can see the difference between the left HID high beam and the right normal high beam before I changed it to HID.
Just Piaa's
Piaa's and low beams
High beams with only left HID high beam installed and normal high beam right
High beams with only left HID high beam installed and normal high beam right, and driving lights
New HID high beams and driving lights
My first impression after checking and re-adjusting is that the HID high beams are better than the normal high beams. The new HID's are 6,000k. I think I'd rather have 5,000k but I'll see after some more driving. I do have one minor problem that popped up. When I switch to high beam some times the active handling will switch from competitive mode to the standard traction and active handling on. Luckily it's not a real problem for me since I have a laptrax and it switches itself back to competitive mode automatically. Kind of strange.
In the future I might replace the low beams with the 50w HID's, and I'm considering changing the driving lights too but I should be good to go for a while.
And yes, I already have my Christmas lights up even though it's not even Thanksgiving.
Dog
Oh, I also have Piaa's and additional driving lights. The Piaa's come on with low beam when selected, the driving lights come on with the high beam when selected. The driving lights are located where the front plate normally would be.
Here are some shots I took tonight during the upgrade. You can see the difference between the left HID high beam and the right normal high beam before I changed it to HID.
Just Piaa's
Piaa's and low beams
High beams with only left HID high beam installed and normal high beam right
High beams with only left HID high beam installed and normal high beam right, and driving lights
New HID high beams and driving lights
My first impression after checking and re-adjusting is that the HID high beams are better than the normal high beams. The new HID's are 6,000k. I think I'd rather have 5,000k but I'll see after some more driving. I do have one minor problem that popped up. When I switch to high beam some times the active handling will switch from competitive mode to the standard traction and active handling on. Luckily it's not a real problem for me since I have a laptrax and it switches itself back to competitive mode automatically. Kind of strange.
In the future I might replace the low beams with the 50w HID's, and I'm considering changing the driving lights too but I should be good to go for a while.
And yes, I already have my Christmas lights up even though it's not even Thanksgiving.
Dog
Last edited by meldog21; Nov 13, 2008 at 01:10 PM.
Pro
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 745
Likes: 12
From: Milton FL
Can never have too much light. Looks very good. I added hid highs to my lows and fogs but the ramp up time was a problem. I now have the all on with highs so when I flip to highs the lows and fogs stay on. Saved my butt in the mountains Sunday night when a buck jumped out in front!
