Quote " I have the ACA popups in mine"

I have a question : can you buy the ACA pop ups now, today?
If the answer is no, then it really doesnt matter how good they are :-)

I wouldnt argue that HID's in the stock housings are as good as HID's in a focusing housing.

But . . .I wouldnt argue that HID's in the stock housing were "worse" than the stock (or any ) halogens in the stock housing either. Not sure you can call them "dangerous" in any sense if they are aimed right.

Also, technicaly any modification to the lighting on any vehicle is unlawful in many places. The ACA lights are DOT approved, I hear that often (and believe me, Im not knocking the ACA product, I would love to have a set on my car and would put them if I could get them or afford them) but I dont know how that works when you put them on your car. The stock lights (head, tail, side marker, everything) were approved when the car was manufatured, if you change them from stock where does the approval come in?

Look, the C5 is a great car with terrible lights as equipped stock. Anything you do to change them (even putting higher wattage halogens in the existing headlights) is technicaly unlawful, so you are faced with the choice : leave em as is and have crappy lights and absolutely no chance of a lighting related citation, or change them and have better visibility. There's a few ways to change them and hopefully, one would pick a responsible way and risk the slight chance of a problem.

 

that's a good question.
replacement headlamps are legal as long as they conform to certain SAE standards for replacement headlamps. that's why the ACA lights are DOT approved, they conform to those standards.

when I had the HIDs in the T-84 housings I failed inspection, but it passed whe I put the halogen bulbs back in.

last year I passed inspection with no problems with the ACA headlights.

I guess that HIDs in stock housings aren't worse than stock headlights, because anything other than the stock halogen bulbs is better, but they're "bad" in other ways.

 

well, guess what, back in 2005 when i bought the SW lights, that was the ONLY option for different headlights. that or BPP fixed light (which i thought was ugly). The projectors at THAT time were the best option.

I like the ACA design and function, however, i hate the pop ups! so the SW projector was the best way to go, FOR ME AT THAT TIME. understand?

ACA's i do believe are DOT legal, i have to agree, thats one thing they were pushing for when the guy created them. But unfortunately now, he is out of business and no one is making them. is this right or have things changed now?

And please do not discuss about how the factory deisgned it this way or that...etc... there are a TON of things GM f'd up on this C5. to name a few CLB, EBCM issues, etc... They do what they felt best at the time. Then as a consumer, we modify it, hence the point of ACA or SW lights, etc... Anything we do to our cars is NOT illegal unless it affects "laws". like your tigershark front end is not illegal or my side vents of put on are not illegal. MOST if not ALL people who have HIDs and are properly aligned, have NEVER had an issue with the law.

And safety is far greater with HIDs then stock lights. EVERYONE on this forum who has gone that route is in accordance. They are far superior then the craptastic stock halogens. I only see maybe a handful of people who are always arguing against it (i.e you). i understand your thoughts and explanations, but you come across as saying we are all being illegal and we are stupid and will get in trouble with the law, etc... catch my drift...

i'd say, voice your opinion, but say it nicely.

Aj

 

Thanks! I didn't know that! It's good to know that I'm legal then!

 

I would like all of the guys who are raving about their HID's in stock housings to park 10 feet from a wall at night and take a picture.

We will then do the same for stock lights as well as the ACA's and all other proper projector lights.

The results from this test would be very enlightening. (ya, that's a pun, what of it )

 

I hear ya. IMO all the HID equipped cars I come across are really bright. No, I don't go around evaluating cars. People would think I am weird.

 

Ok,

I'll start...


T-84 housings with XenTec 6000k HID's, 25' away from the garage.




ACA 4300k projector HIDs, 25' away from the garage.







hows that for a start...

would sombody with HIDs in stock housings take a pic using the same distance.

 

This would not be fair! you are not understanding the point here!!! People are spending LESS then a 100 for an HID kit and an ACA or any other aftermarket projector kit will run ya at LEAST a $1000 or more!!! com'n, how is that fair!!!

I have a pic of my C5R HIDs but i can't seem to find it... looks VERY similar to what RPOZ4Z posted as his ACA shot. if i find it i will post it up. and actually, mine was 50' away from the wall and you can see the cutoff line. gotta find pic!
Aj

 

I think he just wants to see the difference between them.

 

I do........................... but people already know that I'm weird!

If you have an astigmitism or cataract, they can cause a halo effect too! Not saying that you have either one, just making a statement because that's what my eye Doc told me!

Please tell me if I've got this wrong, but you'll spend $1000 on your car to make it go a little bit faster, but won't spend $1000 on lights that will help you to see further and possibly react sooner and possibly prevent you from wrecking your car or hurting/killing someone or something?

Kind of backwards logic to me, but what do I know?

I do understand what you're saying, in that even the $100 HID's, while not the optimal setup, are better than stock! If that's what you're trying to say, then I do agree with you! Now, if you're trying to say that the $100 HID's are as good as a pair of ACA's, then I'd say tha you should step away from the Crac pipe! Your SW's aren't even as good as the ACA's! I know because I've had them both!

 

How is this not fair? It's an objective test and will yield the results we should all be talking about, not the heresay BS that seems to abound in this thread.

I'm a big fan of not outrunning my headlights and at the same time I HATE being blinded by oncoming traffic. All of the cars that come with proper HID's from the factory do not bother me. It's all the cheap crap that scatters light everywhere with no concern for others on the road. I had a feeling that RPOZ4Z would be first to post his results. He has nothing to hide. Why are there no other pictures from all of these people who are so proud of their cheap kits?

If you can't afford the proper kits that are available, why not build your own? There have been many sucessful retrofits of TSX projector lights into the stock housings of various different cars. The cost of this mod will be considerably less than the existing kits which seem to take full advantage of the Corvette tax.

 

That is an absolutely worthless test of any of the lighting systems. If you want to test them go to a dark deserted road where you have several hundred feet to put out some low reflection stakes along the right side of the road and then park each car with properly aimed lights) in the same place and see how many stakes are lit in the distance. It doesn't matter what color the lighting is as long as the the stakes are lit up. The few examples I have seen of this type pretty much show there isn't much difference in the lighting from the stock lights, to brighter Halogens to HIDs. Then do the same thing with the high beams and see how far they shine down the road.

Like RPO said in one of his other posts you are fooling yourself if you think you can see better because the ground 30 ft in front of the car is lit nice and bright and wide. At 60 mph you are traveling at 88 ft per second so anything you see less than 50 ft in front of the car will not even give you enough time to flinch before you hit it.

Bill

 

To both of you above, i have said in my previous posts, the ACA are the ideal way to go. being DOT approved and a fairly simple "bolt in" mod, you can't go wrong! So, i agree with you guys, the ACA are AWESOME!!! For me though, i don't like the pop-ups, and when i FIRST bought my car, the only option was the SW C5R back in early 05'. After spending the 1500 on the kit and HIDs, i was not going to rip them out and spend more money on ACAs. I liked how they performed and i liked the look.

And please do not compare performance mods to lighting, two different topics. im satisfied with the lighting, i choose to spend money on go fast parts now. making 535rwhp N/A is expensive, and i love being able to do so! DO NOT say that i am compromising my safety just b/c of lighting! thats a LOAD of BS! "Factory lighting" is compromising safety!!! anything other then factory is better, this has been established, so if you're telling me this, then go tell ALL of CORVETTEFORUM.COM that they are in danger of driving their vettes at night b/c their headlights suck *****!!! your putting forth a situation thats utterly ridiculous!

And the two comparisons are worthless! Along with what Bill Dearborn said, the ACA was DOT approved so they conform with the highest of DOT specification. The other kits do not, they were simply meant for a method of replacing factory lights with something cooler. yea, they perform better then stock, and i believe they were for "Off Road USE" only. the mfg is not concerned with DOT safety, all they care about it making $$$. Hence why the SW C5R kit is a over priced piece of crap (yea, i have it and I AM saying its a pile of crap quality). Get a kit that is DOT approved and compare those.. Ohh wait, nothing else exists to compare, soo of course the ACA is better.

And lets bring this up, does ACA even exist anymore??? What happen to the guy making kits, right, he stiffed everyone!

As for retro kits, that is a very good idea, but very time consuming. i personally do not want to waste my time making one. i even have a set of FX35 projectors from my gf's car which i plan on making into a retro kit for my motorcycle. But yes, i generally do agree, retro fit is DEFINITELY the cheaper alternative.

i hope thats what he meant, but i doubt it. it was apparent in his posts following mine.

 

1 BAD BURB:

the person that "stiffed" everyone on the ACA kits was not the manufacturer of the ACA kits.
he was just another guy that was selling them, but he did upgrade the harness, and was the first to modify the harness on the ACA kit to keep the low beams on when the high beams are turned on. which, from what I understand, ACA copied and started shipping their harness the same way.
and after that whole fiasco with him, there were a few other forum vendors selling the ACA kits. and for a while there the ACA kits were around $700.00

it's just a matter of time before someone else starts making a similar product.

LuvmyC5 made the statement about spending $1000's of dollars to make the car faster, but only spend $100.00 for lights.

while he was incorrect in stating that about you, the statement was correct about many others on here that bought the bulb swap HIDs, they think nothing of spending $1000's to make the car faster, and then they install rollcages with safety harness, bigger and nicer wheels, bigger stereo systems with navigation, etc...
and turn around only spend $80.00 for a bulb swap HID kit to "upgrade" their headlights.

better lighting is another safety upgrade that people should be very concerned with, and the fact that there is so much interest in HID's confirms that people ARE interested in better lighting.
now they just need to know the advantages and disadvantages of the $80.00 HID kits.

I believe the disadvantages outweigh the advantages based on my personal experience with them.

and while I agree that there is nothing out right now comparable to the ACA kit, the bulb swap HID's may or may not be the best choice given the nature of their operation and the "side effects" of using such a kit.

but that's for the individual person to decide for themselves..


and I would still like someone with HID's in stock housings (and stock halogen, and a "silverstar" type bulb) to post a pic similar to the ones I posted, just for informational purposes.

 

RPO:
thanks for clearing up the whole ACA situation and what happened with the mfg of the kit. appreciate it!

i dunno... its different for each person, you're right. all depends on how much they are willing to spend on their "performance" mods.

im tired of writing replies on this thread, lol...so im goin to stop now!

i have the pic of my stock lights with HIDs and the C5R with HID, but can't upload...Can someone "host" them if i email them out?
Aj

 

ok, heres my C5R with HID.

This picture is HID vs stock (sorry for the poor back drop...lol)


Heres how they look head on


And here is the MONEY SHOT... 6 car spaces from the wall (~50'), what do you think!

 

Is this with the Highs on? If not they seem really aimed high to me. Just wondering.
Bill K

 

This thread is funny, informative and irritating all at the same time. Those making and argument for the ACAs, here's my thoughts; one would expect a $1000 product to perform better than a $100 product, that should go without saying so what's your point? There is no way anyone can convince me that they are 10 times better performing than the hids in stock housings, justifying their 10 times higher price, but my priorities and budget may be different than others and I can respect that. Comparing speed mods to lighting mods is ridiculous...nuff said. Also arguing for a product that isn't available anymore is equally ridiculous, the OP I'm sure was asking about what he could, you know, actually put on his car. It is good to learn about the ACA kits though, should someone decide to sell their used kit for whatever reason. Everyone who has swapped their stock lights for the kits such as JW sells has been extremely happy with the improvement and the customer service provided, so why knock the guy? He's not misleading anyone as atested to by many customers. If I have a grand set aside for a mod(s) to my vette, it sure as hell won't be spent on lights that won't be as big an improvement over the 100 dollar ones as the 100 dollar ones will be over stock...sorry for the rant, just can't stand to see grown men arguing over friggin head lights, we all know the stock ones are garbage and that practically ANY thing is better, wether it's just silverstars, or hids in stock housings, or if you have the money and are so inclined, true HIDs in projector housings. It's all up to the individuals budget and priority level for mods. Peace, Rain

 

Rain,
if you have driven with both you would SEE the difference.

this is NOT and argument, just a friendly disscussion.

 

this is low beam. i believe this pic was in the early stages of alignment (05'), so they are lower now. but the point is, even at 50', you can see the cutoff.