If I have the stock headlights in their now and I want to upgrade to HID's, what do I need to do and where can I find a good set? The only decent selection I have found so far is at www.xenonking.com. It comes with the power supply, is that all I need? Thanks!

 

Check Xenondepot.com. They sell complete kits. I have installed one on my car without to much trouble. Also check for their specials where they sell there kits for $50 less on Ebay.

 

You will need the following things in order for them to work:

ZKE module
Strut attached sensors
Auto-levelling system
Headlight cleaner resevoir
pump
Piping
Xenon headlight housing @ $350 a piece used (these are the #1 thing you need in order for them to work)
This install will require removing your wheels and making attachments to the suspension for the sensors and will also require you to go to the dealer to have the auto-levelling started.

Without these things, your headlights will work LESS well then stock halogen headlights. And will be illegal (but who cares about that )

 

Well I used a retrofit kit and I am happy with the results. Yes the light deam isnt as good as it would be with the right housing but its nice.

 

you don't need autoleveling headlights and hid housings. you just need to drill out the metal housing, put in the bulbs, mount the balasts and igniter on the headlights housings. My look amazing and i have the same amount of light dispersment that i did before the hid kit. the difference is that now i can see everything on the road. Worth all the work and money.

Thanks
Your Friend Ben

 

Did you modify the housing in any way? I dont think you will get the same amount of dispersement using a halogen housing with a true HID kit....it just doesnt work like that. I can get you a website if you are interested in understanding the differences. It may APPEAR to be brighter but you are actually missing lots on the road.

 

How about we post pics from both? You never really know..

 

I just feel sorry of rthe people in front of you, either in your lane or the traffic coming at you. I am sure that the glare is awesome.

The reflectors are designed to have the bulb, more precisely, the filament of the bulb, in a very precise position. If the filament is moved, even less tham 1mm the relfector and lense will not work. The problem with true HID is there is NO filament, the light is radiated from the whole length of the light tube and can not be properly aimed with the stock halogen reflector.

 

only problem is, taking pictures of any kind of headlight can be decieving
The exposure being even a tiny bit longer on one headlight would cause it to look WAY brighter even if it isnt in real life. And like i said, standing in front of the modded car with a stock one next to it....it may APPEAR to be brighter due to a whiter color, or more light perceived light on the ground closest to the car, but you are missing the real important light out in front of the car....the housings do not have the right reflectors to shoot the HID type bulb's light out to that distance with the same performance a real xenon housing would.

I'm just trying to help so you aren't driving in the dark. Besides looking cool, the real reason for HIDs is for better vision at night, but without the housings, you will lose some night vision compared to stock halogens.

 

I can see where you are going with the dispersment of light.....i do have to modify them to get some more distance out of them but the glare isn't really that bad. I drove my buddies supra one night while he drove my car and when i was in front of him or going at him.....it wasn't as bad as you think. Pretty much the same as a normal hid light shine. But you are right....i do have to modify the housing.....I have to extend the screw post so that i can aim the bulb a little bit higher...really not hard at all. But i don't really care because i think spending $600 on housings is stupid. It's the easier way out with getting the same result.

Thanks
Your Friend Ben

 

cool glad it works :smile:

 

I'm slightly confused at what you guys are talking about..

Please straighten something out for me, I have a 04' MCS with halogen bulbs, and if I switched the bulbs to..say philips blue vision bulbs.. The lighting on the road would be less than the regular halogen because I don't have the correct housing?

If it can be fixed without a new housing, how would you correct it?

 

I don't know what the Vision bulbs are. But what were talking about is a retrofit kit that puts everything you need for xenons in your car except the housing (reflectors) and projectors for auto leveling. So you add in a xenon bulb, ballast and wiring harness. With this you can cheaply add what is almost a 100% xenon kit for little $. It just has a few downsides.

Without the proper housing you have 'light scatter' meaning that not all of the light shoots in front of you. You might end up lighting up the sides of the car more then in front of you. But it some cars and cases the light scatter isn't to bad. Like for me, I installed a Xenon retrofit kit from Xenondepot.com for my high beams. I already have the MINI Xenons and this just helps compliment my lights.

 

Hyobum, the vision bulbs you got are halogen bulbs, so they will produce MORE light than the others ones. These people are talking about putting in HID (xenon) bulbs in non-HID housings....these bulbs work much differently, and thus require a different type of housing to correctly project the light.

Your lights are perfect the way they are, you dont need new housings.

 

I forgot to mention that it is a Federal requirement that when you have HID lights that you MUST also have auto-leveling and some method to clean the lense while underway. These requirements are there to prevent excess glare to other motorists.

More information about this is available here:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

 

I was just talking about you don't need to have the autoleveling headlights to make the HID's work in your housing........Don't cross my words up.

Thanks

 

Oops, sorry. You can take it up with the Feds.

 

Where does it say anything about compulsory auto-leveling or cleaning systems on daniel stern? I can't seem to find that. I do see where he argues the point that the US should adopt regulations that would require them in question 6 of his response form to NHTSA.

The Mazda 3 does not have auto leveling, it is manually controlled. As are the systems in other vehicles like the Mitsubishi Evo. The Mazda does not have any system for cleaning the lamps either.

These things are good for minimizing glare, but as far as I know they are not yet required in the US.

 

This seems like the appropriate thread to post my question, and I didn't want to start a new one just to ask a simple question.

Has anyone ordered from www.powerbulbs.com? How long is the delivery time to the states? Lastly, do they autmatically convert the Pound to Dollar for you, or is there something I have to do?

 

I will try to find where I saw that info and post it here. Can't remember right now.

 

Yes, about 4 years ago.
It took a little over a week.
Yes. Also, there is a drop down menu at the bottom, left hand side of the page that will allow you to select USD for the prices shown on their pages.