rkfvd3

correction I didnt get the utlras, my fault. Is there a better option out there?

Lenn

To me... ultra's are the best option. I spent $80 on a set of PIAA's and they were about equivelant to the regular Silverstars... crap.

Cokerford

Hid on left and ultra on right I'll pick my hids over standard bulbs any day

AreL11

I'm sure other drivers appreciate your glaring HID's, too.

ipwanab

add me to the list of people not understanding the fascination with lights, an 18 wheeler running 70 mph with headlights only a couple of feet off the ground (aimed properly) can see for several hundred feet and his lights are not obnoxious to oncoming traffic. vehicles with improperly aimed or wierd color lights are extremely distracting to most drivers (as are fog lights which spray all over the place instead of ahead and down).My head is about 6 feet off the ground when I drive my truck and peoples ill aimed or strange lights get to me (imagine some poor devil in a car). If a guy wants attention some handsome amber marker lights would do the job without being a nuisance.I will bet that the people who say they like/need these lights do not have unshielded daylight temperature lamps shining in their eyes when they are watching tv .

mrpositraction

I loved my HID lights I put in my 2010, BUT, I took them out because I was blinding others on the road. I thought I had good cut off as I could see the lines on the road, fact is though, that their is a lot of glare, and it is just rude. If you want extremely bright lights, do everyone a favor and get projectors so there are no glare.

bb37

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Society of Automotive Engineers, we have been subjected to decades of backwards thinking with regard to headlamps. The Europeans figured this problem out long ago and their headlamps are light years, no pun intended, ahead of ours.

Yes, light intensity and color temperature matter, but a high output bulb is useless if the light is not properly aimed and focused down the road. One drive in a car with proper E-code headlamps will show you. E-code low beams have a sharp cut-off just below the centerline of the lamp with a kick-up on the right side so you can see pedestrians, road signs, etc. Below the cut-off is a wash of even light with few bright spots or dark spots. Above the cut-off is very little light so that you don't blind on-coming drivers. E-code high beams project a tight circle of light straight ahead so you can far down the road. Most drivers do not realize that they are driving beyond their headlamps. By the time our crappy headlamps reflect enough light for our brains to discern an object in the road, we have run out of time to avoid the object.

Putting HIDs in most OEM headlamps is a waste of time and money, IMHO. You may think your car looks cool, but the glare your headlamps are producing is blinding on-coming drivers.

Putting high-output blue-tinted halogen bulbs in OEM headlamps is also a waste of time and money. In hazy or foggy conditions, that blue light scatters and reflects back into your eyes making it harder to see. Check out the two articles here about blue bulbs.

Putting high-wattage bulbs in OEM headlamps is not only a waste of time and money, but a potential fire hazard. The wiring harness feeding the bulb has to be able to deliver the extra current required by high-wattage bulbs. Yes, there are ways to fix this with custom wiring and relays, but most people don't want to go to that trouble. And some of these 9000-series bulbs, especially the ones with right-angle connectors, have terminals that are marginal at high currents. Too much current through connectors that are too small generates heat that melts the connectors and their housings.

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution. The car manufacturers have let the stylists dictate the appearance of our headlamps. The engineers are left with nothing but compromises when it comes to providing effective lighting. In the end, the car-buying public suffers.

eclark53520

Finally another person on this board that knows what they're talking about!

High five!

Going with HID's is expensive, but well worth the effort and expense.

dmz01

The big difference between european and US highways is that the signs are lit in Europe, so there is no reason for any light output above the cut-off line. Non-lit sligns are only allowed on the side of the road where they are illuminated by the "kick-up"." In the US most highway signs are not illuminated and therefore the US headlights are reqired to bleed/project some limited amount of light above the cutoff. When you install an HID bulb in a US spec non-HID housing you're going to bleed to much light above the cut-off and blind incoming traffic. Most complains about light output can be addressed by properly aiming your headlights first. You loose more "output" with improper aiming than you gain with aftermarket bulbs.

mrpositraction

Actually the one complaint I had with the HID bulbs in the stock housing was coming up on a sign was blinding me with the reflection. They were awesome on back roads with no one else on the road but I actually stopped driving in town at night because I felt bad.......I took them out shortly after this.