Why we hate plug and play HID's and LED's
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 187
From: Mooresville indiana
Why we hate plug and play HID's and LED's
Post why you hate plug and play HID's because too many threads get thrown off topic because of them. ( this was another member's idea 
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Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 216
Likes: 41
Because even the poorest moron can afford $29 on Ebay, toss them in, do nothing to focus the beam and blind thousands of people.
Because blue headlights are "brighter" lol.
Because a truck with bad bakes, rusted out quarters and an exhaust leak is all of a sudden a nice truck with HID's.
Because ricers.
Because "I can" all of a sudden means "I should" do it.
And a million more reasons we hate cheap HID's....
Because blue headlights are "brighter" lol.
Because a truck with bad bakes, rusted out quarters and an exhaust leak is all of a sudden a nice truck with HID's.
Because ricers.
Because "I can" all of a sudden means "I should" do it.
And a million more reasons we hate cheap HID's....
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,252
Likes: 385
From: Katy, Republic of Texas
LOL. Where to begin...
They are not designed for halogen housings, therefore:
They produce less light. While you may think they are brighter than halogen, they are not. They have a ton of foreground light right in front of you, which gives the impression of more light, but you need light at a distance (where you are going, not where you are at) that PnP kits cannot do. The human eye is a very poor judge of lighting.
They blind oncoming drivers (no, you can't aim them so that they don't, they are blinding others with glare). Just because other drivers are not flashing you does not mean they are not being blinded by them. They glare. No matter what. Your blinding me, and I will flash you (with my real HID retro). I flash 10-20 PnP cars and trucks on an average 30 minute drive at night.
Blue light (above 6000 kelvin) is worse for lighting up the night. So many PNP kits are just garbage for light color (kits sold as 4300k being more like 8000k).
You have no highbeam (depending on application). These PnP kits try to make high beams by either sticking a halogen bulb in the housing or "tilting" the bulb. Neither are effective.
They are illegal. They are not DOT approved bulbs, therefore you can get a ticket for them and can fail state inspection.
Now you can make the point that retrofits are not legal either, especially the H1 mini since it also is not DOT approved (projector or bulb). Other retrofits with OEM projectors and D2S bulbs, those are DOT approved, but there is some argument over the true legality over it.
Finally, they are just unsafe for all the above reasons. You see less with them and your blinding other drivers (and as you age, night vision gets worse and glare can temporally blind another driver) and you just look like an idiot.
And 95% of this goes for LED bulbs also.
For further reading and explanations, visit Daniel Stern Lighting.
They are not designed for halogen housings, therefore:
They produce less light. While you may think they are brighter than halogen, they are not. They have a ton of foreground light right in front of you, which gives the impression of more light, but you need light at a distance (where you are going, not where you are at) that PnP kits cannot do. The human eye is a very poor judge of lighting.
They blind oncoming drivers (no, you can't aim them so that they don't, they are blinding others with glare). Just because other drivers are not flashing you does not mean they are not being blinded by them. They glare. No matter what. Your blinding me, and I will flash you (with my real HID retro). I flash 10-20 PnP cars and trucks on an average 30 minute drive at night.
Blue light (above 6000 kelvin) is worse for lighting up the night. So many PNP kits are just garbage for light color (kits sold as 4300k being more like 8000k).
You have no highbeam (depending on application). These PnP kits try to make high beams by either sticking a halogen bulb in the housing or "tilting" the bulb. Neither are effective.
They are illegal. They are not DOT approved bulbs, therefore you can get a ticket for them and can fail state inspection.
Now you can make the point that retrofits are not legal either, especially the H1 mini since it also is not DOT approved (projector or bulb). Other retrofits with OEM projectors and D2S bulbs, those are DOT approved, but there is some argument over the true legality over it.
Finally, they are just unsafe for all the above reasons. You see less with them and your blinding other drivers (and as you age, night vision gets worse and glare can temporally blind another driver) and you just look like an idiot.
And 95% of this goes for LED bulbs also.
For further reading and explanations, visit Daniel Stern Lighting.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 961
Likes: 135
From: Florida
Can't believe you guys are bashing HIDs. I love mine in my reflector housings! They are super bright and if they blind others than too bad for those drivers. I'm cheap so I'm not buying the proper retros. J/K, I agree with what you guys. I won't do HID unless it safe. Guess I'll wait to retrofit mine, but for now my halogens will do.
