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Old 21-10-2013, 08:02 AM
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Fudgey
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Default HID kits

can you get HID kits for any type of bulb?

i have an impreza uk300 and the lights are piss poor at night, and its dark a lot now so need to do something with them.

it has hella lights fitted from factory like this



so has the kind of projector lens like my old puma (which also had shite lights)

i want them for the normal dipped beam, main beam seems ok

cheers for any info! oh, what colour K is best for normal driving too??

ta!!
Old 21-10-2013, 08:35 AM
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Psycho Warren
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what bulb type is it?? just ebay the bulb type plus HID and youll usually get thousands of kits if its one they are made for.

Just go for the middle of the road temperature rating rather than something excessively blue or purple.The shade makes fuck all difference to how efficient they are.

Also clean the lenses inside and out or you will just spread more light all over the place rather than down the road
Old 21-10-2013, 09:05 AM
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You need headlamp cleaning and self levelling for HIDs to be 'legal'. It's also likely to be an MoT fail as regards the light beam if the MoT tester is picky.

Just get some fancy bulbs.
Old 21-10-2013, 09:58 AM
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BigChuck
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Originally Posted by Psycho Warren
The shade makes fuck all difference to how efficient they are.
Wrong, the higher the k rating the less usable light you get, 4300k is the best for usable light, hence that being standard equipment on most cars.above that it gets bluer and less effective.

Personally I use 5000k's they are more or less pure white.
Old 21-10-2013, 10:05 AM
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JamesH
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I had HID's but they kept blowing bulbs or the packs

Gave up in the end, and bought the bright Halfords ones, the brightest ones they do that are still road legal

They were almost as good as the HID's!!
Old 21-10-2013, 10:59 AM
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Psycho Warren
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Originally Posted by BigChuck
Wrong, the higher the k rating the less usable light you get, 4300k is the best for usable light, hence that being standard equipment on most cars.above that it gets bluer and less effective.
technically you may be correct, but on aftermarket HID kits it makes no difference in reality. The limiting factor is the light projection system not the HID bulb.
Originally Posted by DanW@FastFord
You need headlamp cleaning and self levelling for HIDs to be 'legal'. It's also likely to be an MoT fail as regards the light beam if the MoT tester is picky.
He'll probably do what most do at MoT time and pull them out and plug in a normal bulb for MoT day
Old 21-10-2013, 11:07 AM
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Fudgey
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Cheers warren, ill do that then. no idea what bulbs it uses so ill look later.

Dan, tried expensive bulbs on the puma and it made very little difference tbh. the lights on that on full beam were as bright as my mates clio 182 on dipped lol

im not after the blue colour, white will be fine so thanks for the temp info!

i just want to see in the dark lol

as for mot, if they will pass decat pipes etc, im sure they will pass headlamp beam etc. but ill take the original setup with me anyway, but got another 6 months till mot time

cheers boys

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Old 21-10-2013, 11:26 AM
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RichieST
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I have just put a set into my mondeo that has projector lenses. The beam pattern is spot on, much better than a kit I had a few years ago in a normal reflector type headlamp.

I got them from http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/, it doesn't bother the bulb failure warning or anything, top bit of kit. H7 canbus pro kit I got, plus you can get a discount code if you like their facebook page.
Old 21-10-2013, 11:44 AM
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RS Grant
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I'm sure I read something about the UK300 lights being more than plug'n'play when using an HID kit... that was a good few years ago right enough, but might be worth checking on Scoobynet first??

Also, go NO higher than 6k... otherwise you will look chavtastic and see less than you should with an HID kit.


Cheers,
Grant
Old 21-10-2013, 11:47 AM
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BigChuck
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Originally Posted by Psycho Warren
technically you may be correct, but on aftermarket HID kits it makes no difference in reality. The limiting factor is the light projection system not the HID bulb.

:
You may well have more experience than me, but I've seen the differance between an 8000k set and a 5000k set in the same type of car side by side and there was a clear differance.
Old 21-10-2013, 12:19 PM
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Im just after some lights that will let me see in the dark, much better than what is on there now. not bothered about colour unless it means you cant see as well with say a 6000K than with a 5000K

grant, ill stick a post up but tbh they are not the most technical bunch, not many of them actually work on their own cars and anything you ask about will either a. need a remap or b. need a Ł3k+ forged rebuild lol

but ill ask none-the-less

cheers chaps

Last edited by Fudgey; 21-10-2013 at 12:22 PM.
Old 21-10-2013, 05:52 PM
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Originally Posted by DanW@FastFord
You need headlamp cleaning and self levelling for HIDs to be 'legal'. It's also likely to be an MoT fail as regards the light beam if the MoT tester is picky.

Just get some fancy bulbs.

As far as I understand, if there's no cleaning or self levelling fitted it can't be tested so can't fail...

Aslong as there fitted correctly so the pattern is ok then there's no problem with mot...?
Old 21-10-2013, 07:50 PM
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Been looking on egay for "h7 hid kit" and it mostly comes up with 6000k 35w canbus

Is that any good?

I also noticed while looking what bulbs i had earlier that the plastic insulation bit around the spade connector on the bulb was quite burnt!

Hmm.
Old 21-10-2013, 07:59 PM
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I have retro fitted HIDs to all my motors, None have headlamp cleaning or self leveling,
All have been through MOT's with no issues at various MOT stations.

Even been pulled on the way to work by traffic cops, I wasn't pulled for the lights but they came up for discussion and they told me that if the beam pattern was deamed safe at MOT they are not bothered.

I'm about to buy another set for my Cupra R.

Get in touch with Nathan@xenons online. He is a great guy and will sort you out a great deal. I've bought my kits from him.
Old 21-10-2013, 08:15 PM
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slammedorion
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Originally Posted by Fudgey
Been looking on egay for "h7 hid kit" and it mostly comes up with 6000k 35w canbus

Is that any good?.

I've got 6000k 55w in the dipped beam on my daily, 6000k 35w in the fogs, night breakers in the mainbeam...

I'd recommend spending that little extra and get them with metal bases...
Old 21-10-2013, 08:16 PM
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55w kits are what cause problems, They are way to bright.

Most cars that come with HIDs are 35w I believe.
Old 21-10-2013, 08:57 PM
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Cheers guys, so is there any difference between the Ł30 kits, or he Ł100 kits other than the price? As tbh they all look the same lol
Old 21-10-2013, 09:00 PM
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I run a 35w 6000k H7 kit in my A4 and spent time setting the lamps right, never been flashed or had any problem. Providing the lamps are projector and you keep with 4300k to 6000k you should find them loads better than the halogens.

Only issue I had was a ballast pack that failed earlier this year which cost me 12 quid. Not terrible in the 35k miles I've done since fitting.
Old 21-10-2013, 09:11 PM
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How do you set the lamps! Do you mean just adjusting the height etc? As once the bulbs are in place you cant do much with them no?
Old 21-10-2013, 09:13 PM
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did they come with a xenon option from the factory?

bag a set of them and job jobbed

as for leveling, if you can't get them leveled via a little button on the light switch then they probably aren't
Old 21-10-2013, 09:16 PM
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Fudgey
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Dojj, no idea if xenon was an option, believe not.

As for levelling, yes there is a switch 0-5 or something, but you can normally adjust aim by turning screws on the light unit, but i have not looked!
Old 21-10-2013, 09:32 PM
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slammedorion
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Originally Posted by Fudgey
How do you set the lamps! Do you mean just adjusting the height etc? As once the bulbs are in place you cant do much with them no?
Cheers guys, so is there any difference between the Ł30 kits, or he Ł100 kits other than the price? As tbh they all look the same lol


They fit like normal bulbs, adjust headlight like normal... Probably best off taking to a mot station and getting them to check alignment on their machine...

Ł30-Ł40 quid kits work for me...





Mark_ 55w kits are what cause problems, They are way to bright.

Most cars that come with HIDs are 35w I believe.


Had no issues whatsoever with my 55w kit???
It's beam pattern is perfect... Fitted in projector headlights...

Last edited by slammedorion; 21-10-2013 at 09:35 PM.
Old 22-10-2013, 10:44 AM
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I bought a Ł25 kit off eBay
H1 55w 6k.
They are brilliant. The best "mod" I've done by far.
They are in my '95 M3 so are in projectors but I stripped and cleaned the lamp units and then lined the headlamp up bodywork wise then realigned the light output and they are amazing.
You can see for miles, they light up everything and don't upset other road users.

I'd say do it straight away.
Slowly but surely I'm fitting them to all my cars.
The next kits will be 5k as I think 6k has a little too much blue, 4300k is too yellow for me. Anything above 6 or below 4 is just chav.

I would also buy spare bulbs with the kit as when one fails you can't just pop to halfrauds.
I paid about Ł4 for a spare pair.
Old 22-10-2013, 10:48 AM
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cheers stu, the kit i was looking at is about Ł50 as i dont think i need the canbus ballasts.

the missus cmax has h4 bulbs, not projectors so dont know how good they will be on that.

also, is it worth getting them for the full beam too? guessing not but it will just look a bit odd with white and yellow light lol
Old 22-10-2013, 11:14 AM
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Mine were non canbus and they didn't bring on the bulb out warning either.
They're not recommended for main beam as they need to be on for a little while to warm up which you won't get on a flash.
Just put good quality std bulbs in.
Also the HIDs are so good you won't need main beam other than to flash people out of junctions lol. And you'd blind em with a kit there too.
Old 22-10-2013, 01:20 PM
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H4's will do the mainbeam won't they?
Ł50's about right for a h4 kit
Old 22-10-2013, 01:33 PM
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H4 will be a reflector headlamp not a projector and as such you shouldn't fit a HID kit to it.
Old 22-10-2013, 01:52 PM
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Originally Posted by stu21t
Mine were non canbus and they didn't bring on the bulb out warning either.
They're not recommended for main beam as they need to be on for a little while to warm up which you won't get on a flash.
Just put good quality std bulbs in.
Also the HIDs are so good you won't need main beam other than to flash people out of junctions lol. And you'd blind em with a kit there too.



Stu thats not right, I had a HIGH/LOW kit on my escort, The flash worked absolutely fine,
it was the normal head lights that took about 3-4 seconds to warm up but the flash was instant on mine.
Old 22-10-2013, 04:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Mark_
Stu thats not right, I had a HIGH/LOW kit on my escort, The flash worked absolutely fine, it was the normal head lights that took about 3-4 seconds to warm up but the flash was instant on mine.
What did you use for flash? I would like some on the m3 if possible.
Old 22-10-2013, 08:38 PM
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So, been looking again just now, a kit with premium ballasts from the guy mark recommended is about Ł55 delivered, or on ebay you can get digital metal based ballasts for less than Ł25 delivered...

So i dont know what to go for lol. Think ill go for the 5000k ones tho
Old 22-10-2013, 08:50 PM
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Ok after reading the feedback of some ebay ones, i ordered from xenons online lol

Probably the same kit tho lol, but they offer a 2 year warranty...
Old 22-10-2013, 09:28 PM
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You'll want led sidelight bulbs, number plate bulbs next...
Old 23-10-2013, 08:00 AM
  #33  
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lol probably
Old 23-10-2013, 08:40 AM
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have a look at euro car parts

they have sets for Ł40. might be a bit more than eBay, but you can get them quicker, and you get warranty so f they fail you wont have to speak mandarin to get your money back

ie had 8000 6000 and 4300 kits before an i would always recomend the 4300 kit as it isnt too blue*
Old 23-10-2013, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Fudgey
Ok after reading the feedback of some ebay ones, i ordered from xenons online lol

Probably the same kit tho lol, but they offer a 2 year warranty...
Was going to mention Nathan gives good warranty on his kits. Plus he is in the uk. Lol
Old 23-10-2013, 02:34 PM
  #36  
Fudgey
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i did send him a message on FB but as im not on his friend list it said it would put the message somewhere else??

anyway, i assumed he never got it, so hopefully ordered the right stuff lol
Old 23-10-2013, 03:18 PM
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Did you go for slim ballasts?
Old 23-10-2013, 06:46 PM
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That Nathan at XenonsOnline is a great chap.

Fudgey Mark gave me the heads up and I threw some LED sidelights in for you.

Dunno about facebook I'll have to look into that.

Cheers
Nathan
Old 23-10-2013, 06:55 PM
  #39  
Mark_
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Bonus for Fudgey,
Old 23-10-2013, 10:32 PM
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Fudgey
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Nice one!

Thanks very much nathan! Pretty chuffed with that lol.

Mark, i went for the premuim ballasts, dont know how thick they are tho lol. I dont need the canbus ones, so fingers crossed the others are the right ones lol.

And thanks again nathan/mark

Last edited by Fudgey; 23-10-2013 at 10:33 PM.


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