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Has Anyone been Pulled over for Their HID's?

S

Strange

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 3, 2011
Messages
37
Location
Cleburne, TX
Hey everyone, I just had a quick question:

Has anyone had trouble with the law for running HID's? I was just browsing the internet and I got the consensus that they are technically illegal, but that in most places the laws are not enforced due to whatever reason.

So, for the fellow 'Tour owners: where do you live? Have you had any problems with the police? How long have you run the HID's?

Discuss.
 
I guess I'll start out by saying that I have a DDM Tuning "plug-and-play" kit, 6000k, on my low beams and fogs.

I live in a small town (30k) about an hour out of Fort Worth.

I haven't had any problems with the police, but I've only had my HID's for a couple days. When I first installed them, they weren't aimed correctly and I had one person flash their high's at me, and people generally trying to avoid me. I aimed the lights the best I could later that night, and I had no problems with people flashing me or anything like that. I think I'm good now, but I want to hear what people have to say, as I have no experience with HID's.
 
I live in Lincoln park mi and I have 8k hids and haven't had any problems with my hids. I just think there are so many people that have them that they can't really enforce the law cuz around here alot of people have them
 
Lebeau96 said:
I live in Lincoln park mi and I have 8k hids and haven't had any problems with my hids. I just think there are so many people that have them that they can't really enforce the law cuz around here alot of people have them
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I've read that a lot of cops just don't bother trying to enforce it because the laws can be so vague it's more trouble than it's worth to write a ticket.

I'm only partially concerned because my town's police force are primarily revenue collectors, and there's this one cop who will pull you over for anything out of place. So I guess you could say I'm trying to more effectively assess my risk.
 
adam e said:
I'm by lebeau n used hid since I was 17 now I'm 28 never had a problem with them
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Glad to hear, the issue I hear people complaining about is glare. Mine are really bright, but I can stand right in front of the car and walk around at different angles and mine don't seem to glare to me. I think the problem is that people don't aim their headlights correctly after they install HID's, and since we don't aim headlights for inspection in TX anymore, I bet a lot of people have them messed up.

And like I said, I'm only running 6000k headlights, and they seem pretty stark white to me, so I'm not going to attract a lot of attention for a blue tint. I saw on a forum for police officers that a cop (I believe in CT?) would hold a paper in front of the headlight, and give people tickets if the paper turned blue. I haven't done this test on my headlights yet, but I'm curious to see what will occur.
 
Its probably one of those things that they use primarily as an excuse to pull you over if you look suspicious for some other reason (young guys late at night, nice car in the bad part of town, etc)
 
i live in spokane wa and never had a problem. even when pulled over. make sure you aim them straight, they will shine as far as the eye can see and not blind anyone
 
BrApple said:
put those 6k against 4.5k and they will look blue.
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I suppose so, but I'm really pleased with the way they look.

mmc757 said:
Its probably one of those things that they use primarily as an excuse to pull you over if you look suspicious for some other reason (young guys late at night, nice car in the bad part of town, etc)
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I'm 19, but a generally upstanding citizen! I'm not out past midnight very often in my car, and there's not much going on in the bad part of my town!

aboythatskates said:
i live in spokane wa and never had a problem. even when pulled over. make sure you aim them straight, they will shine as far as the eye can see and not blind anyone
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I aimed them while having the headlights pointing at a wall, so I have them all leveled. They do have a really long distance, and I love it!
 
I live in Missouri and have never had any problems other than people flashing me ALOT. (not the good kind of flash). My local police occifers told me as long as they don't strobe, they don't care.
There is never any harm in asking a police officer just to be sure. I have DDMTuning 12K fogs, and there not blue at all to me.
DSCN0057.jpg


And here is with my 6K lows and 12K fog.
DSCN0064.jpg


As long as you aim them correctly, you shouldn't have any problems.
 
silver rocket said:
I live in Missouri and have never had any problems other than people flashing me ALOT. (not the good kind of flash). My local police occifers told me as long as they don't strobe, they don't care.
There is never any harm in asking a police officer just to be sure. I have DDMTuning 12K fogs, and there not blue at all to me.

As long as you aim them correctly, you shouldn't have any problems.
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Since I re-aimed them, I haven't had any problems at all. No one has flashed me (the bad kind.) I think tonight though I'm going to try and bring my level down a bit.
 
I've never understood using anything higher than a 6000K HID. Its too blue, and reduces visibility. I've run 4500K in my Mercury for over a year and never had a problem with the police. I just ordered 4500K lows and 3000K fogs for the SVT. The police say, as long as it doesnt show up blue on paper, its ok. I've also heard that HIDs should only be in projector lenses, but who knows... :shrug:
 
I live in Ohio. I have brand new housings and a 'plug and play' 8K kit with fogs in the mail as we speak. I have not been pulled over for my low beams, knock on wood, and will hopefully remain that way when I recieve my fogs. With the new housings I put out a lot of light.



1998 CSVT
 
95_Mystique said:
I've never understood using anything higher than a 6000K HID. Its too blue, and reduces visibility. I've run 4500K in my Mercury for over a year and never had a problem with the police. I just ordered 4500K lows and 3000K fogs for the SVT. The police say, as long as it doesnt show up blue on paper, its ok. I've also heard that HIDs should only be in projector lenses, but who knows... :shrug:
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It's just aesthetics. I have 6000k, and I don't think I'd ever go higer. Next time I'll probably go 5000k.

From what I've read, it seems the police have different ways of handling HID's in different parts of the country. A lot of state laws are vague, and so it makes it difficult to determine what is legal and what is not.

HID's are supposed to be in projector or retro-fit housings, traditional housings are not designed for HID light output, and as a result, the light glares off some part of most housings. Or at least this is what I've heard. I've seen a lot of people with older (non-factory HID) cars oncoming, and I've never really been blinded/glared. If anything I think seeing a bright white or white-blue headlight is out of the normal, and thus attracts attention. I then proceed to look directly at the light, and it's bright.

The legality of HID bulbs in halogen housings is debatable, but what I want to know is- are HID's completely, undeniably legal in projector housings?

svtman said:
I live in Ohio. I have brand new housings and a 'plug and play' 8K kit with fogs in the mail as we speak. I have not been pulled over for my low beams, knock on wood, and will hopefully remain that way when I recieve my fogs. With the new housings I put out a lot of light.



1998 CSVT
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I believe fog lights are a lot less regulated than headlights, I'm sure you'll be fine since you haven't had problems with your low beams.
 
I am from illinois, and I remember when HIDs first came out (or I should say, when they were becoming popular, in the late 90s), the news ran a report about cops writing HID tickets to people with factory HIDs. since then, I now see every other car having them. the one town over from me that is a revenue town is loaded with mercedes and bmws and every other expensive "high class" car, and they all have HIDs. I would assume that a growing number of cars in the past 10 years come with factory HIDs, and as long as they aren't some deep blue or red that could cause "confusion" with a police vehicle, or some exotic color, like green or such (I would LOVE green HIDs if I wouldnt get harassed by the cops for them!) the police would probably not bother because they'd have to take some extra time to actually figure out if your car came stock or not with HIDs, or otherwise prove a violation. however, said town went out of their way to write a ticket for a silver dollar sized hole in the tail light of my old car, citing that no white can show on the tail light.

though I have some advice. when I get mine, i've decided that I am going to get two sets, one for my car, one as a spare, that way if I have a ballast or bulb go bad, I can swap out either the bad bulb or ballast, without waiting for a replacement to ship, because the last thing I want on the road is a strobing HID.

DISCLAIMER: this is my opinion only, and shouldn't be taken as fact. check your local laws.
 
I like in woburn ma and I have 10000k in my se sport and I have been pulled over about 3 times but I believe it is from the lights looking almost blue
 
I live in Illinois, and since installing them (and aiming them, don't forget that part!) I have passed numerous squad cars from various localities to county sheriffs to state police, and haven't so much as had them tap the brakes deciding whether or not to turn around and pull me over. Not one single person has flashed me either, which is odd because I was flashed a few times with my halogens. I also have 35w 4300k HIDs, as these are allegedly stock on many new-ish cars, and from what I have read 4300k-4500k are the most efficient light output.

I have a feeling if you are rolling around with 50w 12000k blue-purple with stock aim, you'll have the cops on you left and right. I have quite a few times mistaken blue HIDs coming behind me from a distance and passing trees on the side of the road or hitting bumps as flashing police lights, this might be where they are coming from.
 
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