Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Headlight questions-Smoked lenses and HID bulbs

Alright, I have a 98 CSVT and its beautiful, I love it to death.....except for the headlight covers. They are all clouded and yellowed and nasty and [censored]. Anyways, the questions are these: if I buy smoke headlight lens covers (http://www.spmotorsports.com/ATCcontour_access_gts.html#headlight%20covers) can i just take the fron off the headlights and install these? or do they go over the top of the existing light (I know newb question, but I have never done HL and all that good stuff, stuck mostly to engine modding) and secondly im gonna be looking for a set of HID or xenon bulbs, does anyone have a set that work well? And what brand would you reccomend (and where can I order them) now i know everyone is gonna get on my ass about just switching the bulbs but Im a poor college student and exist on a tight tight budget.

How-To on Clearing up your Lenses.

And also try doing a search for HID Bulbs under this section. You'll find pretty much all you need to know about HID's/Projectors/ whatever you want by searching the forums.

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if you're tight on budget, i'd say get Silvania Silverstars, do a quick search people say good things about them. HID's are expensive if you're thinking of the real kind - ie. Phillips kits which are over $350 not to mention the need for custom projectors to get the real benefit of the HID's.

i believe those smoke headlight covers go on top, and will reduce effectiveness of your headlights even further since your lens are hazed badly. i doubt they replace your covers because they need to be sealed properly, etc.

The covers you pointed too wouldnt be able to withstand the forces put on them by small road debris, would most likely crack and destroy the headlamp's reflector (and make the bulb explode if it was one) when moisture got inside.

IMHO, covers in general are pointless. Even if the car had true HID (D2S type bulbs, not halogen bulbs) you would still be near stock output because of the light loss of the covers.

Polish everything back up, if you want darker headlamps do the Hightower mod while you are working on them. Silverstars are a inexpensive lighting mod, when considering other lighting mods, and they produce desireable results. True HID however, like Irda said, costs considerably more.