Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Cheapest place to get HIDS

Originally posted by TheGreatOne:

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you don't need them, but they are useful (flashing people, etc.)I would think HID high beams are useless...with the warm up time and all.

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They do flash,just not to the high intensity HID gives when warm,only coverted my high beam as well because the stock high beam looks VERY yellow compared to HID,more for looks than funtionality,you don't really need high beam with HID!

How can you guys justify blowing $500.00-$800.00 On Headlights?? I Mean It is your money Yes it looks bad ass but that much for headlights??? Damn they are just bulbs also...Buy some differrant color headlights for $50.00 and be done with it... Just my $.02..

Originally posted by contourd:

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How can you guys justify blowing $500.00-$800.00 On Headlights?? I Mean It is your money Yes it looks bad ass but that much for headlights??? Damn they are just bulbs also...Buy some differrant color headlights for $50.00 and be done with it... Just my $.02..

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some of us want the real deal, the lighted field is far better with HIDs compared to bulbs that increase that draw nearly 100W to mimic HIDs (while they only draw 20W), and can you really put a price on night time driving safety?? I didn't do it for aesthetics, so throwing on random bulbs is a bit tacky and rice to me (especially those blue ones). . .I spent the $750 for nigt time clarity, somebody with my eightsight sorely needs. . .

Suneil

Where they hard to install??? Do they really look like the Audis' Driving down the road??

I agree with you 100%. I love my HID's and it hard to drive a car without them afterwards.

Originally posted by contourd:

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Where they hard to install??? Do they really look like the Audis' Driving down the road??

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Audi's (and BMW, and S2000) use projector housings, so they don't look quite the same. Our reflector housings weren't originally designed for HIDs meaning they don't produce the sharp cutoff, so you won't get that 'twinkling' effect from a head-on view. Nor is our pattern as tightly defined (blame DOT). Basically, your pattern will stay the same, but it will be brighter, more filled, and whiter.

When buying HIDs, what you want to get is the kit that comes with D2R bulbs.

The D2S bulbs were designed to be used with projector housings ONLY and therefore will not produce nearly the light they do when used with projectors.

I have the Philips 9006k kit with D2S bulbs, and am currently installing projectors in my headlights. The color difference between the converted headlight and the stock headlight is noticably different.

D2R bulbs on the other hand, are intended to be used in reflector type housings, like the Contour. Acura, Lexus, Lincon Marc VIII, and other cars using reflectors all have D2R bulbs... So unless you plan on upgrading your headlights in the future, I strongly recommend that you buy a kit with D2R bulbs.

Here is some more food for thought:

http://faq.auto.light.tripod/car-oem-hid.htm

Note that every car equiped with D2S uses Projectors and D2R use reflectors....

I was driving my mom's car tonight, and it has Xenons. A few things I noticed are; with the Mystique, it's a VERY un-even lighting system, like a kalydoscope (sp?) of light patterns. The BMW, on the other hand, is very even, very bright, and very white. One other thing, with the BMW, the lights dont fade into darkness, its a very sharp difference between where the light is and where it isnt, but the Mystique just fades off.

blame lack of projector housing for our cars. . .each mirror assembly for a car is rated for a certain level of lumens, unfortunately, HIDs exceed the maximum amount of lumens our stock mirrors can handle by a factor of 1000 (compared to stock, which isn't much of a comparison), so what happens is a lot of light is lost, unfoucsed, or actually refracts at funny angles. . .I wish they made projectors for our cars that would fit stock bulbs, then I could transplant the HIDs in. . .but for now, the clarity is the best I've had with anything, and yes, Cool Blue, you can't compare the two, whenever I drive my parents ML55, the HIDs provide a white, more wide pattern that doesn't fade like my beam pattern does. . .

The instllation is easy, what took me forever is the fact that I blew out my fuses (which I didn't realize), so I had them installed and nothing worked. .. if you get the hids4less.com kit, remember to get 15A fuses (I forget what number they are in the fuse box), because they'll blow guaranteed (stock ones are only 10A).

Originally posted by Quicksilver:

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When buying HIDs, what you want to get is the kit that comes with D2R bulbs.

The D2S bulbs were designed to be used with projector housings ONLY and therefore will not produce nearly the light they do when used with projectors.

I have the Philips 9006k kit with D2S bulbs, and am currently installing projectors in my headlights. The color difference between the converted headlight and the stock headlight is noticably different.

D2R bulbs on the other hand, are intended to be used in reflector type housings, like the Contour. Acura, Lexus, Lincon Marc VIII, and other cars using reflectors all have D2R bulbs... So unless you plan on upgrading your headlights in the future, I strongly recommend that you buy a kit with D2R bulbs.

Here is some more food for thought:

http://faq.auto.light.tripod/car-oem-hid.htm

Note that every car equiped with D2S uses Projectors and D2R use reflectors....

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You are correct in a way... I have owned BOTH types of bulbs and I will tell the D2S's out perform D2R bulbs in our headlights. Just my .2 cents

-Antonio