Hids4u.co.UK experiences
Discussion
if you do not have any form of auto leveling for them then you are an extremely selfish driver.
aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
I bought a set in about 2008 for my (then) daily driver, a 2002 Mondeo. It was easy enough to fit but the first kit caused so much radio interference that I had to send it back. They replaced it with a newer type although it was essentially a dearer kit, and that was fine. One of the ballasts failed after about 18 months and I took the kit off the car and went back to halogens. I don't know if this was typical of the life, but I can say the company was helpful with my initial problem. I didn't bother to contact them about the ballast failure because the proposed newer MoT requirements would have made it more 'illegal' than before anyway and I couldn't be bothered. For what it's worth, if your headlights are plain reflectors with faceted lens then dazzle may be a problem. If, like the Mk3 Mondeo, it has plain lenses and faceted reflectors it should be okay. Technically HID aftermarket kits are not approved for road use and Hids4U say deep in their terms and conditions that the kits are 'for off-road use only'. They were better lights, but the fear of being left with one headlight by a failed ballast or lamp dampened my enthusiasm somewhat.
Pixelpeep said:
if you do not have any form of auto leveling for them then you are an extremely selfish driver.
aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
Unlike a large percentage of factory fits ?aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
Turn7 said:
Pixelpeep said:
if you do not have any form of auto leveling for them then you are an extremely selfish driver.
aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
Unlike a large percentage of factory fits ?aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
Had them fitted aftermarket in several cars - never once got flashed or anything (I had them aimed at the ground) drove an Audi with them factory fitted an 2 people flashed me lol this could purely be coincidence as I was out in the sticks with the Audi where there wasn't street lighting.
http://www.hids4u.co.uk/faqs.html
FAQ said:
Is HID xenon Legal?
Unfortunately no aftermarket HID kit is strictly road legal as you are changing the lighting system (from halogen to gas discharge) in your car and for this reason the bulbs can't be E marked which is a legal requirement. You also won't have the self leveling and washer systems installed which is also a legal requirement for HID and without these installed the kit would be an MOT failure. HID kits are plug and play so they are easy to remove and replace with standard bulbs come MOT time.
Unfortunately no aftermarket HID kit is strictly road legal as you are changing the lighting system (from halogen to gas discharge) in your car and for this reason the bulbs can't be E marked which is a legal requirement. You also won't have the self leveling and washer systems installed which is also a legal requirement for HID and without these installed the kit would be an MOT failure. HID kits are plug and play so they are easy to remove and replace with standard bulbs come MOT time.
HID aftermarket kist do not require levelling or washers for the MOT so they're wrong on their own product they're trying to sell.
What is required for the MOT is for the beam pattern to be correct.
By far the biggest issue with aftermarket kits is people putting bulbs designed projector lamps in reflector lamps which go all over the place.
Most manufacturers use exactly the same relfector for their factory halogen or xenon lights but they use the correct bulb.
What is required for the MOT is for the beam pattern to be correct.
By far the biggest issue with aftermarket kits is people putting bulbs designed projector lamps in reflector lamps which go all over the place.
Most manufacturers use exactly the same relfector for their factory halogen or xenon lights but they use the correct bulb.
Pixelpeep said:
if you do not have any form of auto leveling for them then you are an extremely selfish driver.
aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
The fitment, or not, of an auto-levelling device has nothing to do with alignment. If they're not properly aligned in the first place (and many seem not to be from new although usually pointing at the ground rather than up) the self levelling won't help. On most cars, in most cases, the levelling devices seem to do bugger all anyway.aftermarket HID's are a real pet hate because 99.998% of the time they will be poorly aligned, no way of leveling themselves and just blind anyone who has the misfortune to be coming the other way or in front of you.
</rant>
And for best results, don't exceed 5000 k lumen or whatever it's called! Most factory fit are 4300k - which is the pure white colour for best lighting. Loads of chavs choose 8-10000k which are blue to purple and offer little in the way of lighting.
I'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
I'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
confused_buyer said:
The fitment, or not, of an auto-levelling device has nothing to do with alignment. If they're not properly aligned in the first place (and many seem not to be from new although usually pointing at the ground rather than up) the self levelling won't help. On most cars, in most cases, the levelling devices seem to do bugger all anyway.
FAQ said:
You also won't have the self leveling and washer systems installed which is also a legal requirement for HID and without these installed the kit would be an MOT failure.
The point i am making is the washers and leveling systems are a legal requirement for a reason. so if you fit them to a car without them, you will be causing issues for other road users not to mention failing your MOT.Sorry OP, i realise you were after feedback on a particular company, not the issues relating to fitting such an item. with this in mind i have heard nothing but good reports, they've been around for ages and seem quite knowledgeable on the subject.
And for best results, don't exceed 5000 k lumen or whatever it's called! Most factory fit are 4300k - which is the pure white colour for best lighting. Loads of chavs choose 8-10000k which are blue to purple and offer little in the way of lighting.
I'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
I'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
PIGINAWIG said:
And for best results, don't exceed 5000 k lumen or whatever it's called! Most factory fit are 4300k - which is the pure white colour for best lighting. Loads of chavs choose 8-10000k which are blue to purple and offer little in the way of lighting.
I'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
Dip beam is a projector, an I was looking at 4300 or possibly 5kI'd fit them in a projector headlamp only. The scatter is silly in anything else. It won't be long before aftermarket LED headlights are available. I think BMW and Mercedes offer them on the new models as an option.
Are bulbs interchangeable between HID 'kits'?
I bought a 6000K set last winter and the light it gave off was fantastic, but it was a bit too blue for my tastes so I removed it. It really makes a difference when on a dark, unlit A-road when a lot of the on-coming traffic is made up of modern cars with dazzling lights already, which make your headlights seem almost pointless.
I want something a lot less blue but was hoping not to have to buy all the ballasts again too.
I bought a 6000K set last winter and the light it gave off was fantastic, but it was a bit too blue for my tastes so I removed it. It really makes a difference when on a dark, unlit A-road when a lot of the on-coming traffic is made up of modern cars with dazzling lights already, which make your headlights seem almost pointless.
I want something a lot less blue but was hoping not to have to buy all the ballasts again too.
Pixelpeep said:
The point i am making is the washers and leveling systems are a legal requirement for a reason. so if you fit them to a car without them, you will be causing issues for other road users not to mention failing your MOT.
That is true, however 99% of the issue is misaligned lights. The levellers hardly ever do anything in most cars and you almost need to drive them off a cliff or put 6 people on the back seat for them to seem to do anything. Most of the time the car is simply level and the adjusters are not altering anything. Likewise, I've never seen a headlamp washer since they banned the wiper type which actually washes a headlamp.Basically, a car with factory fitted misaligned xenons complete with levellers and washers is far more of a pain than one with correctly aligned ones without levellers or washers. A car with correctly aligned lights with washers and levellers is obviously better still.
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