aftermaket hid kits,any good?

[jas xjr]

looking to improve the lighting on my '99 xjr. are these after market hid kits worthwhile?

search function did not bring up any results

[C8PPO]

All depends on the car and the original lights IME. I have fitted them to 2 cars - one made a night-and-day difference, the other fvcked up the lighting so badly that I went back to 55w bulbs.

[S3_Graham]

you can get decent ones, but i wouldnt describe them as 'factory' by any means and still arent quite as good. Bear in mind you may need to fit headlight washers if your XJ doesnt have them?

[jas xjr]

no headlight washers i am afraid. do not think they would be hard to get hold of though.

[Remagel2507]

I got some fairly decent ones for the 964 and recently purchased some for the 740. The ones on the Porsche transformed night driving and really improved the vision, the beemers are bit too bright but they have ajustment on the module thingys.

I read somewhere that headlight washers dont need to be fitted with HID lights if you can prove that the car didnt leave the factory with them fitted - though im not 100% sure so dont quote me on that!!

[GC8]

C8PPO said:

All depends on the car and the original lights IME. I have fitted them to 2 cars - one made a night-and-day difference, the other fvcked up the lighting so badly that I went back to 55w bulbs.

This.

With regards to Porsche lamps - improvement is usually seen due to their unbelievably poor performance to start with. I have replaced my OEM Porsche lamps with candles and have seen a marked improvement...

Are OEM parts available? If so then thisll be best - even if you add aftermarket bits to salvaged original lamp assemblies (ballasts, bulbs, harness etc).

[alock]

One of the biggest suppliers is Hids4U. Unfortunately their kits aren't road legal.

Quote:
"In the UK, fitting an aftermarket HID kit is not technically road legal as you are replacing a halogen bulb with an HID bulb, because of this the HID bulb cannot be E marked, which is a requirement for it to be road legal. Therefore our HID kits are sold for off-road use only."
From http://www.hids4u.co.uk/help.php?section=condition...

Many (or probably all) of the other suppliers just won't be honest enough to mention that fact.

[mrmr96]

S3_Graham said:

Bear in mind you may need to fit headlight washers

Why? My Evo8 has HIDs from the factory, but no headlight washers. Mine is an official import, but it was SVA'd (i.e. not whole type approved). Does that make a difference to the requirement for washers?

Also, to the OP, the quality of the kits varies massivly. Go for a reputable dealer, not just the cheapest off ebay or the like as they will cause more headaches and cost more to put right than a decent quality set from the off. Buy cheap - buy twice, as they say.

[Kevin VRs]

Legally you also need self-levelling light fittings for Xenons (HID)

[Chris71]

What are the actual legal requirements?

I know ideally they should have motors to automatically adjust the beam and the like, but what's a legal requirement and what's just good practise?

[anonymous-user]

My personal view....

HIDs fitted aftermarket into projector headlamps (i.e. THESE) then that might not be 100% legal but you shouldn't dazzle anyone and I doubt the MOT tester will notice

HIDs fitted aftermarket to halogen headlamps (i.e. THESE) that's a stupid idea and should be an MOT fail

[amir_j]

Kevin VRs said:

Legally you also need self-levelling light fittings for Xenons (HID)

every post I have seen has stated levellers and washers. Although bizzarely don't think MOT stations will fail without these.

[anonymous-user]

Have a read of this.....

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Speak to Nick/Janet here :-

www.autolamps-online.com

[alock]

Mac. said:

My personal view....

HIDs fitted aftermarket into projector headlamps (i.e. THESE) then that might not be 100% legal but you shouldn't dazzle anyone and I doubt the MOT tester will notice

HIDs fitted aftermarket to halogen headlamps (i.e. THESE) that's a stupid idea and should be an MOT fail

Slight correction, but otherwise I agree.

You can get 'D2R' branded hid bulbs that claim to work in reflector headlights but these are just an attempt to prevent stray light from escaping in the wrong direction. Many places seem to provide D2S bulbs with a blob of paint on the end to achieve the same effect. Fundamentally a hid bulb produces a different shaped arc of light that a reflector is not designed to focus.

[GC8]

mrmr96 said:

S3_Graham said:

Bear in mind you may need to fit headlight washers

Why? My Evo8 has HIDs from the factory, but no headlight washers. Mine is an official import, but it was SVA'd (i.e. not whole type approved). Does that make a difference to the requirement for washers?

Also, to the OP, the quality of the kits varies massivly. Go for a reputable dealer, not just the cheapest off ebay or the like as they will cause more headaches and cost more to put right than a decent quality set from the off. Buy cheap - buy twice, as they say.

Slightly off-topic - most Lancers had their lamps replaced with halogen parts for their E-SVA; then had them re-fitted afterwards.