:edit: this is not intended to be a "buy stuff from me" pitch. this is intended to be a basic guide as to why retrofitting is safer and more effective than a simple HID kit, and to answer common questions about retrofits.
ok, all of us agree that more light is put on the road with an HID kit. the problem is, conventional halogen housings were not meant to deal with the placement or intensity of an HID bulb. what this means is that even though placement is close, light housings are a precision piece of engineering, and even a little bit off is too much. so the following pics are what happens when an HID light is put in a halogen housing. notice the light outside of where the beam pattern should be, this is what irritates oncoming traffic, it appears as though the offending vehicle has its high beams on, even though they don't
so you can see the glare from the oncoming vehicles view. here's what it looks like from the other side. next time you pull up to your house, look closely above and around the main part of your HID beam. you'll notice stray light everywhere
and this next one is an extreme example, but still valid. notice the HID light has stray light everywhere, but the halogen doesn't
here's an illustration of why this stray light occurs
now, as we move onto HID projectors, you're putting an enclosure designed for an HID bulb inside your factory headlight. so unlike the above pic, you're putting the entire light reflection/refraction assembly inside your headlight, so your factory reflector isn't involved at all, and thus no stray light.
here is how a projector works:
here's a pic of a double 55w retrofit i just completed for 2hip
and outside
notice the total lack of light being thrown above where it should be? this is how i (or you, if you like) can put together 110 watts of light, and keep it safe for both oncoming motorists and the person riding behind it.
ok, all of us agree that more light is put on the road with an HID kit. the problem is, conventional halogen housings were not meant to deal with the placement or intensity of an HID bulb. what this means is that even though placement is close, light housings are a precision piece of engineering, and even a little bit off is too much. so the following pics are what happens when an HID light is put in a halogen housing. notice the light outside of where the beam pattern should be, this is what irritates oncoming traffic, it appears as though the offending vehicle has its high beams on, even though they don't
so you can see the glare from the oncoming vehicles view. here's what it looks like from the other side. next time you pull up to your house, look closely above and around the main part of your HID beam. you'll notice stray light everywhere
and this next one is an extreme example, but still valid. notice the HID light has stray light everywhere, but the halogen doesn't
here's an illustration of why this stray light occurs
now, as we move onto HID projectors, you're putting an enclosure designed for an HID bulb inside your factory headlight. so unlike the above pic, you're putting the entire light reflection/refraction assembly inside your headlight, so your factory reflector isn't involved at all, and thus no stray light.
here is how a projector works:
here's a pic of a double 55w retrofit i just completed for 2hip
and outside
notice the total lack of light being thrown above where it should be? this is how i (or you, if you like) can put together 110 watts of light, and keep it safe for both oncoming motorists and the person riding behind it.
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