Would someone please tell me the difference between the xenon bulbs you can replace factory bulbs with and an expensive HID conversion kit? Is it worth the money to get the HID kit or do quality xenon bulbs provide the same result? Has anyone purchased the Superwhite Xenon Headlight Bulbs sold by UBP on Ebay ($37.00) and if so, is it worth the extra few bucks? And last questioin, what brand of bulbs do you recommend for replacements?

 

This is a very basic description; maybe someone else can elaborate further.

True HID conversion kits allow you to use a Xenon gas bulb (w/no filament) which is powered by a high voltage ballast. These tend to have a blue or purple color to the light that is much closer to true sunlight. The lights give you lighting potential that's not possible with a standard hallogen-type bulb (although bulbs like the PIAA are very good for the price).

The bulb-type that you referenced on eBay are bulbs that can be directly inserted into your stock wiring harness/sockets. Most HID-like bulbs have colored glass with a blue, purple, or other color tint to the light. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with the brand that you mentioned.

Good luck!

 

HID systems use less power than regular halogen/xenon/krypton/argon filament bulbs.
the HID does have a much higher oprating temperature and thus is closer to real daylight.

some of the flament bulbs have a higher wattage to try and raise the oprating remperature, and make them brighter like the HID, but they are still not as bright and wind up putting a strain on the electrical system=blown fuses. the blue tint is an effort to subtract the yellow light from the spectrum.

some of the filament bulbs work great.. i forget which ones i have but i am very satisfied until i can get the real thing. the light is more pure than the factory bulbs, but you also dont see dick in the rain...... and that goes for HID also.

the brighter the light, the more it reflects off the droplets, the less you see.

ok.. phew.. this post was longer than i intended.

 

I see great with my HID's in the rain! Definatly go with the real HID's if you can afford them... I will Never go back to halogen again... But if you cant afford the 400 something bucks... go with a quality brand name halogen bulb like Piaa... the cheaper ones tend to only last a couple months or so.

 

I've had my fake Hid's on my CL for about 2 months and I use some fakey's on my other car which I have had on for almost a year. I'm surprised, I thought they would have burned out by now. I say go with the fake hid's unless you have the money to splurge with.

 

this is a great post, but i have another q. do the real hid's have a transformer that comes with them? can someone explain the setup, obviously there is a bulb, but does that plug into a "mini" power box that plugs into the stock harness??? anyone?

 

The real HIDs DO come with their own "transformer". From the kits that I've seen, there's the wiring (that either plugs into your stock lamp housing/bulb connectors or requires splicing into your factory wiring harness), the ballasts (transformers), lamp housing, and lamps (bulbs). The ballasts need to be mounted somewhere near the front of the engine department (depending on the length of the wiring provided). I hope this helps.

 

yes it does, thanks. and how does that 180 amp alt work. what kind and from where?

 

The alternator works great! No "dimming" of my headlights (like it used to) when I have the heater, seat heaters, headlights, fog lights, and (2) 1400 watt amps running at the same time and the cooling fan kicks on!

I bought it off of eBay from www.alterstart.com for $149.00.