Richard_P_Harvey

Just wanted to get some thoughts on this from the group. I just got my 08 TL and love the HID headlights but they make the crummy fog's look bad. I'm looking to upgrade to HID fog's and see I have at least two options. Real HID kits ($60 - $125) or these replacement HID/Halogen bulbs ($6) that claim to work the same as real HID. Any thoughts on this would be very helpful...

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Go with sylvania silverstar Ultra bulbs (these are halogen), they are very close to the HID color yet are 1.5 times brighter than your current halogen bulbs.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

"HID" bulbs are usually nothing but colored bulbs that will burn out prematurely. The name brand ones are better but overpriced. Get the real HIDs. They are cheap nowadays. No substitute, no looking back!

MistahSleepy

HID look halogen bulbs typically outputs less light than your stock OEM halogen fogs. Cheaper bulbs are colored by dipping the bulb in a type of paint. This causes them to heat up more than the stock OEM halogen bulbs. Several service managers have advised to not use aftermarket HID look halogen bulbs for long drives because it can cause heat damage to your fog light housing. If you go this route, make sure to get 35watt bulbs because the higher the wattage, the more likely it will melt parts of your fog light housing.

Imo, just go with a real HID conversion kit, it outputs tremendous amounts of light to the sides of the road making night time driving on curvy roads much safer. The true HID also look 3x better than just a HID look halogen bulb. Of course, you're also looking at 3x the price. But, imo totally worth it. Having HID foglights definitely turns heads.

SouthernBoy

Just so you'll know, there is no such thing as HID halogen lamps. The terms are mutually exclusive. Halogen lamps are incandescent not high intensity discharge.

I use Philips Premium 9006 lamps in my '04 fogs. They have about 30% more luminosity and do a very good job of throwing more light right in front and to the sides of my TL.

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

They are so cheap now a days.. why would ne one still do bulbs?

Richard_P_Harvey

OK so do you guys have a suggested HID fog kit you can point me to...?

lithiumgsx

Because an HID setup in a reflector housing will blind oncoming traffic (not safe for you, nor the oncoming driver who now can't see, thanks to your HID setup without the proper projector housing and cut-off). It is illegal (although you probably won't get caught), but more importantly unfair to the other drivers you are sharing the road with.

The same holds true for all the ricers who put HID conversions in their OEM reflector headlight housings that were never designed for that type of bulb.

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

I agree to a certain extent.. but this can minimized with some slight angling. Its not as herrandous as your hateful post makes it seem.

And if the HID's are being placed in lower valance fogs, the angle is so low-lying that it will not blind oncomming traffic which is where the OP is going to install them. However it will look brighter then the projector based headlight HID's.

CubanLynx84

iTrader: (2)

I got my set of hids for my fogs. I'm waiting to install them when I get good weather. If you do decide to put hids in go with 6000k they are the ones that'll match up best to your stock headlights. and as for blinding people with them it's not gonna happen cause the 07-08 fogs are in the botton of the bumper and they're pointed downward

lithiumgsx

I agree that they are less annoying than HIDs in a reflector headight housing, and wish I had a dollar for every time some idiot in a civic with HIDs has blinded me at night coming around a corner, over a hill, or driving behind me.

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Big F**kin

Just because its cheap dont mean it should be installed on the car. I know about 90% of TL owners have them on their car and would favor having them but it all depends on what you are shooting for, performance or aesthetics along with blinding oncoming traffic.

I can preach all day as to why people shouldnt put HID kits in halogen housings but trust me no body is going to listen, especially now that a kit can be had for as little as $30.

I should have taken pictures of the headlight set that I recently bought through ebay. It was listed as damaged so I bought it for parts, once I got the set it was in I noticed white haze on the inside of the whole front lens and you couldnt see through them, once the headlight was opened there was powdery mist through out the headlight and burn marks where the 9006 fog light bulb sits.

So apparently the HID kit bulb burned out in the headlight created the ciaos that was in the headlight along with destroying the foglight opening since the chrome had all been covered with the white powdery mist and was beyond repair.


I should have taken pictures and started a thread " Why NOT to buy HID kits"

lithiumgsx

Thats a bold statement. It WILL definitely happen. Although not as annoying as if they were in an improper headlight housing, it is not the direction the light is aimed causing the glare, it is reflection of the intense light in the housing, which is independent of the height of the housing, and the aiming of the beam.

CubanLynx84

iTrader: (2)

um I don't think it's a bold statement at all. My bro whose on here too with an 05 RL that he just bought put hids in his fogs as well and we stood back from the car to see how they look. I practically had to lay on the floor to let the light hit my eye. Remember inside fog light housing the bulb is for the most part covered so it won't cause glare. And while we're at it fog lights are really supposed to be yellow, driving lights which are what we have are white. The lower "fogs" are really driving lights and they are pointed downward and outward of the bumper. They fill in the gap that headlights and actual cornering lights would light up on the road.

MistahSleepy

Yeah in the 07-08 TL the bottom foglight housing has a circular piece that goes around the bulb directing the light forward instead of just letting it all splash onto the reflectors. I've looked at my own HID fogs, and driven behind my friends before, none of them have ever said that they have been blinded because the fogs are too bright.

Thinking back, my friend's IS350 has HID fogs as well, they don't blind me when I have seen him on the road randomly at night. I've seen several HID kits on a broad range of cars, from Maximas to Mazda MX-3's. Typically unless they are really really bright I won't get blinded unless they're coming at me cresting above a hill or something like that.

This is also a reason I don't lower my car at all. Lower cars will most definitely get blinded from just normal low beams.

avs007

I mostly get blinded by clowns that install driving lights and think they are the same as fog lights, and tool around with em' on all the time.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

My advice: Just get a set of hyper yellow bulbs and call it a day. They actually "work", in that they will provide a contrast to your headlights in actual fog, whereas "HID" fogs would only serve to hinder your vision even further in the fog.

I personally have Nokya H8 Hyper Yellow fogs on!

lithiumgsx

I'm not sure you're correct on this. Driving light vs. Fog light refers to the pattern of the light emitted. A driving light has a long skinny beam. Fog lights have a wide, short beam pattern. Just because the factory put "white" bulbs in there doesn't make them driving lights. I agree, yellow light is the proper color for bad weather / fog driving, and therefore SHOULD be the color of bulbs in a fog light housing, but that is not always the case. If our fog lights were driving lights, the ill effects of putting an HID bulb in there would only be amplified, and you're claiming they're really not that bad. I highly doubt that would be the case in a setup where the focal point is very small, and therefore, the output very intense to begin with (ie: driving lights.)

I will concede that I haven't seen a TL with HID lower fogs in person. I have, however, seen photographs of TLs with HID bulbs in the stock lower housings, and even when shooting from eye level, standing in front of the car, they appear to emit a bunch of glare. I've also seen many cars retrofitted (both headlight and fog light bulbs) with HIDs, and they were all annoyingly bright from the driver's seat of another vehicle at night.

lithiumgsx

I believe the BEST bulb for this application (if you're talking about best visibility in fog/ bad weather), is some sort of halogen bulb with a dichroic filter on the glass. I believe the dichroic coating doesn't hinder light output as much as a solid color coated bulb, yet still outputs the proper wavelength for poor weather visibility. The drawback is a dichroic coated bulb isn't as aesthetically pleasing from outside the vehicle as a yellow coated bulb such as the Nokya Hyper Yellow, which appears to be a very saturated yellow. Dichroic bulbs may even appear whitish from outside the vehicle (although the objects they illuminate will be yellow).

The reason I joined this thread is because I'm torn between performance vs. aesthetics, also. I currently have Hoen Xenonmatches. They don't match my HIDs as much as I would like (although better than a standard halogen, I'm just not a fan of the look of blue coated halogen bulbs). I've had the Nokya Hyper Yellow bulbs, and don't really care for the mix-match of yellow (fogs), white (headlights), and orange (corners/signals). I think I may end up going back to the Nokya's, or a dichroic bulb, personally, and just drive with the fog lights on when it is foggy out (and get the most functionality out of them at the same time, what a novel concept).

ifirahse

iTrader: (6)

I have HID fogs in my TL.

The fogs in the 07-08 TL can be aimed up/down so as not to create a blinding amount of glare...so I don't get what all the hubbub is about.

robocam

Not everyone drives on flat roads.

Halogen reflectors/projectors are designed for a tungsten filament. The characteristics of an HID bulb are TOTALLY different. Installing an HID bulb into a housing designed for a halogen bulb will most likely result in throwing down a brighter beam of light than legal. You could even create hot spots that will really blind oncoming drivers when you come over a hill!

Why does being legal matter? Because the rules are there for a reason! SAFETY!!!

Unless you've taken a light meter and measured every area of your beam to make sure it doesn't exceed allowable limits, you shouldn't do it.

The proper way to do an HID conversion is to use a reflector/projector that was designed for an HID bulb. Take one out of a real HID headlight and hack it onto your car.

illstrategy

HID fogs FTW!!

I have 3k and its perfect!!

Mug

Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the stock color! I like the contrast from the headlights to the fogs. And I like to use my fogs as DRLs sometimes so yellow isn't an option.

skoolboi

For those who have 35w hid kits in their lower valence fogs is yours pretty hot when you touch the glass from the outside?

I put my finger up against the light from outside after shutting off the car tonight and it was pretty damn hot, it worried me a little.

I touched the headlights and it was only mildly warm

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

I have heard many owners saying their Accord fogs have had heat damage from melting. There is no denying that the housing were not designed for HIDs for more reasons than one. I only turn my HID fogs for show not the street so mine are still perfect.

ABP_04TL

iTrader: (2)

da hell wit everythin HID FTMFW!!!

CdTriX

sorry to butcher your picture but this is what glare looks like... no reflector.. just HID GLARE... it's in reverse lights but this is what it would look like if you put HID in the headlight FOG position.



Also look at this... video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvjx4dxfOzU


pure glare from the fogs..

i don't mean to be disrespectful in any way to the pictures but just using them as examples of glare.

skoolboi

I read warnings of using 55w hid kits in the lower valence fogs due to the heat, but does the problem also occur with 35w kits? I'm kind of afraid to turn have them on for longer periods of time because its way too hot to the touch after I turn them off.

skoolboi

I'm looking at my stock fog bulbs (the philips ones) and they say they are 35w, is a 35w hid bulb a lot hotter than a halogen? I'm just trying to preserve my fog light housing

thanks!

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Take a camera to any halogen or HID without adjusting the specs on the camera and you will get glare. You prove nothing.

I do know what you are referring to though... but pictures will always be loaded with ass loads of glares.

I guess to each his own.

flyromeo3

How ironic, the driver just passed the bridge to my home.

1fsthatch

lol who cares it looks good screw other drivers

CdTriX

i guess you missed the point...

i was using them as examples of glare.. not because of the glare caused by the fogs or the back up lights.

i understand capturing glare on a camera is hard due to the amount of light, exposure, apeture etc etc hence why i said "i don't mean to be disrespectful in any way to the pictures but just using them as examples of glare."

@1fsthatch - if someone shined an LED flash light into your face as you were driving.... would you care? that's what it's like having people drive around with reflected HIDs in their headlight housings... it does not benefit anyone when they are not projected properly. the light is not thrown properly on the road, you are blinding people, it doesn't even help you see better because the light isn't focused on any direction at all. all because "it looks good screw other drivers"

if all you care about is the looks and not the safety of other people around you, than you don't deserve to drive. you can endanger yourself all you want by shining lights into your eyes while you drive but don't risk my life because you think it's cool.

if you were being sarcastic, my bad, sarcasm is hard to interpretate when reading text. if you werent.. shame on you.

CdTriX

i'm still trying to not glare the hids... in pictures, lowered the apeture because i'm using a 35mm f1.8 and there's just too much light. but anyways, glare is bad..

Jackass

Also consider the glare when the roads are wet. True you wouldn't be as blinding on dry pavement since you aim the light down, but in wet pavement all that light that was aimed down reflects back into the eyes of oncoming traffic.

gilla_monster

iTrader: (2)

does anyone know how to take the bulb surround off? The metal cover that goes around the bulb...

SouthernBoy

There's no such thing as an HID halogen lamp. Two mutually exclusive terms.

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Dude, I love your determination and trust me I am against using HID kits as well but trying to persuade people who can go out and buy kits for as little as $40 is a lost cause.

I use to care and try to persuade people as much as possible but eventually I gave up an said "F**K IT".

Goosew

iTrader: (1)

Yea, I'm sure you're car will look good after you've blinded the oncoming guy and he's drifted into your lane and clipped your car (or worse, head on collision).

Looks like you're on the right course to screw yourself~!

j1n

iTrader: (1)

i agree that the HIDs shouldnt be in a halogen housing for headlights.... but HID fogs dont blind people.... at least mine dont.

my car is lowered, the HIDs point to the ground. im pretty sure they arent blinding anyone. and to say the reflection of my HIDs off of wet pavement is going to blind someone is ridiculous. regular headlights will do more blinding then a HID reflection from the ground.