HID lights suck!!

[MagicRat]

.......especially on an SUV.

Some HID lights are fine. But for some reason, some car makes consistently produce really blinding, distracting lights, even on low beam. It's tough to drive a low car (ie, my Supra) towards such oncoming traffic at night.

The light masks dimmer objects in front of you and the glare reduces your night vision temporarily until your eyes readjust.

IMO such lights are hazardous to others, and simply piss me off.

BMW's seem to be bad for this. The WORST offenders are some high end SUV's, especially Land Rovers, and some Acura MDX and Caddy Escalades. Their lights are simply higher so the glare is just that much worse.

These lights do not need to be higher that a car's lights. They should be lower.

IMO the only way to avoid this is to also drive an SUV, so you are higher up and above the full glare of the lights............. or demand the NHTSA changes the lighting standards.

[00accord44]

As a fellow driver of a low car (although mine was not originally so low) I feel your pain. However I also have HID lights on my accord and the glare is definitely bright to ocoming traffic. I've tried a few different ways to reduce/eliminate the glare but it remains. I've decided now to get a projector retrofit so I won't blind my fellow travellers anymore. My top choice right now is the Porsche projector set but its gonna cost me $500 for the projectors/bulbs/ballasts plus $275 for the retrofit so I may have to settle for a run of the mill Hella set. Or I guess I could just use the Audi A6 projectors I have in my basement. Having the Porsche lights would be kick ass though...

But on behalf of the "lights so bright they blind you" community, I apologize.

[speediva]

It's not the Accords of the world that blind people with the HIDs. I have no problem with the standard cars with HIDs because their low beams are aimed toward the road and still allow me to see where I'm going. It's the SUVs that every GD soccer mom owns to get Suzie to freaking piano practice that are effing blinding. I swear the balance is off on those damn things because they appear to be aimed STRAIGHT at my eyes every time I drive. Heck, I don't even sit that low to the ground in my Forester, and I still catch their low beams to the eye. It's unnerving, and although it helps them see better it makes my driving experience entirely unsafe.

[drunken monkey]

I am a firm believer that 90% of drivers out there do not know that they can and are supposed to adjust their lights' position according to load.

[00accord44]

^"load"? As in brightness/intensity? Or beam pattern/angle of refraction?

I'm 10000% sure that most people would not know how to properly adjust their lights even if they knew they were supposed to.

[fredjacksonsan]

I doubt any of these people will adjust their lights, since 99.9% of them don't even know how to open the hood.

[alphalanos]

What he meant by load was mass in the car. Having a lot of crap in the back makes the lights aim upwards. I get blinded by just about everyone, but thats my fault. One thing I was wondering, why do HIDs seem to flicker as they are coming towards you? THATS annoying.

[00accord44]

You mean the color flick? Thats just the cutoff line from the beam passing over your eye. Above the line your eye will catch various colors from the prism effect of the light through the glass.

But if an HID light is actually flickering (short blips where light is not coming out) then that means the ballast is faulty and will soon be a paper weight... I have two sets of those paper weights in my garage

In other 00 HID news (because you are all dying to hear it): I will soon be the proud owner of a TSX projector retrofit with cutoff color mod. I haven't been this excited about a purchase since my mom took me to Sears and got me my Nintendo.

[alphalanos]

I wouldnt mind retrofitting a set on my car. still waiting for my friend at Infiniti to find me a set lol. But yeah when theyre coming at me they shimmer and thats almost as bad as being blinded by them.

[00accord44]

I find HID lights distracting, not because of thebrightness, but because I'm obsessed with them. I can't help but to stare and analyze every car with HID that passes me on the road.

If your friend is grabbing you some Infinity projectors, the FX is kickass but you'd probably have a problem fitting them in your housing. If you seriously want to do a retrofit and there's a wreck yard near you, it'd be well worth your time to take a peek through and see what cars have their eyes left in tact. You might even find the holy grail of projectors, the S2K *drool*

[alphalanos]

If I found an S2k in a junkyard Id buy it regardless of the condition.

[mike@af]

I just hate HID's that arent in projectors...thats what blinds me because the light scatters so bad its blinding from all angles.

[turtlecrxsi]

HIDs are a bit annoying to look at. It's like somebody having their brights on all the time... then you realize the vehicle just has HIDs and the beam seems to change as the distance between you gets closer. I simply look at the shoulder line as I would if somebody had their brights on.

I heard that VW was recalling their HIDs on some newer vehicles. I'm almost certain it has to do with all the ugly chrome they put on the front of their vehicles now. It probably screws up the light patterns. Jeez.

[ThatRoundHeadedKid]

Originally Posted by GTmike400

I just hate HID's that arent in projectors...thats what blinds me because the light scatters so bad its blinding from all angles.

Also, non-projector HIDs are non-leveling...or they don't have a switch where u can adjust their level or auto leveling aside from opening the hood.

Although, the problem with projectors, is that they have to be shone through clear lenses, as opposed to sealed beams.

HID's in sealed beams I think are the best but are uncommon.



Mercedes first started this with the W140 S-Class Sedan. They came with HIDs but in the form of sealed beam style. I would always remember when I can recognize a W140 at night because I was never blinded by an oncoming one with sealed beam HIDs. I would just see the headlamp and the blue light that was coming out of it, but wasn't directly in my eyes.

You can sorta see how the beam is "cut."

[mike@af]

On my car I have a projector, and I have a refraction lens to disperese the light more towards the ground so when you look at them (from a nondirect angle) they just look like big LED's.