This is what I have gathered from reading various HID threads on tech.
Without projectors, others will be blinded, light pattern/glare is everywhere or out of control. Only benifit is for the driver basically and will blind everything and everyone in its path due to the out of control light pattern etc.
People that have HID's (non projectors) on their F-body love it and it exhances their night visibility. They have NOT noticed any ill effects on others coming in their direction. For example being flashed, angry drivers, or causing accidents etc.
People with HID's on their F-body WITH projectors. Correct pattern/light cut off no issues at all and advise at all cost do not install HID's without projectors.
For those of you that have HID's WITHOUT projectors, have you been on the receiving end of your lights coming at you, are they blinding you and are your lights shinning out of control?
It would be nice to hear from the folks with HID's without projectors. And is it honestly that bad to run HID's without projectors.
Thanks all!
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The HID's throw a lot more light than a similar incandescent bulb. You are correct in that most reflectors built for tungsten filiments won't be properly focused. Some of the problem can be mitigated by aiming the (now much brighter) low beams down, so as to not blind on-coming traffic. The real problem is that our low beams and high beams share a common housing, and can't be aimed independent of each other, so the high beams now shine about where the low beams used to be.
At least, that is the problem I have been dealing with- I love the brightness and white color temperature, but, to keep from killing oncoming driver's vision, my high beams are next to useless. Not to mention that, when I flick the high beams on, the brightness actually gets less, though it is aimed a little further down the road. If I could figure out the aiming problem, I would seriously consider buying the high-beam HID bulbs, too, but right now it doesn't seem worthwhile. I THINK that with the projectors, there is a provision for aiming each projector individually.
perfect example of why not to put an hid in a reflector housing. this is on a civic with a "plug and play" kit, but you get the idea of what on-coming traffic will have to deal with. don't be an ass to other drivers and do a proper retro with projectors. It may take more time and work but in the end it is worth it, plus the cutoff and color pattern projectors put out is beautiful.
Damn Dirtybird that looks horrible...I imagine it's just the same for people with HID's in their F-bodies. Hopefully people will step in with their opinions that are running the lights without projectors.
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the problem is that projectors are so hard to put in... i would buy a set of projectors/hids if the kit was affordable. so most people just resort to one or the other
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most halogen housings are going to give off a crap light pattern with a drop in HID kit. I switched to hella housings and I would say the light is 80-85% controlled with a little bit of stray light. Projectors are the way to go and if you would like to see some wall pattern shots of my setup let me know.
im working on trying to make a low cost projector housing for some lt1 birds and some camaros ls1 and lt1. once ive got my ideas down ill give tony a shout about being a sponsor. I know mine for the LS1 camaro will work and the one for the lt1 birds should be done by the end of december if all goes planned (could be single beam or bi-xenon).
I switched to hella housings and I would say the light is 80-85% controlled with a little bit of stray light. Projectors are the way to go and if you would like to see some wall pattern shots of my setup let me know.
Which Hella housings? 90mm H9 housing or HID housing? Can I get those pics?
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free form h4666 style housings. basically clear lens and very simple parabolic reflection design. It's actually not that bad with glare, just some hot spots.
I think we need to start a petition for a HID section on these boards lol.
These are the 165mm H4 freeform housings as stated above.
First shot is from around 15-20' away. I keep saying I am going to get around to finish adjusting them but its been cold and the car sits in the garage. You can see the picture date . The second is from 5' away so that shows the hot spots which do form into a decent beam down the road. Again, I know this could be better when I finish adjusting them. It's no projector cutoff by any means but it gives me much better light and does limit glare pretty well. The HID kit has a movable shield which either limits or allows light to hit the bottom of the housing to give a "high" beam. Anyone know how to take a decent night shot of lights with a decent digicam? I suck at it.
im working on trying to make a low cost projector housing for some lt1 birds and some camaros ls1 and lt1. once ive got my ideas down ill give tony a shout about being a sponsor. I know mine for the LS1 camaro will work and the one for the lt1 birds should be done by the end of december if all goes planned (could be single beam or bi-xenon).
I'm really interested about your HID kit, please let me know when is this going to be available. I'm torn between fabbing one up ( I don't have time.) or getting a retro fit HID.
Where are all the people that have HID's on their F-bodies without projectors.. I'd like to hear what they have to say and their experience with HID's.
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most have no idea what the hell glare is they just plug in the bulbs mount the ballast and are happy they have hids lol, they don't do that much research into it. i just think it's dangerous to do that and i've been blinded 1 to many times by a freakin ricer with that crap
My car is the black Formula on ledgauges.com. I believe Nathan has it in his sig still, if not, it is on his site. Im running the 8k kit without projectors. I installed them one night and rode around at about 11pm to get a feel of what kind of adjustments needed to be made. Within 5 minutes, I had 3 out of 4 people i passed flash their lights. I went home, called a friend, found an empty road by my house, and had him sit down the road a bit and give me an idea of what adjustments to make. After that, I haven't had any problems. They are very bright and they light up the road like nothing else I have seen and they seem to be fine with other drivers as well. I had a friend drive past me in my car so i could put myself in the other driver's situation and though they are brighter than stock, its nothing to cry about if you are in an oncoming vehicle. Moral of the story, spend some time adjusting them and dont forget to think about other drivers.
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I've been blinded by an oncoming car who didn't care about other drivers. It's not fun. I turned around and followed him with the full intent to smash those HID's out when I caught him. Unfortunately he turned onto the freeway and I didn't want to follow someone for 50+ miles just to prove a point. I'm no vigilante but I was in a really bad mood that day. I'd just be happy if someone could get a ticket/fine for having them without the proper housing for the bulbs. A hunded bucks or so would make most people think twice.
Serious discussion on HIDs (long) 
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. The second is from 5' away so that shows the hot spots which do form into a decent beam down the road. Again, I know this could be better when I finish adjusting them. It's no projector cutoff by any means but it gives me much better light and does limit glare pretty well. The HID kit has a movable shield which either limits or allows light to hit the bottom of the housing to give a "high" beam. Anyone know how to take a decent night shot of lights with a decent digicam? I suck at it. 
