One Bad Stang

wow, i think this thread has answered all my questions, confused me, and caused a whole new set of questions!

SRT_what

Mike, you're right. Bulb positioning within the reflector, projector, or whatever is very important in relation to performance. Sorry if I confused everyone with the mumbo-jumbo light talk. I guess it boils down to this:
1. You don't need a glass lens to run HIDs
2. OEM projectors with HIDs are the best option
3. Aftermarket projectors made specifically for HIDs come next
4. HIDs in OEM reflector headlamps will offer much improvement over stock halogens but you'll still get a bit of glare above the beam cut-off.
5. Any cheapy aftermarket headlight housing is more than likely not going to perform as well as the OEM headlight.
6. Stay away from cheap HID kits. 99% of those on Ebay are garbage. I'm happy with my kit from Stangmods, but I broke the 2 tabs off of each base of the bulbs trying to lock them into the housing. Not sure what kind of warranty they offer, but some places, like www.xenonfactory.com will offer a 3 year warranty on their kits.

Hope that helps

MrBill04

That is false....the HID light actually burn cooler than the stock bulbs. I have a bixenon kit installed in my 06, love them. sorry no pics.

SRT_what

Ah, correction. They actually burn hotter than halogen bulbs. They use less watts to make the light. HIDs work by creating an arc of electricity between 2 electrodes. The electrodes are encapsuled in a glass tube filled with various gases, mainly xenon. This is how different color temperatures are achieved. Different levels and mixtures of gas will provide different colors of light when charged with electricity.

157dB

+1
HIDs = Hotter than OEM

tritonpwrd

Then why is it that when you put your hand in front of an hid light bulb, it doesnt feel nearly as hot as a hologen light bulb? I did that when installing into my fog light cause I was afraid of the heat, but the halogens actually put out more heat than hid's.

SRT_what

I don't know the reasoning behind that, but my headlights definitely burn hotter now with the HIDs.

myredgt

There are two different meanings of the word "hotter" being used at the moment. There is the hotter as in actual temperature, then there is hotter as in the color, example 3500 vs 8000.

Yes, they are "hotter" in color, such as 8000, which is much brighter of course than halogen. No, it is not "hotter", as in heat. They run cooler then halogen and are "safer" close to plastic and such.

Just look it up here:

www.google.com

A ton of sites explaining.

- C