Is there a completely safe HID conversion?
02-06-09, 08:46 PM
#16
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You asked for the OEM equipment route. It is much harder to install and still will never have the AFS adaptive lighting or bixenon capability of the stock IS.
02-06-09, 09:03 PM
#17
OP:
If installed correctly, a Aftermarket H11 kit is perfectly fine and should have no problems.
I am running kits from mobileHID in a Acura Mdx( Sorry 1SICK
) and a toyota tundra. Both have been H11 kits and so far( 6+ months) they are running strong without a problem(knock on wood) . 
02-06-09, 09:18 PM
#18
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Why do you get heavy condensation? Did you drill a 1" hole in each bulb access cover and wire the rubber grommet provided through it? On my vehicle, I get zero condensation even after foggy days and intense car washes. I am not sure how much moisture those silica gel packets are designed to remove, but it's probably not much before they need a replacement.
02-06-09, 09:22 PM
#19
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06 models, HID's were not standard but starting 07-08 they were basically standard equipment which was the premium package. Starting the 09 model, they made HID a option to cut down on MSRP pricing. I agree though they should make HID's standard regardless because this is a luxury car.
02-07-09, 08:24 AM
#21
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02-07-09, 09:02 AM
#22
most aftermarket kits are made by the same manufacture. Like others have said, you pay high cost for packing & customer service. I paid $99 shipped from China on Ebay for my Civic. Plugged them in, no mod, true plug n play. Two years and not one flicker or indication of wiring problem. Don't pay top dollar for cheap HID. Installation is more important.
02-07-09, 03:10 PM
#24
Like what DJ_AmTraX said all those aftermarket HID kits are all from the same place just rebadged. They all perform the same way. I know they don't last as long as the OEM ballast or bulbs. Or even warm up as fast. But like what everybody says, you get what you paid for (usually). I have a 4300k kit that I bought for about 70 shipped and it performs pretty good. It's going to be used for my foglight retro, I have to use aftermarket instead of OEM because they don't make any H3 bulbs and the D2s bulbs won't fit into the projectors that I am using.
02-07-09, 05:01 PM
#25
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Sorry to bust your bubble, guys, but there's a lot of flawed knowledge going on in this thread.
First off, the OEM HID's found in almost all cars are manufactured by Philips/Hella, Sylvania-Osram, and some small Japanese OEM companies such as Denso. Most cheap aftermarket kits come from China and do not come close to quality OEM HID systems, which explains the high failure rate.
If you're looking for quality, then of course you want a quality kit consisting of OEM components. Companies like Philips spend billions on research and development for their HID systems, and cheap aftermarket knockoffs do not come close, quality wise.
Realistically speaking; however, like most people have said, you should be fine with an aftermarket kit. It should do the job. If you are going this route, I recommend a kit from XenonDepot with an upgraded Wiring/Relay Harness. This is crucial to not risking any damage to your car's electrical system, since the Wiring/Relay Harness draws power straight from the battery versus the Car's OEM Wiring Harnesses.
Going back to the original poster's question: The only "completely safe" solution to adding HID's to your non-equipped 2IS is to directly swap the entire headlight housing from an HID-equipped 2IS, along with the oem bulbs, ballasts and headlight wiring harnesses.
This is BEST (albleit most costly) method, because:
1.) Getting the headlight Wiring Harness from a HID-Equipped 2IS ensures no electrical issues
2.) The headlight housing for non-HID 2IS's are different from then the HID-equipped ones. The non-HID one is meant to scatter HALOGEN lighting, which is characterized by a non-even light pattern with hot spots versus the HID-Equipped housing which is DESIGNED to distribute a HID light source, resulting in a more even light distribution pattern.
In short: you'll have as close to an OEM lightout as possible, which means you're less likely to blind people with glare, such as the glare from people with non-HID housings using an HID kit.
Let me know if you guys have further questions.
First off, the OEM HID's found in almost all cars are manufactured by Philips/Hella, Sylvania-Osram, and some small Japanese OEM companies such as Denso. Most cheap aftermarket kits come from China and do not come close to quality OEM HID systems, which explains the high failure rate.
If you're looking for quality, then of course you want a quality kit consisting of OEM components. Companies like Philips spend billions on research and development for their HID systems, and cheap aftermarket knockoffs do not come close, quality wise.
Realistically speaking; however, like most people have said, you should be fine with an aftermarket kit. It should do the job. If you are going this route, I recommend a kit from XenonDepot with an upgraded Wiring/Relay Harness. This is crucial to not risking any damage to your car's electrical system, since the Wiring/Relay Harness draws power straight from the battery versus the Car's OEM Wiring Harnesses.
Going back to the original poster's question: The only "completely safe" solution to adding HID's to your non-equipped 2IS is to directly swap the entire headlight housing from an HID-equipped 2IS, along with the oem bulbs, ballasts and headlight wiring harnesses.
This is BEST (albleit most costly) method, because:
1.) Getting the headlight Wiring Harness from a HID-Equipped 2IS ensures no electrical issues
2.) The headlight housing for non-HID 2IS's are different from then the HID-equipped ones. The non-HID one is meant to scatter HALOGEN lighting, which is characterized by a non-even light pattern with hot spots versus the HID-Equipped housing which is DESIGNED to distribute a HID light source, resulting in a more even light distribution pattern.
In short: you'll have as close to an OEM lightout as possible, which means you're less likely to blind people with glare, such as the glare from people with non-HID housings using an HID kit.
Let me know if you guys have further questions.
02-07-09, 06:14 PM
#26
No one said that aftermarket comes close to OEM. If it does then all car companies would go with those aftermarket bulbs and ballast to save some money. Plus, I am not trying to bash on xenon depots kits, but aftermarket is aftermarket. They all perform the same way, and you should always have a wiring harness because of the initial spike to start up the bulbs. There's no really high quality harness too, you can even make your own with less than 10 bucks.
With the swapping out HID equipped headlights, you can do it, but you can't use any of the functions such as auto-leveling and AFS. The halogen projectors seemed to handle HID fairly well and there's not that much glare. I didn't notice that much from my headlights back when I had it before I got my retrofit done.
With the swapping out HID equipped headlights, you can do it, but you can't use any of the functions such as auto-leveling and AFS. The halogen projectors seemed to handle HID fairly well and there's not that much glare. I didn't notice that much from my headlights back when I had it before I got my retrofit done.
Sorry to bust your bubble, guys, but there's a lot of flawed knowledge going on in this thread.
First off, the OEM HID's found in almost all cars are manufactured by Philips/Hella, Sylvania-Osram, and some small Japanese OEM companies such as Denso. Most cheap aftermarket kits come from China and do not come close to quality OEM HID systems, which explains the high failure rate.
If you're looking for quality, then of course you want a quality kit consisting of OEM components. Companies like Philips spend billions on research and development for their HID systems, and cheap aftermarket knockoffs do not come close, quality wise.
Realistically speaking; however, like most people have said, you should be fine with an aftermarket kit. It should do the job. If you are going this route, I recommend a kit from XenonDepot with an upgraded Wiring/Relay Harness. This is crucial to not risking any damage to your car's electrical system, since the Wiring/Relay Harness draws power straight from the battery versus the Car's OEM Wiring Harnesses.
Going back to the original poster's question: The only "completely safe" solution to adding HID's to your non-equipped 2IS is to directly swap the entire headlight housing from an HID-equipped 2IS, along with the oem bulbs, ballasts and headlight wiring harnesses.
This is BEST (albleit most costly) method, because:
1.) Getting the headlight Wiring Harness from a HID-Equipped 2IS ensures no electrical issues
2.) The headlight housing for non-HID 2IS's are different from then the HID-equipped ones. The non-HID one is meant to scatter HALOGEN lighting, which is characterized by a non-even light pattern with hot spots versus the HID-Equipped housing which is DESIGNED to distribute a HID light source, resulting in a more even light distribution pattern.
In short: you'll have as close to an OEM lightout as possible, which means you're less likely to blind people with glare, such as the glare from people with non-HID housings using an HID kit.
Let me know if you guys have further questions.
First off, the OEM HID's found in almost all cars are manufactured by Philips/Hella, Sylvania-Osram, and some small Japanese OEM companies such as Denso. Most cheap aftermarket kits come from China and do not come close to quality OEM HID systems, which explains the high failure rate.
If you're looking for quality, then of course you want a quality kit consisting of OEM components. Companies like Philips spend billions on research and development for their HID systems, and cheap aftermarket knockoffs do not come close, quality wise.
Realistically speaking; however, like most people have said, you should be fine with an aftermarket kit. It should do the job. If you are going this route, I recommend a kit from XenonDepot with an upgraded Wiring/Relay Harness. This is crucial to not risking any damage to your car's electrical system, since the Wiring/Relay Harness draws power straight from the battery versus the Car's OEM Wiring Harnesses.
Going back to the original poster's question: The only "completely safe" solution to adding HID's to your non-equipped 2IS is to directly swap the entire headlight housing from an HID-equipped 2IS, along with the oem bulbs, ballasts and headlight wiring harnesses.
This is BEST (albleit most costly) method, because:
1.) Getting the headlight Wiring Harness from a HID-Equipped 2IS ensures no electrical issues
2.) The headlight housing for non-HID 2IS's are different from then the HID-equipped ones. The non-HID one is meant to scatter HALOGEN lighting, which is characterized by a non-even light pattern with hot spots versus the HID-Equipped housing which is DESIGNED to distribute a HID light source, resulting in a more even light distribution pattern.
In short: you'll have as close to an OEM lightout as possible, which means you're less likely to blind people with glare, such as the glare from people with non-HID housings using an HID kit.
Let me know if you guys have further questions.
02-07-09, 10:03 PM
#27
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True, the closest you can get to OEM is a headlight swap, but the OP wants it to be as plug and play as possible- which is why I recommended the original ballast/bulbs to a wiring harness.
As to your assertions about the differences between how every kit seller works (ie. testing kits, rebasing bulbs), I can't say I particularly believe that. As you said yourself, many components are produced in the same factory (I believe it to be near all). Until I see concrete evidence that isn't sellers touting their kit as better than the next without any sort of referencing, I won't buy their claims. Aftermarket is aftermarket in the end.
People often point to the often nonexistent customer service that you get from an ebay seller as a strong reason to consider a far more expensive kit from a website. But I don't hear nearly enough horror stories to justify purchasing a kit that's 2, 3 times more expensive than the next. Especially when their are cheap kits out there with great warranties that don't have fancy websites.
As to your assertions about the differences between how every kit seller works (ie. testing kits, rebasing bulbs), I can't say I particularly believe that. As you said yourself, many components are produced in the same factory (I believe it to be near all). Until I see concrete evidence that isn't sellers touting their kit as better than the next without any sort of referencing, I won't buy their claims. Aftermarket is aftermarket in the end.
People often point to the often nonexistent customer service that you get from an ebay seller as a strong reason to consider a far more expensive kit from a website. But I don't hear nearly enough horror stories to justify purchasing a kit that's 2, 3 times more expensive than the next. Especially when their are cheap kits out there with great warranties that don't have fancy websites.
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