CurtisRider Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Good LED sidelights yes, but not main bulbs! I have had LED H3 fogs and they were as good as useless function wise, although they did look pretty cool... Once you get uber amounts of LEDS together in a small space, they will produce lots of heat that can't really escape that well causing them to fail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Harrison Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Why not just drive with your lights on main beam? Tired of being blinded by poorly set up headlights, and half the time it's totally unnecessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andeee Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Will tell you my experiences with hids. currently on phone at mo. too long to type lol x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Yeah but surely if you have projectors then HID's are ok? People who use them on normal headlamps should be shot though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 The shape of an aftermarket HID bulb and the shape of a halogen projectors cutoff are different to a proper HID setup, and so aren't quite the same and can cause problems. With the same HID kit, my girlfriends MK4 R32 headlights glared loads compared to my 9-3s, both pairs of lights were intended for halogen bulbs so I guess it is just luck of the draw. My E36 seemed ok with HIDs although I didn't actually get much chance to use it after I fitted them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andeee Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) 1st bit of advice. Beware of ebay specials! Had many friends who came across numerous problems like blown ballasts and random flickering in bulbs. I bought mine from a website called xenon shop who are based in Doncaster i had friends who bought from them before n had no problems so i would rather pay for quality. They cost me £99.00 (H4 fitment both hi n low) which inc 12 months no hassle guarantee and next day delivery. I had them fitted to my mk6 fiesta (2007 reg). I knew they was illegal but at the time everyone round my area had them. But i adjusted my beam pattern to as low as possible so that way it did not affect on coming drivers. Every so often i did get the occasional flash and when it came to mot i had no problem as i had a good friend who worked at the ford dealership who blagged me through it. 11 months later of owning my hid kit i was driving along home one night when i saw a police car about to pull out of a road indicating one direction when it all of a sudden changed his direction and went the same way as me. He must of been following me for about a mile then when i decided to turn down a random road hoping he would still go on... Well i was wrong he got me. I got a advisory pink ticket thingy where i had 7 days to take them out and go to a mot centre to get a stamp to confirm i have standard bulbs back in so i got that sorted and then sent it off 1st class. About 2 weeks later i get a phone call from the police making out they never received it and gave me 3 days to prove( otherwise i would get prosecuted) so i had to prove that i have had it done so at this point i had to go back to the garage and get a letter written by them signed and stamped to authorise it. Luckily i got the letter sent off and never heard anything from them. As for the laws i think this is worth a watch for everyone. This gives a better explaining. Hope this helps Andy Edited October 30, 2012 by Andeee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pashley26 Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) Great post Andeeeeeeeeeeee, however: 1st bit of advice. Beware of ebay specials! Had many friends who came across numerous problems like blown ballasts and random flickering in bulbs. I bought mine from a website called xenon shop who are based in Doncaster i had friends who bought from them before n had no problems so i would rather pay for quality. I've been running the £30 eBay special ones for years, as has Prawn, as has Seamons, as has my girlfriend and as have probably 40 of our friends. Never had a single problem with any of them, personally I haven't, I know Prawn hasn't and I've never head any issues from our friends with them. I'm not categorically saying that the eBay kits are perfect and you're talking out your arse; but you are only telling half of the story. Personally if I was going out to buy another set (not that I need to because my £30 ebay kit is still perfect after 4 years) then I would just buy the cheapest "slimline" kit I could. Worth noting (although tempting fate) that none of us have ever been pulled over for them either; so money doesn't necessarily buy quality or safety in this case. If you do a bit of research you will see that pretty much all of these kits are the exact same product, just with different names and levels of pricing. Lets play spot the difference between this £230 kit - http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4602dc8ae8 And this £24 kit - http://www.ebay.co.u...=item19d5411a96 Again, lets compare that to the kit I had on my old A3 (the same as above on the left my "slimline" kit on the right the same as pictured above) - Compare my new slim kit to this £230 one for a motorbike; EXACTLY the same items as mine has...Just one of them not two! Does that make my kit worth £460? http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4cffcc9c3e The only reason I upgraded to the slimline kit is because I had it for years and wanted to get it mounted a bit better. All of these kits are the same, regardless of price. There are two kits available, a slim and standard kit. Regardless how much money you spend they're all made in the same place just with different boxes and names on them. If the OP wants to buy one, I suggest he doesn't waste his money on a £100 kit, just buy the cheapest one you can. Edited October 31, 2012 by Pashley26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 I've had few few eBay specials die, but they are so cheap I just get a whole new set. I must have had near on 10 kits in my time (new car means new set, or different colour wanted means new set), and out of them all, there's probably two or three ballasts (out of 20) that have failed. They still work, they just flicker every now and then. Not a bad ratio! Worth bearing in mind that I run a set in my main beam as well as my dipped, which has led to higher failiure rate (they dont like turning on and off frequently). All my kits have been cheap ebay ones. There's no way I'd spend 100 quid on a kit...would probably be more than Martin's car is worth! Little tip though, when you fit them, mount them somewhere where they won't bounce around, and where they won't get wet. Both of which have accounted for my previous losses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukasMcNeal Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 To fit these do you have to change any parts of the loom, im talking in general not for a specific car im just interested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_seamons Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 No, they are plug and play. You plug the HID into where the halogen bulb would normally go, then the HID is connected via a ballast unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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