Hid Headlight Conversion

[MARKY46]

Hi guys

I'm looking to do a HID headlight conversion on my 2003 IS Sportcross.

What I want to know is what exactly do I need to buy and what wattage of kit is best for getting the car through an MOT???

Can anyone out there recommend a company who sells kits or are the kits available on eBay just as good??

Do I buy a kit just for the headlights or is there a recommendation to do all lights at the front of the car( side, headlight and fog)??

Thanks in advance folks and all comments and points of view are welcome.

Merry Xmas...

[matt-c]

The light output when converting to HID's is so massively improved, that you won't need your fogs anymore. Add to that, that fog lights actually work best with the more yellowy light of the standard bulbs (crystal white or slightly blue tinted bulbs will reflect more in fog). There's also no point putting HID's in the main beam, as they need time to warm up, so with the constant flicking on and off you do with main beams, they'd never be at full brightness. Also, because of the warm up time, they don't respond well to flashing either.

So really, just do your dipped beams. 4300k will give you the OEM look, whiter than standard bulbs, but with a little tinge of the more natural light. 5000k are touted as pure white, but in 35w bulbs, they'll still edge a tiny tinge of blue (55w are supposed to be pure white). 6000k are the most common and have a noticeable blue tinge to them. 8000k's are pretty blue. Also, the higher the k (kelvin) rating, the less light output (as in 4300k is the brightest, and 8000k isn't as bright)

Personally, I think blue tinged lights look chavvy, so I went for 5000k's. But because they are 35w they are still not as 100% white as I'd like, so I might well change them to 4300k's.

Onto the other lights, I'd just get a decent set of halogen bulbs in the main beam, to try and match the colour of the HID's. Likewise with the fogs if you really want (personally, I often use my fogs on overcast days and dusky times, just running with the sidelights on and the fogs - because the sidelights are dreadfully bad too, they just aren't enough on their own). Sidelights, again if you want them to match in colour, can easily be changed to LED bulbs.

As for what to buy, you'll need a conversion kit to go for HID's (comes with 2 bulbs, 2 ballasts and associated wiring harnesses), if you have standard halogen headlights. I'd then buy the main beam, halogen, bulbs and LED sidelight bulbs separately.