My new car that I picked up yesterday has aftermarket HIDs in reflectors...

Whilst there's plenty of light, I got flashed 3 times yesterday, the first night I drove it!

I NEVER got flashed in my Prelude with the projectors!

How come I drove mine for 2 years without getting flashed?

I did at first as my drivers side light was too high, adjusted that and never had a problem since.

Maybe you need to adjust your lights down more than normal, who knows but even if mine are/where they were still far far better than stock bulbs.

I honestly think HID's in stock lude lights (maybe only Prefacelift JDM lights) are fine. (Maybe not legally, but 2 MOT's passed at 2 different MOT places with them on)

I see the arguments against, but i never had people flashing me like everyone says they do.

Projectors are Ideal, but HID's do work fine in stock light from my experience.

Just My 2p

Interesting contribution.

Have to say I'm torn: I would love to compare my UKDM clear lenses+nightbreaker bulbs with, say, Garry's retro-fit HID setup. I've been thinking of replacing my head-lights with projector+HID for some time, but am not clear now whether it's worth the effort.

Any chance of popping over to do a comparison?

Best wishes, Colin

I too have HIDs in stock reflectors. I get flashed occasionally but so too does a friend of mine who has HIDs in projectors from the factory.

The HIDs in the new civics seem to be in a reflector type housing, so if the housing is designed to work with an HID bulb it can work. However, those that have them on their civics do say that they are no as good as the projector type.

My experience the HIDs I bought, do not work in a Halogen reflectors. The majority of HID aftermarket kits do not work in halogen reflector units. Thats not to say, if you spend enough money / lucky enough to find, you might get a kit that works.

The headlights in the 4th gen and 5th gen are getting older and worse and could do with improving. The trend / buzz at the moment is HID. But its just a bulb technology.

Take my word for it, if you just do a Halogen projector retrofit into a standard headlight you'll notice a vast improvement.

I think the 4th Gen reflectors are so poor in the 1st place that putting HID bulbs in doesnt cause the glare that other cars get.

The new Civics do indeed use HID in specially designed reflector housings but again not as good as projectors.

Iv found with HID projectors is that the Auto levelling can sometimes come out of calibration so they sometimes aim that tad bit higher which makes all the difference between blinding other people. Again this is rare. I personally see less glare from faulty projectors that normal halogen lights.
I also see alot of glare from people who put 8000k HID in there HID reflectors just because the colour glare everywhere.

halogen projectors FTW

much cheaper than HID projectors

Saying that new cars blind people too isn't a valid argument, one of my work colleagues has a 2-3 year old mazda 6 and the onboard light level adjust allows you to adjust the beam level to pointing upwards.

Basically, they pass law here because they can be adjust perfect, but due to stupid design, their user adjustment allows seriously illegal adjustment possibilities.

There are two basic problems with reflectors;

1. The HID bulb's focal point is in a dirretent position from a Halo, so your light is usually unfocussed.

2. As stated above, a toch H or thermonuclear device will not improve a s#!t dipped beam reflector, as found on most Civics.

A HID in a non-HID projector may ne de-focussed due to 1. above, but it's less of a problem being lens-focussed.

I no the topic about HID's is a well argued one but i've a few queries,

I've fitted HID's to my standard lights, and so far no flashes, not been pulled over and they passed an mot.

The light pattern on the road is the same as with standard bulbs just brighter, my question is are there differences in the different kits, as with the one i bought the bulb has the same look as a standard H4 bulb including the little reflector, do the cheaper kits not have this and is this why some throw out to much un-wanted light?

The kit i bought was a H4 VIRTUAL DAYLIGHT kit, it cost £150 and it works brilliantly, and i would recommend it to anyone

Yes, there are massive differences between kits, that's half the problem.

I don't know if it's the backing one side of the light so much, but the position inside the glass (towards the top or bottom of the tube) If you think about it, this needs to be fairly precise inside in order to hit the reflectors in the desired position.

I'd be interested to see details of yours, things like, UKDM or JDM lenses, bulb temp, fitment etc.

If you're able to wall pattern tests etc, even better if you can do it alongside an H4 bulb fitted in the other headlight.

As much as we all know it's illegal, i'm sure if we could get away with a clean beam, most of us would have them.