Hid Kit

[Rob Turbo 3]

I bought a set of angel eye headlights for my 306 a while ago, not for the angel eye bit, just because they are projector headlights and I wanted a HID kit.

 

Well that was ages ago and I never bothered with the HID kit, until last week I finally ordered a kit, they came today and I fitted them after work, what a difference! The dipped beam puts the main beam to shame! Of course the main beam lights more of the road up, but it just seems really dull compared to the dipped with the 6000k HID kit. I was amazed how yellow the old bulbs were, I thought they were fairly white until tonight!

 

I'm really tempted to get another kit for the main beam, but they're not the cheapest of things!

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, but I personally hate HID kits. Purely due to being constantly blinded if someone is using them either in front or behind me.

[AndyJ 1]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, but I personally hate HID kits. Purely due to being constantly blinded if someone is using them either in front or behind me.

 

I'm torn on them, I actually think they look ace but equally hate going blind whenever one drives towards me...

[Rob Turbo 3]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, but I personally hate HID kits. Purely due to being constantly blinded if someone is using them either in front or behind me.

 

Is that not just when they've been put into non projector type headlights?

 

There's a couple of cars around here with out projector headlights that either have HID kits or them halfords "not for road use" bulbs, whatever it is they blind you when they drive past.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Rob Turbo

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

Is that not just when they've been put into non projector type headlights?

 

There's a couple of cars around here with out projector headlights that either have HID kits or them halfords "not for road use" bulbs, whatever it is they blind you when they drive past.

 

I'm not too clued up on them tbh, but I associate the ridiculously bright white light which hurts my eyes sometimes with HID's. Even alot of new cars which have them from factory I find far too bright.

 

I'm sure they're great to use though !

[allye 530 3 Cars]

One of the main things putting me off is having white (slightly blue) lights on a 20 year old car making yourself look like the local chav chariot!

 

I think slightly yallowie (I just made that word up) lights are retro and suit a 205, I asked about these a while ago but decided against them as I'm never really left wanting with my lights.

[Obey_R 23]

You probably won't enjoy them as much when they fail your next MOT!

[Rob Turbo 3]

One of the main things putting me off is having white (slightly blue) lights on a 20 year old car making yourself look like the local chav chariot!

 

I think slightly yallowie (I just made that word up) lights are retro and suit a 205, I asked about these a while ago but decided against them as I'm never really left wanting with my lights.

 

I wouldn't fit them to a 205, when my 205 goes back together it will still have it's standard headlights and probably won't be going out in the dark that often anyway with it just being a toy.

 

You probably won't enjoy them as much when they fail your next MOT!

 

It won't fail an mot though, I have projector headlights so the beam pattern is still spot on, and they are white, not blue or anything, so not a fail, the legality is questionable though, some say they are illegal unless fitted with an auto levelling system and headlight washers, others say that only applies if factory fitted.

 

I need to check them properly to make sure they don't blind oncoming drivers, if they do, and I can't adjust them so they don't, then I'll swap them to the main beam and put regular bulbs back in the dipped beam.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

I wouldn't mine a set of these for my 307 Morette / SP lights, but there are so many options on eBay I wouldn't know where to start and probably end up buying some crap ones!

[Rob Turbo 3]

I wouldn't mine a set of these for my 307 Morette / SP lights, but there are so many options on eBay I wouldn't know where to start and probably end up buying some crap ones!

 

Make sure you get a kit with AC digital ballasts, apparently the really cheap kits use DC and are crap, most kits are basically the same just in different boxes!

[Obey_R 23]

We had some documention come through where I work (motofactors) saying about up and coming changes to MOTs. The three main points being; aftermarket HID kits, where not standard will be a fail, tampered/detiorated wiring looms can also be failed and 'chipped/remapped' ECUs could result in a fail. I don't understand how they will instantly know about the chipped/unlocked/remapped ECUs as most MOT testers won't go into that depth, nor will they insect the wiring loom in great detail, but aftermarket HID kits where they're not standard will be pretty obvious to most testers.

 

But you can always swap them over before/after..

[hcmini1989 16]

Trouble is vosa are moving the goal posts all the time on everything.But these are illegal if not fitted with the auto leveling and washers .But the chances of a tester picking on them is highly unlikely because the way vosa change everything around like one week something should fail and the next its only an advisory.And as for chipped ecus or remapped? how would they know ?.And why is it a fail?. Other than possible emisions.

 

But personally i like the hid`s i think its just another way of modernising the 205 a nice subtle mod.

[SurGie 54]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, but I personally hate HID kits. Purely due to being constantly blinded if someone is using them either in front or behind me.

 

 

Agreed, they are a menace

 

Other drivers wonder why i keep flashing them thinking they have their main beam on. If people cant see the road well enough then you are either driving too fast in the dark or need glasses. Our older cars never had them and millions were made without them.

[hcmini1989 16]

Agreed, they are a menace

 

Other drivers wonder why i keep flashing them thinking they have their main beam on. If people cant see the road well enough then you are either driving too fast in the dark or need glasses. Our older cars never had them and millions were made without them.

But couldnt this problem be more to do with aim rather than the light emitted ,I.E the level sensor has packed up or something so they eletronicly controlled aim is putting them to high

[SurGie 54]

There must be a lot of them gone wrong then. Maybe thats why MOT is changing the law of them because if a car goes over a bump and it raises the lights up then that can be dangerous to other drivers. They are not like the main beam where they are very noticeable and easy to turn off are they.

[hcmini1989 16]

There must be a lot of them gone wrong then. Maybe thats why MOT is changing the law of them because if a car goes over a bump and it raises the lights up then that can be dangerous to other drivers. They are not like the main beam where they are very noticeable and easy to turn off are they.

i mean just going over a bump , if the car thinks it set a stupid angle then it will raise them up even when the car is level and driving on a flat road .And excatly your only going to notice that they`ve packed up leveling on mot time and i think you are supposed to do a bounce test on the car to check that they dont raise the lights when the car is bounced to test they work properly.

Edited March 9, 2011 by hcmini1989

[SurGie 54]

People that own cars that have that are not going to test them are they, i doubt the car can cope with bumps at speed though.

 

Either way they still annoy me on the road and we have managed years before this tech came along.

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

To be honest I'm all for better lights, as the more you can see in the dark the better. I wouldn't mind a set if they weren't so blinding to other road users.

 

Actual retina burn

[Rob Turbo 3]

People that own cars that have that are not going to test them are they, i doubt the car can cope with bumps at speed though.

 

Either way they still annoy me on the road and we have managed years before this tech came along.

 

The same can be said for a lot of things, doesn't make it a bad idea, what about the internet, or cars, or electricity, we managed for years before any of that came along, all of these have potential to be dangerous if used incorrectly, should we ban all of that too?

[Anthony 1,003]

Properly aimed HID's are amazing - I've got a set in my 306 and the difference is massive, to the point that I rarely feel the need to use high-beams.

 

The problem is that most people don't aim them properly, hence blinding people in other cars and getting flashed all the time, not to mention I suspect that they won't be getting full benefit either. I must have had them fitted for over 20k miles now, and I don't ever recall getting flashed by an oncoming driver once aimed properly, nor have any friends ever mentioned / complained that the lights blind them whenever I've followed or passed them.

 

I did ponder getting some of the high beam as well, but decided against it - firstly I don't use the high beams much now, and secondly, the bulbs (on mine atleast - newer designs might be better) have a notable warm-up time and are pretty poor output wise for a few seconds until they warm up, which isn't an issue on the dipped lights that are on continuously, but would be irritating on the high-beams that you might only have on for 10-20 seconds at a time.

 

Regarding legality, I'm fully aware that they're at best a grey area, but that's a risk that I'm personally happy to run for the night driving visibility and safety improvements they offer. Many people have no issue at all with them at MOT time, but even if you do, it's only a 10 minute bulb swap to put the standard halogens back in there.

 

The only change I'd make would be to get 4300K bulbs rather than 6000K.

[damien 22 1 Cars]

i love my HIDs on my 205, ive had mine for god knows how many years and never had a problem come MOT time and my MOT has been done by the local peugeot garage for the last 5 years. even doing the euro trip years ago i never had a problem.

as i work nights im all up for better lighting.

[GLPoomobile 958]

All this stuff about HIDs and self levelling is redundant IMO. I appreciate that it is a requirement, but there's a huge number of cars on the road for which HIDs were factory installed yet the self levelling does not seem to work anymore. It drives me bonkers when I'm cruising along the motorway and I think someone is flashing at me, then realise it's just an HID equpped car following me but the lights appear to flash as it bounces over the ruts in the road. To put that in to context, up until probably a couple of years ago, I don't think I'd ever used the anti-glare funtion on the rear view mirror in any car, but these days it's quite common for me to have to use it, either becuase I'm being driven insane by the flashing mentioned above, or because a taller vehicle (van/4x4 etc) is following me and blinding me with it's bright lights.

 

Lets face facts, cars are not going to take a backwards step in this regard. Bright HIDs are here to stay (until the next developement), so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The only time I have an issue with being dazzled by oncoming lights is in my Alfa 166 becuase the lights are so piss poor on them. I mean criminally poor. I'd happily upgrade them to HIDs to overcome this, and to be quite frank I don't care if it means I get flashed by people like SurGie, becuase as I said, everyone else is driving around with bright lights so why should I feel a social obligation that nobody else cares about?

 

As for driving too fast for the visibility, in the 166 the fastest safe speed on dipped beams on unlit/partially lit roads is about 40mph. This soon feels distinctly unsafe if I suddenly encounter oncoming traffic, and a few times on unfamiliar roads I've had to hit the brakes and drop to about 20mph as I literally could not see the road 2 foot in front of me THat's not safe for me, it's not safe for people following me, and it causes frustration for following traffic that could promote reckless overtaking.

 

I guess the dillema is, do you want to be the one being blinded or the one doing the blinding?

Edited March 10, 2011 by GLPoomobile

[SurGie 54]

Or both