HID's?

[1996BLKBauer]

Thinking about purchasing a HID kit for my 1996 Explorer. On ebay they are fairly cheap, but I wanted to get everybody elses opinions before I go ahead and buy them. I am thinking about 6000k, or 8000k bulbs, everything else seems to be to discolored, or purple.

 

[joesilvia92]

Thinking about purchasing a HID kit for my 1996 Explorer. On ebay they are fairly cheap, but I wanted to get everybody elses opinions before I go ahead and buy them. I am thinking about 6000k, or 8000k bulbs, everything else seems to be to discolored, or purple.

I have 10000k on my 96. I paid $60 with slim ballasts at a local garage. There slightly blue. I love them though, anything reflective looks awesome. Even the road paint! Ill post a pic for you tonight once it gets dark.

 

[SoNic67]

I hate whan I see one of those cheap chinese HID light kits, that scatter light all over the place, blinding the incomming traffic. By federal law is illegal to change the factory lighting system.
It's rude to others that you share the road and... too bad cops are too busy to play with their radar guns instead of stopping people with changes to their lights.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

I hate whan I see one of those cheap chinese HID light kits, that scatter light all over the place, blinding the incomming traffic. By federal law is illegal to change the factory lighting system.
It's rude to others that you share the road and... too bad cops are too busy to play with their radar guns instead of stopping people with changes to their lights.

Woh, this is not to blind people, I just want to see, considering most of my driving is at night, I want to have the best lighting. If you have a suggestion let me know, I would rather spend money on something good.

 

[joesilvia92]

Woh, this is not to blind people, I just want to see, considering most of my driving is at night, I want to have the best lighting. If you have a suggestion let me know, I would rather spend money on something good.

Id go with the hids. but dont spend the money for high beams. the hids are bright enough and you have to swap bulbs for inspection any way

 

[drdoom]

I hate whan I see one of those cheap chinese HID light kits, that scatter light all over the place, blinding the incomming traffic. By federal law is illegal to change the factory lighting system.
It's rude to others that you share the road and... too bad cops are too busy to play with their radar guns instead of stopping people with changes to their lights.

+1 If your housings are cloudy, easy & inexpensive to just put replacements in. And get some new bulbs, they dim over time.

 

[TekMan05]

I'd suggest Projectors on Gen 2 that way you can get a focused beam of light. I have no problems with my setup on my truck. I have the E-Bay projector black housing kit and love it. You also have a separte bulb for the high beams. I'm using a silverstar bulb for the high beams which makes it functional although I never use it.Running 4300k in both the low beams and the fog lamps. Thinking about swapping the low beams for 5000k's. I've never had issues pissing people off so far and my dad and friend can attest to the fact they aren't blinding because I've driven behind them at night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiVvwldFd4M

 

[joesilvia92]

heres my 10000k on my 96. their stock lenses just wet sanded and buffed

If you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for the projecters tek?

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Wow, thanks everybody for the input. I was told the same thing about the Hi/low situation, and that the high beams are not really needed. MY dads friend said that it takes a little while for the highs to "Warm Up" so it is almost useless.

Thanks joesilvia92 for the pictures, they are not nearly as blue as I thought they where.

My len's are not cloudy, nor are they dirty, my bulbs are practically new i got new ones when I bought the truck in June of 2011, because one was significantly dimmer then the other.

I figure that since they are just "plug and play" that if I don't like them I will only waste about $50-$75 on them, and maybe get half of that back if I sell them. I also think this may be a good project for my auto tec Electrical class.

 

[joesilvia92]

Thanks joesilvia92 for the pictures, they are not nearly as blue as I thought they where.

np. they dont really get blue until you get in the 15000k range. just be careful putting them in. our xs dont have much room to get that bulb in

 

[vroomzoomboom]

one thing that wasn't mentioned yet. the higher K you go, the less useable light there is. in other words if you get a 4300k kit, they will be like stock lights, but hid. anything past 6000k, the light becomes more blinding to on coming traffic. if you do a search here, not to long ago there was a thread that when to hid planet, and one of the members here was doing a retro on a projector swap. they also sell kits for those, and from what i have heard have come a long way and very easy to instal. i did a bmw e46 projector swap about 4 years ago, and i would never go back to regular headlights again with my explorer. the output is that much better, and you wont blind people. the plus side to my swap, is i have high beam with a low beam bulb. the down side, there were no kits when i did mine, and it took a good 30 ish hours to make both lights.

 

[celly]

Zillions of threads in the archives about HID and the second gen. Search around to see why straight HID installs suck and why anything over 4300K-6000K is for poseurs and projectors are the only way to go.

What Tim said. Useable light goes DOWN when you increase the K rating. Higher K ratings are for show. Factory K ratings on vehicles that use HID use 4300K. Enough said.

 

[TekMan05]

If you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for the projecters tek?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/95-01-EXPLO...rd|Model:Explorer&vxp=mtr&hash=item4aada51aeb

$180 if you want to go the Projector Halo route.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Can some one explain or show me a thread about the differences between HID's, and this projector/halo type? I am sort of confused on this.

 

[TekMan05]

What kind of difference are you referring to? The projectors are one piece aftermarket headlamps that look stylish over stock and give a more focused beam of light. That's why it's reccommended to get them before HID's because Gen 2 Explorers weren't designed with HID conversions in mind. Therefore those stock lenses will glare a whole ton compared to aftermarkets and could blind oncoming or even traffic up ahead. And everyone is right , after 6000k there is no point other than for the cool look.

Look at this HID comparison pic. If you look, the pictures 6000k lose more usuable light. Notice that the light on the side walls are dimmer than on the 5000k and 6000k's?
http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...b=12tftcfc9&sigi=124c1dguh&.crumb=6VksL2nB/74

 

[1996BLKBauer]

What kind of difference are you referring to? The projectors are one piece aftermarket headlamps that look stylish over stock and give a more focused beam of light. That's why it's reccommended to get them before HID's because Gen 2 Explorers weren't designed with HID conversions in mind. Therefore those stock lenses will glare a whole ton compared to aftermarkets and could blind oncoming or even traffic up ahead. And everyone is right , after 6000k there is no point other than for the cool look.

Look at this HID comparison pic. If you look, the pictures 6000k lose more usuable light. Notice that the light on the side walls are dimmer than on the 5000k and 6000k's?
http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...b=12tftcfc9&sigi=124c1dguh&.crumb=6VksL2nB/74

OK, I get it now, I thought that the projectors where a different type of bulb. So all the projectors are a different way to position the bulb, and the case is made to get optimal output with out blinding people?

 

[TekMan05]

In a sense yeah. I can't tell you how many times I've seen oncoming '90s or even 2000's cars/trucks that glared me with just regular halogens because of that refractor style headlamp casings.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

In a sense yeah. I can't tell you how many times I've seen oncoming '90s or even 2000's cars/trucks that glared me with just regular halogens because of that refractor style headlamp casings.

OK, with the link you posted, is that just the light assembly? or is it the bulb, and ballast as well?

 

[TekMan05]

Are you referring to the Ebay Kit? If so, that one I posted is just those head lights with regular H1 Halogen bulbs included. They also have 3 led bulbs lining the upper rim of the parking lights but they're white not amber. If you search Ford Explorer Head lights you can actually find that kit with a HID kit included. Most I found were the chrome casings with 6000k HID's included. They were fairly priced too.

 

[masospaghetti]

For the sake of the rest of us, DON'T use one of the eBay kits - they are dangerous for you and everyone else on the road.

They are dangerous for everyone else because they scatter light (the bulb's light emitting geometry is different than a halogen, thus the light isn't focused the way it should be). Thus, tons of more glare.

They are dangerous for YOU because you get the false illusion of good forward illumination, when in fact, LESS light is on the road where it should be. Most of it is scattered into the distance (into others' eyes) and into the trees on the side of the road.

As far as light color, 4000k is pure white. Anything above that becomes blue tinted and eventually purple tinted at very high color temperatures. Above 4000k reduces visibility. The human eye has trouble focusing on blue light.

Get a good set of high-efficiency 9007 halogens and make sure your lenses are clear. Phillips Xtreme Power are the best 9007 bulbs you can buy, with the most light output.