Performance Differences Between HID Retro & Plug 'n Play

[Chris]

I've had to show/explain this to a few people, so I figured I'd make a single thread for this. All of this information can be seen at HIDplanet.com

I really hope this thread can help you guys. Ur making the road more dangerous than it already is by adding a HID kit to your car. so please do HID the right way by doing a retrofit.
HID kits are illegal due to the glare that they cause. Glare is Light that is emitted in a Uncontrollable path. When light is traveling in a uncontrollable path it can hit other vehicle operators affecting there vision because of the High amount of uncontrollable light that is being Emitted from a HID kit in a standard Halogen housing. If you have ever turned a flashlight on right in front of your face while it is dark out, that is the same feeling that the other drivers on the road experience from a standard HID kit.
OEM Vehicles such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus are all equipped with HID or Xenon Headlights. Some use reflector housing’s without projectors. Others use HID projectors.
The Lexus IS300 is a Prime Example of a HID reflector housing. It does not use a Projector. It uses a Specially designed Reflector housing that is meant to use HID. This does not create the Super sharp cutoff. But it does control where the light is being Emitted.
Other vehicles such as the Honda S2000 Use HID projectors, These Projectors are meant to use HID. They are Specially Designed and have been tested Hundreds of times to get the right projection of light while maintaining a Good Cutoff.

Some pictures of a Plug 'n Play kit:


Pictures of what HID is SUPPOSED to look like:


A true retrofit:


The difference:


Plug 'n Play kits are illegal, here's why: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html

And a video: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/videos/featuresvideos/204742/xenon_test.html

To date, NHTSA has investigated 24 HID conversion kit suppliers; all investigations have resulted in recalls or termination of sales. ...

RM Racing
Astex USA
Kmax International
FET, Inc.
J. Liu LLC
Gourmet Garage
JC Whitney
Lighting Research
SPW Industries, Inc.
Pacific Micro-lite
McCulloch Motors, Inc.
Santeca Electronics
JF Manufacturing
Streetglow, Inc.
Outback Products, Inc.
Nu Performance
GR Motorsports, Inc.
Global Premier
New Clor
Importhookup.com
DG International
MTC Lighting
Umnitza
Liteglow
American Products Company

[EuroSS]

i still want em 
  the optics on my car suxorz even with legal bulbs

[KissMySS67]

Sharp.

[ucimaplaya2]

yeah if a retro fit kit with nice projection lenses were available for my truck i would be all over them but there is only one set of projection headlights out there for my truck and they are ugly because they actually bulge out and are all bug eyed. They loose the smooth curved look and just made room for the projectors by just bulging them out past the lens basically.

the stock styled headlights are actually decent for using with hid kits because their reflector is actually pretty controlled. They dont produce much glare but im still not sure if they are good enough to use with hids. I have seen tons of dakotas with hids in them online but they are only pictures and even with all the pictures of the beam patterns and them looking nice in the pictures i want to see them in person first. I have seen so many bad glared conversions.





edit: i looked at the link from the nhtsa and i read A LOT of the HID related sections and I dont see anywhere where it says converting is a illegal or anything that says how to go about doing it.