Looking for a HID kit for my car - recommendations please

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impster

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Hi folks, I've had enough of the poor dip-beam on my A4 (facelift 2000 year model - single piece h/lamp and indicator unit).

Am looking for a good, HID kit for the car. Nothing too bright, but need a kit that can let me see where I'm going when dipped.

I believe there are kits available with 'all you need' for less than £80. If so, please suggest what you can.

Many thanks

Impster
 
Bear in mind retrofit kits are illegal in the UK.

To use HID's on UK roads, you need Auto levelling, headlight washers, and the light unit itself needs to be type approved for use with HID lamps.

You can retrofit the levelling and washers with a bit of work, but fitting a hid burner into your H7 projector will never work properly.

More reading here: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

The only acceptable way to fit them is using proper HID light units, with the appropriate levelling and washing systems in place.

I dont have a problem with the lights on our facelift, so long as they're aligned correctly they're perfectly acceptable.
 
Facelift halogen lights are gash on dip. Fact!
 
audi upgrades
HID Direct
01617939236
£50
55W
comes with all you need, any problems and they replace free of charge

100x better than the candles they replaced

FACT
 
Aragorn: I realise they are illegal, but currently dip beam is 'unsafe' to drive with, and with kids in the car i need to be able to see where I'm going.

ian52: Agree 100%. My old Imp with 7" Halogen Sealed Beam headlamp units had better output.

jcb: have looked on the site - i'm new to all this so don't know what to look for - any chance you could pop a link on this thread that takes me to the kit? What's the difference between 35w and 55w kits? Which is closest to 'original fitment HID kit output'?

Thanks again in anticipation.
 
I understand that retro-fit hid's are technically illegal in the uk without the other mods mentioned BUT saying that, my previous A4 went through 4 mot's with them fitted no problem. Seems a bit of a 'grey' area...
 
I picked a set up off eBay and they work a treat around £35 not had any problems and you can order any bulb type and any kelvin temperature I would recommend 8000k :) item number is - 150506406379
 
80000k is too purple and the output is poor, if you must do it, make sure you get at least 4300k, it's the closest k to daylight and any less is too yellow and more is blue/ purple
 
If they're "unsafe" they're not set properly.

Ours lights the road perfectly well, and certainly isnt dangerous. Yes, they're not as bright as xenons, but the beam cutoff doesnt throw the light very far anyway (if they're set correctly), and xenons dont change the cutoff distance, so you cant actually see any more road.

Few weeks ago we were driving with a load of crap in the boot and two rear passengers and i noticed the lights were very poor, a few miles down the road it dawned on me they were poor because they're pointing at the sky, quick twist of the level control and we could see again.

I've been in craigs S4 with factory fit xenons, and compared them to ours, and ye, they're brighter, but the amount of visibility on a dark road doesnt really change.

Factory fit xenons use 35w bulbs, and these emit about twice the lumens of a standard H7 lamp.
 
audi upgrades
Im after some and going with 4300k, 6000k aren't to bad, i think anything above that....8000, 10000, 12000 look awful and chavvy.
 
aragorn said:
I've been in craigs S4 with factory fit xenons, and compared them to ours, and ye, they're brighter, but the amount of visibility on a dark road doesnt really change.

Factory fit xenons use 35w bulbs, and these emit about twice the lumens of a standard H7 lamp.
Click to expand...

then his arent set properly!
visibility is vastly improved compared to stock, the colour of the light itself is enough to pick up cats eyes, reflectors, anything that flouresces much further away.
the beam pattern is clearer at its limits and the furthest visible point is much further than stock.

frankly if the choice is not see with "famously" crap lights or drive with greater visibility illegally then I made my choice.

and thats before I even get onto main beam HID's!! like a ****** night time rally stage!!
 
aragorn said:
Yes, they're not as bright as xenons, but the beam cutoff doesnt throw the light very far anyway (if they're set correctly), and xenons dont change the cutoff distance, so you cant actually see any more road.
Click to expand...

If you reckon your halogen bulbs reach 'the cutoff' when your headlights are correctly leveled , then you must have the bulbs as strong as the sun.

Say for example your headlight is at 60cm (probably about right). If dipped at -2%, your bulbs would need to be illuminating up to 3km away before the top of the beam cutoff hits the ground (and 12km if your headlights are dipped to -0.5%!!!).

So what you said was true. A different bulb doesn't change the cutoff distance, but as no bulb would ever reach that far it doesn't matter.

In the real world the atmosphere diffuses that light, hence why everyone's lights don't go on forever. Xenons are brighter. Simple as. Therefore, the beam of light from a xenon HID bulb will reach closer to that point 3km away than a halogen bulb would. In other words, you will be able to see stuff at the same distance away brighter with xenon HIDs over halogen bulbs.

:p

 
You need to check your maths. If the light unit is 0.6m from the ground, with a 1% declination (from memory this is the value we use), the beam will intersect the floor in 0.6/0.01 meters, which is 60m.

You can clearly see the beam cutoff hitting the ground up ahead when driving on dark roads, and can clearly make out the "kickup" as shown in your diagram, which illuminates the verges etc.

The amount of light fed into the projector does not affect how far its thrown. The only way the xenons would appear to allow you to see further, is if the original halogens were aimed too high. Aim halogens too high and you get a poor output, as the beams being spread too far. The xenons being twice as bright illuminate the larger area better. Still doesnt change the fact they're aligned incorrectly though.

I dont have a problem with Xenons, if its done correctly, and i will at some point get round to fitting them on our car, using the correct factory parts. But fitting a aftermarket HID kit to a halogen projector isnt the right way to do it. The optics are all wrong for the HID burner, which is explained extremely well in the Daniel Stern link i posted above. Simple fact is that the optics are designed around a specific bulb, and if you fit a different one, you get scatter and glare, which WILL annoy other drivers.

What your infact doing, is choosing improved visibilty over the safety of other road users. Theres a reason that all factory HID equipped cars come with Auto levelling and washing systems as standard, and its not so you can be lazy and dont have to reach for the knob. Ofcourse, if someone coming the other way stacks it and kills their passengers because they couldnt see, it couldnt possibly have been your fault.
 
aragorn said:
If they're "unsafe" they're not set properly.

Ours lights the road perfectly well, and certainly isnt dangerous. Yes, they're not as bright as xenons, but the beam cutoff doesnt throw the light very far anyway (if they're set correctly), and xenons dont change the cutoff distance, so you cant actually see any more road.

Few weeks ago we were driving with a load of crap in the boot and two rear passengers and i noticed the lights were very poor, a few miles down the road it dawned on me they were poor because they're pointing at the sky, quick twist of the level control and we could see again.

I've been in craigs S4 with factory fit xenons, and compared them to ours, and ye, they're brighter, but the amount of visibility on a dark road doesnt really change.

Factory fit xenons use 35w bulbs, and these emit about twice the lumens of a standard H7 lamp.
Click to expand...

I've checked and double checked the lot - they're set up absolutely spot on. Main beam on the car is plenty good enough, just that the dip beam is completely pants. As for the 'cut off', when I adjust them (dipped beam) to their 2 lowest settings I can clearly see the cutoff on the road, on the normal setting I can't see the cut-off at all reflected on the road. The light just 'fades to black'.
 
Last edited:
fair enough, maybe i need to check mine then, perhaps they're aimed too low?

If anything i'd have thaught mine would have been high, because the rear suspension seems to have sagged somewhat and sits a good 15-20mm lower than the front.
 
for now worth a polish up of the lens' to improve light output also.
might be worth checking the voltage to the lights is at maximum there may be degredation in the cables.

i'll be doing a 4300k conversion to mine in the new year anyway.
 
Lens clean, voltages ok. It's just a p1ss poor design on the dip beam projector for halogen bulbs (weren't they designed for HIDs originally with this type of lens anyway?).

Right, I can see 35w and 50w kits - is there any benefit to having the 50 over the 35w?
 
Halogen projectors have been around for years, E30 BMW's have them for instance.

50w will blind people 50% more than the 35w kit will :p

OEM setups are 35w, this should be plenty.
 
Aragorn, I apologise profusely! Your maths is indeed superior.
:sorry:

Must remember to put decimal point in the right place!! More embarrasing because I work with numbers too...

Guess I also need to review my headlight alignment, as mine illuminate much further than 60m ahead.
 
Having spoken to a few on some other forums, the recommendation is the 35w kits. I can get either of these kits to within a few quid of each other (discount codes are available for 'hids4u'.

Can any of the experts here tell me if there's any diference between the 2? Many thanks once again - i hope to pull the trigger on one of these later this evening.

Thanks!

AUDI Ultra 35w HID conversion kits - Xenon HID Headlight Upgrade Kits from HIDs DIRECT Ltd

H7 Xenon HID headlight conversion kits: HIDs 4U
 
It wont matter if the lights set right with the hallogens in or not,They are just not bright enough. Its fine if there is nothing coming towards you,its when its dark and raining and a car comes towards you. You would be as well shutting your eyes.
 
audi upgrades
Agreed. Raised the level of the beam a half turn on each lamp last night. No better. I've given the stock set up plenty of chances to prove itself - but for whatever reason - as ian52 says above, might as well use 'faith' and 'hope' to guide you (they're both lovely, by the way).
 
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