Since I can read Japanese, I was doing lots of research on Japanese Prelude sites and they all said H1 HID bulb is too long so it hits that umbrella looking cap inside the headlight so modification is required to install HID. Does this also apply on USDM 5th Prelude? Maybe US Preludes are using same looking but different headlight. Did you guys have trouble installing Philips, Vision and K2 HIDs? I'm going to Japan next week so I'm thinking of picking up Bellof HID kit (and other JDM goodies) so I would like to know. Thanks!
all you have to do is just pushing that umbrella thing upward a little but it'll not be straight any more...so that shouldn't be your biggest concern.
i saw the guy who installed the HID for me..the most difficult part is probably to do the wiring...although they used the H1 HID but that's not the plug-in kind..unlike the stock bull. they had to do the rewiring...
AndoOKC did a complete custom install for me. I have Audi HID projectors in my headlights. Check my sig for links to some pics if you want. Also, Ando has a website: http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com . IMHO, you cannot put HID in the stock prelude housing w/o doing something like I had done and expect good/legal light
I have the 8000 K kit in my lude's stock housing. All I had to do when I installed them was carefully bend the wire that goes into the top of the bulb so that it would clear that cap. They aligned perfectly which means that the focus is correct and the color is great. I was tired of halogen bulbs that kept going out on me after I spent like $60 a set for good one. I have pictures on my website at www.wsu.edu/~einstein/hid.htm , Althought any digital camera doesn't do justice to the brilliant color of HID's, these things make my high beams a joke.
all i can say about einstein's is that i think there is a reason he does not have a picture of them at night. I will bet $5 the beam pattern isn't too great. Glare to oncoming driver's is more than likely painful .. i think it all depends on what you want here... hopefully Ando will chime in here.. he knows much more about this stuff than I do. he's the expert
so if i wanted to get the k2 kit i'll have to bend that chrome ting infront of the low beams? i thought it was a direct fit and all you had to do was wire them up. can someone please clarify this for me one more time because i'm not very bright.
Originally posted by einsteinwsu I have the 8000 K kit in my lude's stock housing. All I had to do when I installed them was carefully bend the wire that goes into the top of the bulb so that it would clear that cap. They aligned perfectly which means that the focus is correct and the color is great. I was tired of halogen bulbs that kept going out on me after I spent like $60 a set for good one. I have pictures on my website at www.wsu.edu/~einstein/hid.htm , Althought any digital camera doesn't do justice to the brilliant color of HID's, these things make my high beams a joke.
I have a buddies that has done the projector conversion with this kit at the same temperature rating and yes it cuts off cleaner but at the same time my lights are brighter on the road than his and I didn't have to spend the extra $500 for basically the same performance. I haven't taken pictures of them at night because I am at school in a dorm and just posted those picture last night. I have to check a digital camera out in order to take pictures of my car. Let me assure you though, the kit isn't blind, I've had someone drive my car to test this fact and I've driven by many cops without ever being hassled once. I've never been flashed either for them being too high. When I was refering to bending the metal ending on the bulb, I was refering to the wire that actually goes on the outside of the bulb and physically goes into the bulb itself. On the K2 kits as well as with other bulbs I've seen, The have this wire stamped flat, possibly for a safety fusing for the bulb. Anyways all you need is like 2mm more clearance for the bulb to just sit in there correctly. Just being this flattened piece sideways creates enough room for the bulb to fit with no problems. If you guys really would like to see the beams at night, I'll get my buddy with a mustang that did a full projector conversion and this kit and my car lined up next to each other for a comparison. This may take a day or two though.
And by the way, the beam pattern is EXACTLY like it was when I just had the stock bulbs in. The focal point looks to be exactly the same. I test this theory by replacing one of the bulbs back to stock and making sure everything look right. The filament and the discharge bulbs light emitting parts both lined up too.
2 things. Yes you are right. The pattern is the same.. BUT HID patterns and HALOGEN patterns are different. This is because HID produces so much more light and is MUCH brighter than halogen that now places where your halogen lights used to shine in driver's eyes but not cause a problem, they now shine in them and blind the oncoming driver. That is why it is a bad idea to use HID w/ halogen housings. Please, go to this site and read it. It is an EXCELLENT source, it even has Prelude related material. Http://faq.auto.light.com . And also, different projectors are exactly that DIFFERENT. I have Audi S4 E-code projectors which are close to 30% brighter than OEM Audi A4/S4 projectors. It all depends on the parts once again. And the reason there is more "light on the road" is not necessarily correct. As i said before, since you have no real control over your beam pattern, that means that light is scattered EVERYWHERE and is dangerous to other people.
im gonna speak in terms of ideal lighting and how HID lighting ought to be in a professional and OEM fashion, and regards to legality and decency to other drivers.
1. 8000K is horrible. Increased color temp does not equal better nite time performance. You have just purchased the hiper whites of the HID industry. The excess blue is dim due to the dispersive nature of blue light (lower wavlengths). If the light you have is more blue, then less of it is going to reach the ground to illuminate b/c it is going to disperse prior to ever reaching the road. Secondly, this dispersion is perceived by other drivers as glare. All light sytems have glare but anything in 6000K+ range starts to become too blue, if in essence you truly do have 8000K bulbs. Philips and Osram do not make bulbs with a color temp higher than 5800k and 5400K, respectively. IMO 4100k is ideal. Not too blue, not too white. Philips wasnt being dumb when they created their standard bulbs for a color temp of 4100K.
2. You do not have the same beam pattern as before. i guarantee it. Optical engineers that designed the prelude housing kept a halogen source in mind. That means they angled the reflectors in the housing to accumulate and distribute as much of the light as possible. In HID housings, they have to do the opposite, which is control the abundance of light by eliminating much of it which large reflector caps and more precise cut off shields and optics. When you stuck an HID bulb in your housing you just thru off the deisgn of the housing. the housing is wanting to use as much of the light as possible, and it gets to use ALOT of light b/c you now have a source of light that is 3x stronger than the intenional light source. therefore, you cant have the same beam pattern. Thats like putting a turbo on your car and saying that it still runs the same quarter mile (granted that you didnt mess up on install).
3. The wire on the end of the HID bulb is the return wire for grounding. It was designed to be unobstrusive but in h1 housings the problem is that the high voltage is able to push the current over a several mm gap. thats why you have to reduce the distance of the return wire from any metal object by crimping it down.
any other questions?
__________________
*Audi TT HID projectors (previous) M3 Bi-xenon Projectors (current)
*Hella Yellow Star H3 in JDM fogs
*HID FAQ http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com
SIG APPROVED BY MALKEN'S MONKEYS!
3. The wire on the end of the HID bulb is the return wire for grounding. It was designed to be unobstrusive but in h1 housings the problem is that the high voltage is able to push the current over a several mm gap. thats why you have to reduce the distance of the return wire from any metal object by crimping it down.
any other questions? [/B]
R u referring to the wire thing that runs parrallel to the glass bulb itself? It sorta looks like it's a scaffold that reinforces the bulb. I was under the impression that it was made out of some ceramic material. Please confirm that it's metal, so i don't crack anything if i bend it.
theres a wire that comes out of the top of the HID bulb. This is the ground wire. As it travels back towards the base the parallel part is encased in ceramic lining so that it is insulated b/c these wires run close to metal objects in OEM applications, therefore the ceramic casing prevents any shortage. Ideally, you dont want to crack it but it should be ok if you do. Secondly, the wire that runs thru it is metal and if it bends that should be ok i suppose although ideally u dont want it bending out b/c it may interfere with the light output.
__________________
*Audi TT HID projectors (previous) M3 Bi-xenon Projectors (current)
*Hella Yellow Star H3 in JDM fogs
*HID FAQ http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com
SIG APPROVED BY MALKEN'S MONKEYS!
I just got back from Japan and bought the Velias HID kit with prelude adapter which makes the HID fit perfectly without modifying that umbrela thingie and have perfect beam pattern.
Originally posted by Bullchan I just got back from Japan and bought the Velias HID kit with prelude adapter which makes the HID fit perfectly without modifying that umbrela thingie and have perfect beam pattern.
I guess that might be one of the things shown on this page?
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.. i think it all depends on what you want here... hopefully Ando will chime in here.. he knows much more about this stuff than I do. he's the expert
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