Topic: Northern Exposure: Light Bright

[Winterpeg]

If you’re concerned, barter with your sales rep to have a set of premium bulbs installed ahead of your purchase.

High-priced bulbs marketed under names like Nighthawk and SilverStar shine more brightly than standard halogen headlight bulbs but not farther down the road. That's because distance is determined more by the size and shape of the lamp's reflector or lens than by the bulb. A gimmick, they're three or four times more costly and shortlived.

    Oh yea.....110 %

[Winterpeg]

Well done Justin!!!

Was waiting for a more "enlighting" article on Headlights. It's true that bulbs like Nighthawks,etc. ARE an improvement over factory BUT as stated do not last very long for the price (1st hand experience here).
Must thank everybody here today.....learned alot from the forum. I will talk to my machanic about possible retofitting my Malibu....with what not sure but will throw some ligh.....er ideas at him.  Tanks Autos.ca gang and all.   

[Fobroader]

Ive had the Silverstar Ultras in my truck for almost 2 years, no problems as of yet. I have heard some having problems with short lifespan though.

[Winterpeg]

Ive had the Silverstar Ultras in my truck for almost 2 years, no problems as of yet. I have heard some having problems with short lifespan though.

Yes Fobroader,

Had a pair of Nighthawks in 2 vehicles, Echo and Taurus. The Ford lasted longer than the Echo (1 yr aprm)....me thinks because of Echo's short wheelbase made for alot of shake, rattle and roll.   

[Winterpeg]

Tell me about these kits. Is that an aftermarket HID projector designed specifically for your car?

*Let it be known that I'm not promoting any supplier in particluar, but I have been researching this particular set for the Santa Fe which comes from a site called DashZRAcing (http://www.dashzracing.com/lighting-projector-headlights/). They aren't cheap, but it *looks* like a quality product. They have lots of other make/model applications.

It is sold by make/model so I believe it is designed specifically for your car, yes. I wouldn't suggest that it's OEM quality without seeing it in person, but the installation shown looks pretty seamless.

Hey thanks for that link Arronk,

It presents another option for moi.     

[Danno001]

Good article. Just wondering...what part of northern Ontario are you referring to for you testing?

Justin is from Sudbury - crazy guy commutes almost weekly to exchange press cars.

3 1/2 hour drive Sudbury to TO is not so bad. I do it quite often for business. If there were new cars to test for each trip, it would be pretty cool.

[Patrick_D1]

Good article. Just wondering...what part of northern Ontario are you referring to for you testing?

Justin is from Sudbury - crazy guy commutes almost weekly to exchange press cars.

3 1/2 hour drive Sudbury to TO is not so bad. I do it quite often for business. If there were new cars to test for each trip, it would be pretty cool.

I've never heard him complain, but 8-9 hours on the road (3.5 hours down, 1-2 hours to swap cars at various OEMs, 3.5 hours back same-day) every week isn't exactly a vacation 

Suffice to say, he's got a much better handle than most on headlight performance and the other elements that make a vehicle a good highway hauler.

[aaronk]

Winterpeg, glad to help.

As per the northern driving, I can attest it's a good test of a vehicles' headlights. I grew up in a small town about 1.5 hrs past North Bay on Highway 11. If you're used to driving in the GTA, it's nothing like the highways up north. There is absolutely zero ambient light like we get on urban highways - like streetlights, lights from nearby buildings, etc. I'm sure that's a similar scenario for some of the drivers out west who are in rural areas - at night, the only other lights are oncoming transport trucks and the moon!

[dasiuyan]

Good article on automotive lighting. It has come along way in recent years.

Aftermarket HID kits are ok for low lying fog lights but otherwise they simply focus there beam to high and end up blinding anyone in there range.

These powerful beams need levelers or at least directional guides on the aftermarket kits.

I think that depends heavily on the quality of the product and the quality of the installation.

The problem occurs when people buy insanely bright HID bulbs and ballasts from China on eBay and plug them into a reflector-type enclosure meant for halogen bulbs. There is no cutoff and the light splashes everywhere, unless they're aimed almost directly at the road in front of the car. There is a tendency for people who are upgrading their lights to feel that in order to see an improvement they have to aim their lights higher so they see further down the road. This is the dangerous part, because they're so high that the lowbeams act like a highbeam and consequently blind oncoming traffic. That's the opposite of safe - sure you can see where you're going, but now all the oncoming traffic is blind and more likely to cross over the center line and cause a head-on collision.

In contrast I have seen some very nice projector-style HID retrofits where the whole assembly was changed for a projector-style beam with a sharp cutoff that will not blind other drivers. The lights are adjustable and, assuming it is a quality installation, the lights are aimed properly from the beginning. You can achieve the same lighting intensity, in some cases better, than a factory installation without offending other drivers. This is much more expensive, so it is less frequently used.

My question is - if our vehicle already has projector-style headlights, can I just swap out bulbs or do I need to replace the whole unit?

My opinion is NO; as long as you cover the 'squirrel finder' hole. But some people do retrofit Halogen projector with an HID projector.

Disclaimer: Not associate with this vender. But its site does contain some interesting retrofit projects.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/ may able to answer some of the retrofit question in your mind.

[Northernridge]

Good article. Just wondering...what part of northern Ontario are you referring to for you testing?

Justin is from Sudbury - crazy guy commutes almost weekly to exchange press cars.

It's hard to understand the various strata of 'north' in Ontario.

[mixmanmash]

Something else to mention about shopping for a car and the potential performance of the forward lighting system... a general rule of thumb is that headlights with a single multi-reflector lens that combines low and high beam in one bulb with perform poorer than a setup that has dedicated low and high beam lens/bulbs.

Justin touched on this in the article by saying: "I had logged complaints in my reviews about the headlights in the new Ford F-150, Chevrolet Cruze and Hyundai Accent."
All these vehicles have a single multi-reflector lens that has to the do both the low and high beam jobs, but does neither very well.

That's how my Protege is setup and it must be the exception to the norm because the lights whether on low or high beam are exceptional. 

[mmret]

My question is - if our vehicle already has projector-style headlights, can I just swap out bulbs or do I need to replace the whole unit?

I think it will be fine.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Whoah, hold it, Justin! There's a huge difference between HID headlamps designed and built as HID headlamps (good, safe, legal) and "HID kits" installed in halogen headlamps (bad, dangerous, illegal). "HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps or fog/auxiliary lamps (anyone's kit, anyone's lamp, any kind of vehicle, any kind of halogen headlamp) do not work safely or effectively, which is why they are illegal pretty much everywhere in the world. Detailed explanation is at tinyurl.com/nohid .

[mixmanmash]

Whoah, hold it, Justin! There's a huge difference between HID headlamps designed and built as HID headlamps (good, safe, legal) and "HID kits" installed in halogen headlamps (bad, dangerous, illegal). "HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps or fog/auxiliary lamps (anyone's kit, anyone's lamp, any kind of vehicle, any kind of halogen headlamp) do not work safely or effectively, which is why they are illegal pretty much everywhere in the world. Detailed explanation is at tinyurl.com/nohid .

^^^^ This is the truth.