HID

[sol_creeper]

Can anyone vouch for the Vision HID conversion kit?
I know it is a d2r (for the stock reflector housing), but I don't know what the Kelvin value is for the H4 kit, and how well it works with the stock del sol housing.
Perhaps, converting to projector headlights? Any links as to where I can get them?

[Geo VP]

OK, to give some answers to your questions. I personally don?t know of anyone here that has them on their car, they are kind of pricey for what they do ($200-500), I?ve checked. With that said you have to remember that they are ?NOT? true HID?s, true HID?s run very hot and would melt the stock del sol headlight housings. The only headlight housing that uses glass are the ones from Europe and that one is low beam only but does come with the parking light in it (this is an extra light not to be confused with the side markers/turn signals), the fog light used here in the states are replaced with a glass ones that uses H4 bulbs (I think it?s the same one used stock for our headlights) and that is used for both low and high beams.
As to projectors, no one makes them for the del sol and probably won?t ever, to small a run of cars to make it profitable to the manufactures (84,047 total del sols sold in the US ?93-?97).
This not to stop you from getting them, the only way I think you can find out more is to check with someone that has a Civic of your gen with them for more on it. Sorry I couldn't help you more.

Geo
Team Sol of Washington

[david97vtec]

I'm confused by what you mean by "true HIDs."

Could you elaborate?

But back to the original question, I've never heard of Vision HID kits, so I can't comment. I do know many people who swear by their HID kits though, so they must do some good. The general consensus seems to be that the German made bulbs and ballasts do the best job.

Look for Philips or Hella. Hella actually makes a decent low/high beam H4 kit for about $450 shipped from most places.

Stay away from the Japanese stuff.

I myself want those Sylvania/Osram HID fogs, but they're just a wee bit too expensive...

[Geo VP]

David go here for more on High Intensity Discharge (HID)
URL : HID information
That should explain it more and why we can't use 'True HID's' (up to 4500 degrees operating temperature) in our stock headlight housings. Hope that helps some on this. The kits they sell do increase the lighting but still they are not 'True HID's' I asked about if they were and they stated no, more of a booster type thing. That is why you don't want to put a highter wattage bulb in the fog lights it will melt the housings from the heat. I heard of guys putting up to 45 watt bulbs in there and getting away with it, he may have removed the reflector that is in there. Also I'd never touch an HID headlight that's on, a good way to get a very bad burn.

Geo
Team Sol of Washington

[david97vtec]

I didn't see anything that spelled out why we can't use HIDs.

I know of many people on the message board I frequent (Honda-Tech) that use HID kits, and have no problems with melting their headlight housings. These are real HIDs, not boosters.

The Catz Zeta system is a booster. Philips, Hella, K2, etc. are not.

[Geo VP]

OK I did some more searches, true HID's start at $500 and went up from there to $800 (they talked about the ones that sell for $200-300 the not true HID's), every 'how-to' I found you have to modify the headlight housing some to put the bulb in the rest was plug and play. As to the different, filament vers electrode. Some problems stated: some/most low beam only- on most use regular old style bulbs for high beams (as if you'll need them with the way they light up, one set I found used a reflector that moved so you could have low and high beams with one bulb, pretty cool) , slow warm up, alignment has to be right on, clean lens (the better ones sold the kit with new housings). Pluses: more like day light for your eyes, wider beam more to the sides great for turns, 35 watts, long life (2000 hours) cooler running (I know I stated they run hotter, melt housing, got that from the one article I was reading on them, I think I got mixed up and it was not temp but brightness when they used 'K's', so sorry about that). Also I didn't find a true HID kit made just for the sol, just universal kits. some of the ones I checked out Sylvania, Phillips, and K2s (as brand names).
(eatting some crow right now on some of this)

Geo
Team Sol of Washington

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 13, 2002 09:48 PM: Message edited by: Geo VP ]</font>

[zen_nexus]

in my humblest opinion... if you are going to be spending $500.00 plus on headlights, save a little longer for something even better... go for the silvia s15 conversion. looks oh so sweet, sure you may have to do a little body mod, but if ya think about it $500.00 is almost enough to purchase the lights. from my understanding they run about $1000.00 for the lights alone then you have to do alittle body work... nothin to bad. overall i would probably expect to pay around $2000.00 out the door lights included. in the end you will have a very rare Sol, not many out there have this conversion but it is possible. just think save alittle more and you will have something that would be better than HID. just my opinion though.

[david97vtec]

Geo: Sorry if I came off a bit "know-it-all" sounding. I spent a good month researching HIDs, and I've heard quite a few first-hand opinions on them, so I tend to get a little excited when I see misinformation being spread [img]smile.gif[/img] But it's all good...

Oh and one more thing. All the HID kits are "universal." To work completely right, the headlight housing has to be designed to use HIDs. That's what gives off the color most of the time (for instance, S2000s have that really bright purple tint...that's mostly from their housing). So if someone were to make a kit specific to Sols or Civics, they would need to design a new headlight housing. Otherwise a universal H4 kit is the best you can find.

Brent: I totally know what you mean. Well, sort of. I just look at it as if you're spending $500 on headlights, why not save a little more and get some good cams or something? BTW I'd love to do an S2000 headlight conversion.

[Geo VP]

Yeah, I ran into a couple of site that talked about sanding and polishing your headlight housing (plastic ones at least) so they didn't defuse/defect the light around so much, others sold replacment housings for a better light pattern. But I did like the one set that had the reflector that moved so you had simulated low/high beams.

Geo
Team Sol of Washington

[zen_nexus]

my personal preference would be to go with the s15 conversion and s2000 tails... yummy!!! this with gunmetal paint, carbon fiber hood/top/trunklid, my kosei k1s gloss black with gunmetal flake... ok i better stop now before i start breaking out some credit cards.=P