HID or not?

[a2j]

I need to replace factory headlights on my 1G.
Should I convert to HID as well? Is it worth money/time? I just wanna be able to see the road while driving in the middle of dark night on a lonely country road. Our other car has HIDs, its nice. but would simple 4H conversion on my 1G be a big improvement over stock? or should I go extra mile to get HIDs working?
thank you for your input. I did search...

[Nationalmilkman]

Huge improvement! I'd say it's a great mod for the time and money. You'll be a lot safer as well since you can see more.

[a2j]

are you talking about just 4H conversion improvement? or 4H with HID conversion improvement?

[Nationalmilkman]

H4 HID. I had a buddy with a set of HIDs in his car(Benz) and they are 3X brighter than the stock bulbs. I will be goin with a set in my ES in a few weeks I hope.

[arm0red1]

Installed my HID KIT from DDM tuning and LOVE it! It was a huge difference, and was great for my driving out to the 'burbs of our city at night to my house. Also helps me catch things like deer or patches of black ice MUCH farther away. Very worthwhile mod, and for 40 bucks and a lifetime warranty on their raptor ballast kit, you can't go wrong. My biggest complaint was just that shipping took awhile, they're situated in the UK and I'm in central Wisconsin....

[93STLTH]

Make sure you get a good housing. The cheap ones spread the light all over the place and will probably get you a ticket. I got a set from Hella and the light pattern is pretty good, although, I still get a few people flashing their high beams at me once and I while. It's funny because I don't even have high beams anymore.

[a2j]

so, if I will convert to HIDs, I will loose high beam? this could be a deal breaker for me...

[Nationalmilkman]

No you wouldn't. Just buy high/low single bulb HIDs. Buddy of mine sells them pretty reasonable for the whole kit.

[a2j]

what if I will convert my fog light to HID and just replace headlight with better ones, but not HID. Would this make any sense?

[Nationalmilkman]

Fog lights are ment to put a lot of light low and right in front of you. And if your going to convert lights then your going to get the most use out of the headlight convert.

[Sir C]

OK, so are there any standard fitting replacement bulbs that will be a step up in terms of light output and color temperature without involving any special fitting?

[TUFFTR]

OK, so are there any standard fitting replacement bulbs that will be a step up in terms of light output and color temperature without involving any special fitting?

Dude fuck yeah. HID's can suck a fat fucking cock.
Osram nightbreaker +80's are just a fantastic globe. 80% more light and at $30 delivered, I know where my money is.
As an auto elec we tested these against a set of 100W globes and I tell you what, you could BARELY notice the difference.

My money is on Osram nightbreakers. Run them in both my cars, wouldn't change them for AsianVision, sorry HID's anyday.
They are standard color temp though which I find fine. Also you don't blind everyone in the oncoming lanes. Good for you, easy on everyone else's eyes, win win.

[DocWalt]

HIDs are the shit. Is it worth the cost of converting a 1G the right way so you don't blind people? No, go for the Osram Nightbreakers like TUFFTR said ;)

[Jeremy C]

Gotta do it right so you're not one of those annoying people that blinds everyone else. For a housing that is meant for HID's - no standard bulb can touch them.

There's only one downside to HID's from my experience: If you live in a climate where you get a lot of snow, the headlight housings will not warm up enough to melt anything off, so you will need to scrape them clean before you drive, and they can get caked up again while driving. At least in my Focus I had that problem. In a 3S it might get warm enough since the housing is much, much closer to the outside surface. Someone else can chime in if they have more experience related to a 3S with HIDs.

[DocWalt]

In my '94 I never had that issue, but they definitely didn't melt the snow all that well.

[92 3K]

I dont have them on my 3K yet. Thats gonna be the last thing I do after the motor is in. But here are 2 pictures on my 91 Camry. The stock headlight output was way worse that the 3000GT output. So i added 6K headlights and then added fog lights with 8K HIDs. All are from DDM Tuning. The Light output now, as you can see, is 200% better. I can see so far down the road and people rarely flash me.

http://i40.tinypic.com/s1sxgl.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/vpyp87.jpg

[Spyder]

Hids in most "reflector" housings glare waaaay to much. At best for a H4 housing get the hid kit that has the high and low function with the heavy shielding. I have tested different set ups of H4 hid kits all on the same housing and that gave the best control for the glare.

For regular bulbs orsam night breakers or Philips xp are some of the top choices.

[TUFFTR]

Osram nightbreakers are WIN