Well a friend of mine gave me a set of HID head lamp kits for my car. The light kit is the kind that replaces the stock bulbs with a Xenon arch lamp, ballast and ignitor. The color is 6000k white/blue. The kit was a Xmas present and was purchased from carhidkits site, so I do not want to offend my friend by never trying them, but at the same time I do not want to blind others on the road or get a FAT TICKET. What are the penalties if it is not legal? Heck, what is the legality of these light kits? I live in CA if that has any bearing.

 

Not legal anywhere. You need lamps, ballast, igniters and the housing. Plug & play HID's are a no-no.

 

as long as they dont glare TOO much and can be aimed low, it shouldn't pose a problem. It might not be legal but since many new cars like the Prius run reflector housed HIDs, we can kinda get away with it

 

6000k isnt that bad. just run them

 

Please dont. For the sake of others on the road, and to defend the little bit of integrity the Honda Fit still has. We are starting to be grouped together with ricers because of these silly lights that do not produce any more light than halogen lighting. Please do your research and dont be a blind sheep. And yes they are illegal.

http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2491845

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...rofitting.html

 

yea, they're illegal. but...i'd say your pretty safe with 6k. i have stock 4300 bulbs in mine, and i didn't put jdm rice yellow bulbs in my foglights, and the front of my car at night looks nearly identical to my friend's prius, lol.

if you were to get a ticket, it'd most likely be a "fix-it". CHP writes them off for free, then you just go pay the court. i think they up'd the price from $10 to $25.

 

Your 4300k HID's are not stock. 4300k refers to temperature and color. Just because its 4300k doesnt mean its fine. Its about how xenon lightwaves react in comparison with halogen lighting. These two are very different forms of light. Honda engineers spent tons of hours properly aiming every mirror in your reflective housing headlight to properly aim and reflect the halogen light waves into the right direction. When a xenon bulb is introduced the beam gets scattered and points in places it doesnt need too, like the sky.

As for cars that came stock with HID's and reflectors. These cars have headlights that were SPECIFICALLY ENGINEERED to aim these xenon light waxes, if you were to put a halogen bulb in a prius, it would look like shit. No matter how bright. Please take the time to educate yourself on different forms of lighting and how they act. Plug and play HID's are as ricey as you can get. It goes hand in hand with big spoilers, coffee can exhausts, and chicken wire body kits.

 

when i said stock, i meant the temperature, as most hid's in higher end cars are that temperature on the kelvin scale. i didn't mean they came stock. i wasn't aware that you were gonna get all technical on my post.

yes, i've heard it all about what you're saying and i'm with you on all of that, but the fit actually has a pretty good pattern with very little glare to oncomers. i mean, it's definitely not like putting hid's in an 91 cressida or something, lol. and, did you know that the base model prius with no options came WITHOUT xenons? i'm not sure if they has different housings for those models, but it seems unlikely.

 

The housings used for HID applications in all US DOT legal vehicles are different from an approved halogen housings.
They may look the same in appearance during the day, but Prius HID and H4 housings have different part numbers because they are very different.
I really like factory HID's, they put out the best light and beam pattern hands down. But the aftermarket kits being installed are just bad.
Even retrofits without any self leveling capabilities like the factory installed original equipment ones cause glare and stray light that gives HID's a bad reputation.
But they are better than those cheap kits flooding the marketplace...

 

i actually just bought a HID kit from my friend for pretty cheep, im excited to put them on, but after researching for quite some time, idk if i should put them on, i hear yeah theryre fine and no theyre not from different forums and such...

theyre 10k, i have a friend that has the exact same set (brand and all) on his modded out civic and hasnt had a problem with the law from what hes said, so ill give them a try i guess...

if i get pulled bc of them im def gonna sell them, and buy some yellow fogs. cause i know i can flip them for a decent profit

 

haha, crazy i'm surprised toyota just didn't sell all the prius' with xenon's instead of making just a few of them with halogens.

from what i understand raouf, 10k has worse light output than regular halogens bcause of their temperature. i think anything beneficial is within the 4300-6000 range as far as light output goes. maybe h4lights, qb or another guru will chime in.

 

Here's an article that may help:
Color Temperature | Correlated Color Temperature | Kelvin
Color temp. is one thing but usable light output is another very important aspect of being able to see without pissing off everyone around you.

 

If you can't or don't want to retro fit then another option is to run casper shields. It's an adaptor that goes into the headlight and allow you to run D2R bulbs like the oem's. The main thing with the shields is that it only allow light to hit the top part of the reflector as to not blind other drivers.
This set up is not as good in term of output as projectors but much cheaper.

 

Temperature means nothing if the reflectors are not properly aiming the light. It doesn't matter which forum is telling you what. Do your own research and read the FACTS, not opinions. I linked you to several websites and threads that I highly recommend you read.

 

Not legal, but up to you if you want to take your chances. I just installed a H4 Bi-xenon HID kit in my GD. movable bulb for hi-lo, lower shield to reduce glare (works same as so called "casper" shield. 4300k colour. I've not had anyone flash me, and I've had a cop drive alongside me for a whole length of a cross-boroughs bridge with no legal troubles.

The shield does a lot to reduce glare, but a HID kit is no substitute for a properly designed OEM HID system. While the light is brighter, I do notice slight "waves" of lighter and darker spots on the road. Not nearly as even and nice of a dispersion pattern as an OEM setup.

If you want to follow through with the install, go to the DIY on my blog. It will show you how to install the kit on a GD. It will also show you some photos and more thoughts about the install.

But if it's a single or bi-xenon kit with no lower shield, I would not run it.

 

Here are some Puffs Plus with Lotion for you before I start><

How old are you guys on here? HID's and yellow fogs are an absolute must on the Fit!! It is a Honda and there fore should be treated as such. Dump it, tint it, light it, and apply the sticker love BABY!!!! Fuck the LAW, pay the ticket for the sake of all the REAL HONDA guys. I mean why did you buy the fit to start with? Gas Milage? Sounds to me like yall must be mid 40's to late 60's complaining about the youngsters in America. Bright lights and modded Hondas are our life. We know your life is your grandkids, and that is okay with us. Just stay away from our cars, and ways, because the only REAL REASON we do what we do is to PISSS YOU OFFF ANYWAY. Obviously it is working.

 

I appreciate all the research here, very knowledgeable people for sure, but I've had my 6k kit for some time now and haven't had one person flash their lights at me and have passed many cops w/o a problem. IMO, people who have their high beams on w/o knowing it are the bigger hazards on the road, I mean, don't they know what that blue light is on the dash

As far as the stock halogens putting out just as much light as my 6k HIDs, I don't think that's true to be honest with you guys, not trying to slam you and your knowledge or anything and yes, I went with yellow fogbulbs and IMO they aren't "rice" at all. OEMs with yellow fogs are using halogen bulbs, just like I did. Mine are 2500k Nokya's and IMO what's really rice is HID fogs, just asking to get pulled over IMO

 

I'm 40 and have 6k HIDs and Nokya 2500k yellow fogs (non-HIDs) and plan on lowering the car too AND am looking for rims (Rota Blitz)

I don't know if I'm a real Honda guy, I'm just a car guy who likes a certain look, heck, I even have chrome bulbs that turn amber when in use, how cool is that I've added decals to my car that look like it could've come that way from the factory but one thing I will never do.....add a system and play BASS crap but I would love to have a good system to blast my music loud though, rock and roll, blues and jazz....no country, hip hop flavor of the month type music or classical

Its true this phrase...."IF ITS TOO LOUD, YOUR TOO OLD!"....just can't stand the BASS shit!

 

Even retrofits are illegal, but not nearly as annoying and cops hardly notice them.