well here is the first thread i made about my new kit
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=7&i=318882&t=318882
since then i ahve now aimed the headlights down and taken a full night photo shoop. i am only going to show a few pictures from the photo shoot and let me know i am trying to decide if i want to hunt down a pair of H11 halogen projectors but i am not sure if i want to cut into the headlight housing because after aiming the headlight assembly i am happy with it right now.....
the first pictures quality is crappy because i was through my dirty ass windshield with no tripod
the rest are 7.2 MP scaled down to 800x600 with a good tripod. but i think the pictures are a little too dark i cant wait for my SLR.
let me know what you guys think.
Damn those look nice (& VERY bright!) This picture scares me, as this is was all the other drivers will see.
ummm..that looks nice but something just doesnt seem right.
haha yeah blackyk except the camera was only about 10-12 inchs off the ground in that pictures so hopefully normal people who suualy sit 5 feet off the ground wont see that when i am coming down the road. before i aimed the headlights down tho i ahd about 5 people flash at be buy last night after aiming down nobody hs flashed at me yet.
those are bad ass man, good job.
That's a tonne of glare man. You're going to attract cops and complaints, especially with the 8000k colour. With hids you need a proper cutoff, and a reflector shield isn't enough. Halogen projects are pretty cheap these days.
lovein them. I got the mccullough 8000k hids. had them a year this october and havnt trawn any cop attention yet. you should be ok as well. lookin good.
im sorry for you and all those who have to drive on the road with you. Wish we had a 10 commandments of lighting or something,
1. Thou shal not use HID bulbs in a reflector housing
Email me at jvanis@gmail.com if interested in 03+ cavy projectors
http://www.aplusperformance.com
Darkfire, I see you're going to get the complaints about not having projectors in this thread. None of them are from optics professionals. I also see that the way your lights are aimed it shouldn't bother anyone who isn't a midget. Looks good, I'm looking forward to getting some of my own.
^ youll be happy you did ^ i wont own another car without em
All of a sudden you have to have a phd in optics to know anything about modding cars huh? I have been in plenty of physics courses that deal with optics, and it doesnt take a genious to figure it out.
Compare these 2 pictures and tell me how stock housings arent throwing glare more than the correct HID setup.
It seems obvious to me that the second is thowing a heck of a lot less in the direction (note that pic was taken at 25 foot, aimed properly)
This pic shows the cutoff at about 20 foot from the projector, you can see where the light is actually projected and where you are just getting color refraction.
Sure aiming stock halogen reflectors lower than normal can help to reduce the amount of glare you blind others with, but it doesnt eliminate it. Each stock headlight housing has been designed to accept the exact bulb it was created for... I will use my car for example the 03 cavy has a 9007 bulb which is x inches long and distinct output pattern due to the housing. Take a bulb that is longer (as most HID bulbs are) and put it into the same housing and all of a sudden you are reflecting a different pattern from the extra length as well as a more intense light due to the nature of the beast. A projector controls and focuses that light so you dont get the glare of a halogen reflector housing. Rarely if ever do you see a stock vehicle with HIDs and reflector housings, and if so they have a custom shield made to prevent this exact situation.
All of this said, I wont even go into light output intensity and temperature rating unless provoked further... dont need an optics degree to see which setup provides the better output as well as color band....
Email me at jvanis@gmail.com if interested in 03+ cavy projectors
http://www.aplusperformance.com
Looks good man
What did the conversion run ya?
03_CF_Blues wrote:All of a sudden you have to have a phd in optics to know anything about modding cars huh? I have been in plenty of physics courses that deal with optics, and it doesnt take a genious to figure it out.
Compare these 2 pictures and tell me how stock housings arent throwing glare more than the correct HID setup.
It seems obvious to me that the second is thowing a heck of a lot less in the direction (note that pic was taken at 25 foot, aimed properly)
This pic shows the cutoff at about 20 foot from the projector, you can see where the light is actually projected and where you are just getting color refraction.
Sure aiming stock halogen reflectors lower than normal can help to reduce the amount of glare you blind others with, but it doesnt eliminate it. Each stock headlight housing has been designed to accept the exact bulb it was created for... I will use my car for example the 03 cavy has a 9007 bulb which is x inches long and distinct output pattern due to the housing. Take a bulb that is longer (as most HID bulbs are) and put it into the same housing and all of a sudden you are reflecting a different pattern from the extra length as well as a more intense light due to the nature of the beast. A projector controls and focuses that light so you dont get the glare of a halogen reflector housing. Rarely if ever do you see a stock vehicle with HIDs and reflector housings, and if so they have a custom shield made to prevent this exact situation.
All of this said, I wont even go into light output intensity and temperature rating unless provoked further... dont need an optics degree to see which setup provides the better output as well as color band....
I didn't say anthing about needing a doctorate, I said "professional." You don't have to be a "genious" to do some geometry.
You're comparing apples and oranges though, you know that right? Those pictures were taken from two different cars, housings, setups, hid kits, cameras, angles and distances. To suggest that one could decide that one was better than the other at glare, something you can only really evaluate when sitting in a car driving the opposite direction is preposterous.
You're right, stock reflector housings require the light source to be at a particular point (although you can bet they allowed for some variance) to focus the light correctly. Let's not forget that your 9007 isn't quite like the H9 and H11s of the '03+ Sunfire. These are pretty bright bulbs, and the '03+ Sunfire relflector housing has a shield to prevent unwanted vectors. Let's not assume the HID bulbs are not the correct length, because with the adapters they need for all we know they could be. But as long as we are on that topic, projector housings require light sources at a particular distance as well, if one were to move the light source one would change the image projected. So this flaw is common in both designs. Custom made shields, yadda yadda, it's just a blocking plate really, the sunfire has it's "custom made shield" as well.
Light output intensity and temperature is really based on the bulb, not the housing, and in reality you're going to get more of that shineing through with less lens in your way with a reflector housing.
Heck, I never said you needed a degree in optics either.
The one that provides the better whatnot is whatever you think you want. Whatever you've got the money for. If you think you need to blow a wad of cash on some used projectors and rip apart a second pair to mash them together in some manner, more power to you.
My point is that I want to get away from the myth that reflector housing HIDs are always going to produce glare, and they are always inferior. They may produce glare in some installations, and some installations are inferior, but it's not true 100% of the time like you are suggesting. Like I said before, you can't really tell unless you're coming the opposite way in person.
look i have my housings pointed down they are not in the stock position and i ahve had no complaints, nor people flashing their brights at me, i am also not looking to spend 500 on custom projectors nor am i really wanting to cut into my housing now to stick projectors in them unless someone can fine me a good deal on H11 projectors and probably a 2nd set or atleast 1 headlight to pratice on.
