Hi Beam HID Allignment

Hi all,

 

I have had HIDs as my high beams for a while now as I do a lot of driving at night and was hoping the HIDs would give me a bit more range to spot roos lurking on the side of the road. What I have found is that the HIDs seem to produce a beam that is lower than the normal bulb. The spread is great and I know if I could just raise the high beam reflectors, I wouldn't have a problem. I have compared the two bulbs and they seem to be the same length (ie filament v gas filled bulb hoobajoob) I will measure them acccurately at work this weekend. I have searched the forum a few times and haven't found any one who has fitted HIDs to their high beams. So if any one else has done this can you give me some tips? All help will be greatly appreciated!

Are the bulbs D2S or D2R?

 

They are different, as D2S is for projector lamps, and D2R is for reflector-based lamps.

 

On a Legacy/Liberty the low beams would have to be D2S, the high beams would have to be D2R, assuming that they were adapted to work in the corresponding halogen sockets...

Thats interesting. How can I tell? The bulbs I got were 9005's and are similar to the halogens. The kit was helios BTW.

I would get D2S for high beams since the D2R has a shield to limit the amount of light output.

I would want the max amount of light possible.

The bulb is the least of your problems. You noticed a drop in performance because you put an HID bulb in a halogen reflector housing. It simply will not work out well that way. You would have been better off putting a higher output halogen bulb in there.

I'm running 9011 HIR bulbs as my high beams. For those that don't know, HIR bulbs are halogen bulbs that use a GE developed coating on the glass that reflects much of the infrared radiation back to the filament. This heats up the filament and makes it shine much brighter. I think the technology was originally developed for the Dodge Viper. Anyways, 9011 HIR bulbs almost drop in to 9005 sockets, with just a tiy bit of filing of the base. Output is about in the middle of a halogen and an HID setup. They are designed to run in a halogen bulb housing, but are just brighter. Cost is around $30/bulb.

The bulb is the least of your problems. You noticed a drop in performance because you put an HID bulb in a halogen reflector housing. It simply will not work out well that way. You would have been better off putting a higher output halogen bulb in there.

 

 

There hasn't been a drop in performance, only that the beam on HIDs is lower than on the halogen. If I could somehow raise the highbeam reflectors all would be good. The output from the HIDs is far superior to the halogens.

 

On measuring the two bulbs, I have found the HID gas bulb to be 1.5mm shorter than the halogens. I would not have thought this would produce a lower beam but rather a less spread beam. I will try to modify the HID bulb to make it the same length as the halogen and see if that makes any differnce.

I will try to modify the HID bulb to make it the same length as the halogen and see if that makes any differnce.

:Popcorn: