I see this thread is somewhat dated, but thought I'd post to it anyhow, as I have heaps of experience with the topic.

In July 2005 I installed 2 HID conversion kits in my 2004 BA Futura. 4300k Hi/Lo on both beams in the H4's & 6000k in the H7's. Both kits were purchased on eBay for around $180 per kit + freight. I had them installed by an Auto Electrician, which cost around $120.00 for a VERY neat and tidy job. So all up it cost me approx $540.

I live at Tamworth NSW, I'm a sales rep, and do approx 80,000 km's per year, which includes a lot of night driving through areas such as Armidale, Glen Innes, Inverell, Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, and down the Hunter Valley to Newcastle. This territory includes mountainous country, narrow/winding back country roads, and stretches of long straight highway. So I think it fair to say that I've experienced HID's under all conditions.

Overall comment - They are BRILLIANT, however there are some + and - points.

PLUS - 1/ 50% more usable / visable distance on low beam, with huge increase in contrast of the road and any objects. This was by far the greatest improvement. 2/ I have focused the RHS low beam so that it illuminates the centre of the lefthand side lane. With the LHS light focused to give greater illumination to the side of the road, so I can see the roos before they get onto the road. 3/ The HID's also cut through rain and fog MUCH better than any other light I've ever seen. 4/ The high beam with both the H4 & H7's on, is FANTASTIC, from the driver's seat of MY car (see minus below)

MINUS - 1/ To have the H4's focused for greater low beam benefit, they lose out on high beam. I did have them focused for best high beam, but the loss on low beam wasn't worth it. 2/ On coming vehicles HATE me. Especially when driving those long straight stretches around Moree, Narrabri, Wee Waa etc. I get oncoming vehicles flashing me from what must be 5klm away. I seem to drive a lot of time on low beam because of this. I have to dip my lights so often, that I'm probably driving 50% of the time on low beam, whereas with halogens, that would have been 25% of the time. Long and short of it is, that when oncoming traffic is NOT a problem, the HID's are GREAT. But due to the vastly increased range and volume of light, I actually drive less on high beam, which means I would have been better of with Halogen high beams, because I could have used them more. And Halogen high beam gives more light than HID low beam.

Having said all that, I'm now looking to install something similar in my XR6, which is exactly the same standard headlights as the Futura.

The other option is to leave the headlights standard, and install a set of auxillary driving lights, that are HID's, such as Hella Predators, which cost around $1500 each, or buy a set of Rallye 4000's for $500, and fit HID conversions to them.

Hope the above is of interest, and helps out anybody contemplating similar.

If others have something to add or comment on, I would be VERY pleased to hear it, as I'm going to do something with my XR6 VERY soon.

You can email me directly if you like t.dare@bigpond.com

Cheers

I know the thread is a little old, but what you wrote made for a great read. It was perfect timing as well as my dad has just installed a set in his NL fairlane ghia and they are f**k AWESOME. I myself will be also fitting a kitl...so perfect timing for you comments.

cheers

Andrew

Last edited by andrewsfutura on Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

HIDs are cool. ive had them for about 3.5 years now. great light..im running them behond the XR projectors so its a very nice clear beam.

I've got them in my GT-P, H4's lo/hi, but I've left the H7 highs as halogens. Also HID-ified my spot lights/fog lights.

Just be careful by aiming them a little lower than standard, and you won't annoy oncoming traffic.

A few things I forgot to mention in my earlier post

1/ I used to be a Sales Rep for one of the leading Automotive wholesalers. Lighting products were approx 25% of what I sold. I had access to technical info from all the major manufacturers, and attended many product launches, and trade & demo nights etc. So I got to see all the latest & greatest, and to hear all the promotional guff that the manufacturers would have you believe.

2/ I have tried all the "new" style halogen globes. The manufacturere's reps would always try to ply us with freebie globes to try out. Fortunately for me, my company car was a BA ford, same as my own 2 vehicles, so I got to "suck it and see" at somebody elses expense.
Make no mistake, the "Improved Vision" halogen bulbs all work. But maybe not to the same degree as the manufacturers might claim.

3/ My XR6 is a 2005 BA series 1 - Not a AU, which means mine has the vacuum chrome plated reflector in all the headlights. An important point to keep in mind with this type of headlight is that it can be EASILY damaged by heat. I have seen numerous examples of units damaged by people fitting 100w globes. The extra heat generated by a 100w filament globe, in place of the standard 55w globe is pretty severe. The heat causes the reflector to go brown. I've seen some do this in as little as 3 months, and others have taken as long as 12 months. I guess it all depends on how much night driving you do, and how much of that night driving is on high beam. But if you fit 100w filament bulbs, you WILL sooner or later, cause irrepairable damage to an expensive headlight assembly.

4/ The "Standard" HID globe is 35w, but as is very well known, this puts out far greater light than ANY wattage of halogen. There are now suppliers of 50w HID's ,,,,, BE WARNED ,,,, The 50w HID'S COULD / MIGHT / MAYBE ,,,,, cause the same damage to the vacuum chromed reflectors. The heat from 35w HID is LESS than any other bulb. The heat from 50w HID is GREATER than 55w Halogen, and getting up there with 100w Halogen ,,,, so BE WARNED.

5/ I also have a 1989 Toyota Hi-Lux 4x4. The standard headlights on this were without doubt the WORST light I have ever seen on any vehicle. My son's pushbike light was better ,,,, no bull. On low beam, the light oozed out of the lamps and then down onto the bullbar,,,, and then it dribbled down onto the road about a foot in front of the vehicle if it was standing still,,,,, anything over 60kph, and I think the light used to get blown back under the vehicle by the draught. High beam pointed straight ahead, but was so gutless that it simply dissipated into the darkness, without actually illuminating anything. I tried everything,,,adjustments & focusing, larger wiring, direct wiring from the battery, via relays, 120w bulbs,,,,and all to no really usable improvement. So I fitted a set of 4300k Bi-Xenon H4 Hi/Lo's to the standard headlight shells. If I thought the improvement HID's made to my Futura was GREAT ,,,, the difference to the Hi-Lux was nothing short of MIRACULOUS. The lights are now good enough to actually drive on back country roads ( read as winding, hilly, dirt roads, with kangaroo infested scrub right up to the road side). The percentage improve that HID's made on my Futura was about 50% on low beam, and 100% on high beam. On the Toyota Hi-Lux, it was about 200% on BOTH low and high beams.

6/ I'm not big on fitting expensive auxillary lighting. After hitting about a dozen animals over the years (roos, sheep, cattle, and on 1 occasion, a horse). I've written off 2 vehicles, and damaged a few others. But every time, I've written off a set of driving lights, including Cibie Oscars & Super Oscars,,,, Hella 2000's & 4000's, and the light I found best of all,,,, the Lightforce polycarbonate. At least with HID's, the most you're likely to lose is the bulbs, because the expensive part is the ballast, which if your smart, is securely mounted on the inner mudguard,,,, a tad further back than the front of the motor, so there is something to protect the ballast in event of a crumpled front end. INSURANCE you ask ????? FORGET IT. Read your policy,,,, it asks if there are any modifications. HID's are ILLEGAL. The girl who takes your details over the phone when you take the policy out usually isn't savvy enough to tell you at the time, so you do the right thing, and list the HID's as modifications,,,,, but when you make a claim for a written off set ,,,,, it might be that they WIPE THE WHOLE CLAIM ,,,, because you have an ILLEGAL modification. Luckily for me,,,, but bad luck for a mate of mine,,, because thats EXACTLY what happened to him. Not only down a set of Rallye 4000's with HID inserts,,,, but also down a $4,000 claim for the rest of the damaged ute. THE TIP IS ,,,,, If you fit HID's ,,,, do NOT tell the insurance company. You will be breaching your duty of disclosure, but there ain't no other way around it if you want HID's on your vehicle. I'm not trying to lead anybody into making false claims, or breaching duty of disclosure, am just making you aware of a potential problem. Use the information,,,, make your own enquiries,,, and subsequent decision.

7/ Important things to bear in mind when fitting HID conversions -
a/ Buy units with UV cut glass bulbs. This will eliminate possability of "browning" reflector lenses.
b/ Unless you are a pretty smart cookie (aren't we all PMSL),,, get them wired in by a GOOD auto electrician. Don't skimp on cable size,,, go 5mm. Have a seperate relay fitted for each ballast. Have each ballast protected by either a good quality circuit breaker (silver contacts) and/or a fusible link. It's better to trash $50 worth of circuit protection, than to trash a few grands worth of wiring, and maybe a few more grands worth of BCM or EMS. Do a bit of research on the internet, there are a good number of stories about TOTAL vehicle meltdowns, suposedly attributable to shonky HID ballasts and/or associated wiring.
c / Take the time and effort to FOCUS your new lights PROPERLY. Firstly for protection of oncoming drivers, and inturn yourself (they might hit you headon at worst senario). And so that you get maximum benefit from your considerable investment. The light pattern generated by the HID bulb is DIFFERENT to that of Halogen. The parabolic reflector of your headlight has been designed for halogen. You will get best results possible from HID if you take the time to FOCUS and ALIGN PROPERLY.

Best wishes and good luck


At the end of the day,,,,, HID's are a HUGE improvement, and to my mind, a DEFINATE safety feature, especially for anybody doing a reasonable amount of night driving in rural areas.

Data_Mine A question to you mate

What colour HID did you fit to your Fog Lamps ?

If you've read each of my earlier posts, you would see that to my 2004 BA Futura, I fitted 4300k Hi/Lo to the H4's and 6000k to the H7's. On my Hi-lux I fitted 4300k Hi/Lo to the H4's. I arrived at these colours after a lot of research. That research along with my own experience, tells me that 3200k would be best in the fog lamps, coz it's a yellower light, which cuts through the mist/fog/rain better than the higher kelvin colours.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated, as I'm about to do something with my 2005 XR6. Will probably go all out, and do all 6 lights in various HID's.

And a question of everybody ,,,,, Anybody had any experience with XenonOz. His HID's are 10 times the cost of whats advertised on eBay. I've spoken to him, and he claims his stuff is all made in Germany & Japan. He says the stuff on eBay is made in China / Korea / Tiawan, and that it's all rubbish. All the HID's I've fitted have been off eBay, and not a problem. Would appreciate some feedback on any experiences, either good or bad on this.

Cheers

I've got 6000K all around (headlights and fogs - I use them as DRLs).

You think it'd be hard to miss a GT-P next to you on the road, but nooooooo Canberrans still always tried to merge on top of me. The HIDs in the spotties - that I use all the time, have almost eliminated idiots trying to change lanes into me.

However, what you've said is true, a yellower light will cut through fog better as it reflects on water (aka fog) less, than the bluer light of higher colour temperatures.

i've got the 6000k ones for my el xr6 they look smik the 6000k is the brightest avalible after that its just colour mine are whitish blue 8000k is blue 12,000 is violet and 14,000k is purple but there not leagal the 6000k is though

Here are 35W and 55W 6000K

Left: Halogen
Right: 6000K 35W



From left to right;
6000K 35W
6000K 55W
Halogen 55W
6000K 35W


Left: 6000K 35W
Right: 6000K 55W

Wow, haven't seen 55W HIDs in action (where'd you get them?).

I've got 35W 6000K low/high, and 55W halogen highs.

Here's 35W 6000K HID vs, 55W halogen



Back on the topic of fog lights, now you can get yellow HIDs (about 3000K I think).
edit:

Last edited by data_mine on Fri May 22, 2009 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They're just cheap eBay jobs from HK. One of my Ballasts died, so I ordered 2 full new sets of HID's - they're so damn cheap!

old thread but oh well..

ordered a 6000k H1 hid kit off ebay on friday night to fit in my ef. its from a supplier in melbourne and only cost $100.

has anybody fitted them them themselves or has everyone just paid someone to do it?
thinking ill try it myself, they dont seem to hard to fit but ill have to look when they arrive.

If you can change a lightbulb you should be able to manage. If not, you shouldn't be working on a car.

I used to work at a truck parts/service company and we used to con the boss into promo nights for a great excuse to drown ourselves in free beer and make a fool of ourselves amongst suppliers and key account customers alike (so much that the boss ordered light beer from then on in tosser)

Anyways, one night we doing an oil display, and the boys were out the back in the carpark blind as anything and being the boys from the bush, they all had to see who had the biggest mudflaps, loudest feral exhaust, and of course, the brightest lights. So I brought the HIDs out the back and said I'd show them how good they were etc. Just ONE HID driving light (5400 series IIRC) outshon two utes with a set of lightforce XGTs on each. They really make you sit back in awe. Of course you have one on spread and one on straight focus and you can read a newspaper a couple k's down the road in either direction for miles I'll be putting them into the ba when I get it. They are worth every penny and more, tbh.

To prove it, as we all know, truck drivers are the third most inconsiderate people on the earth, after parking inspectors and holden drivers, and if you've ever faced a truck from the CEVA fleet on the highway, you'll understand what I mean. From memory, these guys (amongst others) utilise 4 HIDs up top and 2 or 4 down below, so yes, they are f**k bright.

mine should arrive this week, got the email saying payment was recieved and item sent.

ill have to try find some time and somewhere to take some before pics.