I've recently installed some PIAA headlight bulbs in my low/high beams and fog lights, and although they are better than the stock bulbs, I still find them lacking for highway driving. As a result I have been looking at upgrading to HID and have a few questions that I was hoping someone can help me with:

1. Given that my headlights are the factory reflector lenses, is there an issue with blinding other drivers using an HID kit without projector lenses given that the beam is less focused and significantly brighter? If projector lenses are required, any idea where to get a pair other than the dealership?

2. I'm looking at converting my low beam, high beam, and fog lights to HID. Are they are issues with converting all three?

3. Are BOW's required for the fog lights and do I need 55w or 35w?

4. Anyone used SharpHID.com before?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I think my best guess would be get the S60R housings, as they already come with D2R bulbs in reflectors. I think you will get the best factory legal output without resorting to a HID projector Retrofit. After that, you can go ahead and get some 55W Ballasts, that will cause your BOW to go away.

Do NOT convert your hi-beam to HID. There is no point, as they are ment to be halogen. if you try to flash someone, you will have to wait for your HID's to warm up. Just get some higher wattage hibeam bulbs. Fog lights should be fine, however I disapprove doing it to reflector foglights, along with the fact that fogs that are too bright will actually decrease night time visibility. The light in front of the car will be too bright.

SharpHID is very good.

 

I have done this to mine with a 55w 6000k kit in standard light housings and they are absolutley fine. No dazzle to oncoming drivers and a huge difference in light output. Night and day difference liturally.
Eveb though i fitted a 55w kit i would still get an intimitant dipped beam failure warning so i had to drill a 2ml hole in the shunt which is well documented on these forums and this solved that problem.
This upgrade is highly recomended. And dont be to worried about the brand as they pretty much all do the same job just some will come with badly translated chinese instructions and the more expensive wont.

You can see the light output in the pictures attached. The middle pic has standard Halogen left and HID right. As you can see there is a huge difference.

 

The Bulb out warning situation is somewhat moody on these cars.. Sometimes it works with a 55w kit, other times it doesnt and you have to resort to the drill shunt method..

I have seen cars with reflector high beam HID's, definitely not something I would recommend, just scatters light too much as takes too long to power on for effective flashing..
The Fogs, if angled right it would be ok, but I wouldnt want 55w on fogs.. too bright for that purpose, but then if you consider 35w you run into the bulb out issue..

Concerning colour temperature, I would suggest 5000k over 6000k.. Doesn't sound like much of a difference but the 5000 is pure white light as opposed to 6000 which has that bluish tinge to it...
Also, 5000 has slightly higher light output and would look closer to a OEM HID kit, so possibly less attention from the coppers..

Finally, SharpHID vs www.ddmtuning.com
DDM tuning is usually about $15-$20 cheaper for the same exact brand of kit... Also, they usually ship faster and have found their customer service to be better...

Check it out and compare yourself!

Final statement, I own two of the DDM Slim ballast kits which I bought from ddm (both 35w) and have had no problems so far.. despite my honda having back to front polarity on the wiring.. but thats honda just being weird, nothing to do with ddm..

 

crespo:

Not to bash on you, but all I really see is glare from your housings. I would either get S60R housings or do a projector retrofit. It may be expensive, but you will notice with projectors a major difference.

 

I think that is more to do with the angle and poor quality camera phone i took the pics with. they really look no different than with the halogen bulbs but a whiter light. i had my lights aligned propperly after installing the HID kit so i would not be dazzling on coming drivers as thats the last thing i wanted to do. Here is pic of the back of my car taken with the same camera. You can see how bright it makes my rear lights look. They look like the brake lights.

 

I guess it isn't that bad now that I can see the light spread now, but I still do not like the glare unless you are running D2R Bulbs. I'm kind of an HID lighting *****, I've gone though so many projectors now and everything like that.

 

manyadeal.com is usually about $15-$20 cheaper for the same exact brand of kit... Also, they usually ship faster and have found their customer service to be better...