HID glare

nellyg

thinking of getting hid's in my vw golf mk5 and im just wondering about glare from them.the headlights are the reflector type.would these produce alot of glare.and also would upgrading to projectors solve this or do they need to be HID specific projectors. any advice appreciated

Anjobe

To pass the NCT you will need type approved HID headlamp units, or to swap the bulbs back to halogen for the test. HID bulbs in reflector units are a menace.

ba_barabus

Anjobe wrote: »

To pass the NCT you will need type approved HID headlamp units, or to swap the bulbs back to halogen for the test. HID bulbs in reflector units are a menace.

I hate this advice of swapping them back after the NCT. So many of them are blinding for other drivers and swapping them around just continues the problem.

That's not at you Anjobe, it's been given countless times and I've heard mechanics give it to. A lot of them would fail to pass an NCT as they aren't suitable.

Mycroft H

nellyg wrote: »

thinking of getting hid's in my vw golf mk5 and im just wondering about glare from them.the headlights are the reflector type.would these produce alot of glare.and also would upgrading to projectors solve this or do they need to be HID specific projectors. any advice appreciated

No, there will be a dangerous amount of glare with a reflector unit. The shape and size of a HID source of light is different which causes too much spill.

Halogen Projectors? Yes they would probably okay, however the NCT have started to pull up on these.

Best of fitting the manufacturer's supplied Xenons.

Xpro

Nowadays you can buy short H7r or H4r Hid bulbs designed for halogen lamps. They have a little shield on top of them to prevent the glare.
When tested on the beam setter, they are perfectly legal.

The same bulbs are fitted in likes of OEM halogen Renault lagunas and some of the Lexus's.

mullingar

Do not attempt to fit hids in reflector light. Glare is guaranteed and is 100% selfish.

Best thing to do is buy a pair second hand projector headlights and stick them into the car

Xpro

mullingar wrote: »

Do not attempt to fit hids in reflector light. Glare is guaranteed and is 100% selfish.

Best thing to do is buy a pair second hand projector headlights and stick them into the car

What you said is true if you buy HID bulbs for projector lamps, but not true for purposely designed Hid for halogen lamps

Most of the lexus GS/LS run factory HID's in Halogen type lamps.

YbFocus

I have h7r's in my astras reflector housing, perfect focus, no spill at all.
I'll get a pic tomorrow.
Never get a flash etc, had a mechanic friend ask how I'd managed it, didn't know of the r type bulbs.
Honestly don't buy the standard h7 etc type, get the h7r type and you'll have no glare.
I was pedantic about causing glare for others and they wouldn't be in there if there was any spill.

Sadly they won't pass a test because i don't have washers etc so they still need to come out.

mytime

Can I ask were the bulbs expensive and is there much fitting involved?

YbFocus wrote: »

I have h7r's in my astras reflector housing, perfect focus, no spill at all.
I'll get a pic tomorrow.
Never get a flash etc, had a mechanic friend ask how I'd managed it, didn't know of the r type bulbs.
Honestly don't buy the standard h7 etc type, get the h7r type and you'll have no glare.
I was pedantic about causing glare for others and they wouldn't be in there if there was any spill.

Sadly they won't pass a test because i don't have washers etc so they still need to come out.

YbFocus

mytime wrote: »

Can I ask were the bulbs expensive and is there much fitting involved?

Very same price as normal hids and the very same to install too mytime, no change to either.

mullingar

Xpro wrote: »

What you said is true if you buy HID bulbs for projector lamps, but not true for purposely designed Hid for halogen lamps

Most of the lexus GS/LS run factory HID's in Halogen type lamps.

I can comment on this.

I have that exact car and fit second hand genuine HID headlights to it.

Yes they are reflector design type, BUT, the HID reflector is made to a fine tolerance for HID bulbs and are very different to standard reflector lenses. These lights have the legal HID approved marking that the NCT look for.

yop

Too many of them on the road that blind you and are brutal if they are stuck behind you for a distance. Either they are fitted right or banned as they are just downright blinding for other drivers

Hachiko

Indeed, if your car does not have them factory fitted its a waste of time and money to get them fitted as you will need washers and auto level sensors to pass tests, whats the point putting them on and taking them off again for tests. Besides good halogen bulbs are fine, its not like you wont be able to see where you are going.

Popoutman

The other problem with bluer headlights for oncoming drivers is regarding the internal glare in the eye of older drivers.

As we age the vitreous humour degrades and scatters light more than it does when we are younger. Due to the nature of light, blue light gets scattered preferentially compared to redder wavelengths.

What this means is that bright bluer lights shining either directly into the eye or reflected from a damp road surface, creates a large halo of light around the light source and rendering it impossible for the person seeing this blue light to see what's going on around the light being shone towards them. This halo is not as apparent with the e.g 4-5000k light output from OEM HIDs or halogen bulbs, but is certainly and issue with the 8000k HID aftermarket bulbs. It's still an issue even with the correct housings but it's a real issue with improper installations of any type. Dirty/scratched/cloudy lenses are a cause of a lot of this glare as well.

In short if you want better use from your dipped lights, either use the brighter halogen bulbs or invest in the proper OEM housings and associated systems including the washers and levellers.