Are HID bulbs/kits legal or illegal
The Department of Transportation has rigorous standards for headlight assemblies. The regulations detail the beam pattern required for high and low beams. Once a headlight assembly is designed and approved for a particular type of bulb, it is illegal to retrofit it with a different bulb.
Many people buy high intensity discharge (HID) aftermarket kits that claim they’ll retrofit into existing headlight assemblies. Well, they may fit, but they’re not legal if the original assembly was approved for halogen bulbs.
Legal or not, what the big deal?
Ok, so you’re willing to skirt the law and risk a ticket and you want to know what the big deal is, right? Well, first, since the original headlight assemblies were designed for a specific halogen bulb, the focal point of the reflector is curved in such a way as to maximum beam pattern and brightness for that particular bulb. The second you install a different bulb, you change the focal point and beam pattern. In many cases, you will actually cast LESS light on the road if you drop in an HID kit. Yeah, you read that right. You’ll see WORSE with an HID retro-fit kit than you did with the original halogen.
And, because the beam pattern is different than the halogen bulbs, HID kits often cause glare to oncoming traffic and THAT’s how you get caught by the police. The glare gives you away.
Next, since HID bulbs run at a higher temperature, you risk melting or at least distorting the lens and reflector in your headlight assembly. Don’t kid yourself, most factory headlights are molded from plastic. Expose them to too much heat and they distort, giving you EVEN LESS light. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
HID kits notoriously unreliable
HID lights aren’t typical light bulbs. They more like fluorescent bulbs where two electrodes energize a
gas inside the tube. To build enough voltage to “ignite” the gas, HID kits utilize a ballast—similar to the kinds used in fluorescent light fixtures. When you install an HID kit, you install the ballast near the headlight where it’s exposed to road splash, cold, and heat. You can buy an HID kit for as little as $100 for two bulbs, wiring harness, and ballast. The selling dealer makes about 50% profit on the kit. The manufacture has to limit manufacturing costs to about $10 to justify ship it and make a profit. So you can imagine how little quality you’re getting. So don’t be surprised if the ballast burns up within the first six months.
Is there an alternative?
Many companies make blue bulbs to give the look of HID. But most of those have a painted blue coating. Sylvania makes a combo bulb that incorporates light filtering properties into the bulb to filter out the yellow characteristics of a tungsten bulb and give you a blue cast. Plus, they add a bit of xenon gas.
The bulbs cost about $50 for a pack of two and I’ve tried them. They put out more light than regular halogen bulbs, and the light is whiter, so I see better at night.
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© 2012 Rick Muscoplat
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