Just got my first car, want to make two modifications and looking for advice

[50]

Hello,

I just got a 2006 honda accord EX-L and really like it but want to make two modifications. First, I want to get the windows tinted. I'm not really sure what I need to know about window tinting, but what should I expect to pay?

Also, I was looking for projector LED headlights. I found these on ebay, but I'm worried they are going to be really crappy for $120. Anyone know where I could find more info on this stuff? I tried the honda accord forum but they dont have many members there. Thanks

 

[CRXican]

Window tint shouldn't be more than about $250 (I'm guessing you have a sedan).

The point of projectors is usually to be able to run HIDs. The description on that ebay auction includes

not designed for HID conversion bulbs

Otherwise you'll just have some riced out headlights that are no brighter than stock.

 

[50]

Sorry its a coupe. I'm concerned about running HID's, I don't want them to look blue or purple. I've also been reading that the ebay lights are crap and they don't put out as much light as the stock. What is retrofitting btw?

Would these work with HID's? What does not fitting with Xenon mean?

Are HID and Xenon's the same? Thanks

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: 50
Sorry its a coupe. I'm concerned about running HID's, I don't want them to look blue or purple. I've also been reading that the ebay lights are crap and they don't put out as much light as the stock. What is retrofitting btw?

Would these work with HID's? What does not fitting with Xenon mean?

Are HID and Xenon's the same? Thanks

To properly run HID's you need to buy a whole new housing. Ebay crap like that will blind people.

 

[shabby]

4300k hid bulbs are white, once you hit 6000k they turn blue and near 8000-10000k they're purple.
All those headlights on ebay are made for halogen bulbs, once you stick an hid bulb into it you screw up the light pattern and start blinding everyone in front of you.
Sign up to this forum, all you're questions will be answered there http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/

 

[cheesehead]

Stick with the original headlights. HID bulbs are for people who need to compensate for their absence of manhood and don't care if they blind everyone else on the @#$@$ road. They also make you look like a berk.

Window tinting makes you look like a drug dealer, but if you live somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line, the thermal reflection offered by a GOOD window tint is worth it.

 

[The Stigenator]

go on to 8thcivic.com and ask there..

by the way I've seen HID's on the 2006+ civic's, it looks nice, no glare, the cutoff works fine.

edit:

Oops its an accord.. humm.. try temple of vtec or 8thcivic or drive accord

 

[Black88GTA]

An HID retrofit in a car that came with projector housings from the factory will be fine, and looks great as long as you don't get blue or purple bulbs. It's when you put HID bulbs in reflectors designed for halogens that you start blinding people.

I did an HID upgrade on my SVX (which has projector housings). Works great. I used slim ballast kits from DDM Tuning. 35w 3000k bulbs for the driving lights, and 35w 4500k bulbs for the lowbeams. Go with the DDM kits over the ebay ones, I haven't heard of anyone having problems with a DDM kit yet. 1/2 the cost of the ones you're looking at too.

 

[CRXican]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
Stick with the original headlights. HID bulbs are for people who need to compensate for their absence of manhood and don't care if they blind everyone else on the @#$@$ road. They also make you look like a berk.

Window tinting makes you look like a drug dealer, but if you live somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line, the thermal reflection offered by a GOOD window tint is worth it.

Nothing wrong with HIDs. I bet you've never owned a car that had them.

Plenty of people have window tint. Aim for 35% all around and it should look nice. Once you get around 20% it's pretty dark.

 

[50]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA
An HID retrofit in a car that came with projector housings from the factory will be fine, and looks great as long as you don't get blue or purple bulbs. It's when you put HID bulbs in reflectors designed for halogens that you start blinding people.

I did an HID upgrade on my SVX (which has projector housings). Works great. I used slim ballast kits from DDM Tuning. 35w 3000k bulbs for the driving lights, and 35w 4500k bulbs for the lowbeams. Go with the DDM kits over the ebay ones, I haven't heard of anyone having problems with a DDM kit yet. 1/2 the cost of the ones you're looking at too.

So I'm really new to this. So from what I've read, it's a bad idea to put HID bulbs in the link I posted earlier from ebay. If I want projectors and LED's, I have to get it from the factory? I don't know about projectors, but LED's are definitely not made by honda. Am I screwed and shouldn't even bother if I want the projectors and LED's? I found these, but I want chrome over black. Thanks

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: 50
Hello,

I just got a 2006 honda accord EX-L and really like it but want to make two modifications. First, I want to get the windows tinted. I'm not really sure what I need to know about window tinting, but what should I expect to pay?

Also, I was looking for projector LED headlights. I found these on ebay, but I'm worried they are going to be really crappy for $120. Anyone know where I could find more info on this stuff? I tried the honda accord forum but they dont have many members there. Thanks

Don't '06 accords come with projector headlights from the factory?

In any case I would save money for the OEM LED tail lights before get some DEPO or other aftermarket lights. The projectors inside of them tend to be crap.


Also it's a common myth that you need projectors to do HID retrofits. The correct answer is that you need the proper hid bulbs to make them work in reflector housing. Specifically you need D2R bulbs, they have a ceramic blackout strip that prevents light going down and bouncing into people's eyes.

 

[CRXican]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: 50
Hello,

I just got a 2006 honda accord EX-L and really like it but want to make two modifications. First, I want to get the windows tinted. I'm not really sure what I need to know about window tinting, but what should I expect to pay?

Also, I was looking for projector LED headlights. I found these on ebay, but I'm worried they are going to be really crappy for $120. Anyone know where I could find more info on this stuff? I tried the honda accord forum but they dont have many members there. Thanks

Don't '06 accords come with projector headlights from the factory?

In any case I would save money for the OEM LED tail lights before get some DEPO or other aftermarket lights. The projectors inside of them tend to be crap.


Also it's a common myth that you need projectors to do HID retrofits. The correct answer is that you need the proper hid bulbs to make them work in reflector housing. Specifically you need D2R bulbs, they have a ceramic blackout strip that prevents light going down and bouncing into people's eyes.

No. You need projectors.

 

[BW86]

don't get HIDs if you don't have projector headlamps

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: CRXican

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: 50
Hello,

I just got a 2006 honda accord EX-L and really like it but want to make two modifications. First, I want to get the windows tinted. I'm not really sure what I need to know about window tinting, but what should I expect to pay?

Also, I was looking for projector LED headlights. I found these on ebay, but I'm worried they are going to be really crappy for $120. Anyone know where I could find more info on this stuff? I tried the honda accord forum but they dont have many members there. Thanks

Don't '06 accords come with projector headlights from the factory?

In any case I would save money for the OEM LED tail lights before get some DEPO or other aftermarket lights. The projectors inside of them tend to be crap.


Also it's a common myth that you need projectors to do HID retrofits. The correct answer is that you need the proper hid bulbs to make them work in reflector housing. Specifically you need D2R bulbs, they have a ceramic blackout strip that prevents light going down and bouncing into people's eyes.

No. You need projectors.

Guess again

D2R was developed so that Mercedes could still use their reflector based headlights in the mid 1990s. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used to accomplish a straight line, but a mask painted on the bulb was cheaper to make and had better precision. Other (near) luxury cars (Lexus, Infinity and Acura) followed Mercedes and equipped their cars with D2R bulbs in reflector based headlamps.

 

[exdeath]

Go no darker than 20% tint if you want to avoid law enforcement harassment. Varies by state but generally 20% is the limit. If you do anything to rice out the car and stick out, dark tint is going to scream "pull me over".

And forget about HID lights and just go with some high quality bulbs like Sylvania SilverStars or something. It looks extremely ghetto when people try to do a HID conversion or put blue tint or bulbs in their Honda or Kia trying to make it look like a BMW.

 

[NaOH]

I got 35% all around on my car. Looks way nicer and I can see perfectly out of them even at night. As for the headlights. I would just stick with regular xtra bright bulbs or something. Unless you're you are going to spend the money/time/research to get it done right. If not done right, your HID cutoff will look like this. You don't want to spend all that money to get an uneven pattern with a lot of glare.

Text

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: halik
Also it's a common myth that you need projectors to do HID retrofits. The correct answer is that you need the proper hid bulbs to make them work in reflector housing. Specifically you need D2R bulbs, they have a ceramic blackout strip that prevents light going down and bouncing into people's eyes.

Incorrect. The light source from a HID bulb is shaped and positioned differently than the light source in a traditional halogen filament bulb. The position and shape of the light source (the arc in a HID bulb and the filament in a traditional bulb) plays a critical role in proper beam pattern and no ceramic blackout can negate that fact.

For proper beam pattern, the only acceptable method is to use a housing designed specifically for HID bulbs. This is true regardless of whether the housing uses projector or reflector optics. A more thorough explanation of the inherent optical problems encountered when using HID bulbs in optics designed for conventional halogen bulbs.

ZV

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: halik
Guess again

D2R was developed so that Mercedes could still use their reflector based headlights in the mid 1990s. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used to accomplish a straight line, but a mask painted on the bulb was cheaper to make and had better precision. Other (near) luxury cars (Lexus, Infinity and Acura) followed Mercedes and equipped their cars with D2R bulbs in reflector based headlamps.

Halik, you are leaving off a very significant section that immediately follows your quote (bold is my own addition):

Some amateur kit designers will even claim that D2R generally reduces glare in a retrofit. This is nonsense.

Mercedes' reflector based headlamps used a reflector that was designed specifically for the D2R bulbs. They did not simply drop the D2R into an existing reflector design; the reflector was re-designed for the HID bulbs.

ZV

 

[thomsbrain]

If it makes any difference to the OP, the projectors in my S2000 are considered to be very good, but I think they are still way worse in actual usage than the regular headlights in my Accord (same generation as yours). The Accord's headlights are very crisp for regular bulbs but have a naturally blended cutoff that really helps when you approach a hill or driveway. HIDs are pretty much all or nothing, which seems fine until you try to drive on a mountain road and quickly realize you can't see shit. HIDs are very gimmicky, IMO.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: halik
Guess again

D2R was developed so that Mercedes could still use their reflector based headlights in the mid 1990s. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used to accomplish a straight line, but a mask painted on the bulb was cheaper to make and had better precision. Other (near) luxury cars (Lexus, Infinity and Acura) followed Mercedes and equipped their cars with D2R bulbs in reflector based headlamps.

Halik, you are leaving off a very significant section that immediately follows your quote (bold is my own addition):

Some amateur kit designers will even claim that D2R generally reduces glare in a retrofit. This is nonsense.

Mercedes' reflector based headlamps used a reflector that was designed specifically for the D2R bulbs. They did not simply drop the D2R into an existing reflector design; the reflector was re-designed for the HID bulbs.

ZV

That is the general argument against retrofitting HID bulbs into anything (reflectors or projectors), since in either case you have to account for where the Xenon Arc is relative to where the filament would be. Other than that the light is omni directional in either case, so you have to deal with the geometry.

All things held equal, you cannot get glare above the cutoff if you orient D2Rs correctly as there will be no light coming from the bulb downwards to reflect up and above the cutoff.


In any case these arguments usually boil down to this:

1)The FUD argument: you shouldn't be retrofitting Xenons into anything becaue they require special this and special that.

2) You can only do it to projectots, because they have magical properties of making all the issues from above going away

My opinion in to the matter is plug it in and see how it comes out - if you have a lot of glare, keep adjusting it until you get the geometry right

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: halik
In any case these arguments usually boil down to this:

1)The FUD argument: you shouldn't be retrofitting Xenons into anything becaue they require special this and special that.

2) You can only do it to projectots, because they have magical properties of making all the issues from above going away

My opinion in to the matter is plug it in and see how it comes out - if you have a lot of glare, keep adjusting it until you get the geometry right

The first argument is not FUD; it's an understanding of basic optical principles. The size, shape, and location of the light source are the most critical concerns in optical design, whether using reflector optics or lens optics. Glare is not the be-all and end-all in beam pattern and even if the cutoff is there and glare is absent, this does not mean that an effective beam pattern is truly maintained.

HID bulbs don't require "special" anything; at least, not any more than H4 bulbs require "special" housings compared to H7 bulbs. You cannot use an H4 bulb in an H7 housing because, even if the bases were converted to be compatible, the bulbs place the filaments in different locations which will destroy the beam pattern. This is the same reason that you cannot use a HID bulb in housings designed for H4 or H7 bulbs.

The second argument is a false argument because it only considers glare and ignores the remainder of the light dispersal pattern, but the first argument, the one that you call "FUD", is based on sound scientific principles.

ZV

 

[alkemyst]

candlepower.com FTMFW ... read danielsternlighting.com

 

[evident]

if you're gonna get HID lighting for your accord, you either spend the big bucks and get a retrofit (up to $1k to get it done right) or its rice and will fuck up oncoming traffic.

tints look great on the car though.

congrats on your purchase

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: halik
Guess again

D2R was developed so that Mercedes could still use their reflector based headlights in the mid 1990s. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used to accomplish a straight line, but a mask painted on the bulb was cheaper to make and had better precision. Other (near) luxury cars (Lexus, Infinity and Acura) followed Mercedes and equipped their cars with D2R bulbs in reflector based headlamps.

Halik, you are leaving off a very significant section that immediately follows your quote (bold is my own addition):

Some amateur kit designers will even claim that D2R generally reduces glare in a retrofit. This is nonsense.

Mercedes' reflector based headlamps used a reflector that was designed specifically for the D2R bulbs. They did not simply drop the D2R into an existing reflector design; the reflector was re-designed for the HID bulbs.

ZV

That is the general argument against retrofitting HID bulbs into anything (reflectors or projectors), since in either case you have to account for where the Xenon Arc is relative to where the filament would be. Other than that the light is omni directional in either case, so you have to deal with the geometry.

All things held equal, you cannot get glare above the cutoff if you orient D2Rs correctly as there will be no light coming from the bulb downwards to reflect up and above the cutoff.


In any case these arguments usually boil down to this:

1)The FUD argument: you shouldn't be retrofitting Xenons into anything becaue they require special this and special that.

2) You can only do it to projectots, because they have magical properties of making all the issues from above going away

My opinion in to the matter is plug it in and see how it comes out - if you have a lot of glare, keep adjusting it until you get the geometry right

I have posted this before -

Want to change your filament bulbs for HID. Don't

Simply swapping the bulbs will not work. You can clearly see at 20 seconds how much glare comes off the retrofitted D2R HID lights. Skip forward to 1 minute 30 and you will see that the HID does not cut the light off as designed, resulting in you dazzling other road users. That means the vehicle is not road legal in the UK and you could face a nasty fine and points if stopped.

@ZV - I see the video is now on the HID site you linked :thumbsup: