YACT - what's the deal with HID lights?

[spidey07]

The lights on this thing are great.

BUT!

Switching from regular beams to hi-beams results in a motor moving the lense as it were - you can hear it from outside as someone turns on hi-beams. It's almost like it's using the same lamp but just modifying the beam?

Is this how they all work?

 

[SoulAssassin]

I have an '04 TL...many HIDs work that way...the cheaper ones use standard lights for the high beams...some like Benz use bi-xenons which have two HIDs, one for high and one for low. I've never heard mine move and the change doesn't take any longer than any other car.

 

[Linux23]

you have a projector type HID. your high beams are on all the time, however when you have the headlights in the low beam selector, the beam is focused so that it cuts off at a certain height. when you select the high beams, that mechanism raises, which eliminates that cutoff, and disperses a very wide beam patten (very bad for oncoming drivers).

 

[Skunkwourk]

auto leveling headlights maybe, my ES300 has them...