SkYBlue280Z Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Im looking for some good HID lights for my 280Z. Is it better for me to go to the local Car Toys and let them do the work? Or do any of you know a good site where I can get a hold of some and stick'em in my self?? Thanks. Heres my Z if u wanna look. =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 here are the ones someone else has found... http://www.xenondepot.com/product.php?product_id=105 mine are similar but not the same and not available anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkYBlue280Z Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 $1000 for HID's! Lol, they must be the best. I dont think I wanna spend that much for lights... Im sure I can find some cheaper ones that are just as good. =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Justin, could you at least try to type with real words? Pretty please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Justin, could you at least try[/i'] to type with real words? Pretty please? Ok I edited the post...lol. oh wait that's not a real word...haha. j/p with ya. Doh! I did it again. Sell me 1 of the bigger Hybrid Z patches and you won't see anymore short cut words from me again...except lol and related stuff of course which is common. I really, really, really want one...and I know I was the first to reply to you having one and how I could get one. $1000 for HID's! Lol, they must be the best. I dont think I wanna spend that much for lights... Im sure I can find some cheaper ones that are just as good. =P GOOD LUCK! you will probably spend just as much or close trying to find parts and fabbing them up yourself...ask the few others who are doing it themselves on here. You might save a couple hundred, but have fun w/ the headache of getting a proper sealing on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 To stop you from "text typing" anything! One of those are yours anyways As soon as I find out a price, I'll let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 To stop you from "text typing" anything! One of them are your anyways As soon as I find out a price, I'll let you know. awesome...I knew you could make that happen. Just find out a price faster! or you could be really nice and just give it to me for free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedevan Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 www.hidplanet.com has some interesting info i wish i came across before i made my purchase, but yeah sealing them is the issue we have compared to most cars as the back of hte lights are in the wheel bit go to junk yards or just buy the bits off ebay, i'm pretty sure u can buy e46 lenses and ballasts/globes etc from hidplant.com for US$200-$300, their server seems to be down so i can't check. from reading something on there the other day i found out there are two different types of e46 lenses, and luckily i have the better one! i think you americans get the dodgy sort! but i believe that site sells the better ones (clearer), anyway... then you have to add on the cost of cheap reflector housing off ebay (prices in AUD) $70, dremel copy $40, another set of the bits that hold in the lights $20 so you can cut into them, random mounting bits to hold in the ballast and ignitor $20, screws and bits $10, random bits to try to seal it better $20, hours of thinking u've blown them up...priceless! dissatisfaction with the ugly colour of the stock parker lights compared to the xenon bulbs...so haveing to buy a set of 240z indicator bits and led fog lights to mount in there $100+...my lights cost me $600 then all those bits, and still going very slowly, like i should really upgrade my alternator but ? so i'd say mayb US$500? i still haven't sold the rest of the e46 headlights but hopefully thats worth something to someone... yet all of its worth it! buy bi-xenons if can be bothered getting them to work. if you care about the cut-off colour get for honda accord euro lights (tsx?) as from the pic's i've seen they produce ALOT of blue when moddified to do so if you want to go on the cheap cheap side if you read around for a bit on that site you might be able to find info on some h4 projectors that work ok with hid bulbs so that might save you some money, the 300zx len's seem to be popular, but i haven't seen how they look with just a hid kit behind them, i think its used more for lense swaps...but hey, i'm no expert, i just find this all interesting! if you have the money to blow then something like what 280zforce has is the way to go, i had fun making my lights fit and work, and its something i can atleast do, unlike the more mechanical stuff at this stage they are not yet fully sealed, and i havn't tried to seal mine up properally yet as still need to change some small things, so i get condensation inside them when its foggy, i'm hoping i can find a bucket or something to seal up the back better...although i need to repostion the ballast and stuff so i can get more slack in the wires...fun fun fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkYBlue280Z Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hey cool, thanks for all this information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manntis Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 you can get the same as those waterproofed DOT compliant ones on xenondepot from spitzkraft.com - they advertise the same price (it's in their agreement with the manufacturer, so they have to) but I asked about group buy prices and they sold me a kit for $799 including shipping to Canada. I went DOT compliant since they're cracking down on illegal kits, and fines are as much as $5 grand http://www.spitzkraft.com/detail.php?item=12&numlow=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmerman Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 I could make something similar for about $300-400. I did a retro on a civic and only spent $285 and it took about 5-6 hours to complete and looked like it came that way stock when I was done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manntis Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 making it = non-DOT compliant = copious fines under the newly aggressive TREAD act. If they really want to throw the book at you they could term you the 'manufacturer' of a non-DOT compliant part and ding you $5,000 per day per set of lights made. HID is a pricey technology to start with. $285 would barely cover decent quality bulbs and ballasts, nevermind real HID projectors. Unless you're simply re-basing HID bulbs and stuffing them into halogen projectors or reflectors, in which case your light source is in the wrong spot and your beam pattern is all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedevan Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 what makes those "dot compliant" ones actully dot compliant? like the lights in my car at some stage would of been the equivilant to whatever dot compliancy is called in my part of the world. the only bits of my lights not making them legal i would of thought would of been the facts that they are not the lights the car orginally came with, they do not have automatic leveling, and they don't have anything to wash the lense cover bit. i could understand a $5000 fine if i were using halogen lenses or was manufacturing parts from scratch using whatever i could find lying around, or using a dodgy "angle eye" projector rice headlight for a civic etc, but besides those three things i stated i would of assumed youl could also call my headlights "dot compliant" since all the parts used except for the peice of glass they are shinnying though are also? the main problem is putting a hid kit in a halogen housing as you said, as then everyone gets blinded, and it probably makes it harder to see at the end of the day anyway due to the fact its so bright but doesn't shine very far or evenly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manntis Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 what makes those "dot compliant" ones actully dot compliant? They use the stock aiming buckets, are weather sealed, have polycarbonate lenses covering the projectors, and have been lab-tested for the following to ensure they meet SAE standards: photometry aimability abrasion chemical resistance corrosion dust temperature cycle internal heat humidity vibration The polycarbonate lens is marked with the name of the manufacturer, the model number, the type of light (XG for HID projector), etc. Even an otherwise compliant light without these markings is deemed non-compliant - Toyota had to recall a few thousand headlamp assemblies last year because of failure to mark lights and ballasts. like the lights in my car at some stage would of been the equivilant to whatever dot compliancy is called in my part of the world. DOT is US, and applies in US. ECE is most of the rest of the world, including Australia and Japan, with similar standards, testing, and requirements. Canada accepts both ECE and DOT. the only bits of my lights not making them legal i would of thought would of been the facts that they are not the lights the car orginally came with, they do not have automatic leveling, and they don't have anything to wash the lense cover bit. Headlight washers aren't a DOT requirement, nor are automatic levelers, but those are both ECE requirements. i could understand a $5000 fine if i were using halogen lenses or was manufacturing parts from scratch using whatever i could find lying around, or using a dodgy "angle eye" projector rice headlight for a civic etc, but besides those three things i stated i would of assumed youl could also call my headlights "dot compliant" since all the parts used except for the peice of glass they are shinnying though are also? To be DOT compliant you must have had all your components tested as per the criteria above, both seperately and as an assembled unit, have your manufacturers trademark on record with DOT, and have your lenses marked accordingly. Same for ECE. the main problem is putting a hid kit in a halogen housing as you said, as then everyone gets blinded, and it probably makes it harder to see at the end of the day anyway due to the fact its so bright but doesn't shine very far or evenly Personally, I agree that home built retrofits, done properly, can be as good as OEM. Unfortunately DOT and ECE disagree, and disallow retrofits under punishment of fines and/or repair tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedevan Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 thanks for the really quite detailed reply, as you can see i didn't look into it much at all! i wonder how many test units are needed to get it to pass dot approval. i'm just hoping my lights are never much of a problem but i'm sure at some stage they will come up. there seem to be people over at hidplanet that run buisnesses based on doing retrofits into cars for people so i wonder how badly they could b screwed over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manntis Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Some retrofitters sell cheap made-in-china junk that's nowhere close to 'legal'... HID bulbs glued to halogen bulbs, or just plain crappy HID bulbs and projectors... Some sell excellent parts using genuine philips or osram bulbs and ballasts, but taking apart a DOT compliant unit from an Audi or Nissan and stuffing the projector into what used to be a halogen unit in another car destroys the DOT compliance. In both cases they stay in business by 'flying under the radar' and hoping they don't get caught. However, I've copies of letters from Chief Counsel, DOT to various manufacturers and importers of such stuff that are essentially cease-and-decist-or-pay-huge-fines cautionary letters. Since the crackdown, they often don't bother with the letter step anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest f1spec Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 check out this thread http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114750 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a6t8vw Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 if you add HID to any car that didnt originaly come hid it is illegal, in CA that is. law passed in 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 if you add HID to any car that didnt originaly come hid it is illegal' date=' in CA that is.law passed in 2004[/quote'] but we all already knew that california sucked anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 if you add HID to any car that didnt originaly come hid it is illegal' date=' in CA that is.law passed in 2004[/quote'] well so far so good on my last 2 cars...i've added projector HID retrofits to both of them. so they look like the came on the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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