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Just curious what you prefer. Some Impala/Chevy users have complained that their headlights don't have any sidespill due to the projector style assemblies that are standard on all the models.. any of you have any headlights you're not satisfied with and others that you love? How about HID mods? A little headlight discussion would be enjoyable.
I love my old reflectors on the grand am and have never had a problem with em. Sidespill lets me see deer and other things off to the shoulder.. I'm wary about buying a vehicle with pencil beams that only show what's directly in front of you.
One of my cars has factory HID's while the other regular halogens. I like the crisp white light of the HID's but the throw isn't that much better than halogens. Could be I need to re-aim the HID's and polish up the headlights, though. I don't have any experience with halogen bulbs in projector housings.
If anyone wants to do an HID retrofit, do it responsibly and properly. Don't be one of those douche$ that blinds everybody with ricer blue 10K bulbs in reflector housings.
Depends more on the headlight design than the actual concept of reflector vs projector. Some cars have VERY good projectors like Acura TL and many of the Lexus models. Some cars have poor designs. Each is different so it's hard to really make a blanket statement.
My car is actually one of the few models that was designed with an HID reflector-type housing. The throw is pretty good actually and I have zero complaints about not being able to see and have never been flashed. Do i wish they were projectors though? Yes.
We have 3 cars with projectors. Highlander, Camry and RX350. Highlander and RX have their headlights made so that they do side cast, what helps a lot, as Camry has none and it sucks. I'd say, it really depends on how smart the lense cover is. That's where I notice main difference between Camry and Highlander/RX
I just don't like projectors because the beady-eye look is unattractive. And if they're HID (which they usually are) I also don't care for how much of a pain it is to diagnose a failed light as well as the expense. Is it the bulb that went out? Nope, just wasted $70 for nothing, time to spend $300 on a ballast! Thanks but no thanks. Until LED technology reaches a point where it's commonplace, I'll be sticking with good-ole' incandescent lighting where I can.
I just don't like projectors because the beady-eye look is unattractive. And if they're HID (which they usually are) I also don't care for how much of a pain it is to diagnose a failed light as well as the expense. Is it the bulb that went out? Nope, just wasted $70 for nothing, time to spend $300 on a ballast! Thanks but no thanks. Until LED technology reaches a point where it's commonplace, I'll be sticking with good-ole' incandescent lighting where I can.
Wouldn't that be as easy as just swapping bulbs to see what is going on? Unless, getting to the bulb is a pain.
LED is common place....base model Corollas are coming with LED based projector headlights.
I would never go back to a reflector headlight after owning HID projectors. The increase in night visibility, particularly in the worst conditions (wet/rain at night) is literally night and day.
It's interesting you say your HID's are better for inclement weather. I very much disagree. Last Wednesday night (2/16-2/17) I spent 2.5 hours driving through dense fog in the Catskills overnight. This is nothing new for me, this is how I always drive to NYC, and it's always foggy here - however this was my first time experiencing this in my new car equipped with HID projectors. The glare was overwhelming. Everything just looked white. I could only see the lines immediately in front of the car and I couldn't see the road signs until they were passing me.
There's no way that after a decade of doing this exact trip, all of a sudden today the fog was worse than it's ever been. No. This time, I had a car with HID projectors. I don't know if it's the color of the light, or that the light was in such a focused beam, but the light was the difference, not the fog. Besides, the worst fog I've ever driven in was in Virginia, which I believe is the Piedmont range, and the fog there is ridiculous, but I cut through that just fine with my old halogen equipped car.
It's interesting you say your HID's are better for inclement weather. I very much disagree. Last Wednesday night (2/16-2/17) I spent 2.5 hours driving through dense fog in the Catskills overnight. This is nothing new for me, this is how I always drive to NYC, and it's always foggy here - however this was my first time experiencing this in my new car equipped with HID projectors. The glare was overwhelming. Everything just looked white. I could only see the lines immediately in front of the car and I couldn't see the road signs until they were passing me.
There's no way that after a decade of doing this exact trip, all of a sudden today the fog was worse than it's ever been. No. This time, I had a car with HID projectors. I don't know if it's the color of the light, or that the light was in such a focused beam, but the light was the difference, not the fog. Besides, the worst fog I've ever driven in was in Virginia, which I believe is the Piedmont range, and the fog there is ridiculous, but I cut through that just fine with my old halogen equipped car.
Or maybe it all depends on the design?
Say for example the new Ferraris 458 have ugly headlights my guess just so to take advantage of better 'projection' in fog etc. Can't compare this to my old 325i bmw, which while still "projecting' probably doesn't have the same effect.
If you're thinking about buying a new car, it might be a good idea to test drive the vehicle at night. I bought a new Jeep Wrangler and wish I had done this. The headlight on these vehicles are poor to the point of being unsafe. I would compare them to the 6-volt headlights back in the early 1950's. There's a lot of discussions about this in the Wrangler Forum.
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