Not enough heat for when it is very cold. I had a thick layer of ice and snow on mine last winter and could hardly see.

 

HIDs usually, but not always, provide better illumination of the road. This advantage is multiplied in poor weather, particularly rain. Wet roads tend to wash out the light from a halogen lamp; HID's tend to pierce through and still provide decent light. One advantage they always have is they make a vehicle look modern and expensive. They also definitely provide better visibility of your vehicle to other drivers, again, particularly during poor weather. OEM HIDs are the only acceptable means; folks that install HID bulbs / ballasts into standard enclosures are morons; trying to look cool while dangerously blinding most everyone else on the road and in the end not really producing much extra light. It is a requirement that any factory equipped HID lamps are self-leveling.

HIDs were first used in Europe and many European cars have had them for years now. The technology was (and still is) expensive, but that would be the explanation for why they appeared primarily only on expensive Euro cars for a while. The first ever use was on the BMW 7-series, I believe in 1994.

LED headlamps will supersede HID's because they can be produced much more cheaply. Case in point: standard equipment on all trim-level current Corolla's, at least for low beams. However, HID's have some advantages over LEDs.

My experience with HIDs is this: on a 1999 Audi A8 and on a 2005 Land Rover LR3. In both cases, they looked great and certainly enhanced the visibility to other drivers. However, the Audi lamps produced only 'decent' light and certainly I had owned other vehicles with halogen lamps with better lighting output. The Audi was also only HID low-beam; meaning on high beam the low beam HID would stay on but a second halogen lamp using a standard reflector would also illuminate. The Land Rover was a different story. The lamps were bi-xenon low / high and tremendously bright. These were the best headlamps I have ever seen. Bi-xenon actually only uses a single HID bulb for both low and high operations, and the light output of the plasma arc does not vary. When you switch to high beam, a motorized shutter actually moves the placement of the reflector tube and projector to cause the distance of light to change. However, when this happens, it also causes the 'low beam' area to effectively disappear. Therefore, a second halogen 'filler' lamp illuminates the area in front of, and to the sides of the vehicle. Obviously, having foglamps would also fill this area (mostly), but the manufacturer can't assume the vehicle is fitted with foglamps or that they are turned on.

HIDs on European cars are also required to have headlamp wipers / washers in addition to the auto-leveling. This is because a buildup of salt or mud / dirt can cause dangerous glare due to the refraction of the HID beam. I don't believe this is a requirement in the US (how many American cars with this feature do you see...)

A comment about projector versus reflector designs...some people claim the projector is far superior when I don't believe that is really true. You can have halogen reflector or halogen projector lights. You can also have HID reflector or HID projector lights (e.g. Volvo XC90). I think the projector style has become more popular because it makes a vehicle look more modern, even if only equipped with a halogen bulb. I once owned a 1997 Range Rover, which came with halogen reflector headlamps. These were easily the best halogen headlamp-equipped vehicle I have ever owned for brightness, particularly on high-beam. Easily better than the Audi with its HIDs.

In my experience HIDs provide adequate heat to melt off snow and ice, although in some cases the snow or ice will be so thick it won't melt with halogens, either. However, a downside to HIDs is that replacement bulbs can be very, very expensive...easily $100-200 a bulb, sometimes as much as $400 for a single headlamp bulb. Yes, the last longer than a halogen bulb, but its very expensive. Additionally, there is a lot of moving hardware in a modern HID...self leveling, moving projectors, some lamps "corner" when you steer, and of course you have the ballast and igniter electronics as well. These lamps are usually part of the can-bus diagnostic system of a vehicle, and will throw a code and / or warning lamp when they have a 'problem' which presumably will be pricey to repair. Insurance costs are higher on vehicles with these lamps since replacing a broken HID headlamp bucket might be 10x the cost of a halogen one.

LED's are seemingly the wave of the future for a few reasons: they are basically as bright, have the same advantages of being seen better by other drivers, look (mostly) as cool on a vehicle, don't have any moving parts to fail, are definitely cheaper, last a very long time (perhaps the life of the vehicle), and can be put in almost any shape headlamp enclosure. They also use very little energy which aids fuel economy. The main downside they have is heat management...they do not produce any heat radiated out the front of the headlamp enclosure (to melt snow) but do produce a lot of heat out the rear...so this needs to be channeled around to the front via ducting.

I have seen quite a few new F-150s with HIDs; can anyone let me know if they are bi-xenon or low-beam only? Interestingly, HIDs are not an option on the Super Dutys for any trim, and are no longer available on the F-150 after 2014, where LEDs take over.

 

I don't agree with some of your opinions, and thats fine thats what makes the world go round.

But I wanted to bring correct information to the table:

Many american cars with HIDs and Projectors do NOT have self leaving headlamps. The F-150, Chevy Silverado/GMC, Chrysler 300C and many others all have a fixed beam and if you load the rear end down the lights will point to the sky.

Also the HID's in the F-150s are high/low with a shudder changing the beam, no halogen secondary lamps for high beam.

 

Fine, I was thinking of the ECE standards which it is a requirement. SAE / FMVSS also accept the rule, but do not enforce it. Really, by not enforcing it, they are just subsidizing American car companies to offer the same "features" but at less cost when they don't have to include, for example, headlamp leveling or headlamp washers.

Interesting to note the F-150 is a bi-xenon design but with no filler lamp. I guess since you can't get an F-150 with HIDs without fog lamps, you can always run those.

 

But, remember that fog lights are disabled when the high beams are engaged. Same as a halogen headlamp truck. I never have understood this "feature" and i've always disabled it on my trucks.

 

Good point, you'd have to do some modifications to make them work on high beam. Which is getting harder to do on modern computer-controlled lighting, but I'm sure could be done.

That is another DOT rule regarding "the number of forward lighting beams" allowable on a road-going car.

 

Well this bad boy went sideways in a jiffy didn't it?

Anywhooo, I'd be happy to talk about headlights all day long. I recently went through a retrofit process to replace my OEM HIDs and it had some ups and downs. The final product is OUTSTANDING but it's costly and timely.

Let me know if anyone has and questions about it. I know now first hand that "you get what you pay for" when it comes to a good retrofit.

 

Hi MCDavis,

Are you saying you retrofitted the OEM HIDs on to your F150 in place of the standard halogens? My dad recently purchased an '11 F-150 and he was thinking of doing this. I'd be interested in cost and whats involved.

Thanks

 

Well yes and no.
My 2013 Platinum came with HIDs, but because I cannot leave things well enough alone I had a set retrofitted purely for lighting output and performance. Meaning: I didn't do a wild custom paint setup or anything. The retrofits I bought look exactly like my OEM HIDs...that is until the darkness sets in.

The Halogen to HID upgrade is VERY popular. Neither of the reputable sources for retrofitting are vendors here, so I will not put their information out in the public forum. However, if you want to send me a PM then I'll gladly share some information with you...the good and the bad (my experience SUCKED initially, but I found a source that made it right) and the approximate costs.

Here's the breakdown
Halogen < OEM HID < Retrofits

The OEM HIDs are wonderful lights, and a MASSIVE upgrade over the OEM halogens. I loved them on my truck, but I had some cash burning a whole in my pocket and I decided to give the retrofit a whirl. Retrofitting is a pretty labor intensive process. I'm glad I paid someone to do it...twice sadly, but it worked out in the end.

 

Finally decided to upgrade my Halogen lights to HID'S and Im so glad I did it because it made a tremendous difference!

I ordered my kit from AllXenon and decided to just try their $28 kit for color reference and Im happy with my decision (6000k)

Now time get the hylux kit they carry, I keep on hearing that they are the best!

 

I ended up buying some factory knock off lights and putting a set of HID bulbs in them. Have not had much of a chance to use them since it doesn't get dark here in the summer. Love how they look so far though!

Don't mind the bugs...

 

Are the retrofit hid lights still holding up well?