Got pulled over...for HIDs

[cavero]

The cop let me off without a ticket, but said that the fog lights were brighter than the surface of the sun and melted the eyeballs out of his sockets, tears of aqueous humour (yep, I remember high school bio) streaming down!

Ok, fine, he told me they looked like high beams and knew they definitely weren't stock and probably not DOT approved either. He's right on the latter two counts, the first one is a matter of opinion. He did make it clear that if he saw me driving around town with the fogs on again, he wouldn't be so kind. He said the regular headlights weren't bad.

So four years after installing my plug n' play HidGuy.net kit, I finally got in trouble. I guess if they glare the camera with this much light out, then they might be a little too extreme:

They're just 35W, 5K bulbs though.

Maybe its time to seriously look into quality projector headlights so I don't need the fogs to see more than 50' at night

 

[lethe]

were you running around with them on during the day, or was it night time? They do look pretty bright.

 

[cavero]

Night time. To be be fair, that pic was taken about ~1 hr before sunset so light was getting kind of low

 

[skwerl]

Can you aim them down any? I have little tolerance for assholes running around in urban areas with well marked straight roads and street lights but they need two sets of fucking lights blinding everybody else on the road. Not saying you fall into that category, but I sure wish it was legal to smash offending aftermarket lights with a hammer if you're blinded by them on a city street.

 

[lethe]

^ i was going to ask if the fogs were adjustable. If they are maybe aiming them down even just a little bit would be enough not to blind oncoming traffic.

 

[RedMosesSC]

Dont give em anything to pull you over for, i dont even run tints.

 

[Infamous05]

The fogs should be adjustable. I had the same problem with my 35w 5k fogs. Headlights no one bothered me. But Fogs were ridiculous. Then I moved the fogs to the lower grille and violla

 

[cavero]

No, can't aim the factory fog light housings (or driving light if you want to be technical about it). Normally I turn off the fog lights in and around town, especially if there's not any wide, tall median to help block them from oncoming traffic. But tonight i was having a hard time seeing, especially past oncoming traffic, and I left them on. The headlights just aren't that great.

If I ever turn them on around town its because I need to see past those those assholes in their lexus SUVs with their bright as projectors, poorly aimed, that might as well be high beams. They're actually the reason why I bought aftermarket HIDs, so I could see the road past them.

Its like an arms race where everyone loses.

So obviously I need to tone down the fog lights. Getting more effective (not brighter, just better focused) headlights would be better too. I don't want to tint the lenses (don't think it'd look good or make enough of a difference), and don't particularly want to go back to incandescent bulbs--I just don't think they'd match the color of the HIDs in the headlights.

 

[Kenaizer]

Can you aim them down any? I have little tolerance for assholes running around in urban areas with well marked straight roads and street lights but they need two sets of fucking lights blinding everybody else on the road. Not saying you fall into that category, but I sure wish it was legal to smash offending aftermarket lights with a hammer if you're blinded by them on a city street.

This. Every last bit of this.

 

[Shotokan1509]

It is the beam pattern of the fog, it is supposed to be a wider beam so you can see edge of road in actual heavy fog.. add on top of that hid bulbs in reflectors not meant scatter more light AND the color of your lights looks the fake blue.. begs to get chops busted.

It also does not help that most vehicles that have separate highbeams it is inner set of lights that are the highbeams.

 

[RED09GT]

Even if you could aim them down, that type of bulb in a regular reflector housing is going to be sending light in every direction. 08-09 HID's or the saleen HID's are really the only way to go unless you build a set yourself. HID planet is a good place to look, I've been meaning to build a set of projectors for my 05 Explorer.

 

[cm581978]

I want to do projectors but Im not spending 700 on them

 

[cavero]

It is the beam pattern of the fog, it is supposed to be a wider beam so you can see edge of road in actual heavy fog.. add on top of that hid bulbs in reflectors not meant scatter more light AND the color of your lights looks the fake blue.. begs to get chops busted.

It also does not help that most vehicles that have separate highbeams it is inner set of lights that are the highbeams.

True, they're technically driving lights, but they are meant to spread wide to light up the sides of the road.

They don't look that blue in real life, thats just the pic. In reality they barely have any blue at all. This one does a better job.

So no one has any suggestions on a less obnoxious setup for the driving lights

 

[skwerl]

Heck, I drive a Bullitt. Never had fogs before.

 

[W3bb3r04]

I dont have fogs any more but I am waiting for the day that a cop tries to pull me over for my HIDS. The LED foglight bulbs on the 13's and 14's are every bit as bright and will still blind you. There are plenty of factory bulbs in cars, projectors or not that will blind you, so I dont see the problem. As long as the lights are pointed in a safe height there shouldnt be a problem.

 

[1QIKPNY]

I had one harass me about the location of mine, said I couldn't have them in the middle like that. Told him it was factory and he let me go. I also have 6k headlights and foglights and use them both when its dark.

 

[seethesvt]

I have yet to install my 3000k hid fogs and 6000k headlights... Cars in storage. I'm prolly screwed... The cars I drive always attract pigs... Well see when spring comes around... 48 more days til I get her out.

 

[Jeffk]

Shit, I only upgraded to silverstar bulbs in mine and had every idiot on the road flashing me so I put tints on mine.

They still help light up the road some but mine aren't HID's either so you might get more light through them.

 

[skwerl]

Shit, I only upgraded to silverstar bulbs in mine and had every idiot on the road flashing me so I put tints on mine.

So all those other people who are annoyed by your headlights are wrong but you're right? Yeah, ok. Try aiming them properly. Lots of cars have bright headlights but the trick is to focus the beam down on the road instead of straight ahead at eye level.

 

[cavero]

There are some idiots out there, some that used to flash me when I had the dim OEM bulbs in my fog lights...on a well lit suburban street. Yet no other cars had a problem. Sometimes they see 4 lights and think "that ass must have his high beams on! I'll show them!". When i upgraded to HIDs and multiple cars started flashing me one after the other, that's when I realized they were too bright and I shouldn't use the HIDs around town.