My finacee has had her 2000 since November and has always been disappointed with the output from the stock headlights. I have a 97 Miata with 7" round headlights that I replaced with 7" e-code housings (direct swap) and some nice (clear, not coated) H4 bulbs. This made a world of difference in output, as they have an excellent beam pattern that puts a lot of light on the road. I've seen housing replacements on ebay for her Civic, but I have no idea if these are just for looks or if they actually help get more light on the road. I'm not looking for expensive HID retrofits. If new bulbs is the best I can do for a reasonable price (under $200) I'll just do that. All opinions welcome.

 

New bulbs, such as the recently-released Philips X-treme Power, would be a good upgrade. If you want to go even further, a set of E-code housings would be a good option, but somewhat difficult to source (and more than your $200 budget).

 

Ah, I didn't know they made e-code housings for Civics. I didn't see any on ebay, and I'm not sure who the good, respectable Honda vendors are. If they're more than $200, what kind of ballpark am I looking at? Are the projector headlight kits on ebay for $177 shipped just rubbish?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beatle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ah, I didn't know they made e-code housings for Civics. I didn't see any on ebay, and I'm not sure who the good, respectable Honda vendors are. If they're more than $200, what kind of ballpark am I looking at? Are the projector headlight kits on ebay for $177 shipped just rubbish?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Honestly, I'm not sure how much they'd run. The only E-codes that I'm aware of for the Civic would be the ones that come equipped on the EDM cars, so they'd likely be somewhat costly. I don't know that I'd call some of the eBay lights rubbish, but in most cases they're geared more towards looking "cool" than actual lighting performance. You can try contacting Boom Plus Toys or ICB Motorsports regarding the availability and cost of a set of Civic E-codes.

 

ICB Motorsport lists the JDM Type R and SiR headlights, but they're very expensive @ $439 and $379, respectively. The feedback from some of the ebay sellers has been mixed at best. Are there any reputable vendors that sell aftermarket headlight assemblies and might be willing to answer some basic questions? I have a feeling that OEM stuff is just going to be out of my price range.

 

I'm digging this thread up in hopes that things have changed in the last 2 years. I never did buy different housings for her car, but I'm considering it again since driving her car on a deserted country road last night.

It's interesting that there seems to be ZERO focus on actual light output. I know from the Miata world that there are several fixed headlights or low-pro headlights that look neat, but have poor light output. I have a feeling that a lot of these ebay parts don't have light output in mind, just looks. I couldn't care less about looks, but I would like to get some new housings if that would improve light output. Someone please tell me they've made huge advances in Civic headlights in the past 2 years.

 

you know what was weird for me. . i bought a set of halo headlights of ebay. . and the brights used h1 bulbs and dims were in a projector housing with h3 bulbs. . and my dims and brights were WAY better. . . since i got rid of them and replaced back to my stock housings i still cant get as good vision at night as my ebay's. . but its close after a couple months of tweaking

 

you can buy hi/low HID on ebay for like about 130 shipped? that's what i got. it says Xentec on the ballast 6k...bad *** output on the streets and signs.

 

try ohsram night breakers.
they are very bright. or look into like a 4300k hid kit.

 

I have hid 6k kit on my hatch and with only one working the other side broke and need new bulb, but with just one i drive around for 4 months to this day and have no problem and don't have hi beam hids the regular low beam. Hi beams are the regular halogen bulbs and they suck crap. Look at always having the head lights clean and adjust them to your likin just my 2 cents

 

osram night breaker. buy them install them, aim them, and you'll be like damn its daytime.

 

Wow, the HID kits are deceptively cheap on ebay. Is there any way to separate the wheat from the chaff on there? For that price I'd expect to receive a kit that requires a fair amount of fabrication, wiring, and/or translating of chinese. I've done a little car wiring before, but it has been relatively simple (headunit, speakers, amp, fog lights, etc.) but a kit that's a bit more plug and play would be great. I'd be willing to pay a little more for a well documented kit from an established seller. Are there any or are the fly-by-night ebay sellers all there is?

 

Looks like this!!???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA-hdcwp50Q

 

ebay HID kits are TRASH. you will have more glare than you could possibly imagine and will blind all oncoming traffic. The only real way to get HID's in a 2000 civic is to retrofit a well known projector into the halogen housing.

In my opinion, polish your lenses, replace the bulbs with a better bulb (GE Nighthawk's are pretty decent, and not overly marked up,) and read this site.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

 

I've been to Daniel Stern's site before - it's a great resource. Can you point me to a well known projector for the car? It seems unlikely that there are no good headlight upgrades for the Civic...

 

I would go HID. I want to get a set for my car soon.