I know before I even post this that Retrofitting is the way to go, but I dont have the time nor money to do it.

Has anyone actually used the plug-n-play HIDs in their accord?

If so, Have any pictures?

I have mine ordered if no one has them.

(2005 Accord Coupe is what I drive)

 

i had some on my other accord.. same bulb type, 9006.... these were 8k HIDs.

i bought them on ebay for like $120 shipped.

 

same ones that i have coming. i had some on my prelude but i was wondering how bad they are with the headlights of the 05 accord. The prelude actually had a cut off line and everything with the JDM headlights

 

im not exactly sure on the 7th gen.. considering the oem lense is fairly large and flashy, i would say HIDs would be briiiight.

 

Thats what I was thinking. But oh well...I have been spoiled with HIDs and now its a MUST to have them! LoL...

 

with the larger housing i htink its going to be terrible, i had some on my oh wrx (yes i know not a honda....) and it was terrible due to the size of the housing.

I dont know why everyone thinks retrofits are terribly expensive, i did mine for less than 300 reusing the balasts from my plug and play kit. food for thought

 

i will be posting pictures tomorrow (hopefully)

 

Make sure you post a pic against the wall at 25 feet!!

 

I intstalled a set of 5k into the wifey's 7th gen. It's BRIGHT!!! and it looks very nice too. I think Honda should have made had them come with the Accord's or at least make them an option. It's a very easy install too. I havent had time to take pictures, but when I do, Ill post them up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NGUSPEED &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I intstalled a set of 5k into the wifey's 7th gen. It's BRIGHT!!! and it looks very nice too. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Was this a retrofit with projectors or an HID kit?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Was this a retrofit with projectors or an HID kit?</TD></TR></TABLE>
pnp kit
horrible glare plus cheap kit = ricer on the making


Either go retrofit or don't stick a plug and play kit into a halogen reflective housing. There's a reason why Honda stuck with a halogen housing rather than HID''s. If HID's were that simple and cheap, then Honda/acura wouldn't spend so much on research, aiming, optics and slap a 100dollar kit in there and make it an option.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by striker_18 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
pnp kit
horrible glare plus cheap kit = ricer on the making


Either go retrofit or don't stick a plug and play kit into a halogen reflective housing. There's a reason why Honda stuck with a halogen housing rather than HID''s. If HID's were that simple and cheap, then Honda/acura wouldn't spend so much on research, aiming, optics and slap a 100dollar kit in there and make it an option.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ricer in the making because of a PNP HID kit? That is a matter of opinion. I understand the WHOLE concept of retrofitting HIDs into a halogen headlight housing, BUT I also understand the need to have money and time to do the retrofit. Granted, PNP HIDs are bright...but if angled properly they do not put that much more of a glare out. When I can afford a 2nd set of Headlights for my 7th gen PLUS afford to have a Retrofit done, THEN is when I will have it done.

Right now the Accord is my ONLY means of transportation (until spring/summer when I can hop back on the bike!) so taking off the lights and spending NUMEROUS hours on the project just isnt possible.

Thanks for providing the typical comment that could have been left unstated! Also, for the poor atempt at bashing a fellow honda-tech member. Have a great day!

-Anthony

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Was this a retrofit with projectors or an HID kit?</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is a Plug N Play Kit.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by striker_18 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
pnp kit
horrible glare plus cheap kit = ricer on the making


Either go retrofit or don't stick a plug and play kit into a halogen reflective housing. There's a reason why Honda stuck with a halogen housing rather than HID''s. If HID's were that simple and cheap, then Honda/acura wouldn't spend so much on research, aiming, optics and slap a 100dollar kit in there and make it an option.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The reason why I spent the money to put an HID kit in, is not to look good, but for my wife's safety. The HIDs help her see better at night.

 

TL bixenon projectors = $150
D2S Ballasts, bulbs and harness = $140
IKEA lamp + for dog bowl for shrouds = $20

Mounting them by looking at the reflector lines.
Park the car against a wall. Fire up your beams and mark where the cutoff is.
Take off the bumper and headlights. Get a hair dryer and heat up the sealant on the headlights. 5 mins later you will have everything separated.
Mounting the projectors:
Horizontal reflector lines are parallel to the ground. Drill 3 holes. Two on the first horizontal line. Third one on either side. Look through the lense so you can match the shield to be level with the horizontal reflective lines.
Before adding some jbweld to ensure you got the right aiming, put the housing without the lense cover and mount them in your car. Fire them up and adjust them horzontally by matching with the markings you previously made on the wall.
JB weld and let it cure for 3 hours.
Plug everything in and connect the low beams to the ballast positive and shared negative.
Then, the common high positive connect it to the red wire coming out of the TL solenoid. The black one goes to the shared negative wire coming from the low beams.
Test them, and you're done.
Thanks for looking

Total price for this project: $310
Estimated time for this whole project for a noob: 8 hours
When can you do it? over the weekend.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WhiteBB2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...but if angled properly they do not put that much more of a glare out. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Unfortunately, it's not always that simple. A bulb designed for projectors in a particular vehicle could have a focal length that is going to cause glare in a reflector installation, almost no matter what you do.

There <u>are</u> HID units designed for reflectors, however, and these work a lot better. It can be hit and miss with HID kits, and you cannot always trust that the cheaper kits will have the correct focus for your application.

There have been some OEM Honda installation of HID reflectors, by the way. For example, reflector HID were an option on the 2002 EP3 CTR. They were replaced by the projector HID design for the 2004 EP3 CTR.

 

From my experience on my accord. I changed the angles of the headlights and dont seem to have nearly as bad of a glare. Granted when I first put them in the glare was VERY bad.

As in the very post of this thread, I stated that I KNOW that retrofitting is by far the way to go but until I can do it myself or round up the money (this spring) then I will just have to stick with what I have and make the best of it. But none the less, Just by using the PNP HID kit, that in no way makes me a ricer.

 

yeah it is unless you go the OEM route which is 4,100K
Other than that, 5000K-30,000K is a pure waste of money since halogens can efficiently, without adjusting the aiming, outperform those.
Also, with a PnP Kit, forget about any width at all. You will get NO WIdTH. And THAT is dangerous. Halogens will be wider than a kit.
I know because i'm into the HID game since 05.

 

Great info here. Im gonna stick with the PNP kit in the 03. I have no money and no time to retrofit anything. If I did though, Id definately go that route.

 

Ok, Then I am a ricer.

Let it be known Honda-Tech! According to striker_18 its true...

I don't know how many times I have to say that I KNOW retrofitting is the way to go and that I WILL be doing it ASAP! Currently I dont have the time nor money so I will stick to my PNP HID kit.

Thanks for all your input striker_18...I never realized that my 6k HIDs made me a ricer.

/thread

 

Considering I just told you a 6,000K will have around 2000 +/- 200 lumens and a halogen bulb has 1300 +/- 200 lumens.
A halogen reflective housing will yield best results with a halogen bulb due to the optics for it being for halogens only.
With your kit, not only would you reduce visibility but width will decrease by alot. Again, I'm not telling you to retrofit but I just told you how $310 bucks can get you the best projectors(TL's) retrofitted into your housing. You can go a cheaper route and with that money you have invested in a pnp kit, it would cost the same as a retrofit. I already explained to you how to do it if you care to do it.

As you can see with your 6,000K kit, you can't see the sides of your car and all your light is focused on are two hot spots right in front of your car. That yields to no illumination further down the road. In other words, you just cut the visibility in half to what you would particularly see with a common halogen bulb.
Also, I'm sure all street signs glow from distance.
Oh yeah, did you know a 6,000K kit will look brighter to the naked eye than a 4,300K kit yet a 4,300K kit has over 1000 lumens more than a 6,000K kit?

 

Between the 4300k and the 6000k there isnt much of a difference (+/- ~ 400 lumens) . Its when you start getting into the 8000k + range that the usable lighting from the HIDs are taken away to allow the color to take its place. I understand how the lighting works...and this spring I WILL be doing a retrofit. If you would like to donate a set of G7 lights for me to practice on then GREAT...I will have them done sooner! (I actually have a set of Nissan Bi-Xenon projectors from a G35 in my garage.)

I thank you for the write up but at this time if I were to try and do it:

1.) If I mess up, I then can't drive to and from work.
2.) I work retail and now is the time I work 60+ hours a week
3.) Headlights are too expensive to mess up until I can afford a 2nd set just incase.

-Anthony

 

I wonder if these new "Silverstar ULTRA" wouldn't be the best solution for most of us.

 

Actually, aftermarket 6,000K bulbs put out less than what hid kit resellers/dealers show. a 2000 lumens with a gain or loss of 200 is not alot by any means. That is halogen territory. Besides, don't aim them down but rather get them back up. The main reason you got HID's for your wife is to get her to see better so even if there's glare, aiming them down will defeat the purpose of getting HID's to begin with.
I recommend you going with rebased D2R Phillips code name 85126+.
There will be many rebased that will have a 4,250K output for a white desired output yet it'll have 3250 lumens.
3250 lumens D2R vs 2000 +/-200 rebased D2S

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wonder if these new "Silverstar ULTRA" wouldn't be the best solution for most of us.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Ultra's give you a decent amount but not quiet that powerful. Ever tried CATz?

 

Here are some good options from Philips that have been discussed in the lighting forum:

http://www.nam.lighting.philip...ducts/