Headlight loom upgrades or HIDs? (see page 2)

[cardboard 0]

can anyone talk me through how to go about upgrading the headlight loom please? or point me in the way of a walk through?

 

many thanks

[VR6 South 0]

http://www.vintagewatercooleds.com/tech ... dlight.htm

 

....should do the trick if you fancy DIY!

[cardboard 0]

wow looks confusing at first glance but imagine it cant be that hard!

have you used this method? have you found it effective?

[twofourten 0]

Has anyone on here used the "McCulloch HID Kit" available from Dub Design Industries?

It looks very professional, so maybe better than home-made style kits from ebay?

But costing 300 dollars?!

[VR6 0]

Two completely different things matey.

 

One is a 'homemade' replacement wiring loom with relays and reduces the voltage drop between battery and headlights and increase the brightness of the lights. It's cheap to make yourself and is quite good value for money, or you can buy one but it's still worthwhile.

 

The other is a HID kit. It's more expensive and if you can get a decent kit and install it correctly, they can give really good results. A lot more work though.

 

They're not really comparable IMHO, you either go one way or the other.

[corradog60stage4 0]

Has anyone on here used the "McCulloch HID Kit" available from Dub Design Industries?

It looks very professional, so maybe better than home-made style kits from ebay?

But costing 300 dollars?!

 

That kit is awesome and I have installed three kits on my corrado.

One for the low beams, one for the high beams and one for the fog lights.

Turns night driving to day.

Best money spent at DDI.

:cheers:

 

The owner Ahn from DDI guaranteed me that these are 100% waterproof and very high quality kits.

So I decided to test them out myself by dropping the entire kit into a bucket of water to confirm his claims.

 

 

[twofourten 0]

Thanks VR6 & corradog60stage4

Great pics of the kit in water by the way - thanks again

Having stated that you have 3 kits in your car (900 dollars?!) would people say that the difference between the two options (this includes the far superior construction and waterproofing provided by the HID kit & light brightness) is worth the difference in price? :confused4:

[dinkus 10]

I'm thinking I'll probably go with an HID kit on mine... if you buy a pre-made OEM-style loom, you're looking at £50+ then you're talking another £20 or so for fancy bulbs.

 

So call it £70 all-in.

 

For £100 off ebay (or more like £160 if you buy the DDI kit) then for £30 more, you've got a kit that won't ever need new bulbs and night/day difference between even an uprated loom and bulb kit.

 

Seems like a no-brainer to me...

[Leonard 0]

Im confused I thought that:

 

a) it was illegal to fit HIDS without a self levelling device on the headlamps and it would defo fail the MOT

 

b) that the reflectors on the Corrado meant that HIDS dont really work that great anyway

 

:confused4:

[dinkus 10]

Im confused I thought that:

 

a) it was illegal to fit HIDS without a self levelling device on the headlamps and it would defo fail the MOT

 

Possibly, I'm not sure... I'd heard that too, but I know quite a few people that have had them through on an MOT and said that all the light needs to pass is the beam pattern. Could be wrong though

 

b) that the reflectors on the Corrado meant that HIDS dont really work that great anyway

 

I thought so too, but it's apparently not true as the HID kits are made to the same beam pattern as whatever bulbs you have to replace. So if you have H4 bulbs now, you buy an H4 HID kit...

[junkie 0]

Why do you say you need fancy bulbs on an uprated loom dinkus?

[corradog60stage4 0]

Im confused I thought that:

 

a) it was illegal to fit HIDS without a self levelling device on the headlamps and it would defo fail the MOT

 

Possibly, I'm not sure... I'd heard that too, but I know quite a few people that have had them through on an MOT and said that all the light needs to pass is the beam pattern. Could be wrong though

 

b) that the reflectors on the Corrado meant that HIDS dont really work that great anyway

 

I thought so too, but it's apparently not true as the HID kits are made to the same beam pattern as whatever bulbs you have to replace. So if you have H4 bulbs now, you buy an H4 HID kit...

 

I have H4 for the lows and H3 for the highs and fogs.

As long as you don't get blue lights or higher than 5000K it should be okay.

[dinkus 10]

Why do you say you need fancy bulbs on an uprated loom dinkus?

 

Well you don't need fancy bulbs, but if you're putting in an uprated loom, it makes sense to put in a set of Silver Stars at the same time. I was just using it to compare price really. If you use the posh kit that DDI sell then it's going to be over double the money, especially if you want to go overkill and get 2 sets - one for the H4s and one for the H3s!

 

I'm still very tempted though, the buggers are fecking bright! :lol:

[corradog60stage4 0]

Why do you say you need fancy bulbs on an uprated loom dinkus?

 

Well you don't need fancy bulbs, but if you're putting in an uprated loom, it makes sense to put in a set of Silver Stars at the same time. I was just using it to compare price really. If you use the posh kit that DDI sell then it's going to be over double the money, especially if you want to go overkill and get 2 sets - one for the H4s and one for the H3s!

 

I'm still very tempted though, the buggers are fecking bright! :lol:

 

they better be bright at 3200 lumens each hid capsule. :clap:

 

with my setup you got like 19200 lumens with everything on :salute:

[dinkus 10]

they better be bright at 3200 lumens each hid capsule. :clap:

 

with my setup you got like 19200 lumens with everything on :salute:

 

ROFL - possibly a bit overkill... I wonder how bright they'll be when dipped and/or if you're likely to singe the retinas of any poor schmucks coming the other way :lol:

 

So I take it you haven't fitted yours yet? Which kits have you gone for?

[Leonard 0]

Has anyone actually fitted any HID's and had them work 100% on a Corrado yet?

[dinkus 10]

I know there are quite a few people with them fitted, just can't remember who! :lol:

 

From what I've found via search, it seems that the standard setup on the Corrado is:

 

This seems to be what you get as standard:

 

Dipped = H4 bulb - 1 filament

Main = H4 bulb - 1 filament PLUS H3 bulb in the spotlight

Main + pull the stalk towards you = H4 bulb - 2 filaments PLUS H3 bulb in the spotlight

 

Some pics of the kits from our good friend corradog60stage4...

viewtopic.php?p=877433#p877433

...and there would be more here if he'd attached them to the thread instead ;)

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=60563

 

Interesting reading from Mystic Rado, especially as the HIDS4U ones are probably the most expensive ones you can buy...

viewtopic.php?p=862697#p862697

viewtopic.php?t=50738&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

 

It'd be interesting to see if he used the 4300K "Supreme Vision" setup though, as that could make a difference.

 

Also some nice work from GTuned, although a little more than a straight swap-job:

viewtopic.php?p=599635#p599635

 

But if you really want to go hardcore, how's about this:

http://www.dubdesignindustries.com/audilights/

 

Some info here on the legality of the HID kits:

viewtopic.php?p=158612#p158612

 

Although that would imply you need the non-UK spec automatic headlight adjusters so you can "adjust the lights from the driver's seat".

 

Lastly - 4200K or 4300K ones are what you want. Anything higher is more blue and actually produces less light. It also looks a bit ghey :lol:

 

Most kits are 35W, which should be more than enough, although a lot of places offer 55W as well, which sounds retina-singey.

 

So yeah, maybe it's not quite so much of a no-brainer. I'd just seen the conversion on my friend's car and it's a night/day difference...but perhaps on the Corrado it's not such a good idea and a loom/uprated bulbs is the best you're going to get...

[KipVR 1]

Much of the problem with HID comes from the bulb design itself. A halogen reflector is a parabolic shape designed to have a 'focal point' where all light emitted from this point will be reflected onto an aimed area in front of the car. An H4 Halogen bulb has two filaments in it-main beam and dip beam, both in specific points within the bulb- these are the two 'focal points' the Corrado H4 reflector headlight is designed around. If you look at a halogen bulb they all look extremely similar. See my examples below taken off the net.

stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfLLB472.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]ETKA Corrado.pdf472.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]2008124202914.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]

 

Xenon H4 bulbs design differ massively meaning the light sources are not always in the same place as the halogen H4 though depending on who manufacturers the bulb and what sort of bulb it is- bi-xenon or telescopic etc. See more examples... :D

 

 

stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfChina_Product_C2007413115859446758_H4_BI_XENON_BULBS.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]Corrado92.pdfH4 New Bi-Xenon 1.JPG[/attachment:3mh7ggur]

passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfH4_bi_xenon_lamp.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]

climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfSell_Bi_Xenon_Bulb.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]

2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfhh.jpg[/attachment:3mh7ggur]

They have been designed to be used primarily with PES headlamps using lenses (projectors)- a much better system requiring a much smaller frontal area on the car, albeit more costly for manufacturers, these do not depend on having a given focal point so it doesent matter where the light emits from- within reason.

 

As a result of the xenon bulbs being different what this effectively does is change the focal point to the reflector, meaning that the light is being reflected in a different way.

 

A perfect example of this is a maglite. If you turn the end of the torch you alter the beam pattern by altering the focal length.

 

The performance of different manufacturers HID conversion kit's vary because the bulb designs differ. Some HID bulbs are actually very close to a halogen bulb and they will provide a very similar pattern but much brighter :D Now all you need to do to get a good pattern is find that kit. :grin:

[Leonard 0]

That makes sense! :grin:

[KipVR 1]

Cheers mate, took half an hour to write that lot up :D !!

[Leonard 0]

Cheers mate, took half an hour to write that lot up :D !!

 

I bet!

 

I knew the reflectors on the C wouldnt match up with the HIDS's too well. Just couldnt figure out why. Seems simple now :grin:

[KipVR 1]

I suppose the long and short is (if you can) compare the bulbs before you buy.

[mariojoshi 1]

I'm very happily running dual H4 capped HIDS at the moment :)

 

Initially got flashed becuase of a wobbly headlight!

VW checked the beam pattern for me and said it was fine though... (they did that for free.. randomly.. shock horror!)

[corradog60stage4 0]

I was experimenting with two types of bi-xenon mechanism

on the left is the mcculloch with moving shutter and on right was no name telescopic mechanism

 

 

here are H3 for the fog lights.

 

[dinkus 10]

Thanks for the write-up Kip, I'd come to the same conclusion, but not sure what the best bulb shape is.

 

As DDI sell the McCulloch kit, it's probably worth asking zarman why he stocks that kit - is it because the bulb shape is the best, or just because it seemed like a good quality kit?

 

Also worth bearing in mind that North American Corrado lights are a different design to the rest of the world, so what works in one of their lights, might not work in "Euro" or "E spec" lights.

 

The important thing you want to see is the beam pattern when you shine the lights against a wall - you can then see how sharp the edges of the beam pattern are and thus, how well the bulbs suit the headlight reflector.

 

corradog60stage4 - if you could park a few metres away from a big wall and take a picture of your headlights shining on the wall, that'd be a big help to see... if/when we find the right type of bulbs for Corrado lights, we could well be onto a mass CF GB on them :lol: