REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

mtslmax · 03-21-2013, 12:56 AM

Hey! I'm new to this forum and I've got questions for you experts out there.

I've been thinking of getting a 96-98 Civic EK and I wanted to changed the lighting on the car to HID Xenon Projector Angel Eyes. Anyone know if there's a way to ensure that the lights would be bright enough? I've looked at this site:

HID XENON + 96-98 HONDA CIVIC ANGEL EYE HALO PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS - BLACK

Those are the kind of lights I want, however I'm not sure for one, if the site is reliable, and two, if the lights will be bright enough even if I get 4300k/6000k bulbs.

Another choice I could make is keeping my stock headlights and getting HID conversion and getting LED angel eye lights for them.

Any suggestions if Angel eyes would be bright enough? Just that I know some people tell me there is a chance they wouldn't be bright enough. Let me know! (:

Thanks for your help in advance (:

BrRsn · 03-21-2013, 07:46 PM

They're all the same design made in the same country somewhere overseas.
They all have the same structure, a round plastic ring with a single hole at the bottom for 1-2 low power LED bulbs.

I've helped a few friends install "projector angel eyez" headlights. All of their angel eyes have burnt out or they got sick of the 'angel eye' look on their car.

Don't put HID's in those ebay projector headlights, they're designed for halogens. While you can physically do it (assuming bulb size matches, b/c ebay headlight bulb size doesn't always = OEM bulb size for your car), you'll get 'hot spots' and uneven spread of light. To the average person it doesn't really bother them, but it negates the whole purpose of getting HID's for better night time visibility when the projector you're putting them in isn't designed for them.
If you're looking out your windshield, the center of the road will be well lit, but the sides (where shit comes from that you need to dodge) will not be well-lit and will be dark (when compared to a OEM hid setup or a decent set of projectors + halogens).

If you must get HID's, and don't want to shell out the cash for a proper retrofitted projector/HID combo then the ebay projectors at least have a decent cutoff so you won't blind other drivers but don't expect awesome light output. More of a cosmetic mod than anything.

If you're worried about the angel eyes, and want to put them in no matter what ... buy some small/powerful 4300K or 6000K (or whatever you want) led bulbs. At the bottom of the headlight there should be an opening where the cheap LED's they supply go ... tear it out and use your own.
Or you can go to umntza.com and get a very powerful LED angel eyes kit, but it'll be ~$200 for just the angel eyes.

tl;dr

doing it right will probably be ~$1000 invested in lights
doing it quick will be $200 and still be 'okay' for daily driving

mtslmax · 03-22-2013, 12:12 PM

ooooo alright thanks a lot! I guess I can look into getting a retrofit projector/HID conversion kit

mtslmax · 03-22-2013, 12:16 PM

is that the only way to get them though? cause if I just get the retrofitted projector HID conversion kit and possibly get a LED ring around it, my headlights would only have 1 set of rings on each side instead of 2 bulbs/rings on each side, is there a way to change that?

snails · 03-22-2013, 12:17 PM

revscene isnt ricescene.. for most, leave angel eyes for BMW's, and LED strips for audis for the love of god! imo and i love civics, the stock lights are the best, projectors are good for visability, but in cheap ebay/ek lenses will spread the light terribly, eks have THE WORSE light spread, so even putting hids in stock will blind everyone on the road, that being said, if u do want projectors run them in a stock housing, or hid in ur stock housing, ebay lights fail... and when i say fail i mean they melt, leak,fog up, dont fit, and spread light terrible... my 2 cents, save your money

BrRsn · 03-22-2013, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtslmax

is that the only way to get them though? cause if I just get the retrofitted projector HID conversion kit and possibly get a LED ring around it, my headlights would only have 1 set of rings on each side instead of 2 bulbs/rings on each side, is there a way to change that?

You can get retrofitting stuff from The Retrofit Source online: headlight upgrades for all applications
but its pretty involved to install it. You have to bake your lights, take them apart, and it's not cheap. But if you do a retrofit, it's pretty easy to install angel eyes because your whole headlight will be taken apart anyways.

Angel eyes look very cheesey but if you are hell bent on getting them, check out umntza.com for higher quality LED angel eyes(~$200 for 2) or get some cheap BMW LED angel eyes from khoalty.com (~$40 for 2) and see if you can make them fit.

You can put HID's in ebay housings, they shouldn't melt or cause any physical damage as long as you get a 35 watt HID kit (I've helped a few friends install ebay projectors + 35watt HIDs, still running fine after 2 years). The cut off is decent enough that it won't blind other drivers/attract unwanted attention but light output will be comparable to OEM (assuming you get 4300K .... but the angel eyes question makes me suspect you'll be installing 8000K ... which will suck in terms of illumination).

Sidenote, ebay housings all leak and get foggy. Do yourself a favor and run a bead of clear silicone along all the joints if you do end up getting ebay headlights. You can atleast avoid the foggy/leaky headlights.

mtslmax · 03-26-2013, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snails

revscene isnt ricescene.. for most, leave angel eyes for BMW's, and LED strips for audis for the love of god! imo and i love civics, the stock lights are the best, projectors are good for visability, but in cheap ebay/ek lenses will spread the light terribly, eks have THE WORSE light spread, so even putting hids in stock will blind everyone on the road, that being said, if u do want projectors run them in a stock housing, or hid in ur stock housing, ebay lights fail... and when i say fail i mean they melt, leak,fog up, dont fit, and spread light terrible... my 2 cents, save your money

alright alright I know that, but I just think they look nice ykno? I was just wondering man, no need to get all intense about it...just finding some opinions and stuff on what's good and what's not. I'm thinking of just getting HID's on stock and jus get the housing black so it looks better or get JDM headlights n get HIDs on them cause they look nicer than stock lights.

Heru-Farukon · 03-27-2013, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtslmax

alright alright I know that, but I just think they look nice ykno? I was just wondering man, no need to get all intense about it...just finding some opinions and stuff on what's good and what's not. I'm thinking of just getting HID's on stock and jus get the housing black so it looks better or get JDM headlights n get HIDs on them cause they look nicer than stock lights.

Im not going to lie, they do look good.....on bmws lol. Other cars, not so much

If you are going to do the hid + stock halogen headlight, you will glare people on the oncoming side of the road, and may get hibeam if its pretty bad.

Like someone has mentioned, i would do it right and do a retrofit. You can find some used quality kits for pretty cheap.

But if you still wish to go the angel eye and the such, more power to you