Note To Guys With Hids,after Market Heads Etc

jro909 · June 1, 2011

So this evening on my long drive home in the country, a fellow truck came over the hill sporting blue HIDs which were quite blinding so i went and flashed by brights out of natural respose and he threw his brights on constant and drove by on which completely blinded me causeing to go halfway into a ditch...needless to say i obviously diden't crash but this is a harsh reminder why those types of mods are not friendly with the law, here in wisconsin any color besides amber or white is illegal..you can be ticketed and forced to remove them, now i do like the look of aftermarket light set ups but folks keep in mind that you are possibley putting people's safety at risk by running these setups......also on a side note i know not all of these setups are blinding like that but i figured i'd share this story

Wingnut · June 1, 2011

I want to throw a handful of change at people that do that shit. Or lift/lower their truck and not adjust their headlights accordingly.

But that's not how I roll. I just save the change, and save up the anger until I can beat it out on my wife again.

jro909 · June 1, 2011

wow lol, i'm by no means pointing fingers at the group of guys running aftermarket headlights i just think that if you can afford to run them then you can afford to make sure they aren't a burden on other drivers...i was half tempted to swing the truck around and follow the guy but seeing as my eyeballs were showing me nothing but blotches i just chose to go home...i mean what happened to respect? i mean this goes for all drivers not just guys with deathrays for headlights, i mean hell i can't count the number of times people have tryed dumping soot in my window or people waking the neighborhood in the middle of the night laying rubber in the road

Z45 · June 1, 2011

If you run those kind of lights (non stock super bright) doesn't that suggest you have a desire to irritate other motorist with bright lights? Why does they drive around town with all the extra lights blazing and are within a nano-second ready to give the brights to anyone who might flash them?

I would suggest that that motorist is well aware his lights are blinding and gets some enjoyment out of pay back.

ChevyTech77 · June 1, 2011

The only thing that I have ever used, for replacement/brighter bulbs, are the Silverstar Ultra's that are in my '98. They are great and I will most likely put them in my '11 as well as time goes by but yes, the stupid blue/yellow bulbs are a joke especially when they are not adjusted properly. I still wish that I had the four, million candle watt power, off road lights on my truck, that I had on the light bar of my '86. They got the message across that "your brights are on" really, really fast to oncoming douchbags.

KMGZ400 · June 1, 2011

i think that blue or yellow hids on trucks looks kind of ricey... IMO.

i think they should be illegal.. i have had nearly the same thing happen..a little honda or something came over a hill and its lights were angled straight at my eyes and i couldnt see a thing so i just slammed on the brakes.

az'03Silverado · June 1, 2011

Common courtesy, unfortunately, is getting harder and harder to find these days. It's all ME ME ME and F-U F-U F-U. I agree with you about the HIDs. I see lifted trucks all the time with HIDs on the headlights and fog lights blazing away for no good reason around town. Just ridiculous.

KMGZ400 · June 1, 2011

since i live in a rural area, its not uncommon to see trucks with light systems comparable to trucks in the baja 1000. people drive around with them on and its extremely dangerous.. but what can you do

tanked_darren · June 1, 2011

BUT THE LIGHTS ARE SOOOOOOOO COOL!

Daryl LBZ · June 1, 2011

So this evening on my long drive home in the country, a fellow truck came over the hill sporting blue HIDs which were quite blinding so i went and flashed by brights out of natural respose and he threw his brights on constant and drove by on which completely blinded me causeing to go halfway into a ditch...needless to say i obviously diden't crash but this is a harsh reminder why those types of mods are not friendly with the law, here in wisconsin any color besides amber or white is illegal..you can be ticketed and forced to remove them, now i do like the look of aftermarket light set ups but folks keep in mind that you are possibley putting people's safety at risk by running these setups......also on a side note i know not all of these setups are blinding like that but i figured i'd share this story

I don't understand why you did this? Whats he supposed to do turn off all of his lights so you can see to drive by? Give me a break. People did this to me with stock lights, and it makes me want to get out and smash their head off of their window.

SparkySparks · June 1, 2011

I have HIDs in my truck but I have the 5000K (white) that are closer to 4300K (white/yellow) and I have them aimed correctly (a little lower then if it was standard bulbs). I have had a few friends who have small cars drive in front of me and then drive toward my truck to make sure they are not blinding. Since I have done that I have only been flashed twice and that was when the power was out everywhere so there was no street lights. During that time I was flashed by two small cars as I came over a hill, I double checked and made a small adjustment then also. I installed HIDs so I could see better when out on the country roads with out street lights which is where I do most of my driving at night. I would love to do a full retro fit but at this time it just isn't in the budget (money or time wise). If they made standard bulbs that where more of a white and gave off closer to the output of HIDs I would have those instead. I agree fully with y'all about the blue lights and the lights not aimed correctly (standard bulbs or HIDs). I have had little riced out cars drive behind me that would be blinding because they had their lights aimed way high. I have seen cars and trucks with their lights aimed way out of whack (both standard and HIDs).

KMGZ400 · June 1, 2011

the other night a GMT900 escalade was behind me on the highway and its was extremely annoying. i had to angle my mirrors down becasue its HIDs were burning my retinas

Doug_Scott · June 1, 2011

So this evening on my long drive home in the country, a fellow truck came over the hill sporting blue HIDs which were quite blinding so i went and flashed by brights out of natural respose and he threw his brights on constant and drove by on which completely blinded me causeing to go halfway into a ditch...needless to say i obviously diden't crash but this is a harsh reminder why those types of mods are not friendly with the law, here in wisconsin any color besides amber or white is illegal..you can be ticketed and forced to remove them, now i do like the look of aftermarket light set ups but folks keep in mind that you are possibley putting people's safety at risk by running these setups......also on a side note i know not all of these setups are blinding like that but i figured i'd share this story

I don't understand why you did this? Whats he supposed to do turn off all of his lights so you can see to drive by? Give me a break. People did this to me with stock lights, and it makes me want to get out and smash their head off of their window.

Most likely did because he has no way of knowing the oncoming moron did not have his high beams on. He just assumed that they must have been, since only a complete moron would drive a vehicle with lights so far out of adjustment it blinded oncoming traffic. The oncoming vehicle should realize after having so many cars flash their lights at him/her that there must be something wrong with his/her lights and get it checked. Of course I am assuming the person is capable of logical thinking, I may be giving them more credit than they deserve.

jimbrown1 · June 1, 2011

So this evening on my long drive home in the country, a fellow truck came over the hill sporting blue HIDs which were quite blinding so i went and flashed by brights out of natural respose and he threw his brights on constant and drove by on which completely blinded me causeing to go halfway into a ditch...needless to say i obviously diden't crash but this is a harsh reminder why those types of mods are not friendly with the law, here in wisconsin any color besides amber or white is illegal..you can be ticketed and forced to remove them, now i do like the look of aftermarket light set ups but folks keep in mind that you are possibley putting people's safety at risk by running these setups......also on a side note i know not all of these setups are blinding like that but i figured i'd share this story

I don't understand why you did this? Whats he supposed to do turn off all of his lights so you can see to drive by? Give me a break. People did this to me with stock lights, and it makes me want to get out and smash their head off of their window.

Most likely did because he has no way of knowing the oncoming moron did not have his high beams on. He just assumed that they must have been, since only a complete moron would drive a vehicle with lights so far out of adjustment it blinded oncoming traffic. The oncoming vehicle should realize after having so many cars flash their lights at him/her that there must be something wrong with his/her lights and get it checked. Of course I am assuming the person is capable of logical thinking, I may be giving them more credit than they deserve.

+1

sk · June 1, 2011

This is becoming my "regular" post about HID's:

An HID retrofit kit is ILLEGAL unless it was designed with the bulb, ballast, lens, and reflector to all work together. If you just put HID bulbs and ballast in a halogen reflector, the setup is illegal. If you just put HID bulbs into projectors that were not designed for your vehicle, the setup is illegal. Here is a great write-up about the technology:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...onversions.html

Now I know a bunch of people will jump on here and say "the cops don't stop people so it must be legal". The bottom line is that it is ILLEGAL, period. The only way it is legal is if a manufacturer has designed a true retrofit system for your vehicle. Those kits are few and far between and start at about $1000 and go up from there.