Until local law enforcement starts... enforcing... the kits will still get sold and used. All the kits I have ever seen (including the ones I have personally used) say FOR OFF ROAD USE ONLY.

Bottom line - people can and will continue to break the law. I used to have a 5000K kit in my taurus and a few cops actually told me how much nicer they looked over the stock lighting.

 

That's because the stock lighting is terrible. I was driving in the rain last night and it was tempting to just shut the things off in disgust. Absolutely worthless (and this was a light rain). Need to try a bulb swap, but the ones that are in there look pretty new, and they're aimed properly.

The old optic plate lights in my F-250 weren't the best, but they were way better than the Taurus lights.

 

I have 6K HID's in my Taurus and I put them in both of my parents cars and we never had any problem. Although one time at 2am I was driving alone on the road and saw an on coming cop and he made a U turn, started following me, but eventually left. Be smart like me and get a Bi-Xenon HID..whenever I see a cop I turn on my high beams, they aren't really high beams but they're yellow like regular headlights and no one knows the difference

 

A true bi-xenon doesn't have a different colored high beam. When you turn on the high beams, the shield over the bulb moves and more light is allowed out of the upper end of the bulb. On low beams (when installed correctly) there's a sharp cutoff line so that you don't blind oncoming drivers.

 

I dont know what is so great about installing ILLEGAL HID conversions. Just because someone hasnt been caught yet, doesnt mean they wont be caught and fined.

I have Phillips Extreme Vision bulbs in both my 05 and 95 Bulls, and they do a fantastic job of lighting up the road (even for my 58 year old eyes) with the correct beam pattern that doesnt blind oncoming drivers.

 

The Retrofit Source online: headlight upgrades for all applications

Read up on this. The CORRECT way to install HIDs. Projectors greatly increase the benefit of HIDs and don't blind oncoming drivers. Jackasses throwing HIDs in their stock headlight housings and blinding everyone without projectors are the reason that they're illegal

 

Read up on this. The CORRECT way to install HIDs.

Please read up the letters from United States Department of Transportation - they are just a click away. Any HID 'kit' is not legal on public roads.

As for light output being low - well, after 15-20 years, the plastic will fog up and develop micro-cracks. You can clean up the plastic with a lens restorer kit, I personally couldn't believe what difference it made.
Grounds can corrode in those years, any voltage drop is very much affecting the light output. Cleaning ground contacts will restore that.
Better halogens are legal to use, I personally use Philips X-tremeVision. They claim up to 100% more light than 'regular' bulbs. They are bright and have proper light spread.

 

^+1

When I bought my car, the previous owner had installed a cheap HID kit. It was terrible. The beam pattern was completely messed up, the HID's were too blue, etc. I uninstalled the HID's and bought a set of Philips Crystal Vision Ultra's for $20 on Amazon - free shipping. I did some heavy research before buying anything; supposedly these are some of the whitest halogen bulbs on the market, and are rated at 4000K.

Philips CrystalVision Ultra 12336CVS2 - Automotive Headlight

The beam pattern makes the biggest difference here. The cutoff is much flatter and more level, not spotty like the HID's were, and the light output is nice. I plan on installing a wiring harness to increase power to the lamps eventually. For $20, I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

My lenses are clear. No corrosion in this weather. I'm planning on sticking SilverStars in. If that doesn't work, KC lights perhaps.

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I live in a big city where there are so many stupidly bright HIDs that blind me every night

If your lights are stupid bright through my tint AND dimmed mirror then they are too ****ing bright!

 

That's where my point of NOT being stupidly installed and stupid colored comes up. I never had issues with the ones in my city (Grand Rapids, MI). They usually were a moderate color, some a little too blue in my opinion, but not terrible. I had 20% tint and an autodimming mirror. No issues.