Angel Eyes (Headlight Upgrade)

[Still Micah]

After an adequate amount of research and a long wait for parts, which I got for under $100, I replaced my OEM headlights with Halo ring "Angel Eyes" and a 12000k Kensun HID kit.



It's fairly important to note that this is something I wouldn't recommend to anyone because it's the most arduous project I've ever undertaken, it put my car out of commission for 3 days.

How it's wired:
-The halos are connected to the daytime running light wires (low beams), whereas the actual bulb socket has been snipped out, it was worn and fraying anyway.
-The HID kit was wired to the high beams, and then I pulled the high beam plug over to the low beam projector and fitted the HID bulb into the housing. (This means I don't have high beams)

How I'm not "THAT GUY":
-The reason people hate HID kits is because they blind the sh*t out of everyone, this happens because the reflector under the low beam projector reflects the high intensity light upwards. Obviously you don't want that light to hurt anyone so there are 2 main ways to eliminate the reflection upwards. [A: You can fit half a pipe around the bulb and block the lower half of the light from reaching the reflector. B: You can black out all of the reflectors so only the projector is giving light.] I chose to black out my reflectors for the mainly obvious reason that I don't want to cut a steel pipe and then glue it to a glass tube, also a blacked out headlight is just... it's just neat. I just sprayed rustoleums version of plast-dip over the reflectors so I can remove it if necessary, and it seems to be working like a charm.
-The second reason HIDs are "dazzling" is because of light scattering, kind of like how it reflects. Clean and polish the crap out of your lenses, any imperfections will glitter like a Christmas morning in Alaska, so the clearer the better.

Things to avoid:
-Don't use duct tape on your reflectors/projector, use painters tape. I was feeling impatient and just used some leftover duct tape I had and it ripped off the reflective coating, and left sticky bits everywhere, anyway I'm an idiot, use painters tape.
-Don't black out turn signals, for obvious reasons, these actually need to be seen.
-Don't use a heat gun too close to the housing, it will melt the plastic and it'll warp and rip and... yeah don't.
-Don't try this project at all if you're impatient, removing the lenses took 3 hours of bending every single ridge of plastic away. I used an entire tube of RTV silicone to reseal them after I was done.
-Most importantly, know that the lenses are held in place by the same stuff that holds your windshield in place, it's not meant to be pulled apart, ever. Heat gun didn't work, prying with a flathead was my only salvation, and even so I would have murdered someone if I had cracked a lens.

Weird side-effects:
-When my car is off (and unlocked) the LEDs flash in some odd sequence (not even at the same time, one then the other), kind of like an airplane's position lights. For some reason the car is shooting .6v through the lights, I have no idea why, I was going to have a resister board built, but I kind of like how the lights flicker(?) when I unlock the car, so I'm leaving it for now.



Let me know what you think, and post any questions below.

[nordwulf]

I have a few questions...

Is this modification legal? 120000K is violet-purple and it is only allowed to have white headlights in the US (from what I have read).

Why go through this trouble and end up with lowered light output, more difficult to see at night and no high beams? Is it legal not having high beams?

[Still Micah]

I have a few questions...

Is this modification legal? 120000K is violet-purple and it is only allowed to have white headlights in the US (from what I have read).

Why go through this trouble and end up with lowered light output, more difficult to see at night and no high beams? Is it legal not having high beams?

-Actually the HIDs are more white/faint-blue than anything, so cops haven't really cared/noticed, different brands have different ways of handling the light output and these are on the white side.

-This project was mostly done due to the fact that I'm not happy with the Saab's stock light output, ironically enough. The lights are in fact much much brighter than standard, the reason the reflectors had to be blacked out was to reduce the glare that HIDs produce. Removing my brights was actually not a tough decision at all, in Florida I have literally never used them, they only came in handy when winding through woods in Virginia, but that's only a couple of times a year for 5 mile stretches. I can live with the loss considering the advantages I've gained by actually being able to see the road 90% of the time I drive at night.

As far as legality, I'm like 85% sure that high beams are a feature and not a mandatory piece, mostly because you can't have them on anytime a cop is around, unless you want to blind them and get pulled over. However that's not based on facts, so I can't really give you a solid answer. I know in Texas all lights have to be working to pass inspection, but considering that I don't have those lights they can't be considered inoperative. Luckily Florida doesn't care about vehicle inspections.

[tunnanxwd]

The irony is that just a few years ago you would have failed inspection in NJ but due to lax enforcement and politics they no longer conduct real safety inspections on an annual basis, only for exhaust emissions and that is because they would have lost federal funding dollars. Every state code usually has a section on alterations that do not meet manufacturers or SAE standards.

[Still Micah]

I wonder what I'd have to do to make my lights up to par. I'm sure they fall within the same specs normal lights do, but I'd rather not draw attention to my car by asking someone trained in the subject.

I like to think I made an aesthetic and functional mod that improves the operation of my vehicle in normal conditions, and did so in such a way that is considerate of other drivers. I'm sure a cop wouldn't ding me for that, and I can always flip off the lights when I get pulled over so it's just the halos running.
I recently (accidentally) sped around a cop on the road, before the new lights. I got pulled over, but he just told me to fix my tail light (which is damaged) and sent me on my merry way, not mentioning the over-tinted windows or anything. Generally officers are nice to me.