I have some NAPA Clearview XL headlights; they are rebadged XtraVisions as I recall..and 3 dollars cheaper too!

 

HID's, without the custom housings, are not only illegal, but dangerous.

 

I get flashed nightly with my properly aimed Sylvania XtraVisions...so I guess that means they work.

 

Yes... this will sort of take care of the blinding of other people..but they are still illegal if they arent DOT approved, which I would bet applies to all of ebay's cheap kits. You can get ticketed for running these in a non-DOT approved housing.
Also, 4100K are the whitest and brightest. Anything over starts to get a blue hue.

 

X10 on the Silverstars ive had them on my cherokee and grand cherokee before this one.....huge improvement over stock!!

 

5000k is considered to be pure white. Although the bulb itself is blue. I run them because I wanted the whitest light I could get before they start to turn blue. 4500k is considered off white.

 

I have Silverstars in my Wbody. The last pair lasted me about 5 years.

 

If your blinding people either your "properly aimed is off or your lights are to high off the road.

 

I have the autopal euro H4 conversion housings from ebay ($40) and 6000k H4 HIDs also from ebay ($60) and they are great. Very white light, no blue tint at all. I hate the way the blue looks; IMO it doesnt help your vision at all, pure white is the way to go. And if youre worried about the legality of it, autopal also makes a DOT housing which you can pop HIDs into. From what I hear, the beam pattern isnt as good as the euro ones, but its still an improvement over stock halogen especially with HIDs.

Everytime I get in my friends XJ i ask him if his lights are on; his stock halogens look soooo dim compared to the HID light i'm used to. You really will love the HID lighting if you get it. My only complaint is that they take a few seconds to warm up especially in cold weather but after like 10 seconds they attain full brightness. Oh, and if you use the headlight delay feature in some XJs, it won't work with HID so you have to unplug the headlight delay module otherwise the HIDs will flash and they wont turn off. If you unplug the delay relay your headlights will work normally.

Just make sure you get the right bulbs. XJs have combined hi's/low's in the same housing, so you need to get H4 HIDs capable of both hi's and lows, otherwise you lose your hi's. IMO, this can be achieved properly in 2 ways:

1) Get fully dual HID bulbs. Your current halogen lights have two filaments at different positions, one for hi and one for low. They make HID bulbs like this which will give you HID low and HID hi but they are kinda pricey.
2) Get telescopic dual HID bulbs (this is what I got). These only have one bulb but it moves when you turn your hi's on. This puts the bulb at a different position in your headlight housing which reflects the light higher up. These are not that expensive and you get the full effect of hi's and lows.

Dont get the crappy bulbs that have HID low and halogen hi. The "halogen" beam sucks and doesnt provide nearly as much light as a regular halogen bulb would, and besides, with HID lows you dont want halogen hi's. I think dual beam HID is the way to go. Just make sure you aim them properly. Even if they are aimed slightly lower, there is still a huge visibility improvement from the increased brightness and whiter color, all for $100. I love them and I will never go halogen again.

 

On the same note, make sure you get decent quality bulbs. These will have a nice rounded metal reflector above the bulb that kinda looks like a c shape or half a cylinder. This reflects the light properly giving you a nice sharp cutoff and reducing the amount of stray light which blinds people. If you get the cheap $30 HID kits from ebay, the bulbs come with no reflector or a crappy thin straight one that doesnt really help reflect the light. These are the bulbs that blind everyone since the light is not being properly reflected and dispersed by your housing. So even if you do "aim them properly" the beam pattern is not nice and it will still blind everyone. Get the more expensive bulbs and its a win-win: the light is reflected better helping you see further and no one gets blinded

 

5 years and counting on mine, have them on both my xj's.

 

Rampage h4 conversion I love mine

 

There so many things that I feel against what you said. "This will sort of" Seriously, how stuck up are you? You can not define what the term "blinding" is. It is a personal perference, personal opinion, there is no fact behind it. Just because you hate the people with HID's you cast your own resentment. Most housings you buy are DOT approved, mine are DOT approved. Using scare tactics of you will get a ticket it for it is just bothering. One guy said he had the Silverstars and got flashed by people, it means nothing, HID's are brighter then Silverstars without a doubt. It is all about what is best for you, the driver, of course you need to aim it correctly not only for you but for the people around, it is just unfair to chastise HID's because of your person grudge or bias.

 

I have nothing against people who run HID's, I would love to run them. But housings that arent DOT approved FOR HIDs are not legal. That includes sticking HID's in H4 housings. However if aimed properly, it is unlikely youll be pulled over.
Here's an excerpt from something i read:
'Installing HID's into a vehicle not originally equipped with them from the factory is technically illegal. Practically speaking, you stand little chance of being cited for them provided you educate yourself on the requirements of HID lighting and take the necessary steps to ensure you have the right equipment and adjustments to keep it safe. That is, make sure your vehicle's headlight assembly uses an appropriately designed projector lense (as opposed to a reflector), and of course that your headlights are properly aligned after installation. Many newer vehicles use projector lenses because stock halogen bulbs also benefit from the "light shaping", but having just any old projector lense does not necessarily ensure that the beam pattern will be correct. It is absolutely essential for HID's to give the light output a sharp cutoff line to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. As HID's become more popular, aftermarket projector housings are being produced for some vehicles.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) states that improperly-installed HID's are getting a lot of complaints. Vendors will usually include a disclaimer that they are intended for offroad use only, but it's no secret that people don't follow this rule. Now, there are a lot of aftermarket automotive parts that qualify as illegal but aren't strictly enforced. Logically, the safety implications of blinding oncoming drivers are more serious than, say, an exhaust that exceeds the legal noise level. So the DOT has actively gone after vendors of HID conversion kits, threatening monetary fines if they continue selling them, and consequently there are now fewer places to buy them.'

I know sylvania made DOT approved HID housings, but they discontinued them due to quality issues. You can still buy their kit, but they go for some serious coin. OR you can properly aim your HID's that are white not blue and run the very small risk of getting ticketed, which is what Ill probably end up doing.

 

Well, that is a great excerpt, but from what? There is not statute of law in it. All that excerpt is here say, not law. Here is the Law.

Under Motor Vehicle Code § 547.3215. USE OF FEDERAL STANDARD. Drivers are required to meet federal standards in 49 CFR Sec 571.108. This makes crrent HID retrofits in Halogen housings NOT meet the beam pattern requirements for replacement lamps. The propper ticket to write is one of the following for those using HIDs in halogen housings.

Understood your possition with the legality of them. I have the on my Jeep and if the worst thing that I do is get pulled over for my lights, I will be happy with all the bad stuff I do in my Z. But that is my stand point, I retract my statement towards you, with your reply I can see where you were comming from, but your first couple of posts told other wise.