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Originally Posted by Skratch
I guess I'm just at a loss here, why would anyone want to deliberately build an illegal headlight set up?
Aftermarket HID's are not street legal in almost all localities within the US, those lenses are not designed for those lamps . . . they were specifically designed for a 9006 lamp and only a 9006 lamp.
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If you use some care in your HID installation you can have a great set of headlights without causing glare for other drivers. Sure the housings aren't optimized for HIDs, but you'll still get a better light output than stock.
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Most aftermarket HID "upgrades" seem to push the 6000K or higher color temperature lamps . . . 4300K is the factory HID ct and is the only one considered legal for on-road use here in the US.
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Color temperatures have bearing on the legality of aftermarket HIDs. Putting HIDs in a vehicle that wasn't originally equipped with them is illegal. Period. Even if the vehicle was available with HIDs, but wasn't actually equipped with them, it's illegal. I had a 2002 Cadillac SLS that I put HIDs in. Even though you could get HIDs on the 2002 SLS, because mine weren't factory, they were illegal.
I see more HID swaps that appear in the 8000K+ range than anything it seems. I guarantee the reason you see that is because the buyers are completely uneducated and think that the higher the number, the better and brighter the lights will be, when the reverse is actually true. You have those uneducated buyers and then the ones that just think that the really blue HIDs are really cool. To me they just look like posers and they are the ones that will attract the attention of the law and get busted.
I have 5000K HIDs in the foglights of my 2004 Cadillac CTS (factory 4300K HID lows), 5000K HIDs in the lows of my '91 GMC and 4500K HIDs in the lows of my '98 Suburban. The 5000Ks are pushing the line of being too blue for my tastes for sure, but those were the first HIDs I ever bought and the seller didn't carry whiter than 5000K.
The best idea would be to get a hold of some projectors from a vehicle that was designed for HIDs and then retrofit them into some clear lens housings, but those projectors can get pricey and if you're not good with projects like that, it's just an unrealistic proposition for some.
But, if you use care in your installation, you'll have better visibility without any issues, even in non-HID housings, and if you choose a proper color temperature, you'll likely slide under the radar and not attract any unwanted attention from the law. I've been running "illegal" HIDs for a while now and haven't had any run-ins.