Hi all

Just bought a H1 HID kit for my Mk2 Focus, fitted in no time at all but I've a question

Does anybody know if I should remove the reflector inside the headlight?

It's the hexagonal one on the arm (see pic) the HID Bulb is pressing against it and moved it off centre, I've looked at the main beam and it doesn't have on.

Any opinions

Ben

You fitted the H1 kit into the dipped beam socket? The one that uses H7 bulbs? I would probably start there to figure out why it presses against the reflector ;-)

H1s are for high beams, you either need to switch your HIDs to high beam sockets, or buy a H7 HID kit...but under no circumstances, do not remove the reflector from inside the headlights, you'll screw up your headlight!!!

thats why you cant fit hids to reflector lenses even if you remove the reflector it wont work as it should

is that reflector bent? Id maybe think about some new lamps to go with those, with projector lenses. id imagine the light will scatter all over the place now.

Thankfully the reflector sprung back when I removed the HIDs and now I know why they wouldn't fit properly, I've put them in the wrong light holder :-( prob good reason why you shouldn't work on your car when your not feeling right!!

Thanks lads much appreciate the quick responses :-)

If you have bought H1 HID bulbs they will only fit in the high beams. If it's the low beams you want for HIDs ( which most people want) it's H7 bulbs you'll need as already stated.

Unless it was your full beams you wanted HIDs for?...They don't work great in regards to flashing as they take a few seconds usually to heat up

Hi Dave

Yeah they were suppose to be for the low beams (H7) and in a moment of blindness (lol) I ordered the wrong ones (muppet) and I ended up with the H1s but there now in my dads friends car and the H7s will be here tomoz

Ah sure easy happen, have done it myself.

Once you get the new H7 bulbs you will still be able to use them with the other ballasts just so you know :)

Looks like I'll be cruising tomoz night trying them out

Ben, can you send me a link to the website you ordered these from please mate?

regards

james

Hi James

I purchased them from www.hids-direct.co.uk

These are the set I bought and have to admit I'm impressed

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/55w-new-smart-canbus-hid-kit-slim-h7/?fullSite=1

Prob like most people I checked on fleabay test there's many cheaper sets but I wanted them from a shop as apposed to somebody's bedroom stash ......

Regards

Ben

Don't want to bust your excitement, but you do know that it's kinda illegal to have HIDs installed unless you have headlight washers and auto-leveling headlights? ...or at least it is the law in most (if not all) EU countries...

Of course, no police officer isn't ever going to check for this during the routine check, but I guess if you got yourself in accindent, and get investigated by police or insurance company, you could get in trouble if they would find out that you have illegal modification installed on your car...whoever's fault it might be...

Yeah it's also illegal to break speed limits, park on double yellows, do J turns, and go dogging and wheelies on ur bike but most of us do it!

What are HIDs officer? I just thought I'd finally bought a car with decent bulbs in it (

Ooops

Pressed wrong button there

It's one of those things where you take a risk but make sure your headlights are correctly aligned (did that) and be sensible with the manual headlight adjuster.

Mine are 6000k so not too loud and in my personal case they improve my road safety on !Removed! B and unclassified roads that I drive on a daily basis, I'm not a city person I'm in the countryside where street lights are a luxury

Oh I'm not saying "don't get them", no, I'm planning to order a kit myself (just bought new angel eyes headlights with projectors, so HIDs will look very "stock"), just that you need to be careful, that's all ;-)

And if your headlights are properly adjusted, in my opinion, this law is a BS...

I'm planning to use "whaaat? These bulbs came with the headlights, how should I know there's something wrong with them?" as an excuse :D

Yeah I wasn't having a dig just implying that there's lots you can be nicked for, imho as long as your not going for a ridiculous light output and not dazzling everyone then they overlook the situation, especially if you've got adjusters and your using them correctly, I've still kept my normal bulbs which I'll put in for the MOT I don't suppose it's any different to when I used to keep taking my CAT off and on only this is quicker.

I've seen some angle eye projectors but wasn't sure what they would look like did you have to buy the whole headlight or just the projector unit and remove your old ones?

Yeah, I'm going for the same thing with MOT...I just switch them before and after they check the car and that's it...

As for the angel eyes, basically, this is what I have on now:

Only that my car is black...you can't use the angel eyes circles for DRLs (which would look great in my opinion), they are only certified for parking lights, but other than that the lights are great (although I guess with different bulbs we should be able to bend the law here too, hehe :D ). And since I'm planning a little body-upgrade for the next season (CC front, ST rear door spoiler), I think it'll look pretty bad-!Removed! :D

I was sceptical at first about the light output, but they gave me exactly what I was looking for. I had a trouble seeing good with standard reflector headlights - I saw bigger area, but in much shorter distance - not that far away from me. And since I don't need to see what's going on in 3rd floor of a building standing next to the road, the projector headlights are better for me (and yes, my lights were set up correctly).

They have their light output cut more precisely, more visibly than the reflector ones, but the I can see more in distance and I hope this distance will increase even more with HIDs.

And as for the installation of the new headlights, you buy whole new headlight (they are made by DEPO mostly, or at least these are), you just switch your bulbs and leveling motors, unplug the old headlight, plug in the new one and you're ready to go. Leveling motors are little tricky to get out, but as soon as you don't rush it, you're fine. Angel eyes circles use different bulbs than your original parking bulbs, but they are supplied with the lights and you also get few spares...but I guess you can also buy them online, I didn't check yet...

They look pretty good, can you not wire them so they act like Drl's or are you not wanting that type of setup or is it a case of too much hassle for the mot?

They've got a nice tint with them I've seen some which are quite dull and you think why bother!

Cc front will look pretty good but I don't know if it's a straight forward fit or not, I know the ST spoiler is and quite a lot of people do that

They really look pretty great...I guess they can be wired as DRLs too, but I would have to look into that and probably buy a different DRL controller than I have now (I use combined DRLs and fog lights - as you can see in my profile pic)...but I guess, like you said, it would be too much hassle for the MOT to undo all this when going for a check (here in Slovakia it's every two years and you just know it that you won't have any time to do it :D )...so maybe I'll construct some sort of "plug and play" system for this, but right now I'm happy with my current setup :)

The CC front should be a straight fit too, perhaps some of the plastic holders will need to be replaced as well, but a friend of mine works at a car shop, so I can see the parts catalog and pick all the parts I need...and the ST spoiler will be a child's play :) ... only thing I'm worried about is the paint job...to find a good shop and also reasonable price...I don't want to go to Ford for this...

Do you think it would be daft to get the 4300k watt HID kit from the website??? more chance of being pulled???

It also mentionson the HID Direct website they have an average life span of 300 hours which is 125 days....4 months that's not very long!

2yrs for an MOT omg you deffo won't have time to swap them over lol

I think if it's that long there's more of a risk of you loosing the bulbs....

If the cc front is a straight fit then that's pretty straightforward but it always helps to know somebody who can offer a hand if needs be.

Did you say your fogs are wired up to be used as DRLs? How did you do that and what's the impact of using the fog lamps as intended?

Do you think it would be daft to get the 4300k watt HID kit from the website??? more chance of being pulled???

The 4300 are the closes to natural daylight, I was in two minds as to what to go for but after checking other websites (shops and forums) I opted for the 6000, I found this shops FAQs useful the lights I wanted were out of stock and had a 6-8wk lead time so I went to hids-direct instead and git practically the same unit

http://www.hids4u.co.uk/faqs.html

Be

Well yeah, of course two years are a lot of time, but I always forget about it and then do it last-minute so ... yeah, I won't have time :D

And for the DRLs, let me just copy the message I sent today to another member here on forums who asked me about it, you should find all you need in there :)

They are actually combined DRLs and fog lights...when I start the
car, DRLs turn on automatically (light switch is in "0" position), when I
turn on my parking lights the DRLs turn off (because at this point you
can turn on your fog lights). And of course the DRLs stay off when I
turn on the main or high beams. And, also I can still use my fig lights
as before, only thing is, that they are now LEDs and the bulbs are
pretty much un-changeable. But the life-span should be more than enough
for this to be something to be worried about :)

The bulbs themselves are kinda "dual", as DRL, only the bottom half
of the light is lit up (and it's not that bright) and the top bulb is
lit up only at 20% or so...but when you turn on your fog lights, the top
bulb in the light lights up on 100% and then it's suitable to use it as
a fog light.

This is all of course wired to a factory light switch and uses
factory wiring for original fog lights. When I'll have some time I can
put together a little guide, but when you actually buy these DRLs, the
supplied guide is more than enough to guide you through the
installation.

Here's a link to the exact ones I have in my car:

http://en.tssgroup.c...h-fog-drl-7v-5w

...you can see little bit in the picture that the light is "split" in
half by the bulb (not all the way through split, just enough for the
bulb height)

If you want to use your fog lights as DRLs, you need to have a kit
like this, otherways it's not very road-legal...but if you don't want to
mess up with your factory fog light, I would reccomend using your high
beams for DRLs with a special kit which allows you to use them at
lowered voltage as DRLs and then at standard voltage as high beams. This
should be much easier "plug and play" based installation and you can
use LED bulbs in your high beams which would create also a good look for
the car ;)

And following is for the installation on the bumper:

Yes, these brackets are used only on Mk2.5 (or a CC/ST I

believe)...but it's also possible to install them on the Mk2 as well. If
you browse through the images on the website I sent you, you'll see
them installed on Mk2 Focus.

I personally had them installed in two ways. First time, only for
testing, to see if that's what I'm looking for, I only had them hold in
the bumper by those black plastic thingys that cover your foglights
already. They create so much pressure on the lights, that they
practically stay at their place and don't move. And that's during daily
comuting and driving around town...so if you don't want to screw
something to your bumper, this is one way to go.

The other way, as I mentioned, is to screw them with new screws into
your bumper. This is my current setup right now. I circled the original
foglights with a marker and positioned the new lights into their place
and screw them with screws into the bumper. You create new holes in the
bumper, but they are covered, so no big deal and they secure the light
tightly in place.

Once, I saw this type of DRLs with the mounting bracket which is like
the one on stock fogs, but they were insanely expensive and also it was
some time ago and nowadays I can't find them anywhere...and also, the
LEDs for DRL were placed in circle around the light and fog light was in
the center, sort of "angel eyes" effect, but I was afraid that it won't
fit exactly into the hole in the plastic bumper covers and the circle
with DRL LEDs won't be fully visible...but I don't know if that was in
any way real danger or not.

This should cover everything about the DRLs I use, but of course, if you have any question, go ahead and ask ;)

Most people opt for the 6000K bulbs but 4300K will be the brightest and will look more like factory colour HIDs.

Although the 4300K is pure white, there can be a slight tint of yellow to them, the 6000K will be pure white with a hint of blue, any over 6000K and you will start to loose light intensity as you move up the colour spectrum.

I am currently running 4300K bulbs from a HID-Direct 55W ballast and the light output is great. I've ordered a new pair of 5500K bulbs so waiting on these in the post as I'm looking for a pure white look.

I've also replaced my headlamps with projector style headlamps as these are far better for use with HIDs, it speads and throws the beam pattern much further, looks far more like oem HIDs and doesn't blind people either like some of the reflector headlamps can