By AJ Attia, Linsay Thomas
Updated on Aug 19, 2023 2:56 PM EDT Car Interior Led
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A new car is usually delivered with headlights that have halogen bulbs. These bulbs are not the brightest or most effective when driving at night or through the fog, which is why more drivers are turning to HID kits. These offer crisp illumination and better visibility to increase safety on the road. HID stands for High-Intensity Discharge, and despite their intense lighting, they tend to consume less power and last longer than halogen and LED bulbs. When you’re looking for the best HID kit, it always pays to do some research beforehand to find the best HID conversion kit brand that suits your car. Luckily, we did the research for you and came up with our list of the best HID kits on the market.
Single beam kits are best suited for cars that need two bulbs: one bulb for high beams and another for low beams. In this case, you’ll need two kits, one for each bulb. The two bulbs can be turned on or off independently from each other.
This type of bulb is for vehicles that use one bulb for both high and low beams. When installed, it converts only the low beam into HID while the high beam remains a halogen. The kit usually includes two ballasts and two HID bulbs.
This kit switches between low beams and high beams using a single HID. The kit comes with installation clamps and two ballasts as well. Bulb sizes vary and may not fit in every vehicle, which doesn’t make them a popular choice for car owners.
Using a single bulb, bi-xenon bulbs can switch from low to high beams. The kit uses four ballasts and installation clamps. Similar to other kits, they are 12 volts.
For our top overall pick, we chose the DDM Tuning Plus Premium HID Kit, as it’s easy to install and produces more powerful light than LED and halogen headlights.
For the best value, we chose the Lumenon 35w HID Kit, which comes packed with a lot of features for an inexpensive kit.
Since HID bulbs come in two wattage varieties—35 or 55 watts—you’ll need to pay attention to the product you’re purchasing. The industry doesn’t have standards. Sometimes, 55 watts refers to the ballast, not the bulb itself. This requires you to read the product description carefully to make sure the bulb is not 35 watts or even 40 watts when you’re paying for a 55-watt HID kit.
When you ask yourself what is the best HID kit, you’re really asking about its lumens. Lumens refer to the light particles (AKA photons) that the bulb emits. It has nothing to do with the intensity of the light itself. A bulb that produces more lumens tends to illuminate the road much better than a bulb with more intense light or glare.
The color of the HID light produced by the bulb is an important issue to consider when buying the HID kit. It’s not just because different colors, such as shades of blue, might impact your own visibility; it turns out certain colors are not street legal. Generally speaking, only white light is street legal in the USA, so you need to make sure your headlights don’t get you in trouble with the law.
A: Yes. The goal of installing an HID kit is to get brighter light out of your headlights. This includes both the low and high beams.
A: Yes, if the car has a dual beam system where there are two bulbs for the beams. When the high beam is on, the low beam stays on as well.
A: Diamond-white is by far the best color, as it offers better visibility to the driver in most driving conditions.
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