Originally Posted by eruby
thought hid was a) only legal for low beams in the states, and b) not a good solution for high beams and fog lights because they are designed to be on all the time not switched on and off. they take a little bit to get to full brightness. is that correct??
Strictly speaking HID is only legal if it comes in an OEM package. Strictly speaking all the HID after market kits are illegal.
Now having said that, as long as you don;t go overboard with the color (use anything abive 4300K color temperature and keep your headlights adjusted I can almost guarantee you on the crossfire you won;t encounter any problems due to the fact that we have project headlamps. Nobody can see into the headlamp, and a projector headlamp has a MUCH better beam pattern than a standard. Should the LEO's ever start to execute the law that after market HID's are illegal they will first go after all the blinged cheap Corollas and then look for obvious after marlket (blueish color) This is besides the fact that the bulbs with 6800K, 8000K, 10000K or even 12000K give you much less light AND your eyes are less sensitive in these areas. As long as you stick with a 4300K (which *ALL* the OEM use) the chances of you getting stopped and cited for that are slim to none.
Back to your question: It simply does not make sense to put HID's into the high beams for multiple reasons: Yes, HID bulbs need about 2-3 minutes to reach full intensity, thats just the nature of the beast, AND they die faster (as do normal incandesent) if you turn them on and off in rapid sequence. So high beams do not make sense. Fog ligts are a different animal.
In fog lights you want a light that has the ability to 'go throught' the water vapor without blinding you. Having said that you can achieve this in two ways: Have them as low as possible, because NORMALLY the fog is less dense directly above the ground, And at the same time red'ish light is better suited than blue'ish light. Thats why some fog lights came with yellow filter lenses, to filter out all the blue that can and will be reflected back to you first. With that in mind HID's CAN make sense if you choose the 3000K bulb as this has a higher red content than all the others.
For all the HID bulbs one thing is common: Then use about 2/3 of the energy of a standard incandesent (35W) and thus create less heat, and they have about 3 times the output in visible light when compar4ed to a standard 55W H7 bulb. Which incidentally is the reason WHY they are so much better. There is just more light.
I have seen so many of my friends play all different kind of games with high wattage bulbs, bulbs like the Silverstar that have a blueish filter on the bulb to make the light LOOK whiter, and in the end create *LESS* light (because of the filter) but when it comes to direct comparison, the light output is just without contest.
As usual everybody has the right to disagree and do whatever they want with their money. In no way I am trying to pursuade anybody. Just giving you the technical spiel and background that can be proven with facts and numbers if need be.