Charger Forums banner

OEM HIDs - poor brightness? Spyder's better?

33K views 79 replies 11 participants last post by  Nitemare 
#1 ·
Anyone else think their factory HIDs are poor compared to other cars? I had a retrofit in my last vehicle, and the brightness was MUCH greater than this car. Granted, I don't recall how bright it was with the factory bulbs as I have since changed over to Blesk 5000K bulbs. The current setup is not noticeably bright at all at a distance, and I have tried re-aiming the projectors. It's either bad bulbs, or crappy lenses on these projectors.

Someone from another forum made a comment saying the Spyder HID headlights were much brighter compared to his OEM. So I'm beginning to think the lenses used are crap. I'm deployed and have been for months. One telltale sign is how sharp the cutoff line is. I am pretty sure we have fresnel lenses (think frosted, not 100% clear) which are going to sacrifice a little bit of brightness, but this just seems ridiculous from how I remember my headlights being. I've contemplated trying to retrofit new lenses on, but scouring the internet I found next to nothing on what replacement lenses might work, or how to even do it. Theretrofitsource had an idea of what may work, but said nobody has ever tried it to their knowledge.

I have a new pair of Osram CBI bulbs were which $260 waiting at home which I will try out in about 2 weeks, but I'm still concerned that our projectors may just be crap in the first place and I won't be happy until I get something else. Can anyone come up with their thoughts, particularly those who swapped over to Spyder HID headlights?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I've often thought the same. The hid's in my girls explorer are awesome bright and a crisp well defined ending line. I was going to put LED bulbs or hid bulbs in my fogs (not sure what the best option is) or maybe even aftermarket projector fogs to throw more light down the road. I drive thru farm country with many deer. I was thinking about placing brighter (6-8000k) bulbs in my headlights to see if that's helps. I'd be interested to see your results.
 
#3 ·
I think the same as well. I've seen way cheaper cars on the road with far brighter factory HIDs. The ones that come on the charger are garbage. I've been contemplating buying a brighter bulb but I have a feeling it's not going to make much of a difference.

My HID fog lights throw the majority of the light down the road. If I shut them off regular halogen lights are brighter than the HIDs. Classic dodge cheaping out on the little details...they had to cut a corner somewhere when they made them "standard" on the 2011+ RTs.
 
#6 ·
My HID fog lights throw the majority of the light down the road. If I shut them off regular halogen lights are brighter than the HIDs.
You use HID bulbs with ballasts and no melting issues with the fog light? What set up do you use? I was thinking about getting 8000k with a 35 watt ballast.

now I have 2014 with of course regular headlights and still have the projectors sitting in my house..
If you have the standard halogen lights on your 14, I'd just get an hid set up 6-8000k and enjoy all the light they throw. My 11 is the first car with projectors, I usually just put hid's in and had great lighting.
 
#4 ·
I'm really glad that someone is talking about this. My last Charger had regular headlights and I went and bought the OEM projectors for that car and installed 6000k blubs and installed the lights..intially I was pleased but remembering that these aren't the the brightest lights I seen I end up replacing the headlights with the ones that came with the car. Because I had issues with them cutting off from time to time. No flicking problems just they would work fine and then they will cut out...Fast forward to now I have 2014 with of course regular headlights and still have the projectors sitting in my house.. I thought by changing the light bulb (4300k) that came with them will solve the problem of brightness if not I don't think I will go thu the trouble in changing them? I believe the LED headlights would work good in the housing I have now but the only ones I found is for the 07-10 charger
 
#8 ·
Does your '14 have halogen or HIDs?

My friend has a 2008 BMW 335i and I love his headlights they are super bright with a touch of blue.. I think reading the spec of that car they use the 4300k bulb that the charger uses..Side note I think who ever had that car before upgraded the lights in the angel eyes cause the awfully bright too maybe that help with the projectors in some way...I try to get a night pic of it
The stock angel eyes on an '08 are ugly yellow bulbs, so the previous owner must have upgraded them to LEDs. I also believe the stock HIDs are 4300K which would be clearly yellow without any blue.

You use HID bulbs with ballasts and no melting issues with the fog light? What set up do you use? I was thinking about getting 8000k with a 35 watt ballast.



If you have the standard halogen lights on your 14, I'd just get an hid set up 6-8000k and enjoy all the light they throw. My 11 is the first car with projectors, I usually just put hid's in and had great lighting.
The issue with using HIDs in a halogen housing is light scatter which wastes light and blinds other drivers. I agree it is probably going to be better than factory HIDs, but the Spyder headlights may be a solution for those who really care and want a proper setup.
 
#5 ·
My friend has a 2008 BMW 335i and I love his headlights they are super bright with a touch of blue.. I think reading the spec of that car they use the 4300k bulb that the charger uses..Side note I think who ever had that car before upgraded the lights in the angel eyes cause the awfully bright too maybe that help with the projectors in some way...I try to get a night pic of it
 
#10 ·
My 14 has halogens, and you must be right bout the Angel eyes cause another friend has a 7 series same year or newer and his lights are dull in comparison. By the way I took the plunge and order the spiders last nite for 300
 
#16 · (Edited)
Did you disassemble a projector?

If you can take some measurements and more pictures of the whole assembly, I'll look into getting clear replacement lenses (if I can get some that fit) and make a DIY guide.

The measurements I need are the overall diameter of the lens and the focal height (depth measurement from the flat back side to the center point on the front of the lens). Diameter is probably going to be 2.5", but I need it confirmed as well as the focal.
 
#17 ·
Why the hell would they frost the lens?! I agree with the above, if we can get measurements it should be easy to pop on a new set from the retrofit source...top notch stuff there.
 
#14 ·
Is there any reflective material in the projector of the HID.and if not what about the projector of a non HID? I know it doesn't have the cut off inside like the HID
 
#15 ·
Does the lens of Projector magnify the light?
 
#18 ·
Hey for one I was wondering how those Osrams bulbs work out for you? I think I mention later in this thread that I ordered the spyder headlights and they finally came in, now for one I didn't know that they came HID ready for the non HID cars..when I order the regular ones from Carid, which I got them for a good price $300, sitting here wondering if I should send these back and get the HID ones? total price $395 which includes the warning canceller..I'm kinda leary of putting those HID equip headlights in my car thinking our car is so curious about putting a low wattage bulbs in the car..that leads me to my next question if I decide to keep the headlights I got I was wondering how the switchback LED turn signal would look in the new headlights since they moved the turn signal to the outer corners something to match the color of ther LED tubes?
 
#19 ·
Make sure the HID conversion kit that came equipped on the first set of headlights works on your car. Sometimes stuff like that doesn't match up or work. I would definitely go with HID...it's incomparably better than regular halogen bulbs.

Again test the switchback bulbs to make sure they fit and work. You can wire everything up and do a test before you actually mount the headlight and put the fascia back on. If all works and looks good, send the other ones back. If something doesn't fit or work, check the non-HID set up and see how that works out in comparison. You can switch to HID at any time, it's not difficult at all.
 
#22 ·
When I find that link I will post it for the spyders
 
#24 ·
I still don't follow what you're trying to say. You have halogen headlights on your current car. Are the Spyder headlights you have now made for halogen bulbs or HIDs? Just because they're projectors doesn't mean they're HIDs. If the headlights you have are ready for an H7 (or whatever) HID bulb by just plugging it in, there's no harm in that. As long as there are ballasts in place to convert the electricity from the car, it will work fine. If there aren't any ballasts with proper wiring in place, you simply cannot hook up a HID bulb.
 
#25 ·
I'm sorry for the confusion and yes my car came with regular halogen headlights. I ordered the spyder headlights halogen kind for 300 while they we're on the way I seen the spyders on protuninglabs for the non HID cars but these headlights had the HID kit built in for my type of car ...plug and play for 395 my concern if I got those would it in time mess up my wiring harness in my car since there is no relay harness involved ...I understand that the HID are brighter than halogens I just a little afraid of doing that..
 
#26 ·
Originally when the spiders
Came out they were only 2 kinds halogens projectors and HID projectors, now they have HID kits built in the housing for the cars that run stock halogens buts these don't need a separate relay harness to work if I'm not mistaking
 
#27 ·
If you have the kit that is only meant for halogen bulbs, you can put your own plug n play HID kit in there and see how that goes. But I'm not sure how good the light will look coming out since it is meant for halogen... I don't know exactly how halogen projectors work.

If the new kit comes prewired with relay harnesses and ballasts, just needing a HID bulb, that'd be the easiest route and it'd probably look better. But then you have to question the quality of what they used in the process. I can't really say to do one or the other. With this car, you will need a relay harness, ballasts, and bulbs to plug n play HIDs in a halogen car.
 
#28 ·
Well nightmare I decided to go with the headlights I first ordered which is the halogen projectors..imo think they are somewhat brighter than those old oem Headlights I got for the other car..they were the ones I ordered last year and took them off because of the problems I was having and the visibility sucked and they we're HIDs...
 
#29 ·
The thing I'm concerned about is I see a distinct cut off line on the ground about a car length or so away and I see two steps the first one if I'm on the road starts center line and the next one begins right line next to the shoulder. And if I'm behind someone about 1/2 car distance away the cut off line barely hits their bumper maybe a little higher. I know they got to be raised but should there be 2 steps or just one?
 
#30 ·
I know it kinda looks like HIDs but it's the camera...but driving the steps are more pronounced and it looks like I'm chasing a shadow
 

Attachments

#32 ·
Thanks LukeP333 I was just wondering if the driver side is right and not too far left
 
#33 ·
Yep that's normal, that cut off line is very crisp for aftermarket nights! Well done.
 
#34 · (Edited)
I got my Osram CBI bulbs in yesterday. So far I am underwhelmed. The Blesk bulbs seem to be about the same brightness and a little more blue tinged which I like. I need to capture a photo of my beam cutoff. It's obvious that these are poor lenses compared to the Spyder cutoff that CharKoal posted. My driver side also has a messed up cut off. It's not straight at all and I think the light is being thrown poorly. I'll need to look into that.



Osram CBI (left) Blesk (right)



Color matches pretty great with fogs and switchback turn signals!

 
#35 · (Edited)
I noticed that my driver side beam is throwing the light strangely and the cutoff doesn't match the passenger side.

My driver side has a clear spot on the road where it brighter than anything else, and you can see this in the shot against the garage door circled in blue... a hotspot if you will. The red area is lacking light output compared to the passenger side where light is uniformly distributed and the cutoff appears to be slightly more even and sharper. Wondering if something is wrong with my projector...



 
#36 ·
Your cut off line almost looks like it has a slight curve to it. Mine is crisp as can be.

Are you using aftermarket HID bulbs in your projectors? It could be the bulb itself (not in quite right or something like that), or like you stated...the projector may be damaged. The latter seems unlikely to me since it's a sealed unit. If you've broken the seal for halos or something then it would be plausible. Have you noticed that strange clear spot/sloping cut off line since new or just recently?

I would try and play with the aim of the headlights and see if you can make it better that way before really tearing into things.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Here's an effect I applied in photo studio. Shows the issue more clearly with the hotspot and cutoff not being uniform on the left as it is on the right. I'm going to play around with re-aiming the lights and swapping the bulb to see what happens.

I just put in $250 Osram CBI D3S bulbs. The stock bulbs are Osram, so it should not be any issue with fitment. But that bulb did have a heck of a time getting seated... it may be loose, or may have bent on the mount from how many times I hit the side of it trying to fit it in the hole.

 
#38 ·
Nicely done with that photo studio work.

Yeah it is clear the driver's side has the issue.

Those are great bulbs, so I doubt it's an issue with the bulb itself. If that particular bulb had a hell of a time getting in while the other didn't then I would guess it isn't in properly. Hopefully nothing was damaged, I'm sure everything is fine. It's usually something simple.
 
#39 ·
Check for a left behind O-ring from the bulb that you took out. I had the problem once where the bulb wouldn't seat and it was because I was trying to compress two gaskets instead of the one.
 
#40 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top