Snakester
Enthusiast
I don't know if you guys saw the post on headlight upgrades where Eric Wong from LiteSwap was looking for somebody to test out their HID upgrade kit in a Viper.
Well, I said yes and within a week I had the box on my porch.
Anyway, here are some before and after pictures, as well as some installation pics:
Before:
HID:
Before:
HID:
Before:
HID:
Although the pics don't show a big difference because the digital camara is trying to balance the light, in real life the HIDs are visibly brighter.
The ones that I picked were the 4500K "Rising daylight" HID lights, which aren't the typical blue-cast HID bulbs and actually are more the color of daylight reflected in a mirror.
It's interesting because now I can spot HID lights from a distance because they definitely look different (clearer, brighter, less yellow) than conventional lights. Locally I see them are mostly on BMWs and Mercedes, but also on some Porsches, Audis, and on a few Japanese sport/luxury cars.
I haven't had anyone flash their highbeams at me, so I don't think that the extra brightness is too annoying, especially with the Viper so low (it would be blindingly terrible in a SUV or big truck), but most of the light is on the road, and the HIDs really light up the road much better and further, being very focused like spotlights on the ground.
My mechanic and I worked to get as close to following the enclosed instructions as possible.
The two slight modifications that we made were swapping the O-rings from the halogen bulbs onto the new HID bulbs as it was too tight a fit with the thicker standard O-ring that came with the HIDs.
And secondly we shaved down the ground lead so that it would plug (along with the positive lead) into the standard DC power plug.
We took a little more time/effort working to install all of the HID electronics within the enclosed headlight assembly, so that it looked stock, and so that we could keep it clean and air tight (without cutting holes for external wiring).
Here is the open headlight assembly with the HID fuse tucked in on the right, and the other component box tucked in a gap on the left.
And we mounted the igniter box on the headlight back-cover at an angle so that it fit in comfortably.
Anyway it took a few hours to do the initial bulb testing, and fitting all of the wires and electronics inside the bulb assemblies, and getting everything tied down securely so it wouldn't rattle or shift around.
But I'm quite pleased with the end results considering that the superior HID lights usually cost thousands of dollars as a factory option on luxury cars, and they are fitting to have on the Viper with it's high speed capabilities.
The visibity is clearly improved with the HIDs providing brighter, more filled in, and evenly distributed light that really blows away the Viper's stock headlights.
-Dean.
Well, I said yes and within a week I had the box on my porch.
Anyway, here are some before and after pictures, as well as some installation pics:
Before:
HID:
Before:
HID:
Before:
HID:
Although the pics don't show a big difference because the digital camara is trying to balance the light, in real life the HIDs are visibly brighter.
The ones that I picked were the 4500K "Rising daylight" HID lights, which aren't the typical blue-cast HID bulbs and actually are more the color of daylight reflected in a mirror.
It's interesting because now I can spot HID lights from a distance because they definitely look different (clearer, brighter, less yellow) than conventional lights. Locally I see them are mostly on BMWs and Mercedes, but also on some Porsches, Audis, and on a few Japanese sport/luxury cars.
I haven't had anyone flash their highbeams at me, so I don't think that the extra brightness is too annoying, especially with the Viper so low (it would be blindingly terrible in a SUV or big truck), but most of the light is on the road, and the HIDs really light up the road much better and further, being very focused like spotlights on the ground.
My mechanic and I worked to get as close to following the enclosed instructions as possible.
The two slight modifications that we made were swapping the O-rings from the halogen bulbs onto the new HID bulbs as it was too tight a fit with the thicker standard O-ring that came with the HIDs.
And secondly we shaved down the ground lead so that it would plug (along with the positive lead) into the standard DC power plug.
We took a little more time/effort working to install all of the HID electronics within the enclosed headlight assembly, so that it looked stock, and so that we could keep it clean and air tight (without cutting holes for external wiring).
Here is the open headlight assembly with the HID fuse tucked in on the right, and the other component box tucked in a gap on the left.
And we mounted the igniter box on the headlight back-cover at an angle so that it fit in comfortably.
Anyway it took a few hours to do the initial bulb testing, and fitting all of the wires and electronics inside the bulb assemblies, and getting everything tied down securely so it wouldn't rattle or shift around.
But I'm quite pleased with the end results considering that the superior HID lights usually cost thousands of dollars as a factory option on luxury cars, and they are fitting to have on the Viper with it's high speed capabilities.
The visibity is clearly improved with the HIDs providing brighter, more filled in, and evenly distributed light that really blows away the Viper's stock headlights.
-Dean.
