[Huskymaniac]

Originally Posted by wdb

Why not just get HIR bulbs?

The problem with HIR in the smallcar kit is that the spread or divergence in the horizontal axis, for the high beam, will still be too small since the lens still lacks the lenticular array. You will definitely get more light but the spread is too small. And the spacers they supply aren't a great solution. It puts the bulb out of focus so the beam is under-collimated but that means it spreads more in both axes, not just the horizontal. Plus, for those of us with seized screws, we can't even use the spacers.

I am thinking of using this instead:

https://www.carid.com/piaa/piaa-plat...628315223.html

These LED bulbs use a line of smaller chips. Since the line of chips is longer than the halogen filament, more of the light will be out of focus and the spread will be increased, even without the use of a spacer. Also, since there are two lines of chips aimed in the horizontal axis, the light will be more confined to the horizontal axis than the vertical axis. That is exactly what we need. Combine that with the added divergence from the longer line of emission and you get more light in the horizontal axis and more divergence in the horizontal axis. The irony is that this is PIAA's cheapest LED option because it uses several lower power chips instead of one high power chip. That results in lower Luminance but in a way that we exactly need. So, in this rare case, two wrongs make a right. If, however, you had the original lens with the lenticular array, you would want the higher brightness (Luminance) LED kit. One last thing is that, if the divergence in the horizontal axis is still not enough, we could always use high temp epoxy to add a weak cylindrical lens in front of the LEDs.

For the fogs, yes we again lose the lenticular array with the small car kit but I think this bulb still gets us a higher visibility solution:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....270516&jsn=366

And while we don't get the full spread in the horizontal axis that we would with the stock lens, the filament in these bulbs are horizontal which results in some inherent divergence in the horizontal axis. That plus the coatings in this bulb should be able to provide a higher visibility beam in fog and snow.

As for the low beam, a standard halogen bulb is fine and the headlight still works as intended since the stock lens is clear in the low beam path. If people want more light, they can go with an HIR halogen bulb, a higher power halogen bulb (may not be a good idea due to heat) or they can modify a high beam bulb to accept the low beam electrical socket (a little more heat but probably OK).