headlight vs. headlight

ok, so im daydreaming about what i want my retro to look like when i actually get to it. what im debating is this: do i find some oem lights and make them how i want them to look, or get some aftermarket ones and spend my time further customizing them. here goes.

oem
pros:
--available
--good fit
--look oem
--can do what i want to them/clean slate

cons:
--gotta blackhouse/paint them myself
--have to polish the lenses
--look oem
--have to find unopened set

depo/obx/ebay
pros:
--brand new, unopened
--in 100% shape
--blackhousing done w/ clear reflectors

cons:
--crappy fit?
--cheap plastic/sealant?

does anyone have any experience with aftermarket headlights? everyone is going to say "use oems" but have never owned aftermarkets. post up your horror stories or love novels of aftermarket headlights.

i hate the subway commercials with john lovitz. they just get worse and worse and it doesnt make me want to eat there. jimmy johns owns them anyway its my thread, i can say what i want lmao

oem is the nicest way, imo. it just looks real clean and oem.

i had tyc's and ebay ones. i didnot really care for the output in either but i hate oem output. betta bulbs would fix that.

tyc fitment was good and ebay was ok.

ok, cool. thanks for the input!

since theyre getting hids (REAL hids lol), theyre getting hacked up and output wont matter :devil:

OEM all the way. Don't buy DEPO or OEM "jdm" blackhousing knock-offs the output is **** compared to OEM trust me. I was running some OEM style housing for about 2 years then I switched back to a real pair of stanleys from Wildman and wow what a different in quality and output. No dead spots in the high beams or low beams like I said with the knock-offs. OEM or bust. Also what do you mean by "REAL hid"?

real hids=projectors with oem d2s bulbs and ballasts. i dont want to offend anyone, but hid kits arent the way to go in a halogen housing. yes, it can be done, but thats why the headlight have an "h" on the outside. they do more harm for other drivers than good. my friends 8500k kit in his 92 talon:

crappy pic, but you can see a hot spot and the huge amount of glare above the cutoff.

so you say the high beam pattern is even effected by the cheaper housings? man, this decision is getting easier by the minute...

ryan s said:

real hids=projectors with oem d2s bulbs and ballasts. i dont want to offend anyone, but hid kits arent the way to go in a halogen housing. yes, it can be done, but thats why the headlight have an "h" on the outside. they do more harm for other drivers than good. my friends 8500k kit in his 92 talon:

crappy pic, but you can see a hot spot and the huge amount of glare above the cutoff.

so you say the high beam pattern is even effected by the cheaper housings? man, this decision is getting easier by the minute...

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Well HID's are HID's no matter how they are used..it's all High Intensity Discharge and all the bulbs are filled with Xenon gas..so you must mean the "proper way". Now the extreme glare your buddy has in that talon isn't true with all vehicles some are worse than others to be honest. I've seen kits in just about every vehicle you can think of and really it depends on the optics of the headlamps and the kelvin of the bulbs. I run 6000K perfectly fine..I don't get flashed and I have had 0 complaints from people I have followed and people that I have passed and know personaly. To me his headlamps don't look properly adjusted either. Also the fact that he is running 8500K which is an intense blue which happens to scatter more in the human eye therefore creating more glare has alot to do with it.

his headlamps are actaully adjusted pretty well, its just that the driveway to the shop is realllly uneven. should have mentioned that before the accord has pretty decent reflectors. i guess im just fed up with unaimed headlights. i was getting blinded by an 05 malibu at 5:30 tonight w/stock lights...the beam was right in my eye...the problem is compounded when dumbasses put in hid kits and dont aim them properly. i see so many when cruising and can tell them apart from true retros a mile away.

btw: next paycheck, im considering buying some hir bulbs. im just so curious to see how bright they are. they should hold me over till next spring/summer when i can do my retro.

I had DEPO headlights before and i never had moisture or whatsoever but the light output was crappy though.

some ebay seller buy OEM headlights from junkyard and fix them up themselves so be aware of that. me and my friend's ebay got scammed before. few years ago.

blindside said:

I had DEPO headlights before and i never had moisture or whatsoever but the light output was crappy though.

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did you ever open them? i wouldnt want em to break while prying em apart. how was the output of the high beam? thats the only thing that matters as far as output goes cause these are going in

gotta love the usps guy!

jdm_dynasty said:

some ebay seller buy OEM headlights from junkyard and fix them up themselves so be aware of that. me and my friend's ebay got scammed before. few years ago.

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any seller ids just so we all watch out for them? i want to buy a set from a member of here or v6p, preferrably.