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Hid Conversion, Void Warranty?




Guest cjh85

So maybe there's something wrong with my eyes, but I swear, my 05 Corolla's headlights do not project very far down the road. Now, the brights on the other hand, I bet they go a quarter mile. So I'm trying to figure out my best alternative to driving at night, since I do every night. Currently I have Silver star headlights, but they still dont project that far, and the dealership has adjusted them as far as they "legally" can. What about doing a HID conversion kit, I know that it's not considered legal, but would it void warrenties? My car is shy of 3 yrs old with 28k miles. I'm more concerned with my safety than looks.

Try different bulbs - that would be the least expensive way to find out if you are at the limit of what Halogen lamps can give you ,range and intensity-wise.

SilverStarts tend to run dim very quickly - I used to go through a set every 3-4 months because of a bulb failure or severe dimming. Sylvania Cool Blues give you a similar color temp, but last a heck of a lot longer. XtraVisions can be though of as OEM bulbs on steroids - same color temp, but more lifespan and supposed to be 30% brighter than the standard halogen bulb. SilverStarULTRAS (SilverStart gen 2) are brighter and supposed to last longer than the regular SilverStars. GE NightHawks are another that can give you good performance at the fraction of the cost of SilverStars.

So maybe there's something wrong with my eyes, but I swear, my 05 Corolla's headlights do not project very far down the road. Now, the brights on the other hand, I bet they go a quarter mile.
I'm with you on this one. The highs will light up a ball park, but the lows don't do that much of a job. I added brighter lows to my old Buick with legal bulbs I bought at Canadian Tire, but those were actual entire headlamps. I'd hate to see how much the Toyota replacements would cost.

 

 

if your bulbs are 9005 or 9006 you can try HIR bulbs from ebay, they use the same wattage as stock but putout 75% the light of HID but using special relfective films which bounce the infrared parts of the spectrum back at the filament to make it burn hotter and brighter. downside is that they cost $30 a bulb!

  • 1,424 posts
What about doing a HID conversion kit, I know that it's not considered legal, but would it void warrenties? My car is shy of 3 yrs old with 28k miles. I'm more concerned with my safety than looks.

HID kits are expensive, they blind other drivers because they aren't properly engineered like factory HID lamps, and they will void your warranty. HIDs are more than bulbs, they are a ballast system and wiring. It requires a lot more juice to run.

If you install them on a Corolla, you'll get pulled over time and time again because no police officer is going to believe a Corolla has HIDs as a factory feature. We have enough trouble with that on a Mazda3. They are factory on that car, and people have to pull out their window sticker to prove it to a police officer to avoid a ticket.

Try different bulbs - that would be the least expensive way to find out if you are at the limit of what Halogen lamps can give you ,range and intensity-wise.

SilverStarts tend to run dim very quickly - I used to go through a set every 3-4 months because of a bulb failure or severe dimming. Sylvania Cool Blues give you a similar color temp, but last a heck of a lot longer. XtraVisions can be though of as OEM bulbs on steroids - same color temp, but more lifespan and supposed to be 30% brighter than the standard halogen bulb. SilverStarULTRAS (SilverStart gen 2) are brighter and supposed to last longer than the regular SilverStars. GE NightHawks are another that can give you good performance at the fraction of the cost of SilverStars.

I have used Silverstar and Silverstar Ultra bulbs. Silverstar is the brightest i have seen for a hallogen. Silverstar ultra is not nearly as bright as the original for some reason. The bulb is painted blue, more so than its predecessor. Take my advice and avoid these. They may last longer than silverstars, but they are unsafe in comparison.

What about doing a HID conversion kit, I know that it's not considered legal, but would it void warrenties? My car is shy of 3 yrs old with 28k miles. I'm more concerned with my safety than looks.

HID kits are expensive, they blind other drivers because they aren't properly engineered like factory HID lamps, and they will void your warranty. HIDs are more than bulbs, they are a ballast system and wiring. It requires a lot more juice to run.

If you install them on a Corolla, you'll get pulled over time and time again because no police officer is going to believe a Corolla has HIDs as a factory feature. We have enough trouble with that on a Mazda3. They are factory on that car, and people have to pull out their window sticker to prove it to a police officer to avoid a ticket.

Thats strange that you would get pulled over so frequently. I had fake HID bulbs(NOKYA Brand) in my 95 dodge neon and not a single cop bothered me for that, even late at night.

Now, if you were to use an HID kit in a corolla, the stock headlights will not do, at least on the 7th gen. You may notice that projector headlight kits project a flat line of light, this is how most quality headlight housings work today, even some non projector. The corolla probably dosent do this, at least on mine. You would not blind anybody if you had a headlight setup like this and as long as you use a hyper white bulb color you should be fine. When the bulb is blue or purple it attracts cops easily.

The power is not an issue since the ballast is designed to handle this. To ignite a xenon bulb it requires about 22,000 volts, the ballast retains a charge and empties it into the bulbs, then once ignited the xenon bulbs only require 35 watts to stay on.

contrary to popular belief, nothing you can do to your car will void your warranty (short of totaling it). now, that being said, if you do something to your car that cuases a part to fail, it will not be under warranty. this is becuase the toyota part did not fail, the modification you did, caused it to fail.

now as for your lights, you have noticed the "line" out in front of you on low beams? this is built into the headlight during engineering. it is an effort to not blind the oncoming driver. therefore, no matter what bulbs you put in, at best, you will get a brighter line.

at our dealership, we have had customers say its to low, so we explain, and turn them up slightly, and they say it helps. my advice would be turnt them up say, 1 - 2 turns and see if you get flashed. now you dont want to go to far as it does affect high beams also.

hope this helps, but therre is not much you can do about it.

aaron

What about doing a HID conversion kit, I know that it's not considered legal, but would it void warrenties? My car is shy of 3 yrs old with 28k miles. I'm more concerned with my safety than looks.

HID kits are expensive, they blind other drivers because they aren't properly engineered like factory HID lamps, and they will void your warranty. HIDs are more than bulbs, they are a ballast system and wiring. It requires a lot more juice to run.

If you install them on a Corolla, you'll get pulled over time and time again because no police officer is going to believe a Corolla has HIDs as a factory feature. We have enough trouble with that on a Mazda3. They are factory on that car, and people have to pull out their window sticker to prove it to a police officer to avoid a ticket.

 

They won't void your warranty, that's ridiculous. They also they do not pull more power; they have their own power inverter.

You'll probably get pulled over only if you have those stupid "deep purple" or "deep blue" HID kits that are sold on Ebay, and that's sort of a big 'If' that is highly dependent on where you live.

It's true that regular aren't optimally designed for HID lights, but that's doesn't mean you can't use them. Aim the headlights down a bit or even make an aditional shield for the HID bulb to get better light cutt-off.

I've used HID lights on my '01 since 2002. Best mod I've ever done for the car. I can see very well and never had a problem (knock on wood) with getting pulled over because of it. Mine are also 4300K which is just white light.

K_Watson

I have GE NightHawks and they work great for me.

  • 1,424 posts
You'll probably get pulled over only if you have those stupid "deep purple" or "deep blue" HID kits that are sold on Ebay, and that's sort of a big 'If' that is highly dependent on where you live.

I have OEM HIDs on my Mazda3 and while I've never been pulled over, others I know who drive Mazda3s like mine have had to produce a window sticker to avoid or fight a ticket in court. Depending on what state you're in, HIDs may not be legal if they aren't factory installed. Cops look at small, inexpensive cars and assume that there is no chance in this world that those lights are OEM. Maybe the cops in your area don't care, or maybe its legal where you live. Just because that is the case where you live doesn't mean it will be the case wherever the poster lives.

BTW, yes I know that HIDs won't technically void your warranty. However, I'd bet dollars to donuts that if you ever have problems with your headlamps in any way that the dealer will take one look at any modification you did using non-Toyota parts and refuse to honor the warranty on your car for that repair. It is an easy out for a dealer, as they have two choices when you bring something to them that isn't Toyota approved. They can either honor the warranty and then have to eat the cost if Toyota determines it isn't going to be covered, or they can just not honor the warranty on the chance that Toyota won't cover it.

If they refuse to honor your warranty on a certain system because you've modified it, what are you going to do? Your warranty states that you can use non-Toyota approved parts but that it doesn't cover damage caused by those parts. They are going to claim that your modifications damaged the system in question and therefore they don't have to honor your warranty. It's going to be hard to prove them wrong.

If your ultimate concern is keeping your warranty intact without question, then modifications besides pinstripes, spoilers, front end covers and wind deflectors aren't a good idea. You don't want to give Toyota reasons to not honor the warranty you pay so much for when buying a new car.

If your ultimate concern is putting HIDs in your car, then ignore everything I said, and don't consider the fact that it may not be legal in your area.

Either way, I don't really car what the original poster does to their car, I don't have to drive it.

Not to nitpick, but all HID retrofit kits are not legal in the US, just like all those "Altezza" tailights are not legal either. If it doesn't have a DOT number stamped on it, it's not legal.

Now can those products--in this case HID lights--still be used and do people still use them? Absolutely.

It's not cheating if you don't get caught, right? It's up to each individual to determine if they're willing to take the risks and accept whatever possible outcome.

In my case, I researched the pluses and minuses of using HID retrofit kits as well as looked for the best made kit i was willing to afford to minimize whatever risks.

You're right about the warranty issue, which is why i personally feel the manufacturer's warranty is completely worthless because it can be voided at any time and for any reason by the dealer.

As far-fetched as the experiences of your fellow Mazda3 owners sound, i don't doubt it. I've known about people with Subaru WRX STis that also have had to produce their window stickers or dealer pamphelts to avoid a ticket for their stock exhaust.



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