BicuspiD

It seems like there are many many threads regarding the headlights for the 3rd Gen RX-7, either for upgrading the bulbs, replacing them for sleek lights, or someone developing a new "kit". Which one is best? How do they work?

I think we all agree that the stock bulbs/lights on an FD suck.

I think we (almost) all agree the C-West sleek light kit is the nicest looking kit out there for the FD.

But what is the most important aspect of a light kit, performance or aesthetics? Obviously the answer should be Performance, usable light for night driving. Somewhere along the line the aftermarket headlights purpose for the most part moved away from safety/illumination for looks.. this will not do for anyone who actually drives the car and wants the best performance.

Take my car for example 1 - 93 touring with the McCulloch HID H-4 bulbs installed - Stock housing/lens/reflector



The Pattern is far from ideal, and the lens or reflector causes some strange ghosts.

Now here is a 93 with the C-West Sleek Light kit, parked same distance from the door



The pattern is a lot cleaner, but bleeds off to the left and right a bit more. It also has its ghosts, but most notable is light quality and output/color.

Now a side by side comparison. Both vehicles are parked the same distance from the garage door, and running so as to have a better voltage base.





As you can see, there IS no comparison - the HID lights are much, much brighter, and whiter, hands down. The Cwest lights are yellow in comparison. Comparing beam patterns at that range seems though the HIDS are a little higher (and I havent finished adjusting them yet) the spread is actually pretty good.

Note there is no High beam on my HID equipped car, and unfortunately I forgot to snap a pic of the high beams on the CWest. I also would love for someone with stock lights to come by so I can get some pics of the stock units to compare, as well as any other kits out there. I will update tomorrow with more pics of them pointed on the street for a more real world comparison.

Now again I pose the question - Are your headlights for looks or performance?

I can almost guarantee if identical cars were side by side at a car show, and it were down to them, the one with the C-west lights would win...

...But which car would you rather be in for driving mountain roads at night?

sheepdin

nice ~~

artowar2

Interesting comparison photos. They are reinforcing my choice to wait for somethihg else. I don't like the styling of the C-west kit, and the HID upgrade pattern looks like it may blind opposing traffic (I'd like to see a side by side with stock lights to be sure, but that starburst pattern on the door suggests that it would be very distracting/annoying to others).

So far the nicest beam pattern that I've seen (photos of) is rotaryextreme's kit with the HID option.

I'd like to see the beam pattern from the Knightsports kit, but don't know anyone that has it. And I haven't seen pattern pix on the web. If you go to Knightsports website, I think they've released an HID version (or upgrade) to their kit. I'm trying to get some prices now.

93 R1

That last pic you posted is sweet.

suganuma

best lighting and looking aftermarket kit....

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/sleeklight.html

Cihuuy

nice thread... very informative...

How much is the HID H-4 compare to the C-west kit, anyway?

tookwik

I get my car back from the shop tomorrow and i get my digi-camera back today, so... looks like thursday i will do a comparison. I am going to put the stock light in on one side (since the HID is being replaced anyways) and the 7000k bulb on the other side. But as far as comparing it to a GREAT beam pattern, i'll let you guys decide if my philips set-up is any good or whats better.

tookwik

btw-my light spread is about the same as BicuspiD's HID setup. Just a lot more purplish.

BicuspiD

I was going to use 7000k bulbs instead of the 5000k bulbs I got, but when you see them side by side, the 5000k actually has much greater illumination/outputs higher "lumens". By moving the light that much higher in the spectrum, the 7000k are much bluer - a cool look no doubt, but not the same quality light output.

Any HID is going to be better than any halogen bulb though, as far as light output.

The McCulloch HID's list at $550 , The C-west lights list at $1250

Cihuuy

wow i didnt expect the HID would be cheaper!! Thanks Bicuspid...

Tookwik: how abt taking a pix from the front of the car slightly from an angle, so that we can c the purple-ish color comparison between the 7k and 5k bulbs...??

vudoodoodoo

Good comparo!
Maybe you can get some pics of it lighting up the road.

Street King

So do the C-West have a HID option on them or are they just halogen bulbs?

xstacy7

Just curious, do the HID's go into the oem housings with the oem lense? Or do they come with a newer housing and lense?

vudoodoodoo

He's using the stock housings and lenses.

tookwik

Yeah, voodoo was right. The HID's use stock housings and lenses. The phillips kit that i used came with HID bulbs mounted to normal H4 bases. It took me about 2 hours to figure out how to mount it through the waterproofing seal to the back of the housing. After that, the other side was a breeze. I'll take same pics in just a little bit. The ballast was easy to mount. I put it under the parking light housing screwed into the bumper reinforcement bar. The kit that i bought was $400, he has since marked down his prices. Check out www.misterjung.com for some good info on the kits.

Cihuuy: i will take some angled side pics for you. Im going to leave a normal halogen bulb in there for comparison as well.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

There is someone in the forum that has the Belloff HID's and there's pics somewhere. The Knightsports if I remember correctly are $850.00 before shipping, so probably $1,100.00 but still cheaper then Belloff.

I'm behind the Orange Curtain so I could cruise to Bicuspid's place but I don't have stock bulbs, I have PIAA HID Super Plasma GT (7000k) purple bulbs.

the_glass_man

iTrader: (2)

Many thanks for the side by side pictures.
HID is really the best way to go.
I only wish that N-Tech and RX7Even would finish the sleepy light conversion. I really think that would give the best possible lighting with the HID option.
At this point it looks like it may never come out, so I may have to make one myself or just take the dive and upgrade the stock H4's.
As everyone has already pointed out, its to bad our stock housings really suck.

BicuspiD

Great! I'm in Tustin. I invite any local FD owners with a different light setup to come over and we can get comparison pics all done under the same conditions and with the same camera.

You have the PIAA Super Plasma GT - thats still a halogen bulb, correct, or is it an actual HID upgrade? If its a halogen bulb, I have the stock lamps that were in my car, we can compare them to stock as well. The only PIAA HID lights I have seen are fog and driving lights, and they are $$$$$

r0gu3

Rotary Extreme Headlight kit > *

Of every sleek kit that I have come across, RE definitely is the best.

Alpha-7

iTrader: (1)

Any more updates on the different pics

tookwik

I will get some pics still. Waiting on the body shop STILL!

Alpha-7

iTrader: (1)

BicuspiD can you show some pics of the cwest lights in a frontal view with the lights on i just want to see how they look with the lights on.thanks

BicuspiD

OK thanks to Robert (Goracer) and his super clean white 94, I now have comparison pics of the PIAA 7000K "HID" Halogen replacement bulbs, in stock housings.

Note - My car is noticeably lower than his - say 1/2-5/8 of an inch or so, so there will be a little discrepancy over beam height, and I think the cameras batteries were dying, they turned out to be a little blurry..

Here is my McCulloch 5000k (not 4700) HID in stock housings/lens/relectors - just a plug and ply H-4 HID upgrade. I adjusted the beam pattern a little down since the last pic, and this is a bit farther away




Now here is Robert's car with the PIAA 7000K "HID" replacement bulbs - stock housings, lens, reflector

Although it looks like one is out, both headlights are indeed functioning.

Here is the side by side comparison

Notice how much whiter they look next to the HID, but they appear yellowish alone.. I am assuming the HID "spread" is lighting up everything, raising the color temp of the entire pic, but I cannot be sure - I wish we would have parked a little closer to the door. I do not know why there is such variation in the spread, seeing as how the housings/lens are the same. The ghosts/bleeding even appears to be worse in the case of the NON-HID bulb. Perhaps you could adjust your light spread some Robert (after seeing these pics )

I can tell you the variance did not look anything like that in person - perhaps my camera is screwing up, or not capturing true images?

I have not gotten any head on shots, of any of the kits, I don't know how my camera will react, I'll practice with a few.

Anyone else in the Orange County area wanna stop by and add to the collection? I would like true stock lights, no upgrade, and then any additional kits/conversions local. Headlight party, my house!!

Astro

now if only the c-west could work with some HID's
hehe

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

wow, I think I may have to adjust my beam pattern.
I also have the stock bulbs in my garage, so we could test those if i'm not too lazy to change them.

I don't know if my grungy/dirty housing affected the light any, do you?

Staring at both cars head lights, you can see his blue bulbs but my purple bulbs seemed only white. Although the PIAA cured the beam from stock yellow to clear white, BicuspiD's HID were clearly way more "powerful" then mine.