sarchibald85

Also thanks all for the info and quick responses

HID capsules in a halogen projector will generally produce significantly more usable light in basically the same pattern as the original halogen bulb when used for low beams. It's when switching to high beams that the HID pattern suffers - not only with more foreground light but also with lots of scatter. This is because, unlike reflector lamps, the beam focus is handled by the front lens rather than mirrors around the light source. When using low beams, the shutter in front of the capsule/bulb blocks close to half of the output, essentially eliminating the excess that causes the light scatter and glare and allowing the lens to focus the light appropriately. You will see that the light output pattern on low beam is almost exactly the same with HID capsules as with halogen bulbs. However, when you switch to high beam, the different position, shape and orientation of the HID arc compared to a halogen bulb filament causes light to pass through the lens from angles that were not intended by the lamp designers. That's why you will see so many complaints about "useless" high beams on HID conversions - they light up the road directly in front of the vehicle along with the tree tops alongside the road. The saving grace here is that the greater light output of the HIDs usually reduces the need for high beam use for most people but it is still something to be aware of. The best option for a conversion is when you have separate high and low beams rather than a single projector with a moving shutter... that allows using HIDs for the low beam and retaining halogen for the separate high beams. That setup (HID low beams and OEM halogen high beams) has worked very well for my wife's Sorento.

So what you're saying is if I use the stock housing with HID kit for the low beam, I'll still be OK and won't produce the glare effect that causes so much grief? Were the edge has separate lighting for high and low i was only going to convert the low setup but didn't want to bother too much at this time if i needed to look into projector lenses.

I have a 2010 SEL with stock headlight assembly. Looking at doing a HID conversion and wondering if I can get away with the stock assembly or do I need to buy projectors? Also seeing a lot out there on the new LED headlights; should i be looking into these instead? Thanks!