| Car: | Audi | A4 | B5 | All Derivatives | All body styles |
4300K Xenon (HID) Conversion
HID's are something I'd always wanted, for reasons both practical and not so practical.
Firstly I've got to admit I do think they look good, they are a finishing touch to a car. The important reason though for me was the performance compared to Halogen. I've always been disappointed by Halogen headlights and find myself having to use main beam for driving, having constantly to switch back to dip to avoid blinding other drivers.
Xenon's will offer you substantially more light up to the cut-off, and the spread is much wider. The situation still isn't ideal as a standard HID system provides no better range than Halogen, a Bi-Xenon systems come into their own here.
On the B5 we are limited to a standard dip beam HID system for now (watch this space....). Fitting of the system is very straightforward. I chose to mount the ballasts in the OEM position on the base of the headlamps, this requires only a small hole to be cut on the base of the headlamp for the ignitor lead to pass. I used a strap screwed into the OEM mount holes to secure the ballast.
It is worth noting here that D2S bulbs will work in a Halogen projector, but will not give ideal results as the position of the bulb relative to the lens will be slightly incorrect, affecting the focus. However the system will still offer significant gains. Also, fitment of HID's must be accompanied by a self levelling system and high pressure headlamp washers. In my case the latter was satisfied by fitment of the RS4 front bumper.
Wiring for the units is very simple, cut off the Halogen H7 connector and solder the ballast plug in it's place, Brown to Brown and Yellow to Brown/Red. The conversion was defiantly a worthwhile modification.
© Mark Stewart
![[XML RSS Feed]](/images/xml/xml_rss.jpg)