Looks or not suited to application? Glare?

 

If you do get higher wattage HID bulbs, you need to consider the load on the relay and the fuses.

 

driving a small car, their always entirely too bright and blind the hell out of me.

 

Yep. I can relate to that. I'm always careful with the highbeams. Golden rule.

I used to have a Fiat X1/9 with 100wt halogen driving lights on the bumper. I used to joke about scorching the grass on the shoulder of the road. I was very respectful of others though.

 

Good idea. I've heard of people tapping a line straight from the alternator out. (I think that's correct.)?

 

well, I don't know about that, I would use a bigger fuse (in the fuse box) and add a parallel relay. The parallel relay should split the current equally between the old relay(s).
Lets do some math:
Stock system at 12v (I know current is less at 14v, we are trying to get the highest load here). 2x 55w= 110w
110w/12v = 9A of current

now double the wattage for the 100w HIDs will double the current to ~18A. I know the stock relays have some pretty good headroom to play with, but i doubt its double. One extra relay should be able to bring the current down some. I think its one relay for the HIDs and one for the highbeams, if you don't plan to use the high beams then just wire the extra relay in parallel, or better yet, use one relay for each side.

 

the easy solution is philips visionplus bulbs. they are 50% brighter at the same wattage. sold by amazon.

 

For HIDs, I've used the 5000k and 5300k kits. I think as close to white as you'll get. Purchased the 35watt slim ballast kit from VVME.com. Super inexpensive. Yes, straight from Asia, but between my buddies, we've ordered 9 kits, never had a problem. Even if you did, their customer service was good, and replacement parts were dirt cheap. The savings was worth the wait to me, if I ever had a problem, just throw the old bulbs in.

Frankly, once I went HID, I never touched high beams again. With your MSM lights, it'll be bright with a razor sharp cutoff. Plus since it isn't a projector housing, HID high beams are sorta useless. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks RedTurboMiata! This is exactly what a noob like me in this area is looking for. Thanks also for differentiating a colored halogen replacement bulb from a true hid kit. I want to try putting an HID kit. I hope I can get a good deal. Thanks.

 

DDMtuning sells pretty decent kits. I plan to get a 5300k kit or alittle lower(best output), but for now the stock halogens work good.