Hid Lights? Legal Or Pull Me Over Now?

[mrdell12345]

Well a friend of mine gave me a set of HID head lamp kits for my car. The light kit is the kind that replaces the stock bulbs with a Xenon arch lamp, ballast and ignitor. The color is 6000k white/blue. The kit was a Xmas present and was purchased from carhidkits site, so I do not want to offend my friend by never trying them, but at the same time I do not want to blind others on the road or get a FAT TICKET. What are the penalties if it is not legal? Heck, what is the legality of these light kits? I live in CA if that has any bearing.

[curiousB]

Well a friend of mine gave me a set of HID head lamp kits for my car. The light kit is the kind that replaces the stock bulbs with a Xenon arch lamp, ballast and ignitor. The color is 6000k white/blue. The kit was a Xmas present and was purchased from carhidkits site, so I do not want to offend my friend by never trying them, but at the same time I do not want to blind others on the road or get a FAT TICKET. What are the penalties if it is not legal? Heck, what is the legality of these light kits? I live in CA if that has any bearing.

It occurs to me the biggest issue with DIY headlight replacement is the aiming step. You always can tell a guy who changed his own bulb when it points too high and blinds the oncoming. If you are careful to set the aiming properly then I think its less of an issue.

[cduluk]

You're going to have a lot of glare (since the HID bulbs' focal point is different than the focal point of your halogen bulbs) but it might be OK... 6000k isn't that blue so it won't gain too-too much attention from the cops.

[RDM]

There's an HID lighting forum that will detail all the local laws and legalities. Go browse around on it.