Originally Posted by mblouir

I miss my HIDs, but I refuse to run them without some sort of modification. I'm tired of blinding people. In our Ford housings we are extremely unlucky and the glare happens to be terrible. You have to aim the lights almost all the way down in order to prevent blinding other drivers and potentially causing an accident. Even then, there is still glare flaring out in all directions.


There are two options: retrofitting projectors ($$$$$$) or fit a custom "glare shield". Since I don't have the money for retrofits at the moment, I will be attempting to make a custom shield to cut out the glare. I will be posting as I go along and will continuously update with pictures.


First thing on the list: buy a new set of HIDs for experimenting with. My old HIDs started having issues (bad brain box), and needless to say I wanted to take it apart.





Here's an idea of what I'm going to be attempting (these are from another forum):






Before glare shield:





After glare shield (that cutoff is beautiful for such a simple/cheap solution):

Originally Posted by mblouir

It was down earlier. HIDs came in today!


I can say right off the bat that I'm glad I went with these. They are much higher quality than the DDMs I had before, and cost about twice as much at the time I purchased them. Not to mention I don't have to wait on shipping. Kit includes a fancy box, instructions, all wiring (no pig tails), ballasts, bulbs, and mounting stuff (metal brackets, zip-ties, double-sided sticky pads).

I'll attempt an install later this afternoon, but no promises. When I do install them I'll likely do everything and start working on the glare shields asap. Will go to Wally world tonight to pick up a few supplies.

Originally Posted by mblouir

First update:

Got the HIDs installed. The kit they provide is much easier to work with than the last one I had. More room for positioning the ballasts and wiring harness controller. Also more length of the wires.

I'll likely start on a design tomorrow and see what I can do. For now I aimed them down quite far. First design will come from a NOS energy drink can. It's thicker than a regular soda can but thinner than other options. It will make a good starting point for fabrication---the easier it is to bend the easier I can make small changes. Once (or should I say, IF) I get a design finalized I will get a thicker can to make it out of.

I don't want to speak too soon, but I almost want to say these have less glare than the last set I had. It was daylight in these pics so maybe the glare wasn't showing up, so I'll take a few more pics tonight. I did notice some very faint.....not really flickering....but pulsating of the bulbs. I am thinking it's just me looking too close, but I'll check that tonight, too.








(White balance must have been off in this pic....that's why the light looks greenish--I hope )

Originally Posted by mblouir

Thanks Mark, I am too!


Update 2: Night Pics


As you can see, the color is also where it should be. Both of these are 35w 5000K.....which should be pure white. The DDMs are in the fogs and are quite blue in comparison. Oh well. :dunno:

Glare is still there, just not visible in the daytime. I still feel it's not as bad as the DDMs were, but I could be wrong. Looks like this will be a project after all. My goal will be to fab something that will cover the bottom portion of the bulb, as that's where the glare comes from. Whatever hits the lower half of the round reflector is bounced upward.

Originally Posted by mblouir

update 3: First try



this may be easier than i thought. The way this bulb is set up all i have to do is stick a piece of curved foil in. Hopefully that's all it takes and i just have to play with the sizing and position. Here are a few shots of the setup i just tried. The pics don't quite do it justice---it definitely helps. Driver's side is done. You can see the difference it makes in the housing. I'm about to make a bigger one and see if that helps.

The worst part about this is that on our f150s we can't remove the bulb without removing the headlight housing....so that has to go on and off every time. :fume:














this may just work. :wookie:

Originally Posted by mblouir

update 4: Almost done


this has worked rather well....better than i expected it would. I'm going to call it a night and pick it up at a later time. What i'll do to improve on this design is make it sturdier (thicker can) and preferably give it a permanent attachment rather than a spot of super glue. :d

again the pics don't do it justice, but the cutoff is amazing. Glare is essentially gone. The ambient light above the headlight spots is coming from the sidewalk (bouncing up). I'm parked pretty close to the building, so everything is magnified. If i go out tonight i'll take some pictures from a distance off a building. So far so good. :thumbs:

Best part is there's no complicated design. A rectangle of aluminum.


First shot is looking directly at the headlight (left side is passenger light before). You can even tell from the picture that it's easier on the eyes. Second shot is glare comparison.

Originally Posted by mblouir

definitely! :cheers:

i know, i am surprised at how simple the fix is.



update 5: Still work to be done...

okay so the glare is essentially gone. I'll post a few more pics and videos below, and as you can see (especially in the videos) the cutoff is amazing.

The problem that this method has introduced, though, is that the headlights (looking into them) are bright as $@#%. The reflected light from the aluminum is bounced upward and almost doubles how bright it is when looking at it. I won't lie--it's too bright. I did, however, pass two cops tonight. In the 3rd video right after i cut it off there was a cop parked across the street at the stop sign, blocking my way. He had to back out, but my lights were pointing right at his face and he didn't do anything. On the way back i passed another one head on turning at a red light. Still nothing. Still, though, tomorrow my goal is to pull them back out and paint the "caps" with high-temp black paint. I think this would cut out any reflection yet still prevent the glare.


Sorry about the shoddy video sound....had the dog with me, so windows down+bass+crappy built-in microphone = crappy sound. The pictures may not do the cutoff justice, but the videos sure do...





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Originally Posted by mblouir

it's just the headlights aimed down......when i installed the hids i aimed them down really far because i didn't intend on starting the project yesterday. I never got around to aiming them back up.


https://www.f150online.com/forums/3657359-post18.html

^^ that's on the menu today after painting the glare shields. (old post i had on re-aiming the headlights..)

Originally Posted by mblouir

both were blind, right? Or is the picture of the wrong guy? :d


doubt i'll mass produce them. While the lights provided with each kit are the same for our trucks (h13), the bulb housing is different. I don't recall my ddm kit being like this one, so it would change from kit to kit.



update 6: Rain or shine

so i pulled the bulbs out to paint the shields and noticed a small dot of discoloration. I believe this is from the strong heat reflected off of the shield. Hopefully painting them will fix it, so i'll run them for a few days and then check up on them. I guess that's the whole point of this thing....see what works and what burns the bulbs out.


Also due to the slight discoloration on the bulb i moved the location of the shields. I attached them to the outside of the bulb housing instead of inside. This gives more room between the bulb and shield, allowing better heat dissipation. We'll see how it works. More pictures coming tonight.

Originally Posted by mblouir

update 7: Losing hope


well i think i've come to the conclusion that this may be a lost cause after all. While the glare is completely gone (i mean completely---i put the halogens back in and the glare is worse than the hids), the setup has introduced new problems. What i'll likely do is pay someone to retrofit projectors into a pair of stock housings.


While this method of glare shield can easily be done and definitely cuts down on glare, it brings up a few issues:
-like the good doctor mentioned, the high beams lose distance. I checked them out, and while they are better than the old hids i ran, they don't go very far. Better, but still worthless.
-since the light can't "scatter" to the lower half of the reflector, the upper half is extremely bright. So much so that i can walk 50 ft away off to a side and it's bright to look at. I'd be pissed if i passed someone on the road like that. It's pretty much getting rid of one type of glare and adding another....
-heat. Regardless of whether or not the glare shields are painted, the heat on the bulb is way higher than it should be, which will shorten its life. It's so hot that the bulbs are starting to show it physically. Also, i managed to slightly burn the upper section of my reflectors (shown in one of the following pics). Not a big issue at the moment, but i hate that it happened. Sometimes guinea pigs die.


I am tired of dealing with it for now so i threw the halogens back in and re-aimed them. While i'd love to get this to work, i don't see it being anything more than a big headache. Retrofits are still the only proper way to run hids, and i may go with them in the near future (end of the month).




my observations so far:
my goal was to reduce glare. Did i do that? Yes, reduced it almost 100%. The stock halogens have more glare than the hids. The problem is that the other aforementioned issues were brought up in the process, effectively crapping on my work. For now, the hids will rip in my glove box.


(for the output pictures, both are underexposed....it's hard to get a good shot of these at night because my exposure meter on the camera doesn't work as well. Headlights are brighter than they show.)

in order, the pictures show: Low beam/high beam/bright/bright/bright/halogens/burnt area....

Originally Posted by MGDfan

WTF was that all about?

And no, the photobucket stuff is not visible ( by me at least).

MGD

Originally Posted by Raptor05121

I consider HIDs a "phase" that most teenagers go through (you should see the high school parking lot ). Hopefully most of them mature to the point where they learn what they are doing.

Originally Posted by D's984x4

Nice write up. I originally got my HID's because I did a lot of night driving in the mountains with nobody around but now I live in the city and when I leave for work it is dark out so I blind people. I stopped tailgaiting because I know how bright they are.

What was the paint you used for the cans? Did they hold up/ are they still in your truck? and lastly how did you get the reflector to stay in? Did you have to use a glue or do they just pop in? Thanks!

D