Quote: Originally Posted by Remax Realtor
Hey hak I have a question for you. With some projectors they have a cutoff that angles up quite a bit on the right side (like the sti pics). Why is that? I had hella headlights on my focus and they were like that. With the bi xenons above they dont really seem to have that. Is it just to see stuff on the right side of the road?
also how do cars with factory hid in reflector housing get its color? I thought those companies still used all the same bulbs.
good questions.
The different flares you see are from diferent types of projectors. Usually in almost all cases, every Stanley made projector (S2K, TL, TSX, Murano, FX45, etc) all share the same "style" of step in the cut-off pattern. The step is there to help aid in lghting road signs and things that could be lurking off to the side of the road. Since we are in the US and go by US lighting standards, you'll always want to buy a LHD projector. If you were to buy a RHD projector the flare would be on the opposite, in our case here in the states, the wrong side of the road. Thus would be blinding everyone on the oncoming lane. not a good thing heh.
Most Bosch units like the E46 for example have a stepped cut-off that has a very high flare. This is again a big plus for the righthand side of the road. The only drawback is sometimes the flare can be somewhat obtrusive to people that might be in the far right lane. It isn't bad or unbareable. Its just kinda annoying to some motorists out there. This is the same projector used in a BMW 3-series so if you've sen one, that is what these look like. Similar/if not the projector used in the Sti picture.
Now when shopping for projectors, some different companies make several variying projector shield styles depending on projector model. Meaning that there are a few different cut-off patterns but with the same comapny who made the projector. a good example is Valeo. They make shields that have patterns that are similar in flare size to the Bosch or Hella units and some have cut-off patterns that are more similar to the more linear Stanley style of cut-off beam pattern. Its all in which projector your talking about. Especially with Valeos.
The reason why you see colors in a HID OEM reflector housing is because HID emits a colorful spectrum of light. It has yellow down on the bottom and the blue hue you se is actually the arc igniting the gas causing that "ora of hue" around the light source. This isn't the same colors you se in projectors. Those colors in projectors are formed by the shield and its interior dynamics. It is nothing more than basically holding a prsim up to a light source and it will give you the same effect.
