Piston Slap: Of HID-retrofit Hatred, Panther Love

by Sajeev Mehta

Updated: May 16th, 2014 Published: January 11th, 2012

piston slap of hid retrofit hatred panther love

Robin writes:

So when I get my next big check I’m getting me a Panther. On this you can depend. You’ve talked me into it! But that’s not the point of my email. Rather, I’ve seen these HID light kits and wonder if it’s a lot of hype or if there is some veracity to the upgrade?

Sajeev answers:

Oh yes! How lovely to hear you will be joining us enlightened American auto-connoisseurs in the Land of the Last Land Yacht: Panther Love…Son!

Like I mentioned in the last Piston Slap, HID retrofits are usually a terrible idea. Aside from their durability and inherent poor value, they are not a “bright idea” (sorry) when performing a headlight retrofit/upgrade to your non-HID car. A few notable exceptions include me, when I upgraded my 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII’s headlights with the factory HID system used on certain 1996 models. It was all factory parts, and worked great… until time and orphan parts reared their ugly heads.

Long story short, there is no real scientific benefit to HIDs if you don’t have a headlight assembly designed for the HID bulb. And sometimes, depending on headlight lense design and bulb choice, it’s more of a detriment. And the only Panther that can safely run HIDs are 2003-2011 Town Cars with the (optional) factory-installed HID lenses. Everything else throws out a ton of glare and is dangerous for fellow motorists. And yourself, if you encounter a lot of reflective signs on the road or drive in thunderstorms at night in urban lighting conditions.

Plus, most of these aftermarket kits are quite unreliable: from the quality of wiring, durability of relays, and design of bulbs, calling these HID retrofit vendors “hit or miss” would be an understatement.

Plus again, many of these kits are downright illegal. Even if they are DOT approved, are they legal for use in your state? Better find out before you buy.

One last remark: the non-HID’s on my father’s 2006 Town Car are disturbingly close to the general lighting quality of the HID’s in my 1995 Mark VIII. Who says these Panthers are old school? Their lighting pods are pretty darn high-tech!

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com . Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.

#DOT #HID #Illegal #Legal #PantherLove #Retrofit

Sajeev Mehta

More by Sajeev Mehta

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 69 comments

Spartan on Jan 11, 2012

HIDs in reflector housings designed for halogens are a terrible idea. Mostly because people get on eBay and buy 10000k temp bulb kits that emit this awful blue lighting that is just awful on the eyes. I wish the cops would crack down on that more because they're damn near always aimed like high beams. I have a Taurus SHO and a G37, both with HIDs and projector housings. Even at the factory temp bulb of 4300k, my eyes get tired if I'm driving for along distance. The halogens in our 08 Explorer with yellow fogs are much easier on our eyes at night.

Like Reply
Ciddyguy on Jan 11, 2012

I'm in complete agreement with others here that say, don't convert to HID kits without proper research. As stated, using these bulbs in a parabolic optical reflector type of headlight is asking for potential trouble as a lot of these systems are not well designed to start with as their beam patterns can vary greatly from excellent to pretty poor. I know as the beam pattern in my 1992 Ford Ranger truck leave a lot to be desired. The beam pattern is pretty spread out and not very bright, no matter what and leave too many areas kind of in the dark. These are NOT composite plastic, but are of actual glass so they aren't fogged up and used regular 9007, I think bulbs, forget now since I've not had to replace one in a few years. I've done some research and have concluded that projection headlights are MUCH better at light distribution than most parabolic optical reflector systems as they rely on the orientation of the bulb for proper dispersion, and even then, the design may leave a poor dispersion and potentially increased glare, despite adhering to headlight regulations here in the US. Fiat offers the Infrared H1 bulbs, ie, the H1R2 bulb in particular in what is known as a bi-halogen projector setup whereby the shutter moves up to block the lower portion of the light to create the low beam, and drops out of the way to create the high beam. I hear they work very well. As Sajeev says, if you have projector units, using HID bulbs is less an issue but then again, the laws in your particular state may say otherwise about their use. I'm thinking of going with the infrared halogen bulbs in my next car.

Like Reply
- Mnm4ever on Jan 12, 2012
  
  Can you put those infrared halogens in standard halogen reflectors without annoying other drivers? Or does the light have to be specially designed for it?
  
  Like

Recent Comments

HotRod Not me personally, but yes - lower prices will dramatically increase the EV's appeal.
Slavuta "the price isn’t terrible by current EV standards, starting at $47,200"Not terrible for a new Toyota model. But for a Vietnamese no-name, this is terrible.
Slavuta This is catch22 for me. I would take RAV4 for the powertrain alone. And I wouldn't take it for the same thing. Engines have history of issues and transmission shifts like glass. So, the advantage over hard-working 1.5 is lost.My answer is simple - CX5. This is Japan built, excellent car which has only one shortage - the trunk space.
Slavuta "Toyota engineers have told us that they intentionally build their powertrains with longevity in mind"Engine is exactly the area where Toyota 4cyl engines had big issues even recently. There was no longevity of any kind. They didn't break, they just consumed so much oil that it was like fueling gasoline and feeding oil every time
Wjtinfwb Very fortunate so far; the fleet ranges from 2002 to 2023, the most expensive car to maintain we have is our 2020 Acura MDX. One significant issue was taken care of under warranty, otherwise, 6 oil changes at the Acura dealer at $89.95 for full-synthetic and a new set of Michelin Defenders and 4-wheel alignment for 1300. No complaints. a '16 Subaru Crosstrek and '16 Focus ST have each required a new battery, the Ford's was covered under warranty, Subaru's was just under $200. 2 sets of tires on the Focus, 1 set on the Subie. That's it. The Focus has 80k on it and gets synthetic ever 5k at about $90, the Crosstrek is almost identical except I'll run it to 7500 since it's not turbocharged. My '02 V10 Excursion gets one oil change a year, I do it myself for about $30 bucks with Synthetic oil and Motorcraft filter from Wal-Mart for less than $40 bucks. Otherwise it asks for nothing and never has. My new Bronco is still under warranty and has no issues. The local Ford dealer sucks so I do it myself. 6 qts. of full syn, a Motorcraft cartridge filter from Amazon. Total cost about $55 bucks. Takes me 45 minutes. All in I spend about $400/yr. maintaining cars not including tires. The Excursion will likely need some front end work this year, I've set aside a thousand bucks for that. A lot less expensive than when our fleet was smaller but all German.