Piston Slap: The HID-den Benefits of Xenon Lighting?
John writes:
Hi Sajeev!
I’m still only three years into the car business and I still haven’t wrapped my brain around one thing: xenon headlamps. As a used car manager I’ve replaced plenty of xenon bulbs (pricey) and even some ballasts (really pricey).
Are you sold on their usefulness? To me it seems like a giant waste of money.
Sajeev answers:
Good on you for considering your end of this business relative to the rest of the world, especially about High Intensity Discharge (HID) and Xenon lighting. Because there are hidden benefits to Xenon lighting: consider the lifecycle from the first geeky R&D engineer to the last junkyard scavenger.
Take the factory: they want to innovate, having gee-whiz tech to trump the competition. (If only for a couple of years!). They’ll love that extra profit, fatter margins. Even if they’ll sadly bundle Xenon lighting with some BS “technology” package that’s outdated against your smartphone.
Take the Junkyard Scavenger: depending on uniqueness of the make/model, finding a working HID lighting assembly, the ballast (or even bulb) is great eBay fodder. Even if it’s just a unique mounting bracket or harness plug on a universal part, the owner gets something for cheap and the scavenger makes a tidy profit.
Take the customer: Xenon lighting to legal specifications (i.e. almost always never the eBay stuff to slap into your non-HID headlight body) does indeed give an amazing beam of light in rural areas, or urban roads with sparse street lighting. Former TTAC staffer Daniel Stern has a great resource if you want to dig into the science and practice of headlight designs.
I love HIDs and gladly pay for the privilege. I did the upgrade on my Mark VIII back in t he early days of the automotive interweb, and (just last weekend) I spent $300-ish on new HID bulbs for my mother’s 2006 Lexus. Nine illuminating years was a good run: a fantastic safety feature, especially for Mom’s well-being.
Take your Boss, the General Manager: Assuming you work in the typical New/Used/Service/F&I/Parts type of franchised dealership, let’s think about the GM. They want to give the customer what they want. In turn, he makes a little more money in sales, hopefully a bit more on service/parts when the vehicle returns after several years…or after a front-end collision.
It’s one of those Rising Tides Lifts All Boats things.
Except when the used boat needs new ballasts. (sad trombone) Off to you, Best and Brightest!
[Image: Shutterstock user ParabolStudio]
Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.
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My Accord Touring (in the avatar) has LED low-beams standard, which have got to be nearly the best headlights on any vehicle. Excellent range, good intensity, sharp cutoff, have only been "flashed" on low-beam once. Replaced the OEM fog Halogen bulbs with LEDs--beam pattern isn't quite as low, but there is a little more light ahead, in addition to the side. (And the color temperature is a perfect match for the headlights, enough so that I may replace the high-beams with plug-'n-play LEDs just to complete the look.)
I'm a believer. I travel on poorly lit bi-ways in the middle of the night for work. Best HIDs I've owned were on G37s,Enclave. Our Sienna's are average. Worst were the ZKWs on my old e46. If your car has a projector housing, it's worthwhile to upgrade to HID using a quality kit. I used The Retrofit Source. TRS stands by their products and use quality parts. No, I don't work for them. I upgraded our ML 350 with their 35watt kit, night and day difference.Finding a used ML350 with the lighting package is about as rare as a TVR in the USA. Most are built with lease only popular options. You will never go back to Halogen once you're used to HID's. But you really have to travel in non-urban settings to really know the difference. Personally I think the Japanese have a leg (or beam) up on the competition with respect to lighting technology.