Head lights -- HID or Quartz

[Showgun]

I'm considering an upgrade to HID's on my new SHO but am unable to determine what comes with cars delivered to Canada, and yes I've talked to the parts people at Ford and they need part numbers to go by.

In my downloaded SHO owners manual it mentions DS3 HID's and HB3 standard quartz bulbs like it might be an option.

On ordering the car there was no option for HID's so until mine comes in I'm left confused.

Can one of you Canadian members share what h/l bulbs you have in your car please whether HID's or 9005's or what.

Thanks
C.

 

[zeus268]

Hey Showgun,

Unfortunately us Canucks do not even get the option of having HID's in our cars. This really ****** me off considering the price we pay for the cars over what the Americans pay and theirs are standard.

Regardless, for the time being I've swapped in some Sylvania Silverstar Ultra's to make it look a bit better. Our Canadian cars use a projector with the 9005 bulb.
I'm planning on a full HID conversion sometime in the near future although for now I'm focused on a new grille and adding that SWEET SWEET Livernois tune as soon as it shows up

 

[Showgun]

Cheers, Andrew.....That's disappointing but at least I know for sure.

Colin.

 

[RedCandySHO]

Colin,
Install a set of sylvania silverstar ultra's. Parts Source usually has them in stock. That is what I did, and it helped dramatically. Don't waste your time with HID kits, they won't work properly with the halogen housings.

 

[Showgun]

Colin,
Install a set of sylvania silverstar ultra's. Parts Source usually has them in stock. That is what I did, and it helped dramatically. Don't waste your time with HID kits, they won't work properly with the halogen housings.

I'm having difficulty finding someone around Cambridge who knows the part for our SHO's.
Do our sho's take 9005 size bulbs and is that hi/lo combined?

Thanks guys.
Colin

 

[Billm0066]

I'm having difficulty finding someone around Cambridge who knows the part for our SHO's.
Do our sho's take 9005 size bulbs and is that hi/lo combined?

Thanks guys.
Colin

Yes hi and lo is combined. The bulb only has 1 filament but the projector uses a shield on a solenoid to aim the light up and down. This is called bi halogen or bi xenon if you had hids.

Dont bother with an hid in the halogen lights. It will look and perform like crap. The halogen projector is not the same as the hid projector. Halogen was built around the focal point from a halogen bulb, so when you toss in an hid bulb it will throw the whole pattern off.

 

[Showgun]

Good info Bill....thanks.
C.

 

[mjhpadi]

Colin,
Install a set of sylvania silverstar ultra's. Parts Source usually has them in stock. That is what I did, and it helped dramatically. Don't waste your time with HID kits, they won't work properly with the halogen housings.

He's right about the HID's, when I upgraded my 98 F-150 to HID's I bought the Sylvania Xenarc's because they came with a completely new housing and also included high beams that were Silverstars. They were great (a bit expensive) but they were true HID...I would look at the Xenarc's since they are a true conversion and include new housings.

 

[Showgun]

I'll check out the Xenarc's mj. TNX.
C.

 

[Ishodu]

Yes hi and lo is combined. The bulb only has 1 filament but the projector uses a shield on a solenoid to aim the light up and down. This is called bi halogen or bi xenon if you had hids.

Dont bother with an hid in the halogen lights. It will look and perform like crap. The halogen projector is not the same as the hid projector. Halogen was built around the focal point from a halogen bulb, so when you toss in an hid bulb it will throw the whole pattern off.

Right on, great to see this info getting around. It is so hard for people to understand the simple concept of how important the focal points are.

 

[RedCandySHO]

Colin, yes, they are 9005's.

 

[Showgun]

Colin, yes, they are 9005's.

Cheers all,
Colin.

 

[zeus268]

Yes hi and lo is combined. The bulb only has 1 filament but the projector uses a shield on a solenoid to aim the light up and down. This is called bi halogen or bi xenon if you had hids.

Dont bother with an hid in the halogen lights. It will look and perform like crap. The halogen projector is not the same as the hid projector. Halogen was built around the focal point from a halogen bulb, so when you toss in an hid bulb it will throw the whole pattern off.

Thanks for that nugget of knowledge Bill. Perhaps I won't waste my time with an HID conversion..... I know that the Silverstars do produce a good amount of light and look really sharp too. Perhaps I will just leave it at that.

 

[Showgun]

I've seen the misalignment of the beams when exchanging quartz's for HID's on my CrossTour.
Seems the projectors are a lot different for the different bulbs.

I couldn't tell anything wrong with the beam after the install but there must have been some performance difference.

C.

 

[Ishodu]

Colin make sure to check out www.shopower.com for the local group if you haven't all ready.

 

[Showgun]

Colin make sure to check out www.shopower.com for the local group if you haven't all ready.

No I didn't know about that club. I'm signing up as we chat. -- There's probably some SHO's in my backyard already.

Thanks for the headsup.
C.

 

[Billm0066]

Thanks for that nugget of knowledge Bill. Perhaps I won't waste my time with an HID conversion..... I know that the Silverstars do produce a good amount of light and look really sharp too. Perhaps I will just leave it at that.

Personally if I were in canada and stuck with the halogen lights, I would pick up a used set from ebay and tear them apart, and stuff a better projector in there. There isnt a ton of room in the headlight but you can make something fit. Or pick up a set of used oem hid lights and use those. The wiring shouldnt be too hard. Use a 9005 relay harness and run that to the oem ballasts and hi beam wires. I know the plugs are different between both cars, but i'm not sure if the halogen equipped cars can handle hids on the stock wiring, so I wouldn't chance it.

Technically you can put an hid kit in there, and the results will be better than a reflector housing, but the light will be scattered and the output wont be that great. It might focus more light on certain spots of the road and cause your eyes to focus there and make your night driving more dangerous. The other bad thing is the chinese bulbs are very unreliable. If one of those pops inside your headlight you will have to junk the whole light. The Taurus lights are still tough to come by and I doubt you will see any aftermarket companies making them because they tend to shy away from oem projector lights.