Custom Projector headlights? Angel eyes? Halos? Blue light?
What do all these terms mean? Let’s start with projector headlights.
Projectors headlights originated in Germany about twenty years ago. It was
technology taken from racing vehicles driven at night. Projector headlight
technology started seeing the common roads on many upper-class vehicles such as
the BMW. BMW wanted to produce a headlight that would focus the light directly
in front of the car instead of on the sides of the road and into the sky which
standard parabolic headlights do. It was important to have the maximum amount
of light in front of the vehicle when traveling at speeds over 150
kilometers/hour. Shortly thereafter, Japan borrowed the projector headlight
technology from Germany and used it on a few Lexus vehicles. Now, projector
headlights are used on most new vehicles (foreign & domestic) built today
including many trucks and SUV’s. Projector headlights are becoming more
mainstream opposed to the previous parabolic headlights used in the 1980’s &
1990’s. Again, the purpose of the projector headlight is to focus 100% of the
beam of light in front of the vehicle instead of all over the highway…in areas
where lighting isn’t really necessary.
Projector headlights will take the place of your existing
OEM headlights. MyTightRide sells its
projector headlights in complete sets
(left & right side). And, the headlights come included with halogen bulbs and a
wiring harness for a quick plug-n-play installation. Many of the aftermarket
projector headlights will not use the same OEM bulb that the vehicle they’re
being installed on uses. For example, the 2002 Ford F150 uses a 9007 halogen
bulb from the factory; low & high beam. The aftermarket custom
projector headlight
uses an H3 low-beam bulb and a 9005 high-beam bulb. These bulbs are readily
available from local auto parts stores if replacement is necessary. No need to
replace the entire housing if a bulb burns out. MyTightRide also carries
aftermarket xenon bulbs if you want to add a little color to your headlights.
Most custom projector headlights come in four flavors or colors.
Two colors depend on the housing of the
projector headlights. One color is
chrome and the other color is black. Again, these colors are the housing itself
and not the front lens. The front lens is a clear, top-quality plexiglass. The
other colors are specific to the individual projector lens. You can choose a
clear projector or a blue (ion) projector. The clear projector is just that…a
clear projector. The blue (ion) projector shows a purplish/blue tint during the
day, but still produces a clear light at night. Many people like this effect,
especially for show cars. As far as the quality of the light from each colored
projector, there is little difference. But, the blue (ion) projector does give
it a little spice. So, to add the four colors together…chrome housing/clear
projector, chrome housing/blue projectors, black housing/clear projector, black
housing/blue projector. The colors you choose are personal preference and
completely up to the customer.
The new generation of aftermarket
projector headlights will now come
with an amber side reflector. Back in May 2006, the DOT forced importers and
distributors of projector headlights to ensure the headlights were DOT-compliant
and street legal. Therefore, we cannot sell any projector headlight without an
amber side reflector. Unless, the OEM headlight did not have a reflector like
the 1999-2002 Silverado/Tahoe/Suburban headlights, the projector headlight will
have an amber side reflector. The custom aftermarket
Silverado projector
headlights will not have side reflectors. Most others will.
Many of the aftermarket, custom
projector headlights are
one piece. That means, the OEM headlight and side (blinker) lenses will both be
replaced by one projector headlight unit. Many
custom aftermarket Honda
projector headlights are a one-piece design and will take the place of the two
piece headlight and side lens. Very TIGHT! And, there are quite a large number
of replacement custom aftermarket
projector headlights available for vehicles
with OEM parabolic headlights. Check out or line of projector headlights to
find the one that will fit on your vehicle!
Angel eyes? What’s an angel eye? The term angel eye
again came from the BMW line of cars. Many of the modern BMW vehicles have an
LED ring that circles the low and high beam lights. These LED rings are
separate from the headlights themselves and really don’t provide much as far as
lighting the road. However, they do look pretty sweet. Many of the custom
aftermarket projector headlights come with either one or two angel
eyes…depending on the size of the lens. Likewise, the term halo is referring to
the same LED ring. Many aftermarket projector headlights come with dual halos
(or angel eyes) depending on the size of the lens. These halos or angel eyes
will require wiring to an alternate power source. Check out our installation of
a set of
2002-2005 Ram projector headlights for our description of a projector
headlight installation and halo wiring.
What’s that blue light I see on many BMW and Mercedes Benz
vehicles these days? Is that a projector headlight? Well, the answer to that
is no. Many of the late-model Benz & BMW cars and SUV’s do have projector
headlights. However, the blue light you see is from an
H.I.D. lighting system.
H.I.D. is High Intensity Discharge and requires a different type of bulb,
ignited by a ballast. These
H.I.D. bulbs burn much brighter than a stock
halogen bulb, cooler than a halogen bulb and requires much less energy to
light. Instead of a filament producing the light, an
H.I.D. bulb produces light
by creating an arc that is generated between two electrodes. The effects are
truly remarkable…three times higher luminance that closely resembles natural
daylight. So, the quantity of light is far greater while consuming half the
energy of stock halogen bulbs. MyTightRide sells an aftermarket
H.I.D. kit for
many applications.
Many customers ask if they can use an
H.I.D. kit with
their projectors. The answer is yes, you can! However, purchase the
projector
headlights first, then purchase the
H.I.D. kit afterwards. Or, purchase them
together from us at MyTightRide and we’ll make sure you get the correct
H.I.D.
kit for your aftermarket projector headlights. Do note, many projector
headlights do not have the depth required by
H.I.D. bulbs. Many projector
headlights have a bar in the center of the cavity in which the bulb resides. We
will verify your H.I.D. kit will work with the
projector headlights you purchase
from us. |
