HIDs too bright, what now?

[AdreeN]

So my HIDs pretty much light up the entire road/sidewalks, and worst of all, blind vehicles infront of me.
I have oncoming cars flashing their highbeams at me to let me know.
What can I do now?
Are there "stickers" for headlights where it will cut off the top portion of the headlights so it isn't shooting above cars and houses as I pass by.
Or should I black out the headlights?
Any advice?

[Live2ride]

You can adjust the headlight; there are screws on the back allowing you to adjust them. HID's are meant to be used in projectors specifically for this reason, it's hard to control the light without them.

[Jinx250]

Put it back to stock and use SilverStar bulbs.

[kamikaze]

aim them lower. I've been running HID's for a couple months now, and the only time I've been flashed was when I had a passenger. I aimed mine a little lower than stock and they are fine. I'm never going back to halogens. Still wanna retrofit some projectors tho.

[Cuongism]

You can re-aim them to point down and away from oncoming traffic. Do you know what color bulb you currently have? You can get less intense bulbs like 4500 or 3k if your current bulbs are high. There's a local place by me that sells them for $10-15 so you may have luck up there as well.

[CThunder-blue]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5211767_alig...eadlights.html

If the adjustment still doesn't work, either retrofit some projectors or go back to regular bulbs.

[CThunder-blue]

Originally Posted by Cuongism

You can re-aim them to point down and away from oncoming traffic. Do you know what color bulb you currently have? You can get less intense bulbs like 4500 or 3k if your current bulbs are high. There's a local place by me that sells them for $10-15 so you may have luck up there as well.

4500k or 3000k will be brighter than the 5000k+ bulbs. The numbers just mean what color range they are, not how many lumen they output. 3000k is usually what OEM systems use and are as close to daylight (yellow tinge) as you will get. 4500k are aftermarket bulbs and are closer to white. Once you go beyond 4500k, the lumen go down as the light moves thru the color spectrum. 13000k, for instance, is purple and outputs as much light as a regular bulb.

[Cuongism]

Thanks for the clarification. The other effect on lumens I would imagine is wattage? Check to see if you have 35 or 55 watt.

[kamikaze]

Originally Posted by Cuongism

Thanks for the clarification. The other effect on lumens I would imagine is wattage? Check to see if you have 35 or 55 watt.

yea. I've got the 55w 5000k bulbs and they are amazing. the other thing when you go to the higher wattage it tends to wash a little of the colour out, so you can usually go one bulb temp higher.

[lux]

I think you turn the knurled knob to the left to lower.

[AdreeN]

thanks for all the replies!
i'm definitely not going back to stock anytime soon, as i already spent the money on the hids.
i can't exactly "aim" them, because the HIDs to begin with don't quite fit right into the housing (right bulb size, but didn't fit in housing), i had to bend the metal bracket that holds it and add some material to get it to sit tight.
the last thing i want to do is re-do that process and hope it aims lower.
can i put some sort of decorative vinyl/tape over the top edge of the headlights so that it doesn't beam over people's cars and into their eyes?
FYI i'm running 60k HIDs :S
I wanted the colour to stand out from the rest of the lights on the road so I would make me more visible, now I'm just blinding.

[CThunder-blue]

As long as it's in the housing, you should be able to aim it. The knob will adjust the plate that the bulb sits in.

[kkim]

first, make sure the bulbs are seated flat in the headlight socket receptacle. if they are just a bit off, that will make for horrendous light scatter.

second, aim your headlights (very critical). they are most likely not pointed correctly. my bike was waaay out as delivered from the factory.

third, the last thing you want is to draw attention to HID kits as all aftermarket/retrofitted HID kits are illegal (not DOT approved). besides, you get the most illumination with 4300K color temp bulbs.

[AdreeN]

awesome thanks for the tips.
i'm a nub when it comes to mechanical parts.
i'll def try to aim them downwards more when i have time.

[kkim]

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showp...18&postcount=9

[c717905]

I had this problem and seriously considered removing the low beam HID. I finally was able to aim it simply by sticking my hand through the bike, up underneath the front fairing and physically wiggling the wires to the bulb, and thus moving the bulb, until the pattern was low enough to suit me. I know it sounds ghetto, but I tried turning the adjustment knob to no avail and this jerry-rigged way worked.

[rusninja]

Blinding a cars bad imagine the 2 ton thing coming strait at you because it cant see ahead :S