My HID Kit isnt as bright as others around town. Why????

[types98accord]

I have a 98 Accord 2 door v-6 that I recently bought a Xenon Conversion Kit for.  They are the real Xenon bulbs and are fairly bright, but not as bright as some of the others I see on the road.  I started off with 8000 and than bought 4300 bulbs because they say they are brighter.  I was unhappy with the color and they were not much brighter so I put the 8000 back in.  The ones around town I see are a good blue color and are twice as bright as mine.  Why are they brighter?  What did I do wrong?  Were do I get these brighter kits?  I feel like I got cheated.  Mine were bought from Pilot Motor sports.  Someone please help me?

[Tom]

no offense but a 98 accord is really old. Your reflector housing probably is not at its best condition.

[types98accord]

No offense taken.  98 Accord is old.  So, what do you suggest?  I swear I have seen it on a Civic about the same year as mine, but maybe they bought new headlight housings for it.  Also, the other one I have seen it on was a even older Chevy silverado.  Again, maybe they bought a new housing for it.  Will buying a new headlight housing make the differnce, and what kind do I buy?  I had the projector lenses in there at one time and they were so cheap that they broke within a few months of having them.  Where do i find a better quality housing?  I also would hate to buy a new housing and have to buy new bulbs since the projector style ones did take different bulbs.  Maybe that is my only option.  Its just frustrating to see them so bright on these other vehicles.  Dont get me wrong, mine are brighter than the normal halogen lights, but just dont seem bright enough.  Please help!!!!   

[Tom]

Well i dont know what your housing looks like... From new to slightly dirty you will lose almost 20% of the brightness (lm) Over my experience I would highly recommend you NOT to buy any aftermarket housing with a projector, they are all made in china and not properly engineered. I have been to the Las Vegas SEMA show and seen first hand how manny chinese people go there just to take pictures to bring back home and copy it. Back to the point, I had a projector housing with HID's and I got very mad that a new car with halogen lights put a shadow in my car with HID's (6,000k) after that i put the OEM housing back on. If possible post a pic of your housing or just try and describe it to me.

[types98accord]

Well, there really isnt a whole lot of fogging on the housing.  I guess there is a little bit of wear on it.  To me, I have seen some worn out housings on older cars and mine look new compared to those.  The car has not been in a garage and has been exposed to the outside since 2001, so that could have some factor in this.  I agree with you on projectors.  They are all cheap.  So, what you are saying is I need to buy new stock housings?  I dont have a picture right now, but will try to take one to post on here later.  Like you said, even the slight bit of wear could decrease the light.  You know more than I do, so I trust your opinion.  If you think new stock housings will help that is what I will do.  I will try to get pictures on here, but just imagine stock housings with some wear to them.  Nothing serious, and not fogged over much at all.  If you think that still makes a difference I dont need to send the pictures.  I will research new housings and go from there.  I dont think I have any other options other than just living with it.  I notice the shadowing right now with cars behind me.  Its very annoying. 

[types98accord]

One more thing, I am researching OEM housings and I ran across a few that say they are Composite.  What does that mean?  Does that matter?

[Tom]

From my experience that is just sales hype. Composite "A structure or an entity made up of distinct components" Its just a fancy way of saying its build up of different materials combined into one. ex: the cables you use to send signal to your tv (yellow white red) is considered "Composite Video" because it combines all the video signal into one cable