I found out some interesting information today.
I have a new GT vert on order with the HID's.
SO I notice that they are not the "projector" type HID's like on a BMW or Audi.
And then I went to the BMW dealer, and saw that some of the new 3-series BMW's ALSO had the non-projector type HID's.
So I asked the sales guy what's up.
Here's the deal:
The projector type HID's cause glare to oncoming drivers (especially with the sharp cutoff creating a flashing effect if the car moves up and down), and his information is that they are being phased out in favor of the reflector type HID lights, and that in Europe there are laws being looked at governing this.
Another point that BMW (and other) researchers came to was that headlights also provide a lot of the visibility for the front of a car (duh), and that lights over a larger surface area (as opposed to two small pinpricks like a projector) were seen and recognized from further away, and the vehicle was percieved to be closer than the one with small surface area lights. This is the reason for the "Angel-Eye" or "Halo" lights that BMW put on their cars; To make up for the reduced surface area of the projectors. You can see other brands doing the same things with LED strings (Audi in particular).
So, believe it or not, our beloved Mustang is ahead of the curve by offering the white color of HID's with a larger lighted surface area.
I have a new GT vert on order with the HID's.
SO I notice that they are not the "projector" type HID's like on a BMW or Audi.
And then I went to the BMW dealer, and saw that some of the new 3-series BMW's ALSO had the non-projector type HID's.
So I asked the sales guy what's up.
Here's the deal:
The projector type HID's cause glare to oncoming drivers (especially with the sharp cutoff creating a flashing effect if the car moves up and down), and his information is that they are being phased out in favor of the reflector type HID lights, and that in Europe there are laws being looked at governing this.
Another point that BMW (and other) researchers came to was that headlights also provide a lot of the visibility for the front of a car (duh), and that lights over a larger surface area (as opposed to two small pinpricks like a projector) were seen and recognized from further away, and the vehicle was percieved to be closer than the one with small surface area lights. This is the reason for the "Angel-Eye" or "Halo" lights that BMW put on their cars; To make up for the reduced surface area of the projectors. You can see other brands doing the same things with LED strings (Audi in particular).
So, believe it or not, our beloved Mustang is ahead of the curve by offering the white color of HID's with a larger lighted surface area.