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HID's...Cibie's...or IPF Headlights

35K views 111 replies 31 participants last post by  Six Shooter 
#1 ·
Ok looking for some opinions. I've been doing some searching and reading on the different headlight options. My first option is the HID conversion from VVME. I know i'll probably go with the 4300 or 6000k kit, cancellors and whatever else i need. Would this be all i need to make it work? I read about flickering and bulbs turning off then people putting in resistors and capacitors and yada yada yada. Can someone tell me what i would actually need to make it work right and if it would be my best option compared to the cibie's and ipf's

Option two are the cibies from david stern. I'll probably talk to him and see what i need but was thinking on doing his wiring harness and the brightest bulbs i can get.

Last option is the IPF's from northridge and some Philips 80+ bulbs.

I'll be doing my fog lights also in the process.

Whats everyones thoughts on this and what would give me the best and most hassle free setup?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hid should be keep off the road even properly aimed they are hard for other people and hard for your eyes, you end up having hard time focusing on the road.

Daniel Stern is a better choice and susqueanna make a great kit to, take the time to align them properly and you’ll get great lightning for a decent price.

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=4669

IPF seem to have good and bad review, my only concern about them would be the fact they use the stock wiring which is not the greatest but you can always upgrade that yourself.

As for the fog I like the delta replacement kit, or if you don’t mind the stock one the TJ use to have mount on the bumper where fantastic in my opinion. I’m sure you can find a used set for a decent price.

Just to say most HID sucks in snow rain and fog ………..
 
#3 ·
Im probably going to get shit for this but i have HID's in Cibies and HID fogs and rarely had people flash me or friends tell me it was bothersome (until i added the rear bumper and leveled myself out :( . . . now i need to re-aim). I think they're perfect for the majority of city/highway driving i do. thought my PIAA 580's dont have the same long range effect they used to because of it. . . . thus im looking to upgrade to lightforce :bounce:
 
#4 · (Edited)
I’m working as security and sometime I have to drive for 12 hours, 14 if you had the drive back and forth from town, we had some F150 with stock HID(put by the renting company i guess) and they had to replace them with halogen because they where to hard for the eyes after a while .I can seriously tell while the HID is brighter after a certain time it really get to you.
 
#5 ·
I forgot CiBies existed and got a set of Silverstar platinums. They worked really well but I was left wanting more. I got a full on workup harness, housings and bulbs from Mr Stern. I am amazed at my CiBie's when just an hour before I had the wagners and those were and improvement. I go toe to toe with my buddies Jeep with H.I.D's and On High Beam I throw more light further. Lows I am at the same brightness levels without the "Glare" that his 8K Hid's gives off right back at your eyes.

H.I.D's consume less wattage :smokin: H.I.D Ballasts do not like vibration and water :shaking: H.I.D "kits" are no bueno in factory housings as the housings reflector was not designed that way from the factory. DEFINITELY not DOT compliant.

CiBies use E-Code lamps (E=Europe) and again are not DOT compliant. The lenses are made to focus ligt where it is needed .. not just broadcast ass loads of light. The pattern has a dual__/ __/ cutoff to them that is nice but is more suited for driving on "The wrong side" of the road.

CiBies do cost more when done right (Harness upgrade , Housings and Bulbs in the 3 and a half range) Whereas HID kits are in the 2 and change mark average.

As for the biggest baddest bulbs he has ... Trust me when I say no need .... Unless you want to plasma cut Cacti from 100 Feet. I run the 70/65W Osram Plus 50 bulbs and again they are stupid bright. Plus with the JK's frail electrical system in terms of voltage sensitivity and drop ... Meh why add to the woes.
 
#6 · (Edited)
CiBies use E-Code lamps (E=Europe) and again are not DOT compliant. The lenses are made to focus ligt where it is needed .. not just broadcast ass loads of light. The pattern has a dual__/ __/ cutoff to them that is nice but is more suited for driving on "The wrong side" of the road.

.

Don’t want to be a party breaker but 99% European country do drive on the same side as we do….so proper E-code will be align the proper way as long you not buying them from UK. E-code are legal in Canada luckily we even receive time to time car equipped with them, back in the days my old Volkswagen jetta was coming with them and I loved it. The down side is they are harder to aim properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg
 
#8 ·
The HID kit you mentioned is illegal and dangerous; forget about it.

Valeo/Sylvania makes a bixenon projector that you can jigger in that would work but it's not a simple drop-in.

JWSpeaker #8700 is an LED array that is supposedly pretty sweet. They cost big money though.

Rallylights has a kit that's properly set up but the Hella reflectors they provide have too much foreground lighting and too little light to the side; the photometry analysis on them shows this.

Dan Stern sells a similar kit and provides Cibie reflectors; they're pretty much the best H4 reflectors you can get for the price. He also has some more exotic reflectors if you have the money; I'm installing a set of Z-Beams today. :bounce:

The IPF kit you mention has lots of flaws. As was previously mentioned, their pigtail harness just exacerbates the stock voltage drop condition and creates additional resistance. The reflectors are also illegal for on-road use in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. IPF went as far as to put a bogus "E" in a circle to make it look like a proper ECE stamp ----- don't be fooled, it isn't. Their own literature on the reflectors says something to the effect "suitable for race and rally use".
 
#10 · (Edited)
Thanks guys i appreciate all the info. I was considering the HID's but if they are not good with water and stuff, then they are out.

I think i'll look into the Cibies from Daniel Stern. I'll have to wait and talk to him to see what he thinks. I just need something upgraded from what i have now. THese JK lights are horrible.

I was really wondering also on the IPF upgrade. I heard alot of good things and now i read a couple bad things about them. And i really haven't heard much about people buying them anymore. Plus they have dropped 20 bucks in price. Something must have been up. I guess they really weren't worth the money and headaches.

Cibies from Daniel Stern it is then.
 
#11 ·
I have the IPF headlights and I think they are a great upgrade from stock. I don't think the bulbs are high enough wattage to fry the stock electrical system, but the lenses just spread the light into a much more effective beam pattern.

I don't know anything about them being legal/illegal though. I'll have to read up on that.
 
#16 ·
I run hella E codes with 6k 55watt HID's with a harness/relay kit. I have no complaints what so ever. I rarely get flashed also. HID's in a good housing is what makes the best/safest improvement.
How can you call an illegal kit like that a "best/safest improvement"?
The reason they're illegal is that they're not safe --- especially for oncoming motorists.

Read these facts about bootleg HID retrofits from DS's website.
 
#17 ·
I have the Cibie from daniel stern in stock wattage and am using the stock wiring harness. I made my own pigtails to go from h13 to h4. I had planned to eventually upgrade to a full harness which is why I went with the stock wattage bulbs for now.

once I installed these lights it was so fantastic that I see no reason to upgrade. experts often say you don't need a lot of wattage you just need it pointed in the right direction. I guess upgrading the harness might improve it some, but the lighting is so great now and the beam so precise, I don't see any reason to spend more money.


Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
 
#18 ·
The same reasoning followed when I decided on the IPF lights.
 
#21 ·
So in other words if you don't use the relay, you may have faults from the CANBUS system and shut down the lights from there being to much draw on the system causeing a fault. right?

Well whatever it may be, i'm waiting on Daniel Stern to email me back and get his input on the system. I'm probably gonna order his Cibie lights, Philips Xtreme Power 80+ H4's and relay harness. Then for the fogs I may look at the PHilips.
 
#22 ·
...Well whatever it may be, i'm waiting on Daniel Stern to email me back and get his input on the system. I'm probably gonna order his Cibie lights...
Can't go wrong listening to him. He's been doing this for a LOOONG time. Your biggest problem might be to buy & build an amazing, yet pricey setup. But it'll be sweet.


Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
I tried dealing with Daniel Stern and after a quick initial reply via email he never responded to any of my follow-up emails and I could never reach him on the phone. After three months of this I got a lead from a forum posting (I think it was here) about Bosch H4 e-codes from BusDepot.com (a VW bus site).

I bought a pair of the Bosch lamps for around $80 at the time. Just looked and you can get them for $45 per set now. http://busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=0301600118. Used Silverstar Ultra bulbs and made my own wiring harness (this was the toughest part, because I also re-wired my roof lights and pre-wired for a bunch of other lights I have planned). Aiming them was also a bit of challenge, but not too bad.

The light from the Bosch's and the Silverstar Ultra's is noticeably WAY MUCH better than stock. Much better, even, than the stock lamps with Silverstar or PIAA H13 bulbs (which I tried first). The light is bright and pure white (no blueish tint) with great distribution. Much better reach with both low- and high-beams, and with that E-code cutoff I never get flashed by oncoming drivers.

Maybe the Cibie's are better, but I don't see how. At $45 for the pair, that's less that 1/3 the price of the Cibies and IPF's, and less than 1/2 the price of the Hella's. You can make your own H13:H4 adapters or just cut-off the H13 plug and solder on H4 plugs on your factory wiring, which would be OK as long as you use the same wattage bulbs as stock. But you'll get much better (whiter) and brighter output if you add relays that trigger off the stock wiring then drive the headlights directly off the battery using at least 14 AWG (I used 12 AWG) wiring. Note that you do need to add a capacitor and diode to the relay inputs to deal with the PWM signal caused by the JK's CANBUS monitoring, and using waterproof marine shrink tubing and heavy-duty relay sockets and H4 receptacles is recommended.

As mentioned above, if you use the OEM wiring you should not get any complaints from the computer as long as you use the same wattage bulbs as stock. The computer should actually be fine with any wattage bulbs, as it seems to only care about shorts or opens (i.e., you will get a code recorded -- but no check engine light -- on the unused OEM connector after installing your own wiring harness; it is harmless). Going with higher-wattage bulbs is a no-go due to the already insufficient OEM wire size.
 
#27 ·
When dealing with Daniel Sterns harness, do you still need to put the diode and capacitor in line with the relay or is this taken care of in his harness. How about rallylights.com's harness. I like the price of these. Would like to see some pics of them lit up at night from inside the cab.
 
#25 ·
Well said. Detailed. Accurate. I can't speak for those lights, but decent brand and e-code. All good ingredients.

When i had trouble getting hold of Daniel, it was due to an illness in his family. But 3 months is bad business. Hopefully all is well.


Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
 
#39 ·
Yeah, I've seen arguments like that before I bought the Bosch's, but none of them actually give any hard evidence about a problem. The only facts they can give are about the lack of regulatory approvals, which is moot because none of the top H4 reflectors are DOT-approved (except for Hella). Aside from that, it just seems regurgitation of the same unsubstantiated bs from one posting to another by people who never gave the Bosch's a try.

I'm glad I decided to try them out anyway. The first thing you need to do is stop and think about the argument logically: What's the difference in lighting requirements between a motorcycle and a car (or, in this case, a Jeep)?

  • Most motorcycles have one headlight, instead of two
  • Most motorcycle headlights are positioned higher than most car headlights (though not Jeeps)
  • Motorcycle headlights are subject to more vibration forces than most cars
To me it logically follows that motorcycle headlights need to be designed better than vehicle headlights.

Anyway, I found this posting that responds to the arguments made by people against using Motorcycle headlamps on vehicles: http://www.ratwell.com/technical/BoschH4.html.

Either way, I'm not saying there's anything wrong the the Cibie's, and if don't mind spending $150 instead of $45 and can actually get them, I'm sure you'll be happy. As I said before, I am unreservedly happy with my Bosch's.

But if someone wanted to throw a couple of Cibie's my way I'd be happy to do an objective comparison.:thefinger:
 
#29 ·
Both Stern's and Rallylight's kits are plug and play, ready as soon as you open the box.

Side by side comparison. Note the even spread of light off to the sides with the Cibies.

Pic of lowbeam Cibie Z-Beam with Phillips Xtreme Power bulb:


And this is the Cibie Z highbeam:



Same bulbs, Rallylights Hella kit lowbeam:


Hella highbeam:
 
#34 ·
Got it....standard cibies, philips xtreme power +80 H4's, Relay harness, and some new fog bulbs. Soon as i can get DS on the phone i'll order. Thanks for your help Hilldweller. Thanks all for your help. I can't wait to get these on order and actually see when i drive at night.
 
#35 ·
...and some new fog bulbs.
I don't think you should obsess on the foglight bulbs; after you install the Cibies you won't miss running the fogs ---- even in fog. They'll just provide some fill lighting.
You'd be better served by mounting either a nice set of drivers, fogs, or offroad lights on the bumper.
The stock foglights are pretty limited in what they can actually help with. I only use mine as DRL and on rocks.
 
#43 ·
Does it usually take a while for D. Stern to get back to people? i sent him out an email yesterday and still haven't heard from him. I know yesterday was sunday so not expecting anything yesterday but i haven't gotten anything today yet. And there is no phone number to reach him at.
 
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