redss that is not a slot for the return lead.
that is a slot for one of the little nubs on the bulb.

you have your bulb so skewed right now im surprised your getting light at all.
the return lead for your bulb is supposed to sit directly BELOW the glass of the bulb.
and in a slot that you have to create yourself.
not to the right of it, which is where you have yours.


trust me on this one. I spent ALOT of time with this.

 

That's good info - thanks - this may finally solve my aiming problems!

 

As shown in the photo, the stock slot sits to the right or left, the return lead needs to be pointing down for proper beam projection. Furthermore after making the adjustment I now have light on the road as well as everything around the car. Thus the reason for the "crappy beam pattern"

 

so blue circle is where drilling needs to be done?

 

I believe so, I'm still not completely satisfied with the beam pattern. Waiting on a few more answers on various posts on here. blue circle is where I did my drilling, and the light output was improved. However i have a **** load of light all around the car, just not enough where i believe the light is supposed to be.

 

I still have a Void In the middle of my beams, For now I have replaced the stock fog lights with PIAA 1100X. They at least light up the middle of the road so I can see at night.

FYI - Don't bother contacting Vision bulbs for support, Their products may or may not be great, but their support is terrible. This was an e-mail I had sent to them through their website

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob [mailto:removed for my privacy]
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 5:42 PM
To: customerservice@visionbulbs.com
Subject: Question to customer support



Have installed the 8000k HID into the projector housing for pontiac/cobalt.
There is a large black void in the center between the beams, I can only
assume this is due to placement of the bulbs within the housing. Please see
photos at the following links

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P3190063.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/P3190073.jpg

And NOW FOR THEIR ASTONISHING and PROFOUND reply


Hello Rob,

The photos look great.

Thank you again,

Vision Bulbs - Customer Service
www.visionbulbs.com
customerservice@visionbulbs.com

 

WOW!!! I love that cutoff line. Its so sexy! But then you see the black hole! Ehhh....

 

http://reviews.ebay.com/HID-Guide-to...00000001638316

Does that help any? I just want somebody to come out with a way to fix this problem before May

 

Someone nailed it right on the head before, it has to do with the focal length. I took mine apart today to play around with the different positions for the bulb and and saw a major difference between the halogen bulb and the HID bulb, it's length. I dont have exact measurements or pictures but if you compare the halogen bulb to the HID bulb, the point where the filament creates most of it's light source from is at different heights. This is EXACTLY why the light bulb looks out of focus....because it is!!!

I am pretty fed up with these lights personally. This goes to show you you really can't put a retrofit kit into a regular halogen housing and expect perfect results. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a big improvement over the stock lighting but it isn't exactly a quality HID setup (maybe they meant it when they said no HID bulbs on the back of the housing).

For my next trick, I will be retrofitting some Acura TSX projectors into these housings. Worse comes to worst, i ruin a set of projector headlights....OH NOES!!!1!!11!!!!

 

Anyone know a website that i can get projectors custom made. I remember readin bout one but cant find it.

 

In response to this, we can all pretty much see that the problem is the HID bulb's dimensions. Well, in another thread, a member posted these projectors with HID's already in them. Perhaps someone should try these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-07...7601QQtcZphoto

 

Too me it looks just like what most of us are running, the halo housings with just a retrofit HID package...nothing special or specifically made.

 

They should have some type of guarantee ont hem or whatever though, if a company is selling them.

 

Like most thing son ebay, good luck getting anything warrantied!

 

This e-bay quote hit the nail right on the damn head. I've toyed with these lights long enough to have discovered this issue. The projectors do say on them not for use with HID. The HID bulbs also do not slide into the housing (correctly with ground wire facing down) without minor modifications.

From what I can tell the blub does not sit properly in the housing and makes for the hollow beam pattern, A solution or work around i have found is to give the bulb a slight wiggle so that the beam (bulb) is almost at an upward angle within the houseing, i had to rebend the retaining clips to get the bulb to stay in the right position. what this does is actually moves the black hole higher up and closer to the cutoff line, giving you more light on the road where it belongs. I still have a slight V pattern where the beams converge, however it is not as bad as it was before.

Side note I've replaced my factory fogs with PIAA 1100X driving lights, these fill in the void of the HID beam, however they are more blinding to on-comming traffic than the HIDs in the projectors. If i have time tonight i'll take some photos and post tomorrow.

 

Before (notice the dark spot directly below the notch or "z"


after aiming bulb up slightly (you will notice a much smaller dark spot in the middle)


Both lights before (note this was prior to perfecting aiming, thus the right is slightly higher)


Both lights after (please note car may be closer to garage than original picture)


OPEN PARKING LOT BEFORE


Open PARKING LOT AFTER


And one last one for anyone interested in fog lights this is just the PIAA 1100X, and yes i can actually drive at night on these lights alone

 

is the color of those fogs close to the hid color?

 

unfortunatly NO, the fogs claim to be about 4300K I have the 8000k HID kit. If you want them to match I wouldn't go any higher than 6000K on the HIDs. Basically the HID have that bluish tint, where the fogs just look pure white

(side note - not sure what is up with my camera, you'll notice the two pictures from the parking lot look like different bulbs, however those pictures were taken from the same camera on different nights, the one that looks more bluish is closer to the actual color.

 

Where can i order those fogs and are they very easy to change?

 

Whoever has a bad beam pattern, are you using H1 bulbs?

 

They are the HID kit from vision size is H1 yes.

 

Fixed links incase anyone still needs this in the future (I no longer have this car so I can not help troubleshoot as much, nor will I be frequenting this forum often)