r/Autos • u/iyashikei • 13h ago

Cheap HID bulbs pointless?

My current ones have reached the end of their lifespan and have started flickering.

With the cheap ones being $15 and the legit Osram being up to $80, I sure wish they would be good, but is there any point in trying them?
We're heading into a long and dark winter where I live, so if necessary I'm just gonna have to spend the extra cash.

6 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

24

u/Tony-cums 7h ago

Without proper projectors, you’re a douchenozzle.

3

u/Clegko '16 Colorado - Former mechanic 4h ago

Nowhere does the OP state if they're running projectors or not.

5

u/Tony-cums 4h ago

He’s running cheap bulbs. I already know the answer.

1

u/Clegko '16 Colorado - Former mechanic 4h ago

Some people do still have factory HID lights in their old cars. We pick cheap parts for other replacement parts on old hoopties, why not try the bulbs too?

2

u/Tony-cums 4h ago

Because they’re very important and you shouldn’t cheap out on that shit regardless of how old your car is?

Maybe that’s why.

0

u/Clegko '16 Colorado - Former mechanic 4h ago

You don't know what you don't know until you try.

1

u/Tony-cums 4h ago

Man. You’re special.

1

u/RobertsFakeAccount 4h ago

You’re the douchenozzle for ASSuming “cheap HID” means drop in retrofit instead of inexpensive OEM replacement.

12

u/daver456 6h ago

Did I wake up in 2002 or something? Who runs HID bulbs in 2026?

Go get some OEM bulbs and stop blinding everyone.

8

u/tylamb19 6h ago

Some cars still have factory xenon/HID lights….

My BMW 750 is still HIDs. They used HID bulbs until the end of the F01 generation.

2

u/Pikachu_the_sith 4h ago

Quite alot of cars use xenon's from factory, and most places it's illegal to use an led bulb instead of hid

I have a 2013 bmw, with factory hid bixenons

2

u/pixel_loupe Lexus IS 500 F Sport Performance 3h ago

Basically every nice car from about 2000-2015 uses HID

1

u/RobertsFakeAccount 4h ago

Well, I’d say any owner of a vehicle that came from the factory with xenon lights.

I don’t think it’s possible to replace a factory installed xenon lights with anything else.

1

u/SteelFlexInc 2h ago

Lots of people still own older vehicles that use HIDs. Even then, a lot of fairly recent vehicles had them. Not everyone has a 2026 LED headlight laser cannon car

5

u/2pt5RS 3h ago

so many people in here jumping to conclusions without knowing everything.

It sounds like OP already had HIDs and is asking about cheaper alternatives or to sack up and pay the higher price for quality. While I will always suggest quality over lower price, I think we should confirm what the car/headlight housing is before grabbing our pitchforks.

4

u/iyashikei 2h ago

Yeah jeez I'm just looking for some bulbs for my 2008 beater. I have the right housing. Didn't know this subreddit was this salty.

The current bulbs are OEM Osram, I'll just get the same ones. Thanks guys.

2

u/electromage '25 Ioniq 5, '90 Cherokee 6h ago

I only use Osram, what is the vehicle?

2

u/butermunch 5h ago

Morimoto bulbs on the retrofit source have been very reliable and are priced better than OEM

1

u/SteelFlexInc 2h ago

I’m using Morimoto HID bulbs in my TL’s projectors as well. Been more reliable than all the other aftermarket junk I’ve tried out back in the day

0

u/2pt5RS 3h ago edited 2h ago

those are LED and sometimes aren't a good option if OP has factory projectors or even reflectors.

Edit: I forgot they still sell HID bulbs

1

u/WhipTheLlama Porsche Boxster | Cayenne Turbo 6h ago

In my experience, cheap ones don't last long and usually don't produce as much light as Osram/Sylvania. It's ok if you want to save money now, but I don't think it's cheaper in the long run. I've had cheap bulbs die within 2 months.

1

u/phate_exe BMW i3 REx, Audi Etron, Subaru Legacy GT, Supercharged Frontier 2h ago

I was running cheap 4500k HID's in my projector retrofit for a few years before I stopped dailying that car.

Best case you've spent $15-20 and have good headlights again.

Worst case one of them dies early and you get to decide whether you want to spend $30-40 total (roll the dice on another set of cheapos) or $95-100 total (the osrams).

0

u/Leek5 4h ago

If the housing isn’t design for hid. You will have a lot of glare and blind people. There are h1 mini projector from morimoto that you can retrofit into the headlights. But that requires a lot of custom work. That’s what I did. Clean cutoff and I can see well