New Shoes

[Humble]

One of the best reasons my race car isn't done yet is my daily. I've been spending to much time with him but I think it's time well spent. After driving him for a year, commuting 22 miles each way through the mountains on drums I figured I was over due for an upgrade. About a month ago, I swapped out the the drums for 4-wheel disks (nothing special just drilled for porsche pattern) and tossed on a set of 996 wheels I've had for a while. There was a huge difference in braking right away (duh) but the grip is just crazy. It's now got 17x7 et55 turbo twists with 205/40zr17 kumho ecsta mx tires. With the stock motor in the back I've hammered it through corners and I barely have enough horsepower to keep the tires warm. Best of all, it turns a lot of heads, and I've gotten several thumbs-up

Old sports rims


New turbo twists

[Eatoniashoprat]

Wow that looks about 100 times better IMO

[Rob]

Nice !!
What are those driving lights ? And do you find they work well ?
I gotta upgrade my lighting as I can's see sh!t when driving at night.

Is there such a thing as HID driving lights ?

Rob.

[Wally]

Looks very well indeed. 7x17" is a very nice wheel for a superbeetle!

[Humble]

Actually there is such a thing as HID driving lights. My normal headlights are 6000k HIDs but the buckets make light scatter. To be nice to other people I have them turned down quite a bit. The other problem is my headlight aren't hi/lo they're just on or off. So I started looking for driving lights to give my bug the euro look and use those lights for my high beams. The light housings are westin 5.5" h3 driving lights (pencil beam), and I replaced the bulbs with 3500k HID lights. When I turn on the driving lights it cuts through the dark for miles. When I'm coming home you can see my car clearly from across the valley with all 4 HID's going. I think I picked up everything from ebay on the cheap, like less than $150 total. I'll try to get a night shot with everything going and the difference between the driving lights and head lights.

[Eatoniashoprat]

Originally Posted by Humble

Actually there is such a thing as HID driving lights. My normal headlights are 6000k HIDs but the buckets make light scatter. To be nice to other people I have them turned down quite a bit. The other problem is my headlight aren't hi/lo they're just on or off. So I started looking for driving lights to give my bug the euro look and use those lights for my high beams. The light housings are westin 5.5" h3 driving lights (pencil beam), and I replaced the bulbs with 3500k HID lights. When I turn on the driving lights it cuts through the dark for miles. When I'm coming home you can see my car clearly from across the valley with all 4 HID's going. I think I picked up everything from ebay on the cheap, like less than $150 total. I'll try to get a night shot with everything going and the difference between the driving lights and head lights.

That's good you have them turned down. Be interesting to see. Based on what you're done you probably know the following but I'll right it for those who don't know, correct me if its not 100% accurate:

HID's are not designed to go in reflector housings (typical headlight housing) but they need projector housings. As you said when they are installed in a reflector housing they will scatter light and seriously blind people since the light doesn't just shoot at the road but all over the place. Projector housings should have a shield to cut the light off at a certain height to be properly done should be self levelling.

[Humble]

You're mostly right but HID's can go in either standard reflector or projector housings. The important factor is that the housing is designed for HID since they produce significantly more light (a normal headlight is 800-1000 lumens versus an HID that makes as much as 3200-3500 lumens). Auto-leveling housing are the best and required in europe if I remember correctly. Unfortunately not all projectors are created equal and even some projectors can glare when HIDs are installed.

I'm almost positive the reason HIDs glare so much is most of the kits sold are the on/off variety without a high beam function. After installing them people turn the headlights up somewhere between highs and lows and leave it that way to make up for the lack of high beams. This is why it glares so much to other drivers, because it would if even normal bulbs were installed.

[Phat73VW]

HI there HUMBLE!!! I just saw this post for the 1st time and I have to say I love the wheels!! I am almost this close to getting some of those myself as I keep seeing sets of them on sale here and there. I am contemplating having them powderocated black to match the black and blue theme I have going on!!

But back to your car!! Loving the progress!!!