orange3.9stang

Finally saw a Grabber Blue GT in person with HID's at Golf Mill Ford in Niles, IL. They certainly do take away from the personality / looks of a Mustang's front end as others have said; especially a GT where you have the mis-match with the regular halogen fog lamp appearance.

Possibly they might look a little better on a V6. Al Piemonte Ford in Arlington Heights, IL has two Pony pkg. V6 with HID's on their lot ... a Gray Convert. and a Grabber Coupe that I was going to try and see before I make up my mind.

I live 1.5 hrs. north of Milwaukee and drive to & from Chicago once a week leaving Monday morning at 3:45 AM and leaving for home Wednesday night at 8:30 PM. Of my 400 miles / 7 hrs. of driving each week, all but 30-40 minutes is in the dark ... so I figure anything I could do to increase visibility would be a big plus.


My 2004 Mustang has the best factory stock headlamps I've ever had on a car ... was very surprised initially as they are smoked lenses !! I even get flashed from oncoming vehicles thinking my lows are highs pretty regularly (and yes they are aimed properly). Just had a bulb burn out two weeks ago, so I swapped in a pair of $40 Silver-Stars to see if they make any difference. They definitely do light up the road and the ditches better than the stock bulbs, but they have a much shorter life span. If I were to have to replace these bulbs once a year in a 2011, that would be $250 over 6 years vs. $920 MSRP (approx. $850 NET) for HID's & Security Pkg.


However, what if I had to replace any HID components out of warrenty ??
My curiousity was perked, so I just checked current MSRP on replacement parts:


HID Headlamp Assy (L or R) ... $1,118.23 each
HID Bulb ... $355.08 each
HID Balast ... $413.52 each


This alone may be deterrent enough NOT to get them, but on the other hand certainly makes the $920 MSRP adder sound like quite the deal !!

Come on guys ... ARE THEY REALLY WORTH IT ??

Doug

LLZuB

HID's make a world of a differance when driving at night, if you think silverstars make a differance (they are really peices of crap) then HID's are going to make you have an orgasm

You can find the hid bulbs for a lot cheaper then 300 bucks each

maxmustang

I not ordered for mine as on first place comes the nice looking of that car (wich is main reason i buy it) im sure ill find my way throught the night with regular ones too, even without flashing/disturing others. Less is more on that car in general.


there was already a thread about HID / no HID

https://themustangsource.com/showthr...&highlight=hid

stangfoeva

purely on asthetics, I say no. Utility, I say yes. If you get them on a GT, smoke the fogs like ksguy's it really helps

Blue Notch

If you weren't driving so much at night, I'd say absolutely no. They look horrendous. But what can you do? I have the same silverstars in my GT with the dark smoked lights from AM, and even those are better than the stock bulbs in the stock housings.

cdynaco

I love my HID's... wish my winter car had 'em too.

Overboost

Factory HIDs are a worthwhile investment on any car. I won't skip on them again if given the option. Doesn't matter if you're driving at night or not, they are a much improved and cleaner light than the best halogen bulbs. If you're trying to justify it in dollars and cents, stop. Just get them and enjoy them. Aesthetics is minor, and crying about where they placed the lens (which I am still going to say was a packaging issue with the fender/reinforcements) is minor.

I have used aftermarket HID kits, like DDM and McCallough, but OEM still seem to provide the best overall package.

Skotty

Regular headlights light up the road just fine. I can't imagine why anyone would think they need more light. If it's enough to drive by, it's enough to drive by.

whysoserious

I will most likely end up getting them with my SG, along with the premier trim package. Hey, why not? Yes, they don't necessarily look spectacular, but their utility will help to overcome that.

rk2112

The last 2-cars I owned have had hid's and I think they are great. I ordered my '11 GT with HID's, which should look good with the GT/CS package I am getting.

Kevindust

cdynaco

Don't drive rural highways at night too much, eh?

MadGT

dont think they are worth over $1k

carfixer

I have aftermarket HID's on my Marauder and factory HID's on my 2010 Mustang. I like the aftermarket better. They are brighter. I was disapointed with the amount of light from my factory HID's.
I say pass on the HID's.

Five Oh Brian

It's very subjective, but I voted no on HID's. I think they make the Mustang look cross-eyed and they don't match the fog lights.

cdynaco

What fog lights?

Skotty

I grew up in the country. Had plenty of light for driving, especially when the roads were clear and I could turn on the high beams.

I'd say it was all the rock concerts, but that's how most of you lost your hearing. Not sure how you all lost your vision.

cdynaco

Well aside from macular degeneration which will catch up with you also, or astigmatism that I deal with, I see great at night.
But having the brighter 'white' light instead of halogen's yellow, allows me to see deer in the trees much quicker as they are waiting to jump the road - even in drizzly rain where the highway lines practically disappear and oncoming headlights can be glaring - where you shouldn't have your highbeams on until traffic passes. HID's are the next thing in lights and with the amount of night driving I do, I'll always reach for the next improvement.
Regardless of where you grew up with your teen eyes, go try those country roads now (or in a few yrs) at pitch night with glaring lights coming at you and/or rain or blowing snow and deer waiting to crunch your stang.


PS: I don't know if the deer and objects show up better with HID's because of the whiter light reflecting off of them... ?, or if the whiter light is creating more of a background shadow that helps you spot them better... ?

whysoserious

I'm curious as to why Ford didn't continue to use a similar HID for the 2010+. I'm suppose the new ones are better, more effecient, etc. Do look kinda unusual though. I really like the halo style found on the Camaro and BMWs.

orange3.9stang

Thanks for finding and posting this link, I needed to read all 4 pages of that discussion too.

Thanks to the rest of you for your new replies here too.

Did a little research and the "D3S" HID bulb the Mustang uses is shared with other OEM's making it somewhat common. Even Amazon has them for "only" $115.66 ... less than half the MSRP price for a replacement from a Ford dealer.

D3S HID bulbs have an average life of 2000 hours ... with all my night driving this would equate to over 6 years or 125,000 miles.

I've been doing my same "dark" commute for 18 years / over 375,000 miles and had plenty of "close" calls with deer and other wildlife. Well ok, I did hit a dog with my Fairmont 16 yrs ago or so (bent license plate only damage) and a big raccoon in our Grand Caravan a couple of years back (busted a chunk out of bumper cover, but not that noticeable). However most people I know have hit at least ONE deer in their lives so I'm either just lucky, a little more observant, or both.

As I'm ordering a Premium V6 w/ MCA pkg, the appearance mis-match with the fogs will not be an issue just as it will not be on a GT/CS.

I'm getting old (47 coming up fast) and feel I can't be lucky forever so you've all done a great job of talking me into ordering my car with them, THANKS AGAIN everyone

Doug