Ok, after a bit more reading and some contradictory impressions/statements, I think I believe this at the moment...
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Over the past few years, I have seen a lot of screaming about how bad it is to try to use HID lights in reflectors that were not specifically designed for them, but there are plenty of people showing results that say it can safely done without endangering oncoming traffic while greatly improving the original lights. There are some things that need to be done to get it as optimum as possible to achieve this, however.
Converting to HID using H4 housings is not as good as a well designed HID light/housing but it is probably a helluva lot better than what we have. The beam spread will not be as wide nor quite as well controlled as good HID units.
The Hella and Cibie H4 housings in the E-Code (ECE) design are probably the best bet for ultimate performance. The Cibie seems to be considered the best particularly with regard to distributing light to the sides. It costs about twice the Hella, and the Hella is much more expensive than the Autopal housings, however. It is important to use the E-Code, or E-Code style, of housing in order to get the best light cut off vertically. The US DOT housings are designed to throw some light up to illuminate signs above the road and this is a bad thing when used with HID lights that are about three times more powerful than our conventional lights. Use the glare shield mentioned below to minimize any upward light.
The Autopal housings are referred to as Euro style but are not truly certified as E-Code. The statement that they are E marked is not the same as E-Code or ECE, but, the pictures of them projecting a beam is very close to the pattern projected by the E-Code units and they are about 1/3 the price. Most people are happy with them and they are not cheap plastic pieces of junk. I ordered a set for $43 including shipping off Ebay. Be sure they are for left hand drive cars driven on the right hand side of the road!
There are 35w and 55w HID versions offered. The DDM bulbs are rated to 60 watts and the difference is provided by the ballast.
The 55 w versions probably don't work as well when it comes to light control when used in an H4 housing and may cause glare problems and/or a lack of focused light. It might be interesting to try them as high beams.
The Hi/Lo bi-xenon bulbs are magnetically shifted to provide low beam and High beam. When they go to High, there may not be as much light on the road in front of the car. They, may not work well in H4 housings because of this. The 35w single xenon bulb is probably the better way to go if you want to see the sides of the road and immediately in front of the car at all times. That is opinion, not necessarily fact, developed after reading and looking at pictures.
The D2S bulb is what is used for the H4 housing with the below glare shield.
The glare shield is required with the D2S HID bulb in an H4 housing to prevent light bouncing from the bottom of the reflector upward into oncoming traffic's eyes. I see it referred to as the Casper shield in many places.
http://www.casperselectronics.com/store2/product_info.php?products_id=693 This uses the standard bulb (D2S) and not those sold as H4 replacements. There may be others sold as the same thing but I have not seen them in searches. Some of the bulbs being sold have a shield, but, I am not sure they work as well as these from what I read/see.
With regard to color temperature, the higher one goes past 5000 K, the bluer the lights become and the less visible to human eye illumination is provided. With age, the color temperature rises and the bluer the light becomes. For that reason, those that do a lot of night time driving may be better off sticking to the 4500-5000 range. 6000 is pretty good, but, when it shifts darker, you may not see as much. Darker the blue, the less you see, but, you increase the likelyhood of being ticketed by the cops for using an illegal light when they need to write tickets.
Regular ballasts sometimes are known for radio interference. The digital ballasts-not so much.
A weak voltage source and/or a bad ground can cause flickering as well as excessive heat and shorter component life. HID lights require more amperage as they warm up, but, pull very little current after they have done so. I strongly suggest using a relay to drive a pair of lights in order to avoid possible problems. A benefit is that the factory light switch will not see the load it used to and should last longer.
Bulb life should be quite long as there is no filament to burn out. After a considerable period, the usable light may diminish as the color shifts darker.
Looks like Turbojd is costing me some money, but, not as much as going to Hellas and good halogen bulbs.
I am ordering this HID kit from DMM
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Apexcone-Raptor-HID-Kit I'm going with the 4500K D2S bulbs
along with the relay harness
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDE-Relay-HarnessI ordered a pair of these housings
http://www.ebay.com/itm/165mm-H4656-H4-EURO-CONVERSION-HEADLIGHTS-/330549982609?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4cf6507591#ht_1796wt_1398And will order the glare shield I linked above from John.
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