Gen 2 headlight brightness

[Milan96]

Hey, I'm noticing that my passenger side headlight is noticeably dimmer than the drivers side. I first noticed this with my HID's, so I swapped halogens back in to see if it was just a bad bulb, not the case. Same thing I'm noticing. Is this normal?http://i66.tinypic.com/118zrdz.png

[mazdasport]

Could be how your headlights are aimed ?

[Milan96]

I'm suspecting that. Thankfully it's mild tonight so I'll give that a shot and update again

[Hyperion]

The glare from taking a picture into the headlights makes that picture useless.
You need to take a picture of the output on a wall, then you'll be able to see a difference.
It could be damaged projector due to faulty, melted bowl.
Stick your finger in and feel around. Might feel melted, or come out dirty.
I have extra projectors if that's the case[emoji14]

[Milan96]

Stuck my finger in the projector (nice and deep like) and a silver metallic powder came off on my fingers... Not sure what that means

[Hyperion]

Stuck my finger in the projector (nice and deep like) and a silver metallic powder came off on my fingers... Not sure what that means
It means it's melted. Only way to fix it is to buy new headlights or have a new projector swapped in.
You can pm me if you want a new projector swapped in.

[McGuyver_3]

The projector melted due to improperly installed bulb. From the picture, looks like the drivers bulb has been tilted upwards causing the burning. I see many gen 1 mazda 3's with improperly installed bulbs. They can be a bitch to install. Have seen many cars with the same issue at work (non mazda)

[kenghk]

Putting HIDs in Halogen housing will eventually destroy the headlights. Arc Discharge Bulbs generate UV light, that's what kills halogen housing as they're not treated for that. What makes it worse is that none OEM bulbs (Chinese HID kits) do not have any quality control and so they generate lots of UV damage and are never straight like OEM bulbs.

[Hyperion]

Putting HIDs in Halogen housing will eventually destroy the headlights. Arc Discharge Bulbs generate UV light, that's what kills halogen housing as they're not treated for that. What makes it worse is that none OEM bulbs (Chinese HID kits) do not have any quality control and so they generate lots of UV damage and are never straight like OEM bulbs.

I guarantee the hid kits I sell have very good quality control.
Also never heard of this uv issue. Got any info on that?

[kenghk]

I guarantee the hid kits I sell have very good quality control.
Also never heard of this uv issue. Got any info on that?

Check out HidPlanet.com and search for UV in Halogen. here's the first one that comes up. https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/halogens/63627-halogen-projector-question

You can read up on the UV test they did comparing aftermarket to OEM. https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/general-discussion-aa/33216-hid-bulbs-uv-measureing-test

Unless you're selling Morimoto stuff I doubt the quality of anything outside of OEM. Sorry, it's just not focal correct or reliable as the real stuff. Fine for putting in a halogen equipped car or for someone who hasn't had OEM HIDs but it's not quality stuff.

[Hyperion]

I'll just leave this here
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160203/6a7c0ecb5da94ddf883ffdb0e379c89c.jpg

But that was a nice little read.

[Milan96]

Yup I used to run 55w cheap Chinese ballasts and bulbs. I'm sure that's what killed my projector from all sorts of things that were out of control from using cheap stuff. That's the price I pay for being misinformed... As of last month I have proper morimoto 35w ballasts and bulbs so I'm not too worried from this point forward as the faulty projector is getting replaced soon.

[kenghk]

I'll just leave this here
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160203/6a7c0ecb5da94ddf883ffdb0e379c89c.jpg

But that was a nice little read.

Nice. Carry on sir.