# NEED honest opinions



## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

Some of you know I installed HID's on my cruze. Well i was thinking of buying this Modification part to possibly help with the "glare" of other drivers. Im considering on buying a headlight tint that's precut and of professional grade. It will either be midnight tint that allows 20% light, or limo tint that allows 5% light. In honesty, do you think with which ever one i choose, this will or could help with the high glare of my HID's? I have 8000k 55watt kit. Please give me feedback. I want to order these tomorrow before the sale ends, so i need to know ASAP. Thanks guys =]


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

This is what im talking about. Here is the link. Pro Precut Smoke Headlight Tint Film Kit Chevy Cruze 2011 2012 | eBay


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## trevor_geiger (Nov 29, 2012)

That ruins the whole point on buying hids. You bought hids for "better light output" and now you want to "dim" them? I feel like you wasted your money on this one. I say don't order it lol. 


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## McNeo (Dec 17, 2013)

Not sure how it would help with the HIDs.

But I can speak from experience on the light tinting film. No. Film on lights looks horrid and starts to fail much much sooner than them film used on windows. Use spray if you want to tint lights.

My $0.02


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Honestly I Do not Give A .. you get the Idea ... and then there were three less dollars for you to think about ,, give me a break and send that money to a non profit phillanthropic ORG.com .. IE Me ..


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

trevor_geiger said:


> That ruins the whole point on buying hids. You bought hids for "better light output" and now you want to "dim" them? I feel like you wasted your money on this one. I say don't order it lol.
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


You have an excellent good point there trevor. I was mainly going for two things on buying these. #1. The appearance. #2. To dim them a little to minimize glare and attract less attention.(cops). For appearance wise, i was going for the look to make the headlights look more like a DOT approved lens some sort to maybe see if it prevented any eye brows raised if i got stopped and if the cop asked about the lights being DOT approved. I may sound stupid here, but this was my overall intentions.


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## trevor_geiger (Nov 29, 2012)

chevycruze2012 said:


> You have an excellent good point there trevor. I was mainly going for two things on buying these. #1. The appearance. #2. To dim them a little to minimize glare and attract less attention.(cops). For appearance wise, i was going for the look to make the headlights look more like a DOT approved lens some sort to maybe see if it prevented any eye brows raised if i got stopped and if the cop asked about the lights being DOT approved. I may sound stupid here, but this was my overall intentions.


I understand man. Your Cruze, your life lol. 


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

I git what your saying bro =]. The bad thing is i kinda committed to buying these already on ebay. Good news is, i had like 20.00 in ebay bucks to use up, so i ended up actually paying less than 10.00 for the pair. The claim to be of professional grade pro cut. I would think so for the price lol.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I would not worry about getting the tint, the police will probably stop you before long, fine you and make you remove the illegal headlights anyway.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Having tinted headlights before (to try to compensate for the increased output of HIDs), I can personally tell you that it won't work as well as you think it will. The "cutoff" line is created at a very specific height, and the focus beam is also created at a specific height and intensity across the width of the "projection" beam. You would need to perfectly calibrate the headlight itself, and then place the tint at a specific level once the headlight has already been optimally calibrated at exactly where the cut-off of the light should be. 

The problem with this is that you have drastically altered the following:
1. The shape of the light source
2. The size of the light source
3. The location of the light source relative to the headlight socket

Keep in mind here, our headlights go from a low beam to a high beam simply by switching from one filament to another inside the exact same halogen capsule, and that difference is really very small. The result is that because the light is emitted from a different location inside the capsule, the reflection of the housing changes and projects a "high" beam with a different calibration. These HID "retrofit kits" move that light source even farther away than that, which results in heavy, high beam-like glare, compromised visibility, and all sorts of screwed up housing calibration. 

Can you "make it better" by installing a tint strip? Sure, I guess if you really got down to trying to reduce glare, that would help a bit, but you're trying to put a band-aid on something that you can't fix. I don't think you will be happy with the results by installing this tint strip, nor do I think it will be of any real consequence in achieving the results you are looking for.


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Having tinted headlights before (to try to compensate for the increased output of HIDs), I can personally tell you that it won't work as well as you think it will. The "cutoff" line is created at a very specific height, and the focus beam is also created at a specific height and intensity across the width of the "projection" beam. You would need to perfectly calibrate the headlight itself, and then place the tint at a specific level once the headlight has already been optimally calibrated at exactly where the cut-off of the light should be.
> 
> The problem with this is that you have drastically altered the following:
> 1. The shape of the light source
> ...


So would tinting them make them worse overall then? 

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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

chevycruze2012 said:


> So would tinting them make them worse overall then?
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


I was assuming you would cut them straight across where the cut-off should be to reduce the glare. Glare is light created above the focal point designed to illuminate road signs. Too much glare blinds oncoming drivers. A bluer light spectrum exasperates that issue. If you do buy the tint and cut them horizontally where the cut-off should be, it will take a some careful work and the results will in fact reduce glare. However, don't expect to get very good long-distance or lateral visibility out of these compared to stock. It will be an improvement though. 

If you do a full tint, it would make it worse. You would go back to the same as or below stock output levels, but with horrible reflector calibration. The only benefit then would be the color. Might as well have shoved a Philips CrystalVision bulb or some PIAA blue tinted bulb and you'd end up with the same result.


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> I was assuming you would cut them straight across where the cut-off should be to reduce the glare. Glare is light created above the focal point designed to illuminate road signs. Too much glare blinds oncoming drivers. A bluer light spectrum exasperates that issue. If you do buy the tint and cut them horizontally where the cut-off should be, it will take a some careful work and the results will in fact reduce glare. However, don't expect to get very good long-distance or lateral visibility out of these compared to stock. It will be an improvement though.
> 
> If you do a full tint, it would make it worse. You would go back to the same as or below stock output levels, but with horrible reflector calibration. The only benefit then would be the color. Might as well have shoved a Philips CrystalVision bulb or some PIAA blue tinted bulb and you'd end up with the same result.


Okay...so let me try to understand this more...are you saying that tinting them at all will cause a glare no matter if it tint them or not?. I think they would look cool but idk what to compromise anything major wise. Like the lighting for example. These headlight tints are sold in pairs and they cost around 25.00....but I would have got them for less than 10.00 after my coupon I had...so I guess I wouldn't be out much if they didn't work or I didn't need them lol

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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

Wouldn't the tint start to bubble real fast?


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

iKermit said:


> Wouldn't the tint start to bubble real fast?


Well apparently the stuff they have for headlight tint isn't suppose to crack, peel, shrink, fade, or bubble. It said that in the description of the part on ebay. 

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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

Just leave it the way it is, and warn people with a big sign to wear their sunglasses at night around you.


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## trevor_geiger (Nov 29, 2012)

Or get a big neon sign saying I have hids..or wait lol that'd be just as bad. Never mind lol. 


Just Cruzin'


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

chevycruze2012 said:


> Okay...so let me try to understand this more...are you saying that tinting them at all will cause a glare no matter if it tint them or not?. I think they would look cool but idk what to compromise anything major wise. Like the lighting for example. These headlight tints are sold in pairs and they cost around 25.00....but I would have got them for less than 10.00 after my coupon I had...so I guess I wouldn't be out much if they didn't work or I didn't need them lol
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


No matter if you tint them or not, you will have glare because the calibration of the reflector housing has been compromised. It's just a matter of how much. If you tint them, you will have less glare, but you will also have equally less output, which begs the question of why you installed HIDs in the first place. If you wanted a low output "white" bulb with factory glare levels, you should have just bought a set of blue tinted PIAA bulbs. 

Try my shadow test. Park in front of a wall or garage gate. Then, put something in front of the car that is taller than the hood, like a set of golf clubs. Then, observe the shadow on the wall. That will give you a reference point for how much glare exists. All things kept equal, even if you hadn't compromised the calibration of the factory housing and just managed to achieve a higher light intensity, you will effectively have multiplied the amount of light produced above the calibrated cut-off line.


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> No matter if you tint them or not, you will have glare because the calibration of the reflector housing has been compromised. It's just a matter of how much. If you tint them, you will have less glare, but you will also have equally less output, which begs the question of why you installed HIDs in the first place. If you wanted a low output "white" bulb with factory glare levels, you should have just bought a set of blue tinted PIAA bulbs.
> 
> Try my shadow test. Park in front of a wall or garage gate. Then, put something in front of the car that is taller than the hood, like a set of golf clubs. Then, observe the shadow on the wall. That will give you a reference point for how much glare exists. All things kept equal, even if you hadn't compromised the calibration of the factory housing and just managed to achieve a higher light intensity, you will effectively have multiplied the amount of light produced above the calibrated cut-off line.


I'll try this....thanks dude. I'll let you know what I discovered. 

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