Do they just look better?

 

For the most part, and are brighter.

 

For the most part they are brighter, from 4300k to 6000k are good, anything more or less then that are pretty much useless.

 

Yup they are better and brighter. Having projectors is also very nice with HID's so you put the light where you want it.

 

and they blind oncoming traffic, so there's another perk.

 

They're not brighter if you buy good bulbs rather than the Sylvania Silverstar crap.

 

Only if you are a dumbass that installs them in a reflective housing instead of using projectors...

 

And if people had projector housings, they'd likely have HIDs stock and wouldn't be in this conundrum.

 

Nope. The IX gsr has projectors but has halogen bulbs. Same with the yamaha R1, and the older gen R6. Thats all I can think of off the top of my head...

 

There are plenty of cars with halogen projectors that cause problems when you do an HID retrofit.

Stock 4300K HIDs are closest to pure sunlight offering a better view of the road.

 

Having projectors does not mean it's designed for HIDs. The headlight housings are fundamentally different and have to be different between the two lighting systems. If you put normal bulbs in a housing truly designed for HIDs, the lighting would be absolutely terrible.

 

That was his point. Stock IX's without HIDs come with halogen projectors, like 2G 3000GTs did.

 

Yes but in the context of this thread, just because they have projectors, doesn't mean they're suitable for HIDs.

 

Yea, but that depends on the individual application. For example, when putting HIDs on a R1, it works great, and it cuts off cleanly.

 

OMG dude. Seriously?!!!?111 You said:

Which is false, because if you have a 2G 3000GT, base IX or a bunch of other cars you don't have HIDs "likely" or otherwise, but you do have projectors - which may or may not work well with a HID conversion - most likely not because the cutoffs are designed for halogens.

Nobody is saying anything else, context or otherwise.