StandardShift.com

First Question: Last night I was driving home from a road trip. I noticed the growing number of HID lights in my rear view mirror. Some were legal and some were definitely illegal. Regardless, I flipped my windshield mounted rear-view mirror to night mode. I noticed though that my driver and passenger side mirror reflected the light right into my eyes making it very uncomfortable to be driving infront of them. So I slowed down and let them pass. I was just wondering if anyone had this type of problem and how they remedied it.

Second Question: I wanted to upgrade the horn in my car for safety reasons. I was doing some research and found that I liked the PIAA Sports horn 400/500 dual tone horn. I liked it better because it sounds more stock than the Hella. The problem comes with installation. I really do not want to hack up my harness just to install these. My 2000 civic has just a single horn with a one pin connector on it. The directions say to just cut the end off and crimp on the wires included. I would like to make almost a connector for it that plugs directly into the harness but I fear for the reliability of it. What are your thoughts on this?

Here are the instructions on PIAA's site.

http://www.piaa.com/Shared/instructions ... 20HORN.pdf

I have the same problem with lights. I start with my mirror aimed for night mode, then when I flip it up it gets even darker (or, depending on the mirror, goes completely opaque). I've been known to apply tint to my inside and outside mirrrors too. Keep in mind the tint will be doubly effective because the light has to go in and then out again.

For your horn have you considered going to the junkyard with a 12v drill battery and testing horns to find one you like? Listening in person beats reading descriptions and may be cheaper, plus you can find a bunch you like if you want. For your connector you can do exactly what you described; I do it with speakers, I'll rip the connector off the old, dead speaker and use it to create a new harness to keep the OEM wiring stock. You won't want to break the connector from your OEM horn so get a connector at the junkyard.

theholycow wrote:I have the same problem with lights. I start with my mirror aimed for night mode, then when I flip it up it gets even darker (or, depending on the mirror, goes completely opaque). I've been known to apply tint to my inside and outside mirrrors too. Keep in mind the tint will be doubly effective because the light has to go in and then out again.

For your horn have you considered going to the junkyard with a 12v drill battery and testing horns to find one you like? Listening in person beats reading descriptions and may be cheaper, plus you can find a bunch you like if you want. For your connector you can do exactly what you described; I do it with speakers, I'll rip the connector off the old, dead speaker and use it to create a new harness to keep the OEM wiring stock. You won't want to break the connector from your OEM horn so get a connector at the junkyard.

I've considered applying tint. I wonder if one day they will come out with night day mirrors for the outside aswell.

For the horn I listened to the them on youtube. Plus a lot of them are also highly based on their location. I would like them to just be plug and play, or plug and pray. Whichever you prefer.

For the OEM connector we are talking about finding an OEM horn at a junkyard and then just ripping it off? I thought about that but the connector on the horn is like part of the horn I think.

Here is what one looks like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Honda-S ... 5c&vxp=mtr

bk7794 wrote:I've considered applying tint. I wonder if one day they will come out with night day mirrors for the outside aswell.

A little mild tint on the mirrors doesn't hurt during the day...at least it didn't bother me at all, it just took a little of the headlight edge off at night.

For the OEM connector we are talking about finding an OEM horn at a junkyard and then just ripping it off? I thought about that but the connector on the horn is like part of the horn I think.

Here is what one looks like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Honda-S ... 5c&vxp=mtr

Yeah, that's what I meant. Based on that picture it wouldn't be a pretty connector. Perhaps there is a similar, compatible connector elsewhere on the car that you could get at the junkyard? If not then you'll need to cut the wire. You could then put a connector on it and prep the cut-off pigtail to match it so you could swap the old horn back in at a moment's notice, if you're paranoid, but I'd just go ahead and cut/splice the new stuff and save the old stuff for later.

bk7794 wrote:I've considered applying tint. I wonder if one day they will come out with night day mirrors for the outside aswell.

Thats already old technology. And it happens automatically in most - if not all - cars that have it.

This is why I hate people who stick HID in reflector housing. I hate it SO much, that this is one of the main reasons that I don't read the Sonic boards too much - too many HID threads where people are saying there's no problem using HIDs in regular stock housing and that it doesn't blind anyone.

I get mad. Very mad.

watkins wrote:

bk7794 wrote:I've considered applying tint. I wonder if one day they will come out with night day mirrors for the outside aswell.

Thats already old technology. And it happens automatically in most - if not all - cars that have it.

I actually read this wrong the first time.

But what car has it? A Volvo? Should be standardized in common man cars instead of the stupid TPMS.

AHTOXA wrote:This is why I hate people who stick HID in reflector housing. I hate it SO much, that this is one of the main reasons that I don't read the Sonic boards too much - too many HID threads where people are saying there's no problem using HIDs in regular stock housing and that it doesn't blind anyone.

I get mad. Very mad.

Yeah I see it all the time, but even HID lights in HID housings bother me aswell. I've noticed Acrua and some GM cars bother me the most.

bk7794 wrote:But what car has it? A Volvo? Should be standardized in common man cars instead of the stupid TPMS.

Nah. Everybody hates TPMS but nobody checks their tires...if there's any one nanny that should be there, it's TPMS. Most people either are not as sensitive to glare, not smart enough to care, or not exposed enough (because not driving at night or just like a horse with blinders never looking around).

AHTOXA wrote:This is why I hate people who stick HID in reflector housing. I hate it SO much, that this is one of the main reasons that I don't read the Sonic boards too much - too many HID threads where people are saying there's no problem using HIDs in regular stock housing and that it doesn't blind anyone.

I get mad. Very mad.

Me too.

The sense of entitlement that these people have is amazing. I was on such a forum, and the popular opinion was "I can see, and blinding others is fun" -- and the others would cheer them on. The only way I could respond with sufficient anger was to wish upon them a fate that I don't actually want to happen: that a blinded oncoming driver drifts into their lane and they swerve off the road and roll their truck.

I wish there were selective electrochromatic dimming windshields that would actively track and block glare (but not block surrounding visibility). I would pay a lot (by my standards) for that. It would have to be calibrated for driver head position and might need two layers for triangulation purposes (as you can see I've never actually thought about the idea thoroughly). Perhaps it could be done more easily with some kind of eyeglasses.

Mirrors I can tint or aim away but I can't not look ahead...the closest I can do is stare at the fog line (or area where one would be if there was one), and that doesn't help much.

bk7794 wrote:

watkins wrote:

bk7794 wrote:I've considered applying tint. I wonder if one day they will come out with night day mirrors for the outside aswell.

Thats already old technology. And it happens automatically in most - if not all - cars that have it.

I actually read this wrong the first time.

But what car has it? A Volvo?

The Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300, to name two. The system is tied in to the headlights. Headlights on, mirrors dark. Headlights off, mirrors light. Auto headlights means this happens as the ambient lighting situation changes.

Auto-dimming electrochromatic rear-view and side mirrors are pretty commonplace these days. Even my old run-of-the-mill '05 Mazda6 had them. And they automatically respond to incoming glare. No glare, mirrors are "full brightness." Glare? Auto dim. More glare? Dim some more. Plus they have this pretty cool metallic-teal color when activated.

Oh, those auto dimming rear view mirrors are awful! I'd much rather have the plain and simple ones that you can dim yourself.

ClutchDisc wrote:Oh, those auto dimming rear view mirrors are awful! I'd much rather have the plain and simple ones that you can dim yourself.

Lol
You can turn them off. At least, with the cars I've had that had them, you can. I don't use them either, unless some really obnoxious high-beamer/lifted-truck was behind me and I wasn't in the mood, I flick on the switch.

six wrote:

ClutchDisc wrote:Oh, those auto dimming rear view mirrors are awful! I'd much rather have the plain and simple ones that you can dim yourself.

Lol
You can turn them off. At least, with the cars I've had that had them, you can. I don't use them either, unless some really obnoxious high-beamer/lifted-truck was behind me and I wasn't in the mood, I flick on the switch.

Yea, but they come on every time you start the car and then you have to turn it off every time. That's with the one I've seen anyway.

ClutchDisc wrote:

six wrote:

ClutchDisc wrote:Oh, those auto dimming rear view mirrors are awful! I'd much rather have the plain and simple ones that you can dim yourself.

Lol
You can turn them off. At least, with the cars I've had that had them, you can. I don't use them either, unless some really obnoxious high-beamer/lifted-truck was behind me and I wasn't in the mood, I flick on the switch.

Yea, but they come on every time you start the car and then you have to turn it off every time. That's with the one I've seen anyway.

Oh, that sucks. The one's I've had don't. They have "top-hat" switches. Squish the top hat, it's on. Pop it back out, it's off. And it stays that way.

six wrote:

ClutchDisc wrote:Oh, those auto dimming rear view mirrors are awful! I'd much rather have the plain and simple ones that you can dim yourself.

Lol
You can turn them off. At least, with the cars I've had that had them, you can. I don't use them either, unless some really obnoxious high-beamer/lifted-truck was behind me and I wasn't in the mood, I flick on the switch.

Yeah, but there's no manual mode when they're turned off.

I currently have one. Compass and temperature are more important to me than manually dimming because I can tint it and at night I often just aim it totally out of the way.