Being a licensed inspection and emissions tech. I know for a fact that the only law against them is color and correct adjustments and scatter ( which is measured with a headlight machine ) . They have to be white. Yes I saw your link on why not to run hids in reflector housings . Do I agree with it? Absolutely not. I can go into depth about what needs to be done . But a briefing example ( first gen Durangos have a blotch lens ) which creates a blotchy scattered bright light . Where as the civic has completely transparent lens which doesn't get give the blotched scattered light . It all depends on light output wattage lenses and bulb Temps . Below is a picture of the civic . Yes my fog lights have horrible glare but that's due to me removing the cone inside of the housings and to be used only for there in tensions ( fog and horrible visibility weather ) . Also is a picture of an s-10 which is the same kind of blotchy housing as the 1st Gen Durangos . Now yes projectors are best in some people's opinions but if the correct housings and some testing is done you can minimize glare to more minimal than a halogen bulb the only difference is color .
I'm not tryin to come off ignorant by any means way shape or form . But there's no reason to talk someone out of hids in a reflective housing as long as the correct steps are taken there can be more light output and less glare from a reflective housing compared to a project ( but everyone needs to keep in mind if you want a reflective housing with hids there are certain steps to take so that your not blinding on coming drivers )
In short projectors are not necessarily the best choice . BUT HOWEVER they are in fact the easiest and less time consuming !!
I'm sorry, but that's not true. There are federal laws banning hids in halogen housings, now is that always enforced, no (hell I've seen cops with hids in their cruisers). And whether the lens plays a part in the optics of the beam makes no difference. It all comes down to how the specific reflector and/or lens directs the light. Some are more tolerant to variances in the light source than others and make less glare, but there's no amount of aiming or adjusting that can go from glare to no glare. The shape of the light sources is just too different.
Now I don't know how the civics lights do with hids in them since I've never seen one up close, but 99% of the time hids in halogen reflectors = glare for days, especially with 55w. The best way to test things is turn on the lights at night and walk back about 25-50 yards and squat down so your eyes are about the level that other drivers' eyes would be at and see how the lights are. If you can't stand to look at them you're going to be blinding others.
Extra glare from the hids in the fog lights also actually hurts visibility in the fog because there's more light shining up that reflects off the fog and back into your eyes, rather than undercutting the fog like it needs to be.
