Hey guys I see a lot of headlights for our car for really cheap, but they say the are just halogen and not HID. Is there a difference in housing, or is it all in the ballast and bulb. My driver side headlight is cracked and getting moisture inside so I want to get a new one but I don't want to waste money if it won't work with my HID bulbs. Thanks for the help!

 

HID housings are diff than halogens

 

i've never seen a Z w/o HID, i know the older ones base trim doesnt have it.

 

03-05 base models had halogen headlamps, while the rest had a hybrid reflector/projector xenon lamp.
06 and up all have dual bi-xenon headlamps.

OP:
The housing is different. The light output will be different (and so is the wiring)
If you have an HID headlamp, then replace it with an HID headlamp.
Buying a halogen headlamp to replace your OEM xenon headlamp will not be ideal, as the wiring will be all different, and so will the bulbs being used.

 

any pics between the 2 head lamps? i would like to see the difference as well

 

aesthetically, they are the same, it's just the way the bulb is setup/aligned.
You really won't be able to tell that much of a different just by looking at it from the outside.
Once you take it apart, you can see the inside will be different, the most obvious being the bulb mounts.
I'm pretty sure the actual projector/reflector has to be somewhat different, but i wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at it.

 

I'm curious to see the difference as well between 03-05 reflector hids and the 06+ projector HIDs. Projector HID's are suppose to be superior and the proper way hids should be. The cutoff fro the projector should be tons better, and a lot sharper. Anybody have any 03-05 reflector hid vs 06+ projector hid cutoff comparisons?

 

06 light beam is A LOT better than 03-05.