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The issue with fitting xenon capsules in conventional housings is twofold...
First, the capsule's lighted portion is incorrectly oriented for the reflector and lenses of incandescent lights; this results in a very bright but badly focused light; however much joy the weird color (purples and blues are common) and bountiful light may bring to the owner, these lights unfailingly blind oncoming traffic.
Secondly, there generally isn't any provision for hi/lo operation; instead you get a big blast of unfocused light. OEM xenons either have two separate lights or a moveable reflector to create high and lo beams.
As far as getting arrested, here in PA you at least won't pass state inspection, and it may be that the police have been pulling people over for these lights as well. We have beaucoup pickup trucks here in Westsylvania, and Billyjoe Bob was uncommon fond of doing the xenon capsules thing. With the high mounting of pickup lights added to the mix, these conversions were blinding and downright dangerous. For awhile they were quite common, but now far less so.
It may be possible to go to higher wattage incandescent bulbs in the standard housings, coupled with running the power thru' relays rather than all the way from the battery to the steering column and back again, which leads to a voltage drop. Silverstars are the best easy fix, and I've not found them to have short service life.
Moon
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