another HID/bulb replacment thread

[jstilt]

so now that the raining season is upon us I have notice my headlights really suck and I can't see sh*%. I want to upgrade but not really sure what I am looking at. should I just stick with stock, is there a brighter bulb that I could put in there. how bright can I go. I've been reading somthing about 6000k. if some one can point me the right direction that would be most appreciated.

[drew]

stock 4,300K bulbs are the best for light output. anything higher kelvin and you are losing lumens. this will especially be noticeable in the rain.

you "could" swap in a 55watt ballast system instead of stock 35 but that is illegal and not too mention way too bright for street use

i run genuine philips ultinon 6k bulbs and while the color output is nice i can definitely notice the lost lumens (its about a third less with these). you will lose much more with those junk asian made 6k and higher bulbs. not worth it...

[dparm]

4300K = OEM = brightest

Anything else will sacrifice light output for looks.

[Patrick Bateman]

Im running 5k bulbs,and 6k fogs....and yes!.... One does lose considerable lumens in the rain! I simply like the color temp output looks wise on the road.

PB.

[jstilt]

so the higher "k" the more blue they are? I really just want the brightest bulb I can run. what brands should I be looking at. I saw phillips thrown out there, are they the best?
also, would I get a better light output with better headlight housings like the bi-X housing or maybe the e-codes. I just have the standard xeon housings in my 04.

[dparm]

More "K" (Kelvin) means the color is shifted more towards purple (and ultimately UV).




Philips or Osram-Sylvania are the only two you should consider. They make all of the OEM HID components.

[04v8s4]

I'm in the same boat. One of my stock bulbs has started to flicker...and its been getting worse.

I would like to stay with the stock color...just have more output. I think asian projectors produce more light (acura HIDs are fantastic).

I found one guy who had swapped out his projector lens with the following lenses and saw an improvement.

http://store.theretrofitsource.com/p...6350bcafd08ada

I wish there were more options...the stock headlights just aren't that penetrating that others I've seen.

[dparm]

Honestly, our stock headlamps are pretty good. If you feel ballsy, go ahead and hack up expensive headlamps for a marginal improvement.

I say replace the capsules with fresh ones and call it a day.

[ak-s4]

I just installed a 4300k 55W HID kit from Retro-Solutions into the high beam side of my bi-xenons. They are stupid bright. As in really stupid. I live in the middle of nowhere, so it was just what I was looking for to light up the moose lurking in the shadows. The halogen reflector is NOT ideal, however, so there is a bit of a bright spot in front of the car that I don't know if I like or not. I think a 35W system would have been a better choice, but I really wanted to step things up a notch. Regardless, it completely lights up the country side...

You will probably want to decide if you want a floodlight like a foglight or a spotbeam for looking down the road. The high beam halogen reflector is a flat and wide beam. A projector system will put more light further down the road. 55W @ 4300k is so bright it simply cannot be used if there is any other traffic on the road. In my case, they only engage when the high beams are on.

If you get an HID kit for your low beams, you MUST get a shutter/flap system with it or it will blind people and of course be blatantly illegal.

Hope that helps.

[dparm]

Installing any aftermarket HID kit is illegal. Even retrofitting OEM HIDs is illegal. The rule is pretty much "if the car didn't have HIDs when it rolled off the factory floor, you can't install them".

[jstilt]

so does anyone have any pics of the bulbs there using vs stock bulbs. and another stupid ?, is are fog lights already hid, or do I have to buy a conversion if I would like to make them match the headlights.

[dparm]

It's really hard to photograph HIDs accurately.

Fog lights are definitely not HID. You could buy an aftermarket kit but it will mean you have to mount the electronics somewhere. That's expensive and time-consuming for a very small improvement.

[fly300kts]

I'm in the same boat. One of my stock bulbs has started to flicker...and its been getting worse.

I would like to stay with the stock color...just have more output. I think asian projectors produce more light (acura HIDs are fantastic).

I found one guy who had swapped out his projector lens with the following lenses and saw an improvement.

http://store.theretrofitsource.com/p...6350bcafd08ada

I wish there were more options...the stock headlights just aren't that penetrating that others I've seen.

This is true but it's NOT a direct swap because the focus distance is different (by a lot) compared to the OEM lense.
I did a DIY a while ago in case you want to try

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...?highlight=sti

Phil

[rxbike]

It's really hard to photograph HIDs accurately.

Fog lights are definitely not HID. You could buy an aftermarket kit but it will mean you have to mount the electronics somewhere. That's expensive and time-consuming for a very small improvement.

If you get the new slim ballast HID kit for fogs it is not too bad to tuck them in the slot next to the fog housing. Just don't get 6K for fogs, try to find 3K HID fogs to be true fogs. The problem I found is you can't find a white color fog kit that matches your stock D1S bulb's color so your vehicle looks goofy with two different white color light .