OK, I bought some sylvania "cool blue" xenon bulbs. I was thinking that these bulbs would give off the blueish color that you see on high end vehicles. Instead, they are white, VERY white to be exact. i dont understand? What lights do I need to buy to acheive this look? I dont want to replace the whole headlight assembly, just the bulbs if I can get by with it.
98 z24, few upgrades, nitrous on the way!
if you want reallllly blue, you wil have to go with HIDs. kinda blue like i got, i got some bulbs from ebay pretty cheap from a company called "eurodezigns" you can get these brand bulbs alot of places,
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
With halogen bulbs, you'll only get very white light (without sacrificing light output or using non-street legal bulbs). For the bluish light you see on high end cars, you'll need High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting. Those kits can be very expensive and require projectors for proper lighting. I'd say be happy with the Cool Blues, or step up to some Sylvania Silverstars or be prepared to pay quite a bit for quality HID lighting.
If you want color without paying for HIDs/projectors you'll have to sacrifice light output. With cheap tinted bulbs you'll get a somewhat blue color, but you won't be able to see $#!^.
^^agreed. i bought some bulbs that said they were supposed to be blue. couldnt see anything at night. i replaced those with silverstar ultras and i couldnt be happier. the silverstars are really nice and very bright
Im not how well they work but i've recently seen bulbs that claim "hid appearence" for 30+ dollars at pepboys. the package claims great visibillity and such but again, I havent seen them work in person.you could always buy them,try them out and then return them if youre not happy with them.
I've had 5900k bulbs which were a nice HID like blue color but I could literally see a few feet in front of the car. Either stick with around 5000k halogens for a white color(Luminics Ultra Whites, etc.) or go HID, which with the OP havin a 98 Cav, projectors are readily available on eBay and well worth the money with an HID system
Shadowfire wrote:If you want color without paying for HIDs/projectors you'll have to sacrifice light output. With cheap tinted bulbs you'll get a somewhat blue color, but you won't be able to see $#!^.
dude, that is sooooo true. i got the tinted bulbs and, i wont say i cant see anything, but the lighting does suck compared to white halogens.
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
OK thanks for the responses, I guess I will stick with what I have!
98 z24, few upgrades, nitrous on the way!
i know this post is old, but if you do go with HID's whitch are awesome don't get projectors, you can't see jack in the rain or snow or if the roads, this coming from experience
Joviticus (fka Capt. Cavalier) wrote:i know this post is old, but if you do go with HID's whitch are awesome don't get projectors, you can't see jack in the rain or snow or if the roads, this coming from experience
yea so i have to deal with @!#$s like you who have hids with no projectors and blind everyone.
i assume you have the cheap apc projectors with typical bulbs correct?
i have no problem at all driving in the rain with my hids.
Quote:
yea so i have to deal with @!#$s like you who have hids with no projectors and blind everyone.
i assume you have the cheap apc projectors with typical bulbs correct?
i have no problem at all driving in the rain with my hids.
Troof!
My projectors work just fine and cut right through the snow and rain.
Don't give bum advise that will endanger other people becuase you probobly forgot to clean the @!#$in snow off the front of your lights before you started driving.
Ps. 8000k headlights are ugly ans @!#$ and have no lumen output anyway.
Ahwell.. "The whistle's Go Woo WOO" for some people I guees huh?
" Aint nothin' but a Peanut!"
for hids the best light output is the 4300k kits. the higher your go the "worse" visibility you get.
whut about those like 3000k yellow kits?
any good? or cr@p?
3000K is for your aux. lighting, like fog lights only.
Yellow is hands down the best fog light color for hazardous driving, your eyes pick up this color better close up .
Have you ever seen a set Snowboarding google's with a yellow tinted lense? It helps you see rise's and dips in the snow when visibilty is low. So kind of use that as a comparison if oyu can.
" Aint nothin' but a Peanut!"
Then you have the geniuses with the 3000k HIDs in their headlights with halogen housing.
Oh, its a pleasure.
heres an interesting read from another site
MISCONCEPTIONS
There are many companies and private merchants out there that will advertise 7000K, 8000K, and even 12000K HID kits. Most of these vendors lurk around on ebay, online car forums, websites, and ricer accessory shops. 100% of the people that buy these kits do so because they are uninformed, uneducated, or misguided in the field of lighting, and will buy these junk kits thinking three things: that these bulbs are brighter, that these bulbs should cost more money, and/or that they will perform better. All three statements are completely false. Perhaps this misconception and frenzy for purple lights originates from BMW and Audi's infamous Hella projector HIDs.
So allow me to explain the real truth of the matter... Philips is the number one manufacturer of HID bulbs. The Philips OEM D2S bulb is rated at 4100K at 12.8 volts and produces 3200 lumens of light. The Philips Ultinon D2S is 5800K at 12.8 volts and produces 2400 lumens of light. As you can see, with all other factors remaining constant, the brightness of an HID bulb declines the higher up the color index you go. Vision, a Korean bulb manufacturer, makes an 8000K bulb, which they used to advertise on Acura-Forums as 2000 lumens bright. This is barely a marked improvement over halogens, and will produce more glare and eye fatigue than it is beneficial. 4100K has been proven through tireless independent research by the Germans, Japanese, and Americans to be the most functional, truest white and thus the brightest possible color temperature (ceteris paribus).
Every car manufacturer in the world (including BMW and Audi) uses none other than a standard 4100K gas-discharge bulb. No exceptions. The reason being is that 4100K is daylight white in color and produces the same color visible light as direct sunlight. This is least fatiguing functional color on the eyes and produces the most comfortable contrast on the road.
So the million dollar question is now: Why do BMW & Audi lights appear blue when they use a white bulb?
Well, this coloration is the result of the light projectors; the lenses: it's transparency, it's curvature, the tiny grooves etched into it; the projector assembly, the shield, and the reflector bowl. All these components work together to produce a signature of light unique to that particular optic's design. On the Audi and BMW projectors, the lens curvature at the edge bends the white light producing a "prism effect". White light is broken down to it's fundemental colors. Since blue lights is high energy, it is absorbed last and thus travels farther. So with this prism effect, you'll notice that BMW HIDs are only purple and blue from the sides, the top, and the bottom edges, but are always daylight white on the road and in the beam pattern. This phenomenon can be demonstrated when you watch an oncoming BMW hit a pot hole or speed bump in the road and the car's nose pitches up and down. The headlights will flicker and "throw colors off", but returns to a solid white beam pattern directly on the road.
Trying to emulate this color-flickering effect with a solid-state blue or purple bulb is only detrimental to lighting performance, it doesn't fool anyone, but most importantly it endangers other motorists around you. Blue light has what we call a very high diffuse density, which causes it to radiate outwards as opposed to forwards. What results is a wide glow of light outside the beam pattern that is blinding to motorists you share the road with. A blue HID bulb will produce color bleed around the headlight, around the objects it lights up, outside of the beam pattern, and around the cut off line. This is effect is known as "glare", and these illegal and improperly installed HID kits are the reason why HIDs get a bad wrap. As common evidence of glare, observe a traffic light at night in a dimly lit area. There is red light and green light. Red is opposite blue and green is next to blue, thus we can substitute green for blue. If you observe the aura, or glow, of light around a red light and compare it to that of a green light, you'll notice that the green light produces much more glare than red. Blue is even worse. Purple, the worst.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
Just click on my HID Crash course.. I went over and showed picutres of what color flicker was about.
Good read none the less
" Aint nothin' but a Peanut!"
LiTCaV (The Bright One) wrote:3000K is for your aux. lighting, like fog lights only.
Yellow is hands down the best fog light color for hazardous driving, your eyes pick up this color better close up .
Have you ever seen a set Snowboarding google's with a yellow tinted lense? It helps you see rise's and dips in the snow when visibilty is low. So kind of use that as a comparison if oyu can.
google's? lol
but, i know these aint HID, but whut about luminics JDM yellow bulbs?
...thats y i am wondering about the 3000k HID kit. i saw a retro'd Scion tC with 3000k, and wondered about the output and everything.
i know they make for pretty much the best foglights, but does anyone know how good they work as headlights?
Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:they dont. light output is terrible, and its annoying as @!#$ when they're coming down the road at you.
the luminics?
or the 3000k HID kit?
and if u talkin about the HID kit
u mean with or without a retro?
caz we all know, without projectors all HID's are annoying! lol
