Rishi

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...DME:L:RTQ:UK:1

i'm planning on buying the 10000k kit for my CLK. I was wondering if anyone had any particular bad experiences with aftermarket kits?

Would installing a kit affect the bulb warning system on the dash?

Thanks

mmgrad

if you are getting a 10k kit to hopefully getting more luminance... your are in for a surprise

it will generate so much glare and fatigue for you & other drivers and the luminance will SUCK! stay betwee 4300 to 6000k max....

Rishi

thats very interesting.

well to be honest the only real reason why im purchasing them is because of the light they give off as in a nice blue appearance...makes the car stand out.

but can you elaborate further on this luminance and fatigue that you state?

can anyone else confirm this?

thanks mate.

blackbenzz

The higher you go up in temp rating the less light output you get and the more blue/purple color you get. Acb3nz has a kit that is very bright but I dont remember where he got them. They are a purplish color.

mmgrad

Rishi- google HID upgrade applications and you will know what i'm talking about... just don't go to sites that sell HID as they will never tell u this...

blackbenzz... even tho it may appear to be brights, its just the glare you are seeing... it is also possible that he used double power sources to power his HIDs..

there are kits out there that allow for dual power source... which makes it burn at close to 70W instead of the traditional 35W.... pro=almost twice the luminance, con=half the bulb life... oh, btw, you'll need a special ballast capable of taking 2 power sources for this app....

Rishi

ok so the higher the temp the less output - so with a 10000k kit i would expect a good blue light from it. but would the light output be much better as compared to the stock halogen bulbs?

all i really want the kit for is for looks

mmgrad

then u are wasting your money on all the wrong reasons... just send me $300 and I'll send you some blue painted h7 bulbs and it will look cool...

Rishi

no need to be a complete cheeky idiot.

halik

The light looks baby blue - greenish.... FUGLY
I would stick to 6000K max, anything beyond that belongs on a honda civic

raymond g-

widely discussed and proven in the HID retrofit forums has been the measure
of lumens vs Kelvin. accepted as been the threshold of approx 5000ºK where
the light falloff begins to take a downturn. so yes, it is with some amusement
that folks go all out and pay top dollar for 8k or 10kº bulbs when, at the same
time, the light output is going down the toilet.

blackbenzz

But it looks so damn good!

kenzobenzo

In concurring with Raymond's assessment that as you go higher in Kelvin doesn't necessarily mean brighter, just more color. I've got a set of Kaixen HID's (6500K) which emit close to a BMW white/purplish tint. Now here's the fun part... installing 'em is a breeze it's the whole reset the computer thing. Make sure you've got somebody who'll do it for free or at least less than $100 american. I've had problems with the whole "Low Beam Lamp" err msg forever and i think after having my dude mess with car computer setting for over 2wks, hopefully we have it under control. But as far as going over 10K on the light thing... if you want that hint of blue, 8K is fine and it'll be a bit more brighter than what you want. But that's just my opinion.

Happy Upgrading )

raymond g-

important to highlight that the BMW blue look you see has little-to-nothing
to do with the bulb temperature in the 6000º -10,000º range. all (yes,
99.99%) of the vehicles on the road with OEM HIDs are 4300º. when your
eyes detect blue, unless the owner has modified and swapped out the bulb,
what you're seeing is the light refraction off the cutoff. the farther away
you are when viewing the light source, the thicker the band becomes. many
folks mistakenly believe the whole beam is that color when in fact, it is just
a sliver of the beam.

folks modifying their cutoffs will bend or place small washers in an attempt to
add color to a portion of the emitted light, thus lending to the coolness factor.
the nice thing is that we also, still get the bright light inherent with the
majority of the (yup, still...) 4300º beam.

example below



modded for enhanced color...

(photos lifted from HIDPlanet forum)

acb3nz

I have 2 sets of HID's on my car one for the headlight and the other for the foglights and just like blackbenzz stated they look so ****ing good that everytime i turn them on a lit the whole four lanes highway

BTW/ No glare at all with my HID's

raymond g-

acb-
can you post what you beam(s) look like when shown against light colored
wall ? would like to see how well things come together vis a vis, your com-
bination of HID parts in halogen housing.

rolling430

You guys all sound like mad scientists on this thread. wow. I have kinda no idea what you're talking about. But i just switched from Halogens on my CLK 430 and installed the Xenon headlight assembly and my lights look good. The dude installing said he just needs to "adjust" it? Do i need to have anything else done to get the best color lighting and optimize the best power so nothing goes wrong and i have pretty HID lights?

BTW Halik person, I used to own or currently do own a good little Honda Civic. Its for sale now that I got my CLK. But my HID kit on it looked nice. : P

What should I do to my Xenon's to make it have the prettiest light, mad scientists?? I like it when I'm driving down the street and I see those purply blueish white clear lights that look like they change color from the angles u look at them and u can tell its a luxury car with hid's, not an hid kit.

blackbenzz

If you're looking for the bluish color you have to get a higher temp rating bulb. I have 8000K and I think they look good.

raymond g-

i dont think you read his post closely. he is quite specific in his request and
the answer is to modify the cutoff shield, not 8000º bulbs. for shield mods,
head over to hidplanet.com and check out the "University" forum.

Rishi

theres still one question i have for all you HID install guys.....did your bulb warning light mechanism pop up on your dash telling u a bulb has blown?? or not?? cheers.

jasonowens32

I would like someone to answer this question as well.

blackbenzz

The answer is no. My car came with HID's and I upgraded to 8000k bulbs, and Freddy aka Acb3nz had halogen lights and upgraded to an aftermarket HID kit and no warning either. Thank you come again (In Apu accent from "The Simpsons")

jasonowens32

Thanks.

SETSEROCK

i cant believe i just sat here and READ THIS WHOLE THING!!!!! MY HEAD HURTS!!!

Motivation

I have 30,000k bulbs in my factory Xenon mounts and the color is beautiful, but Very hard to drive with.

This is definately a case where sacrifice will be aparent.... looks for functionality.


Good luckl with your decision though

jakl27

why not just get the colored halogen bulbs, instead of dishing out 300 on a hid kit. well i put hids on my brothers 06 f-150. they only cost him $100 on ebay and were 12000k. but they dont look purple which is what he was aiming for. colored halogens run like for $20 on ebay and are usually 55w so they wont burn your factory wiring.