Derek2003

Please vote on your choice of HID Color for blk SLK
4300K, 5500K, or 6000K
(I know it ban in the US, but still legal to sell in Canada)

rage2

Where can you get these bulbs from in Canada? Are they compatible with our existing ballasts?

I was looking into changing bulbs last year, but found nothing good.

kenny

Those three colors are the choices of the Catz HID retrofit kit arent they?

I would go with the 4300K since it provides the best lighting, if you're after looks instead of function then go with the 5500K.

WHOISYOURDADDY

5500 my vote. I love seeing those things in the night!

Derek2003

Your right. that is the CATZ HID kit.
Thank for the input, I think I am down to choosing between the 5000K or 6000K ones.

adamrs80

The last set looks kinda purple and you'll get less light. The middle group looks like pretty normal, but I'd probably get the first ones just to be different. you don't see many really white looking HIDs, usually has a blue or purple tint.

kenny

What you have to remember is, when you see cars on the road like audis, and bmws and you see the purpleish HID, the light that is projected onto the road is actually pure white (4300k). It looks purple because you are not looking at them head on (think prism).

If you get the 4300K and have just the right housing, it may very well look purpleish or blueish from the oncoming lanes.

*ALL* oem HID lighting is 4300K, yet some of them look very purple, some blueish.

If you look at the color chart you posted, at 6000K the light output is 2800lm.... not that much better than a decent halogen bulb that costs significantly less.

Derek2003

thanx for the input guys, those are great point and I learn something new, so I think most likely I would consider the 4300 or 5500k then

Supra

Derek2003

u buy the hid kit in local shop or on net .... ???

slk320

here is mine...



the W202 to the right of my car is sporting the 5000K kit, mine is 7000K and the W202 on the left has the stock 4300K HID... compare and see what you like ....output vs. look.

Mine is certainly unusual and distinctive. I also have Euro HID housings which make a difference in light focus.

drpepper

I have 8000k on mine, and they are plenty bright. Don't be too put off by the higher colour temperature means less light thoery. It is correct, but so minor that I wouldn't say its really a factor.


Sorry about the big pic...



Here's a pic of my hid kit in my old mx6 before I rigged it into the slk vs a 4300k factory Matrix. If you notice, the mx6 puts more light onto the ground (ignoring the yellow light from the fogs). Another thing to note is that the Matrix has projectors where the mx6 has plain old floods and it it is still brighter. FWIW!

kenny

And one more thing to note, there are HID kits out there with color temperature numbers like 8000, 10000 and even 12000K but those are merely marketing numbers. If the bulbs were truly 12000K a flashligth would produce more light.

Does anyone know of any websites that are still selling catz hid kits? preferably ones that ship from Canada?

Derek2003

Great Pic, thanx for all the post,
It is so much better to see the acutal pic of some HID installed.

drpepper

No prob. I figured a picture is worth a thousand opinions .

Now that I've ponied up he pic, here's my opinion . The colour temperature vs lumens argument is completely correct, just not very practical. Sure high colour temperature bulbs might not actually be as high as claimed, but its all we've got. Since we have silver mirrored housings made for halogen bulbs, the only tool we have for bluer/purpler light is colour temperature. Basically, if you want WAY more light on the ground, and you still want your lights to look 'sick' when you pull up next to an A4 at a stop light, high colour temperature is the only reasonable way to go about it. As long as your bulbs aren't physically coated in a purple tint, don't worry about it.

One rarely mentioned bouns with high colour temperature is the higher black light illumination effect. Street signs and road paint actually fluoresce (is that a word?!) instead of simply being illuminated.

I'll see if I can get around to posting a pic of the hids in the slk, but they don't look as nice because they're rigged 9004 bulbs in the H7 sockets. They're angled slightly up inside the housing so they aim down and won't blind oncoming traffic. I'll look into making them straigher and aiming the housing when I'm not so lazy, but for now, they're still twice as bright as the halogens, plus I get compliments on the regular. I actually had a group of early 30s guys send a representative to ask "What K my hid's are" while I was stopped at a light. He subsequently yelled back "8000" to his friends and they all started ooohing and aaahing. It was funny as hell, but it was nice that they noticed enough to ask; and I can still see much better at night and in the rain!

Kenny: http://www.visualdynamics.ca/ . Be prepared to pay tho