Hey guys I wanna get some HIDs for X-mas....what kind do you recommend? How much are they? Is there a website?

 

What a nice Xmas gift. I asked my fiancee for HID's last year and she thought I was crazy. Anyway, some good brands are Philips, Sylvania, Raybrig, and Hella. You should be able to find them on the net, or you can try: http://www.hids4less.com or http://www.hitechimportlighting.com . Try to stay away from the Korean ones as I heard they are pretty bad. Also make sure that your bulbs are not coated a different color. The HID bulb should not have any kind of painted surface on it since that might take away from it's life. I heard from a reputable source that some Philips systems are rebadged Korean systems. One thing to keep in mind, if it's so cheap that it's too good to be true, it probably is. Caveat Emptor...

 

theres another brand... hanabi. you can also check out www.groupbuycenter.com for some cheap kits (325 or so)

 

hanabi is korean, but I am getting mine from ron(street effects) for around 450 shipped with a lifetime warranty on all my parts..
I am getting the 8000k Hanabi kit
-trey

 

8000? you do know that your light output will actually decrease

 

isnt 8000k the color of bmw's? purple?

hey so whats this i hear about korean brands suck? how do they suck? which brands are good then??

 

THANK YOU! Tre is telling me 8000K's are the brightest. They'll still be brighter than the stock halogens though.

BMW's use 5000K BTW.

 

I bought a conversion kit for my 99 Infiniti I30.... Bought it from www.topautoparts.com. The only problem I found with those, is that when I first turn them on, they turn green for like 20 seconds, and gradually switch to the real HID look, and I mean like the new TL look, that blue. I've got a 99 TL, and mine are almost purple. I loved those conversions... they were the coolest thing around! Bright as heck too... Definately worth the $549, since I cant stand being a ricer with those god forsaken FAKE xenons! AHHHH I cant stand those damned things!


-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

I got my Hella HID kit from an ebay seller that sells alot of them, so far so good from my kit.

 

dom, i was just going by what streetz said !

 

Thats okay bro.

 

What kelvin temp is gonna give me the blue color? 6000?

 

4300K (stock cars) can be either blue/white or purple/white depending on the headlight. When I was using the Philips bulbs from an MB S500 which all look purple, they were blue in my car. It must be our headlight housing. These are also the brightest.

5000K can appear blue or purple depending on the headlight. These are made by Osram and come stock on BMWs. Thats why BMW HIDs look nicer than all the other cars. These are almost as bright as the 4300K’s but have a nicer color.

6000K is purple and but is a little dimmer than the 4300K but still brighter than the 8000K

8000K is very blue. They look as blue as 4300K HIDs during warm up. These are the dimmest off all but keep in mind they’re still brighter than halogens.

 

so how much of a difference is there b/t 4300 and 8000k ? like is it enough to make you want to get the 4300 ?

 

Kelvin rating isn't really a good way to measure color. I've seen both the Phillips 6000k ultinon and the vestec 8000k. the 8000k definitely had a more subtle color, was more blueish comapred to the 6000k's purpleish hue.

 

Kelvin is a good way to measure color. In fact that rating is call the corralated color temperture, CCT. The three main light bulb companies, Phillips, Sylvania and GE all put this in their catalouges so engineers know what color lamp they are using in a luminaire.

 

It all depends on what you want. If you want them to be really bright get the 4300's. If you want bright but still want to stand apart from the other cars I would get the Osram 4800K or 5000K kit. I forgot exactly what number it is but its close to 5000K. Next time you see a new BMW check it out. The color is definitely nicer than the 4300K kits and the light output is only about 100 lumens less. I’m pretty sure one candle produces 12 lumens so 100 isn’t much. The higher the kelvin, the less lumens. The less lumens, the dimmer the bulb. For brightness the highest I would go is 6000K even though these is a pretty big difference in lumens between 5000K and 6000K. If you want looks get the 8000K kit. Now if you got 8000K's for the headlights and the fogs, well that would be more than bright enough and it would look very pimp but it’ll cost you a few bucks. Truthfully I would only consider the 4300's, 5000's or 6000's. Get the best brand name for the cheapest price you can find. Stick with Philips ballasts and bulbs or Osram ballasts and bulbs.

 

BTW, I've heard Panasonic makes great ballasts (OEM on Lexus) but they're a little hard to find. Someone told me they come with K2 kits but I'm not too sure. I installed a set in my friends car and forgot what the ballasts looked like. He never had a problem though but they're a little too purple.

 

so is 8000k going to look like some cheapass bulbs ? or what will it look like ?

 

8000K's look the same color when they're cold or warm. Basically warm 8000K's look like cold 4300K's. You know how blue HIDs look when they're first turned on? Thats a good example of how 8000Ks look.

 

so there is still a lot of light output right ?

 

Yes, they're still bright. HIDs are HIDs. Still can't compare to halogens. If your not sure, then don't get them. I don't want you to blame me if you don't like them. Try to see them in person first.

 

once you drive in a car with them, and see what they do that our halogens dont, you'll be hooked. I'll take the blame for this one. If you dont like them, you can yell at me in bold print

 

Yeah HIDs are addictive. You'll want the fogs too.

 

I still don't see a 6000K brighter than an 8000K. I personally have 2 sets of 6000k bulbs in my '02 Ram, and have installed dozens of others. We recently did 8000K's in my aunt new Toyota Sierra mini van, ONE SET, and they blow away my TWO sets of 6000K for light output, and I have driven the van at night, in the rain, in the snow, etc, etc, so I know what I'm looking at.

 

I don't know. Maybe the 6000K kits you've used aren't made as well as the 8000K kits. Maybe the 8000K color makes them appear brighter. Maybe it’s the actual headlights. I've been in cars with 8000's, 4300's and 6000's. Its hard to tell which is brighter in cars with different headlights. One car might have better headlight optics than another. If you had 3 1996 Acura TL’s each with a 4300K, 6000K and 8000K kit in each, now you would really be able to tell. If you have 4300K HIDs in a car with bad headlight optics and I have 8000K’s in my car (which I know has a well designed headlight) I’ll blow you away in light output. Keep in mind I don’t mean looking directly at the headlight, I mean from sitting in the drivers seat and looking at the beam pattern on the floor. Looking directly at my friend’s 8000K headlights you’ll go blind. They actually “look” brighter than my 6000's. Another thing I noticed is that they’re so blue you “see” them more on the floor. LOL. I give up. Tre, just get what you want and let us know how it works out. I’m confusing myself now. Don’t over analyze all your purchases. Whatever kit you get, it will blow stock away in light output and looks.

 

sweet im getting the 8000k !

 

8000k would be purple in color and not as bright. Factory setups are great 4300k. 5000k is really white anything above that is really blue. Blue and purple look cool but negate the benefit of pure white. HID is a great mod though, it really helps at night.

 

I know you would think the higher the color temp the more puple the light would be but for some reason 8000K HIDs look very blue. Maybe the color temp is not truly 8000K?

 

Yeah, that is weird. Maybe it is the TL light housing, maybe it let's it give a blue hue instead of purple.

 

I just got the McCulloch kit, I'm very happy with it. I think it's rated at 5200K, which is perfect. The lights have a light blue tint to them, but are mostly white. Got them for $390 shipped. The kit seemed very high quality, and the light output is amazing.