poohlikeshunny

I was driving down 422 the other day in PA, and I ran into this Volvo S40R that had these really bright xenons on it. I doubt it was anything aftermarket because the woman driving was really old and it's such a rather new car ...I have a 2000 TL with OEM 4300K bulbs that came with the car. But when she pulled up next to me, I notice the people driving by with halogens had yellow output on the ground, and mine was a whitish tinge brighter, but this woman's headlights were BRIGHT white on the ground...like, I looked at the gorund and mine looked kind of pale compared to hers...it was pure white and then darkness beyond her headlights. Are there any kind of bulbs or something out there that would make it that bright? It definitely didn't have that bluish tinge of a 6000k or anything...if anything it looked like it was more intense white than my 4300k bulbs! Is there some kind of device that uses extra power for the bulbs? I have heard of things like that for halogens where it makes the halogens brighter...anything like this for xenons???

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

S60r?

rezurex

weird.. if it looks whiter than it def a higher temp bulb. higher temp bulbs are less brighter however... or thats the way i understand it to be.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

4300 K is about as close to daylight as possible.

Any higher and the output is more blue not white. So in this case, the whiter light isn't because it's a higher temp. because if it was a higher temp the light would be more blueish/purple.

In this case, like in all other cases discussed, it's the way the projector housing has been constructed to reflect the light emitted by the bulb. It could very well be concentrating more light on the ground which is how most european manufacturer's develop their headlight housings, this is why benz, audi, bmw all look like their lights are so bright on the ground.

other manufacturers like honda (acura), toyota (lexus), nissan(infiniti), all develop housings that scatter the light around the ground and out into thin air to lite up street signs and so forth.

in the end it's just a design difference that makes the lights appear different. So it's not always a question of color temp, but also how the headlight housing is developed

blader

Projectors are much more concentrated and focused and where they shine their light. Our headlights scatter much more of the beam all over.

poohlikeshunny

Yeah, sorry NSXNEXT, S60R. But it did not have projectors. It was definitely a jeweled headlamp housing. Is there a way to imitate the bright light output on the ground? I would personally rather have as much light as possible on the ground in front of me. I heard about projectors and all, but I'm not really sure I like how they look on a 2000 TL. I saw VXCL's setup at a meet in King of prussia once and it was hot as hell...wonder if it'll help me on my TL...ideas anyone?

Johnny Rad

"into thin air"

Reminds me of our alien search light beam that comes up from the headlights to the heavens! I learned about it from the CL FAQ and sure enough it's true.

NiteQwill

There is no way to imitate bight light on the ground other than modification of the reflector design. Reflector design is the sole key to where light is going and "glaring." Projectors provide a laser-tight focus of light that puts them in key places, most noteably, directly in front and up to the right to produce shine on highway signs, this cutoff is also known as a Euro-Cutoff, look for it in cars with OEM HID (or certain Halogen) projector-style headlamps. They are modeled after this design : __/__/



The key to this design is to reduce glare to oncoming drivers but maximize driving light available to the driver without sacrificing light output. A key feature that the 2nd Gen Acura TL/CL's are missing (our reflector design shoots light straight, but to the sides. Ever wonder why you get flashed when approaching another car?)

You can custom fab projector headlights into any headlamp with a dremel, tools, and patience. I've done it before (I had 2 sets of extra headlamps to play with on my other car), just buy parts off ebay, and set aside a weekend for this project. If you mess up, you're SOL. Example is this (a buddy's car):

njzprettyboy

it was prob a bixenon--the newer volvos have em, so do the newer bimmers...her high beams were prob on..and you prob didnt notice the projector

VXCL

it is very hard to mistake a projector setup at night. its like 2 evil eyes staring at you. the acura d2r reflector setups dont seem to be as good as others. the cl seems to be much better then the older tl though. its about time they switched to projectors. havent had a chance to check out a new tl or tsx setup yet but if they were smart they would have used the same unit in the s2k. they are AWESOME! a bi-xenon or reg d2s projector setup would look the same at night unless they had the shield dropped (highs) then you should have been getting blinded and it would ahve been hard to tell wtf it was.

if anything i would loose your oem d2r bulbs and throw some 4300k d2s bulbs in there. the glare should be minimal and net mcuh better output due to no black coating blocking any light.



-peace

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

changing the blub though could damage the HID ballast.

VXCL

do you actually have any info or proof to back this up? why do you say this?

they are the same exact bulbs! nothing is diff other then the coating and the notches. its the same as modding a 9005 bulb into a 9006 low beam.



read here
http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hl-hid-bulbs.htm

u can still just remove the coating. which is also discuxsssed on the automotive lighting forum with direction onhow to do it. this would be a free mod.