How do the xenon lights compare to the xenon lights intalled on the BMW and Lexis? Has anyone with a TL-S driven next to one to compare? Thanks.

 

I like the HID installed on BMW and Audi too. They appear to change color from blue to yellow if viewed from different angle. That's COOL! I know the HID on 2001's model can't do this. but not sure about the HID on 2002 model. Does this has anything to do with the housing of the light?

 

I had to pay $500 extra for Xenon lights on my 330i. I could not differentiate between the lights on both cars.

330i also wants $500 for heated seats. I did not order them.

 

The color change you are seeing comes from the projector lens used on those cars. The Honda S2000 does that also. You will even see a change in color at different angles on the non-HID Audi projector lens.

 

I don't know about you guys, but I seen too many Audis' with one of their headlight blown out. So I assume the quality of their headlights aren't as great compared to Acuras. I also seen too many blown tail lights bulbs too. And I know these are brand new cars because the other day I seen one with a temporary license sticker with a blown out tail. WTF!!


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2002 Black on Black TL TypeS

 

there is no difference in the actual HID bulbs Audi and Acura/Honda uses in their car.. they are all made in the same place by the same company: Sylvania OSRAM, and come in the same two OEM flavors, D2S and D2R...

the reason you see more blown out bulbs in Audi profector housings than in Honda/Acura reflector housings is because projector housings are closed systems and thus have a harder time dissapating heat than open reflector housings do.. though the beauty of Audi's HID projection systems is evident, it comes at a price to the lifetime of the HID bulb.. recently, however Audi has been changing the design of their projector housings to address this problem.. if you notice on many of their newer models, the projector is built differently

 

do you know if the tl uses d2s or d2r? the d2s' are brighter and are xenarc not normal hid.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by bioyuki on May 10, 2001 @ ]</font>

 

The HID lights on the 2002 TL is a lot better than the 99-01 HID lights because of the new clear housing Acura has switched to. If you recall, the 99-01 HID had those ugly beam pattern lenses on the lights which made them not so bright. The new HID's however dont' have that pattern lens anymore and makes the light shine a lot brighter.

My neigbor has a 2001 BMW 330i with HIDs and a 2002 TL-S. You can hardly tell the difference between the two lights.

Too bad Acura doesn't use a projector lens like Audi does. The Audi has that deep purple look to them in a distance and gets brighter and more blue as it gets closer and closer to you. AWESOME!!!

 

The Xenon lamps prior to the 2002 have a diffuser in front of the lamp. This produces a softer beam. I agree that the new lamps are brighter and better, just like our German friends on the road.

I only wished Acura would have included the daytime running lamps with the US models for 2002.

Anyone seen those cool daytime running lamps on the new BMW 5 Series. They seem to be a lighted ring around the hi-beams. Cool!!

 

I really don't see what you guys are talking about the 02's being brighter. I'm not just saying this now, i posted this a few weeks ago. I was driving next to an 02, and noticed how much more my HID's looked like a Bemers or MB, than the 02's. The 02's lights were DEFINITELY more yellow looking while mine was a whitishbluish purplish color. Thats exactly how MB looks, in fact when I see 99-01 TL's coming from the opposite way and they are far enough to wear i can't really identify the beam pattern, i just see the light, it looks like MB or Lexus to me. The 02's (at SW Acura in Houston at least.. the #3 dealer in sales in the nation) were selling at the same price as 01's even with the memory seats, etc. I know a LOT of people like the headlights on the 99-01's better, but i never realized they appeared brighter as well.

 

The only difference between the D2R and the D2S in that the D2S is made for projection lamp headlights and the D2R is made for reflector headlights. The D2R has painted sections on the bulb to control glare much like the halogens have also. See this link for more info:
http://www.sylvania.com/prodinfo/auto/pdfs/d2sd2r.pdf

Philips also mach the bulbs on many of the European cars.

 

steerv,

Thnx for the info!! Anyways, what if we put D2S in our TL-S??? Would that somehow make the headlight brighter(more glare to other drivers, it seems)?

P.S. You guys should go to the link and check it out. There is a blue chart, and you will notice that D2S has higher "color temperature" than D2R, which makes it look more bluish compare to D2R.

Andy Kuo

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'92 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
Pearl Grey/Black

'02 Acura TL-S
Satin Silver/Ebony, w/out NAV

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by AKRY on May 11, 2001 @ ]</font>

 

It is the diffuser that makes it bright, even though visually the clear lens looks better ....Mercedes Benz uses diffusers in their HIDs, due to which they function better but don't look as "cool" as the clear lens HIDs....



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2000 Naples Gold 3.2TL/Navi - Factory Stock but with up-graded tires

 

Owners with '99-'01 TLs, have you check your HID bulbs to see if they are D2S or D2R?? Since you have diffusers for the headlight, by any chance you have D2S bulbs??

Andy Kuo

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'92 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
Pearl Grey/Black

'02 Acura TL-S
Satin Silver/Ebony, w/out NAV

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

 

I totally agree. Even my Acura salesperson told me that the HID on the 99-01 TL's are brighter than the 02 TL, even with the diffuser. At first I didn't believe him. So we personally compared them next to each other and the 99-01 HID definitely look brighter. I was very surprised!

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