goMO

Long story short, My '02 TL-S fishtailed on a circular exit ramp and hit the guard rail head on. Bumper, grill and lights mainly, but a little bit of hood and fender. All were replaced. All Acura parts. $4K of damage. $1K insurance deductible.

The good news is I have the friggen cleanest headlights you'll ever see!! I scrubbed those suckers so hard to get the hazing to go away. I did a decent job, but wow, these new ones really blind you!!

The bad news is that I don't think the headlights are quite as effective as they were before. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. I used to turn my lights on and go "cool" as they really lit up the road nicely. Now they're just ok.

I bought the car about a year ago, so I'm not sure if the bulbs were changed. Car has 165k miles on it.

One of the blinker lights has already gone out, so the guy that fixed the car said he would replace it. I'm wondering if I should ask him about the main lights.

I know its an open-ended question, but if they were replaced, what do you think was in there?? They're not blue or anything, just very good !!

thx!

rcb2000

I bet he didn't replace the HID's and used helogen bulbs instead when he replace the front of the car

goMO

The HIDs are xenon, right?

totaledTL

You can't replace HID bulbs w/ halogens w/out removing the inverter, changing sockets, etc., & vice-versa. Not that it can't be done, but it's not just a matter of a bulb swap.
Low beams are HID, hi beams are halogen.

goMO

thx. so are there inferior brands that could be used that would not be as good? should I ask him what brand he put in there?

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

If you had everything replaced with Acura OEM parts then I really don't know. But if somehow something got switched or something, then yes. It could be your ballast or your HID bulbs. Some HID bulbs such as Phillips have more lumens in their bulbs which will give you a better light output and of course the stock 4300k gives you the most light on the road. Or maybe he gave you a cheap china HID ballast and kept the OEM for himself hoping that you will never know. It could be anything. Or maybe its just all in your head.

goMO

thx. it could be in my head as the difference is slight, but i will ask him anyway.

rcb2000

I'm aware of that, maybe you missed the part were the whole front end was replaced and could have been replaced with the wrong set-up that did not include HID low beams.

Gfaze

There aren't any TLs with halogen lights so that is not possible.

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

You'll be surprised Gfaze on what some people do. Someone on the 3G side bought a car with regular 9006 halogen bulbs in the low beams. Ballasts and everything was removed from the car. Check it out.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht=hid+halogen