I'm looking to replace my factory headlights and for some reason, AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts are telling me that I have to go to the dealership because they have no low beam lights for TL's at all. I want my lights blue, more so than stock. Can anyone help me out?

 

The low beam headlights are a High Intensity Discharge (HID) type and they're not carried by most auto part chain stores. Look for 4300K D2R bulbs as an exact OEM replacement. They're pretty expensive, especially if you buy them from the dealer.

I bought a pair of new Philips D2R 4300K bulbs on eBay for less than $35 a bulb but they're not always available.

Search the forum for installation instructions. Use gloves when handling the bulbs.

 

You mean you want to change your bulbs right? Not replace your entire headlights. Well, it's not recommended to get something higher tha 4300k bulbs, because you loose output the higher up you go. But if you like it, go on ebay.. You just purchase the D2R Phillips 6000k bulbs. Not sure how blue you like, but I wouldn't do it.

 

Get a set of 6000K Kaixens (you can buy them from our AZ vendor Excelerate). They are blue and very bright, they light up the road very well. I like them a LOT better than my 6000K Philips bulbs.

 

I was thinking about doing the same thing to my daytime running lights. but I dont want them blue just clear cuz I hate that nasty yellow-orange. also is that the bulb or the orange sidemarkers?

 

2 votes Kaixen 6000 from Excelerate
He also has 5000K
Super sharp brite with enough blue to make them easy on the eyes and
way better at seeing road signs than the 4300k
Whether Kaixen has a diferent gas or what I dont know- but I love these bulbs!

 

I don't know how they do it, but just like you've said in the past, they light up the road like nothing else I've seen before.

 

Thanks, about how much can I expect to pay?

 

Bulbs

 

PM Excelerate for current price- or since you cant PM untill you have more post,
call him direct 1-203-483-6100

he is on the east coast and has the bulbs in stock

 

Thanks dude, I just hit the black market and saw that they have a group buy going for the kit and bulbs, but I don't know if the $150 I see for the bulbs is just the group buy or if I can get the same price by just placing my single order.

 

You can get the bulb from ebay pretty cheap.
I don't see why you want to change the headlight.
Cuz It's allready bright.
The factory bulbs are 4300K.
That actually have the most light or lumen out of it.(3200 lumen).
If you going higher then that like 6000K it has less light but the light looks bluer.
The best bet stay with 4300K or 5000K.
The bulb is D2R for lowbeam.(HID)
9005 for the high beam and 9006 for the foglights.
They're both the same
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...RG-Results.htm

 

Excelerate has not listed the bulbs seperate yet, just PM or call for current price

The OE bulbs suck once you get real bulbs!!

Just like the brakes, once you go quality aftermarket- you understand the factory used the cheapest part available to them

 

hey i just bought those kaixen 5000k bulbs from exclerate last week $150 shipped to my door (and hes pretty quick with the shippin too) they are pretty nice i see just as good as i did with the stock bulbs no complaints here.

 

i ordered mines at automotivelightingusa.com cost me around 130 shipped.

 

Its good to support our vendors when you can- they pay to make this site happen for us!
The Kaixen and all HID bulbs need about 100 hours of use to get "bedded in" and have the color and brightness stabilized

I will put my lights side by side with your 4300s- and guess who can see WAY better
I drove home without my glasses the first night!!~ and didnt know it

 

Thanks everyone, but I think I may have a bigger problem. I already posted a thread about it, but the dealer thinks that the bulb isn't the problem. I was looking for cooler headlights b/c my left light just recently blew, or at least that's what I thought. It actually flickers then goes out when I turn the car on. The dealership told me to bring it in tomorrow so that they could check it out, but the problem he mentioned may end up costing more than $700. Not sure what it is yet though, I had someone else take my car down and he cant tell me exactly what the mechanic said, any suggestions as to what the problem may be?

 

Do it your self, men.
Save money.
Switch the bulb to the other side.
If the bulb work, It's mean you need a new ballast.

 

whats the best Headlight low beam bulbs to buy? Went to the dealer and they wanted 220 for each bulb

 

Kaixen 6000k from our vendor excelerate- they rock!!

 

You can sometimes find brand new Philips 4300K D2R bulbs for less than $40 each on eBay. I bought a pair of these on eBay for about $68 shipped earlier this year. Philips makes a high quality bulb.

Search for "D2R" and "4300K". Watch out for and avoid bulbs that are "low time" and "used". Just buy new ones.

 

low time? whats that?

is 6000k brighter than 4300k ?
and last as long?

 

low time means taken from junkyard car- no idea how many hours of use on them and if they were turned off during impact- they may not even work!

BUY NEW
6000k is higher in the visual color range-2000 is yellow 10,000 purple
the kaixen 6ks put WAY more visable light on the road than 4300 OE bulbs and have a nice blue tint that picks out road lines and other objects you want to see!

They are different than other brands offering 6k- made different, rated different,- I dont know-- but every time I drive at night I am impressed, and laugh at the brown puddles of light on the road from other cars

 

Yes they last as long or longer than the OE bulbs for less money
What makes you believe acura or any car maker uses the very best parts??
- they use whats cheap!

 

how much are a pair of bulbs?

 

What are you basing that claim on? Were you able to compare your 6000K bulbs with a brand new set of 4300K bulbs under the exact same conditions?

I did a lot of research on the bulb temperatures before installing 4300K bulbs in my TL and I came to the conclusion that 4300K is the best choice for maximum visibility. Additionally several forum member have mentioned that their 6000K bulbs were worse than their stock 4300K bulbs and that they were even worse in the rain.

Maybe there is something revolutionary about the Kaixen brand 6000K bulbs but it would be nice to see some sort of controlled testing of their performance.

Bob

 

yes Bob -I have been running my car side by side with every car on the road that I can.
Read kaixens website and indeed, they are doing things differently, and the whole rating system is a scam similar to horsepower numbers. Check it out

 

it rained the other night, the road markings were standing out great

and several members here are on the K-6k's and loving them
Other brands I cannot speak about-only whats ON my car today

research is great- real world is where I make my assessment

 

one of my stock head lights burnt out so i went to the dealership and purchased a new bulb for 220 ... now my other stock bulb doesnt match. i know i could buy a pair of bulbs less than that. what is the best way to go and why

 

Thanks for the additional info. Do you know if you've run alongside another 2nd gen TL equipped with a set of new 4300K bulbs? I know that my new 4300K bulbs appeared blazingly bright compared to the old and fading 4300K bulbs that I had just replaced. If I had changed over to 6000K bulbs I might have thought I was seeing a 6000K to 4300K effect.

I will definitely check out Kaixen's website. It would be great if someone could run some sort of controlled test with both types of bulbs.

 

I'd ask the dealership what brand of bulb they installed. With that info you could shop around and see how much another one would cost at a non-dealer source.

Keep in mind that you might be able to but a pair of brand new 4300K D2R bulbs for under $80 on eBay. (I bought a pair for under $70 shipped earlier this year.)

 

I took a look at Kaixen's website:

http://www.kaixenkits.com/

I couldn't find any claims or data to indicate that the 6000K bulbs were superior to the OEM 4300K bulbs. But maybe I missed the section that you were looking at? Or do they have a different website?

I did find a chart listing the lumen output as a function of color temperature under the "Special Quality" tab. (I can't link that page directly.) That chart shows the highest lumen output for 4200K with increasingly lower output levels for 6500K, 7000K and 8000K ratings.

That's consistent with the color temperature discussion on this site:

http://intellexual.net/hid.html

Here's an except from that page:

Philips is the number one manufacturer of HID bulbs. The Philips OEM D2S bulb is rated at 4100K at 12.8 volts and produces 3200 lumens of light. The Philips Ultinon D2S is 5800K at 12.8 volts and produces 2400 lumens of light. As you can see, with all other factors remaining constant, the brightness of an HID bulb declines the higher up the color index you go. Vision, a Korean bulb manufacturer, makes an 8000K bulb, which they used to advertise on Acura-Forums as 2000 lumens bright. This is barely a marked improvement over halogens, and will produce more glare and eye fatigue than it is beneficial. 4100K has been proven through tireless independent research by the Germans, Japanese, and Americans to be the most functional, truest white and thus the brightest possible color temperature (ceteris paribus).



And that's consistent with other technical discussions of the color temperature ratings that I've read elsewhere.

Anyway, this forum is all about learning from others experiences and I'll remain open to the possibility that the Kaixen 6000K bulbs are, in fact, superior to the OEM 4300K bulbs.

And I'm sure that you wouldn't recommend any product that you didn't believe in.

Bob

 

bob how did those bulbs you bought for 80 on ebay look?

same as stock?

 

also what brand

 

I agree with Bob, 4300k ftw.

 

4300 k is the way to go?

also what brand?

 

Phillips

 

so phillips4300k would look better than my stock ones ?

 

your stock ones use 4300k...

 

The bulbs I bought on ebay were brand new Philips 4300K D2R. 4300K is what Acura selected for the TL. As I understand it, the 4300K Kelvin HID rating is also used by every other car manufacturer.

My old 430K bulbs were really showing their age as the light output had dropped substantially. The light had also taken on a pink/purple cast. It wouldn't surprise me if the old bulbs were the originals from when the car was assembled.

The new bulbs were a dramatic improvement and they cast a brilliant white illumination.