So, I am getting ready to purchase a pair of D2S bulbs for my '04 Acura TL.. I'm not sure which one would be better? The 3Five says it's similar to the Philips brand at a cheaper price. I know the Philips brand is really good but a little bit more spendy. I'm interested in a blue tint ouput as well. Any suggestions, advice, opinions?

Thanks!
-Kathy

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...oducts_id=1250

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=148

 

Kathy; it really is up to you on which route you choose.

Personally; I'd want the phillips.
But if you cant swing 95 bux then get the cheaper one.

really; its down to you and only you.

Remember; you can help prevent forest fires.
-smokey the bear.

 

also, I would not go much higher on the kelvin scale than stock.

stock bulbs are 4300k.
this provides the best output(lumen) with providing a nice color.
if you want; you can move up to a 5000k bulb which will be more of a white color.
I recently installed the 5000k Morimotos on my 2012 Kia Sportage.
Very different output than the stock TL bulbs, with a more of a blue/white light.

so, again...its PERSONALLY up to you which route you go.

 

Thanks for your opinion. Yeah, I don't mind spending $95 for the pair ( it's a good price ), but I wanted to know the difference. I do want more of a blue tint and I believe the 4300K is a nice clean white color w/ some tint as well- depending on the projectors. Does your 5k bulbs look/shine better than the 43k while driving? of course, the 4300k will be brighter, but does the 5k do well in the weather and for looks while driving? lol.. thanks!

 

Kathy,
I recently bought the Philip's 85122+ about a month or so ago from the retrofit source and put about 40-50 hours on them. Yes they are bright, but I couldn't get past how yellow they looked so I ordered and the Morimoto 5000k bulbs and swapped them out. The temperature color of the 85122+, for me, compared to a regular halogen bulb....but just brighter. Just like what Justn said, it all comes down to personal preference. Me personally, I would go with the Morimoto 5000k bulb

 

its different than the stock TL bulb, thats for sure. white beam; but oncoming vehicles still see it as blue.


because you're only moving up to 5000k, you'll still have the same Lumen's available.
this means; night driving and bad weather conditions are still easily visible.

 

Thanks Joseph, that's really good information. yeah, I don't care for the yellow look, I would like a white w/ some blue tint to it, but of course, I wouldn't know this unless I buy it and test them for myself lol, but glad to know you've purchased the philips one before. so is the 5000k a nice look? Has some blue tint to it?

 

FWIW I ran Morimoto 5000K bulbs on a pervious vehicle but using their ballasts and it was awesome. I tried the same bulbs, Morimoto 5Five D2S (they recommended the 5Five when I called them, they said it's just better build quality) and one worked fine, the other would light up, flicker a few times, then cut off. They weren't willing to send me out just one bulb to try again so I returned the pair as defective and just put my stock Osrams back in. Just my .02 I think I"m gonna stick with OEM quality bulbs, if you want them a bit more white/blue you could go with Osram CBI's but the price is way different... When the Morimotos were working on my car I feel like they looked better but didn't put out as much light. If you just want it to look a little more blue, I'd recommend doing a ZKW lens swap so you can get a sharp blue cutoff.

 

Thanks 350 for the information!

 

I had installed the ZKW-R Lens, that 350 mentioned, and the 89122+ was still all around yellowish (except for the blue flicker at the cutoff line). Yes, in theory lumen output of the 4300k 89122+ was higher, but we have HIDs so the difference in light output (for me) is negligible. I sounded just like you a couple of months ago.....wanting a white/blue bulb but didn't want to sacrafice light output. If you want a white/blue overall look, then i'd say the 85122+ isn't for you. It all depends on how much $$$ you're looking to spend. The Osram CBIs that 350 mentioned gives great output....I think, 5000k look with the lumen output of a 4300k bulb, but they cost a pretty penny.

 

Osram 66240CBI's you will get best of both worlds, 3200 lumen output with 5000k white color. IMO, I wouldn't go any higher than 5k.
I posted links in your other thread.

 

Thanks very much! I'm looking into getting the Osram CBI's!

 

Thanks again Nate!

 

I agree. I wouldn't go above 5000k....unless you want to sacrifice even more light output for a blue fetish

Hey Nate, are those the CBIs in your avatar picture? ground reflection looks great and the cutoff flicker looks beautiful.

 

They sure are. I have more pics in my transformation thread.

 

@ Joseph.. I do have a blue fetish LOL.. j/k but I will definitely take the advice given!

 

 

if you guys want max lumens, why not get the SVS bulb? more lumens than CBI

 

I got the Morimoto 5000K D2S bulbs about 2 months ago, and I'm loving them. It's amazing how much brighter they are than my 9 year old OEM bulbs that had color shifted so much.

You guys want to hear something laughable? All the guys at bimmerforums.com think 6000K are the shit. My friend just got some 6000k even though I told him it doesn't get much more rice than that. Plus, the lower lumens make it even worse.

I'm sure if someone hear were to get 6000K bulbs they'd be flamed mercilessly.

 

Thanks! I'm thinking about investing in the osram CBI's.

 

I would've loved (still would love) to get the Osram CBI bulbs, but I just can't see myself spending 4 times as much as the Morimoto's.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean.. I just figured that I want to try to get the best the first time around and not spend so much money in the long run from purchasing / replacing things lol. (know by experience)

 

amazing how little bmw guys know sometimes lol

 

They're basically the same lumen output, the only difference is the color which will give the SVS an appearance of being "brighter"

 

I have 6000k bulbs, no flaming here lol they give off a slight blue, to me, 8000k is and worthless.

My only complaint is getting all my bulbs up front to match.

 

I have Osram CBI but I think I won't buy it again
Ok they are bright..bright that even makes the stock fogs worthless (why I have leds in there, just for the look)

but when it rains, you still don't see anything haha

Didn't try Morimoto but how much difference can there be?
May be I won't say the samething if I tried Morimoto or other but..

zkw is the real deal

 

I was in the same boat as you a few months ago and couldn't decide which to get - 4300k Philips or 5000k Morimoto 3Five. In the end I went with the 5000K 3Fives for the headlights and also grabbed a set of H8 for the fogs (I already had ballasts installed for the fogs).

Here's a couple pics of the 3Fives. I have zkw-r lenses in the headlights as well. From what I've heard from others, the Osram CBI's have a similar color output but are brighter and may even throw a wider pattern. I would have went with the CBI's if they were cheaper but couldn't justify spending 4X the price of the 3Fives.






Jon

 

Those look great, that was my reason for getting Morimoto bulbs. $40 for HID's, couldn't beat it.

 

Thanks Meko for the info.

Jon, thanks for posting up the pictures.. it looks nice. I have the stock OEM '04 projector lamps and I don't plan to change them.. I still haven't ordered in bulbs yet, but I'm was thinking about going 5000k as well with any brand/type of bulbs I purchase.. the sharp white/blue tint is important to me lol and I've been hearing about the CBI's being the best out there. (which I'm sure it is) It's just a matter of price and quality...

 

Also... if the CBI's are brighter, does it give a different kind of color output opposed to the 3Five's?

 

K, it's not the whole lamp you change, but the glass lens inside of it. You have to pull the headlight apart, and then swap the glass lens. It makes a huge difference, very sharp cutoff, as you can see from Jon.

Worth the $40

 

Just thinking ....if Kathy has the cash for the Osram bulbs, it may be worth sending her headlights to JnC or Acktl05 and getting the zkw-r lenses installed and which ever other mods she wants done (blacked out) then grab the $40 Morimoto bulbs. Just my . I'm not sure how the stock lenses with CBI's compare to Morimoto's with zkw-r. I'm sure someone could post up a pic or two.

Jon

 

oohhh!! LOL.. shows how much I know about cars

Is that from retrofit source?

 

That's true, Jon, very true.. well, how much do these ppl charge for providing the mods? And my headlamps blacked out? eh.. I do like the look, especially on white.. but I like the stock look too.. or clear.. so many choices!!

Definitely come back and check out my car pics.... I'm not authorized to post any pics at this time being a "new user" and all

 

I guess nate could be sure on comparing the CBI and Morimoto side by side

but here is my CBI with stock lens
Left one is friend's e46











Look, on this picture I covered the right headlight. You only see the left with stock 06 Osram bulbs



Here, Osram CBI on the right
I don't know what that womn is doing there



You know how to change the bulbs?





And I agree with Jon
Buy Morimoto and send the headlights to a vendor
I said wow after getting the zkw-r lenses

 

Kathy, it all depends on how much you want them to do with the lights. Doing the lens swap will be cheaper than doing the lens swap + blacking out the lights. You might as well get everything you want done all at once rather than changing your mind later and wishing you had spent the extra $50.

I would suggest starting with these threads for headlight ideas (if you decide to go down this path):

JnC: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/custom-headlights-jnc-part-iii-796033/

AckTL05: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/custom-tail-lights-head-lights-acktl05-759299/

These two authorized vendors are the people trusted around here to do a professional job.

Meko, the difference between the stock bulb and Osram CBI is crazy in that pic.

Jon

 

Thanks meko! They look bright but I still can't really tell. I don't change the bulbs because they're so hard to do if u have to take the bumper off, I have someone install them for me.

 

Also to post pictures here, you're going to need to host them on a site like Flickr, then grab the image's URL and click this icon and then paste the URL in that box. Done! It's very easy!

 

Thanks Jon! I'm going to def look into it.

 

Thank u.. so very helpful.. I this site! I don't know why I didn't join sooner!