Sorry in advance noob here, and please do not say use the search tool. The search tool always comes back with endless results that don't pertain to what I usually search for specifically.

Anyways, one of my headlights went out and I had the idea of maybe upgrading the lights. I don't know whether to replace the bulbs itself or look into a full kit. Would would be different and how significant would these changes be in a full kit compared to bulb replacements? Brand recommendations?

Your opinions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Do you prefer 4300-5k look or 6k?

*i bought this car used

 

Always stick with OEM since it will outlast the majority of any aftermarket kits out there.

Since you do not know if the bulb or ballast is dead or not, I would suggest you take the bulb from the dead side to the working side and plug it up to see if it fires up if it doesn't it's the bulb, if it does it's the ballast. Replace accordingly with the same OEM bulb/ballast or upgrade.

On my wifes 07 TL I replaced my ballast (none died but for my peace of mind) with brand new Acura ones (price on these are RIDICULOUS!!But the price to pay for OEM quality/performance). I also upgraded the bulbs to the Osrams CBi 66240s (these aren't cheap either lol) from TheRetrofitSource, which IMO the best BRIGHT WHITE color (5500k) I've seen at night and increase under the cutoff brightness.

For aftermarket I'd go for "The Retrofit Source" kit and they have the bulbs and clear lens to buy if you desire. Now I can't say much about the longevity of their products since I only have the FxR retrofit kit on my civic for about a year and a half (DDM PnP kit I previously had lasted 3 years) but the quality of the ballast/projectors out of the box are absolutely sturdy and "feels" like it will last.