alfadoctor

If there was one thing that really stood out on my '97 RL was the high beams. I put the brighter Sylvania bulbs in them and I could light up the dark countryside out here where I live. Now that I have the 06 RL, the low beams are HID and I love'em, how ever the high beams are really lacking. They seem to be less wattage than the HID's and definitely a different color. Can I pop in some brighter high beams? What bulb number should I be looking for when I go shopping at my local O'Reilly's?

037

your high beams are 9005. They are not as bright as low beams as they are regular bulbs not HID.

This is a safe bet:

http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-9005S...3521839&sr=8-1

poppintec

i put 3k hids in my high beam and I can light up an entire street, you have to deal with the DRL message, unless you can find yourself a set of DRL compatible hids

Treblig

I agree. I have a set of these in my 06 RL and although they aren't quite HID bright, they are much brighter and whiter than the stock bulbs.

alfadoctor

Thank you! The bulbs look like that will fit the needs I have. I live out in the country and it gets really dark out here with little to reflect light off of something. I put the Sylvania Silver Stars in my 97 Acura and it was like daylight.

alfadoctor

I have to add to this thread. I went shopping for the HID bulbs to see what they cost after reading another thread on here about flickering bulbs. Those bulbs are expensive!

I went to Amazon and the cost is still expensive, but more affordable by a long way. However I noticed 3 different lighting out put temperatures (4300K, 5100K, and 6000K)

Question 1...what is the stock bulb temperature?

Question 2...what is the advantage to putting in the 6000K bulb? Is it significantly brighter or is it just more white over the blue that you see in HID lights?

Daytime Running Lights HID compatible...You must have had to put in the ballast also to make them work, they can't be plug and play can they?

poppintec

stock bulb temp is 4300k

6k is has more of a bluish tint rather than the 4300 and 5k which are more white but they still put out good light....anything over 6k is more cosmetic for color

yes you have to use a ballast to have hids in your high beam, but they do make plug and play kits, the stock harness plugs into the ballast and the harness off the ballast plugs into the bulb all you have to do is find a place to mount the ballasts

PortlandRL

See if you can find a set of GE Nighthawks in the 9005 size. I tried them on my Santa Fe and they are much whiter and illuminate the road better than the blue-ish Silverstars. I'm hoping they last longer, too.

alfadoctor

Who has these kits?

037

www.ddmtuning.com

Keep in mind you will lose your DRL (daytime running lights) and an error will pop up if you try to use them anyway and the HIDs may flicker.

Ballinger

You want bright high beams? Look up HIR (yes, HIR) bulbs on this site. They bright. Mucho bright, and plug right in.

alfadoctor

Is this because the HID's are not running at full power in DRL mode, therefore they flicker? Nothing worse than that display telling you in bright orange/black that something isn't working. Can't I turn off the DRL mode?

alfadoctor

The HIR's look like the "cats meow" to install. A few minutes with the Dremel to the tabs and pop them in to improve the overall driving on high beams. I will definitely try this out. The Sylvania's burn out to fast for me.

037

yes, DRLs are running low power so HIDs would flicker. I get around that by driving with low beams on all the time.

Do keep in mind that you'd need ballasts for this adventure.

On the bright side, HIDs will make 3x more light than anything else on the market.

Here's a side by side comparison with my low beams:



low beams 6k, high beams 10k (color)

db22

Remember that anything above 6k is putting out a light of such a specific color that you end up actually seeing less. If you want the lights for enhanching your view then stay around 4300 to 5000K. If you want to compete with riced Civics and reduce your visability then go higher.

white05rl

I just upgraded the DRL/highbeams to the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra 9005...hardly worth the effort!

Hard to tell which is the BEFORE and which is the AFTER photo!

Ballinger

In fairness, if you look up the data on the Silver Stars, you'd find they're not much brighter. However, the method you're using to demonstrate wouldn't show much, anyway.

Now, put in the HIR bulbs and tap on your high beam while driving and you'd notice a difference. Heck, I bet you can see a difference with the Sylvanias.

037

db22 just wanted to point out that regardless of how "riced up" a car with HID is, it's hard to get the light output to approach that of regular bulbs.

HID will make more light either way. 10k allow for a color distinction so I can clearly see my high beam, which looks like 2 round blobs in the middle of the road and blinds road signs for 1/3 mile at least.

tnobori1

After being inspired by this thread I decided to put the GE Nighthawk Platinum 9005s in last night. Not too much of a color difference (despite the laughable blue tint on the top of the bulbs), but the output is quite noticeable. I recommend this for those who do not want the DRL idiot light associated with an HID upgrade. Of course, I have not seen the HIRs in action so I can't speak to those.

tnobori1

Alfa, I would love to see pics if you decided to do the HIR bulbs.

marloc113

I would like to see pics with the HIR bulbs too.

alfadoctor

I will be getting the bulbs soon. I will take a couple of photographs on a road that will show the difference in illumination distances and coverage. That will be fun to see. I have used the Silver Stars in my other RL and they lit up the night, but the life was horrible. At $25/pop that was money I felt was going to waste, but well spent for the illumination...so it was a coin toss.

tnobori1

I believe the HIRs are a bit harder to find now, too. They are also expensive so I am curious to see how long they last. I will let you all know how long the Nighthawks last, as well.

037

call me crazy but high beam HIDs are bright and cheap. The only loss is the DRL...which look ugly to begin with.

Use low beam HID and problem solved.

tnobori1

Crazy,

I just don't want to deal with the DRL idiot light and I don't know that I want my lights on all the time. I know, I'm finicky!

037

if you're willing to settle for less light for more money, I ain't gonna stop you. Just a suggestion.

db22

In your opinion you think that the DRL's look ugly but you can't see them if you are driving but other people can. It is a proven safety feature and you may never know if their existance ever saves your life but it may just do that.

thephantom

Do you notice any difference at night?

037

not sure if you pay any attention to my posts but instead of DRL I am now driving with low beams on all the time, which just happen to be brighter and easier to spot vs the faint and endlessly ugly DRL.

And yes, I am a firm believer in driving with lights on 24/7 for safety.