Light Bulbs

[KILLER1]

Hi yeak has anyone tried to change light bulbs on lexus is200. I wanted to up grade to bright white or blue.......... Is it esay to do????????? And can anyone recomend any type they have used and where B) to go for them iE STAY IN GLASGOW... Thanks again P

[Steve_D]

Hello, nice username u got there :winky: , are you talking about headlight bulbs?, preferred option for dipped beam is HID/Xenon's from e-bay etc which would give you a nice blue tint & very powerful but that can be a wee bit expensive, other option is super white halogen or tinted blue halogen.

[Einstein]

To be honest, the best improvement would be to fit a set of genuine HID lights...

Cost anything from £50 upwards.. and are 300% brighter than what you have now..

Beware of the "HID" lookalike bulbs, these are not true HID, just normal bulbs that burn hotter, so look whiter.. priced from £10 upwards.

However, these are ideal for the Full beam, where genuine HID's are not practical..

If you search the forums, there are plenty threads on where members have bought their HID's from... mainly eBay.

John

[shak]

Alright mate, I would recommend a set of Ultra bulbs, which can be ordered from Halfords (has to ordered as they do not stock the "Ultra" brand), They give a very white with a slight tint of blue light (around 5000k equivalent) also give 80% more light.

shak

[Yaumeister]

I use these Halogen Infrared Reflecting bulbs, and they are brighter then any normal bulbs I have tried.

http://www.finemotoring.com/

Alternatively the easy route go for some Halford Super Brillaince 9005 for £20 a pair, then use this 9006 to 9005 guide for use with your dipped beam.

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Upgrade/More_light.htm

If you want to make it even easier, get a pair of 9006 to 9005 harnesses from Innovative Wiring, £15 (under products/headlight parts).

http://www.innovativewiring.com/

[Kiriyama]

click HID thread

click another HID thread

click and another

click yes, it's another one....

click I think you get my point

[dazz32]

I use these Halogen Infrared Reflecting bulbs, and they are brighter then any normal bulbs I have tried.

http://www.finemotoring.com/

Alternatively the easy route go for some Halford Super Brillaince 9005 for £20 a pair, then use this 9006 to 9005 guide for use with your dipped beam.

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Upgrade/More_light.htm

If you want to make it even easier, get a pair of 9006 to 9005 harnesses from Innovative Wiring, £15 (under products/headlight parts).

http://www.innovativewiring.com/

Did you get the infared reflecting bulbs from the link above ( fine motoring ) and how much were they mate ?

[Yaumeister]

Did you get the infared reflecting bulbs from the link above ( fine motoring ) and how much were they mate ?

That's the page with all the info, you can buy the bulbs direct from the webmaster via eBay, do a search for "toshiba hir".

[dazz32]

Did you get the infared reflecting bulbs from the link above ( fine motoring ) and how much were they mate ?

That's the page with all the info, you can buy the bulbs direct from the webmaster via eBay, do a search for "toshiba hir".

Ok cheers Yaumeister will look on eBay, are they ALOT brighter than the upgrade super dooper Xenon halogen bulbs got a few of these that ive tried and to be honest the Xenon halogen upgrade bulbs arnt really that much better IMHO..

[Einstein]

But the TRUE HID's are certainly much brighter..

John

[Yaumeister]

I'm going out on a limb here, as many LOC members swear by their HID kits ("best mod ever"), but I'm going to stick with my believe that they are illegal. Watch the video:

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

Yes I know many say they have passed MOT with them, or some have decided just to take the HID off for the test, but the basic problem is that "halogen headlamps and HID headlamps require very different optics to produce a safe and effective—not to mention legal—beam pattern." Read the full article here:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...onversions.html

Therefore I have researched into ways of getting brighter lights using the same halogen technology, from +30/50% brighter bulbs, using HB3/9005 (65W) instead of original HB4/9006 (55W), and now Halogen Infrared Reflecting (HIR) bulbs. I can say that these HIR bulbs are visibly brighter then anything else I have tried before. Read the linked thread for some comparison:

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3122

Again I want to reiterate that I have nothing against those using HID kits, I'm just saying I'm not comfortable using them myself, so each to their own.

[DJ Wozza]

Making a lot of faff about nothing IMO Mark.

Auto Express paid £300 for a set of HID's and also paid £250 for a guy to fit them in 20 mins.

I want his job @ £750/hour !! Sounds like that is an old film & the man with the purse strings is stupid.

Also that Scooby thread appears 4 years old and I can't really see the point you are making by bringing that up ?

They may well be technically illegal, but you won't stop the useage of HID's until the law changes to make sure

they fail an M.O.T Test or are illegal to sell.

[Einstein]

When I had them fitted to my 626 they were spot on... it has projector beam lights as standard, (even from 1991) and the beam pattern was so well defined, that above the cutoff line it was almost dark..

I have to admit, that on my GS, which doesn't have projectors, the cutoff is not very clear, although it did recently pass the MOT with them..

I have only been flashed once, and that was over a brow of a hill, and with weight in the boot... so this would have happened regardless of whether HID's were fitted or not..

With the GS 430 model, where HID's are fitted, the reflector is totally different, so swapping over the headlights would eliminate that problem... however there is one more legal requirement, and that is auto headlight levelling..

Sensors on the axles measure the ride height and angle of the car, and adjust the lights accordingly.. so maybe this could be transferred as well.. also, there is a requirement for headlight washers.. I have those anyway, so that's not a problem..

Watching the video you posted, I picked up on a comment at the end, where the guy says HID's are not as bright...

All I can say is HE'S not as bright as a 10W bulb, or he is blind, one or the other..

At the end of the day, if you just want the brightest lights, then fit HID.. so long as they are 6000K or below, you shouldn't attract the dibbles, anything higher may be too blue, and this is what they don't like.. if you want to be totally 100% legal, then fit the std bulbs, no blue tints or anything..

John

[Yaumeister]

The scooby thread is a comparison between 9006 and HIR bulbs showing the difference in brightness, as dazz32 was enquiring about it, nothing to do with HID there, sorry if there was some confusion.

Yes the video is old, when HID just started appearing on the market and prices were high. Prices have gone down significantly but the science behind HID retrofit kits haven't changed.

"From time to time, I am asked to comment on what are marketed as "new developments" in HID kits, and those asking sometimes point out to me that these "new developments" might render this article out-of-date, since the copyright date on the article is older than the date of these "new developments". Please understand, marketeers will always be coming up with dazzling new pseudoscience, tempting new hype and sneaky new ways of trying to convince you to buy their stuff. It's what they do. This article will never go out of date, because the problems with HID kits are conceptual problems, not problems of implementation. Therefore, they cannot be overcome by additional research and development, any more than someone could develop a way for you to put on somebody else's eyeglasses and see correctly."

Quote from http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...onversions.html

Again I stress I'm not going to stop others from using HIDs, I'm just saying there are halogen alternatives out there that are fairly bright too, and I'm certainly not in any position to address the legal enforcement aspects of HIDs, I'm simply presenting the information I've found on the matter.

1 more thing, that "not very bright" guy in the end of the video is Edmund King, now the President of AA :D

[Einstein]

1 more thing, that "not very bright" guy in the end of the video is Edmund King, now the President of AA :D

Many years ago, a good friend of mine broke down, and called the AA out..

The guy didn't manage to fix the car, but did get the car towed to a garage..

My friend asked him how long he had been a mechanic.... the answer is a classic..

"I'm not a mechanic, I'm really a gardener... our best mechanic is a carpenter"

I hope the AA has changed since then... :(

John

[P.Lindblom]

Beware of the "HID" lookalike bulbs, these are not true HID, just normal bulbs that burn hotter, so look whiter.. priced from £10 upwards.

However, these are ideal for the Full beam, where genuine HID's are not practical..

That's what I got today. My high beam lights are white halogen ones and my low beams are 6000K HIDs

These are the halogen light bulbs I used. £12

[Einstein]

That's quite a good match..

You can also use white luxeon flux LED's for the sidelights..

[P.Lindblom]

Now that I've used them at night for the first time I think I will swap back to the original light bulbs for the high beams.

[DJ Wozza]

Why ?

[aaronabbott]

ive literally just bought some hids so when they arrive all make my mind up then

[P.Lindblom]

Why ?

The only thing these bulbs do is to filter away the yellow, bright light. That leaves you with a sort of green/blueish dark light that is really bad. My HIDs look more blue but the light they emit is super bright white. These halogen bulbs feel like someone trying to make a flashligt that emits shadow.

I may be able to take a few detailed photos tonight, comparing the HIDs to the "white" halogen ones.

[84Stoney]

All this talk of HIDs....damb it, i might have to get some to see what all the fuss is about!

Thought the blue/white Xenon Halogen bulbs are use are fine!

[P.Lindblom]

All this talk of HIDs....damb it, i might have to get some to see what all the fuss is about!

Thought the blue/white Xenon Halogen bulbs are use are fine!

The Xenon lights are great. The only downside is that they need a few seconds to warm up. When you first light them up they are very blue, before they turn white. That's not ideal for high beams, unfortunately.

[84Stoney]

All this talk of HIDs....damb it, i might have to get some to see what all the fuss is about!

Thought the blue/white Xenon Halogen bulbs are use are fine!

The Xenon lights are great. The only downside is that they need a few seconds to warm up. When you first light them up they are very blue, before they turn white. That's not ideal for high beams, unfortunately.

Yeh seems best to do it on just the dipped. Gonna try to suss them out now, as never looked into it before. As far as i know now, kits are about £70+ and the lower temp ones (6000k) are the brightest and the whitest, whereas the higher temp kits (10000k+) are bluer, and not as bright (though very nearly). I'll look into a it a bit more but looks worth doing.

Mine is always MOTed at Lexus (Exeter). Are they likely to pass it?

[84Stoney]

Anyone got an opinion on these: Ebay link

They're certainly cheap!