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Opinions On Hid Kits.. 6000K? 8000K? 10000K?


Rez89
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my mate works in a dealer ship selling these cars it is a light upgrade...you just cant go in and ask for blue bulbs you have to ask for the light upgrade...

so yes some you see/have driven will be standard but some will have the light upgeade..

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y mate works in a dealer ship selling these cars it is a light upgrade...

Oh fair enough, that's an odd thing for a manufacturer to offer as a strict MOT tester could technically fail a blue light couldn't they?

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y mate works in a dealer ship selling these cars it is a light upgrade...

Oh fair enough, that's an odd thing for a manufacturer to offer as a strict MOT tester could technically fail a blue light couldn't they?

thats were the confusion lies i say blue you argue white so i say blue you argue white i cant fail them for being blue unless i have a spectrum meter.

same as the police anyone thats been stopped for running hid's isnt because of the colour its because theyve been blinded by wrongly alighned lights....

also when you put the hids on to a beam setter(regardles of the colour)on the board you check the aim with the light is white so as long as the aim is ok your ok..

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Ormi the amount of times you have had to tell people about how HIDS DONT affect the mot, i have lost count now lol

i can actually sense when someone puts a question about the mot...Ormi is gona comment now an put them straight! lol

keep at it man B)

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the thing is its people that dont even work on cars that always have the issue..... then when you say who told you that a friend of a friends gran.............

i am a mot tester i have been a tec for 15 years.. ooohhh you cant have them youll get stopped youll get fined youll get your car taken off you youll fail a mot........its all crap...

heres how not to fail a mot..

fit your hids then go to a mot station and get them alighned job done.......

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the thing is its people that dont even work on cars that always have the issue..... then when you say who told you that a friend of a friends gran.............

i am a mot tester i have been a tec for 15 years.. ooohhh you cant have them youll get stopped youll get fined youll get your car taken off you youll fail a mot........its all crap...

heres how not to fail a mot..

fit your hids then go to a mot station and get them alighned job done.......

Completely agree with Ormi. Bad beam alignment is the biggest problem. But the real question is why would anybody want to use HIDs above 4300k? They will reduce your view of the road ahead because of increased light-scatter as colour-temp increases - although not severely. However, they do significantly increase dazzling of oncoming traffic for the same reason, so good alignment becomes more critical and difficult to achieve consistently even with auto-levelling - although not many people will bother to flash you unless the alignment is very poor. So really, it is a selfish choice just for a pretty colour.

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Ormi the amount of times you have had to tell people about how HIDS DONT affect the mot, i have lost count now lol

i can actually sense when someone puts a question about the mot...Ormi is gona comment now an put them straight! lol

keep at it man B)

I wasn't questioning whether it would get through the MOT as I know it's fine, I just found it surprising that a manufacturer was doing it as technically a blue light is illegal.

But as Ormi stated, without a spectrum meter it can't really be proven I suppose (although to me 12000K does look like proper blue)

I must agree with fjcfarrar though to a certain extent though having had 8000K and now 5000K the difference in actual light output is incredible, so you're giving up a lot just for the colour.

However there is no difference in light scatter, if anything there's less with a higher K due to the lower light output.

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For me Hids are just for Show, they look nice and even if you get 6000k, 8000k, 10000k it will still be brighter than your standard halogen bulb. but when some people buy hids they buy it for a different purpose so end of the day i think its down to each persons opinion about hids.... my purpose of buying a hid kit was just for looks...may sound silly to some people but end of the its my money that i have spent.

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For me Hids are just for Show, they look nice and even if you get 6000k, 8000k, 10000k it will still be brighter than your standard halogen bulb. but when some people buy hids they buy it for a different purpose so end of the day i think its down to each persons opinion about hids.... my purpose of buying a hid kit was just for looks...may sound silly to some people but end of the its my money that i have spent.

Fair enough mate, of course it's your money and your car so do what best suits you! :winky:

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That's a fair point, and also that if those pictures are a true representation they don't actually look like a particular colour but more like they're tinted. Never seen anything on the road that looked actually blue, but have seen a car with lights that were blatantly purple - but assume even that has passed its MOT.

I think 3000K is the recommended level for fog lights, as the yellow colour is the best at cutting through fog.

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even though you pic a bulb colour the colour can vary depending on your lights ie type of reflector type desighn of the lense and if you have a projector type or not..

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When I bought my Lexus, it came with some cheap bulbs with a slight tint of blue filled with some Xenon gas ( loads of rubbish...).

Anyway, last week I got some 8000K fitted, and WOW! What a difference!!

Initially, I had the tought of going for 6000K to look more OEM, but I'm actually quite happy with the 8000k as they are not so blueish as it may look.

They are just white with a slight tint of blue.

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Not wanting to hijack this thread or anything, but I wasn't sure whether this warranted a new thread:

I was wondering whether the following combination of lights would:

1) be compatible/fit etc.

2) look any good?

9006/HB4 - low/dipped beam

6000K, 35W HID

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270587617697&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I've heard that 50W is too bright, and that 35W is adequate. Thoughts?

501/168 - parking/side lights

White LED

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370448357164&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Will these fit?

Would a set like this also be suitable for the rear registration/number plate lights?

9006/HB4 - front fog lights, not that I drive with these often, but I think the yellow fog light (in contrast with HID low beam) would look good.

2500K Halogen

http://nokyausa.com/hy/images/7619.jpg

http://nokyausa.com/hy/images/7610.jpg

Would either of these lamps be compatible?

I'd really appreciate some advice, thanks B)

edit: How about a bixenon kit; is it worth changing the main beam to HID as well? ... and finally, I have read that the combination of a reflector housing + HID light doesn't always work that well (dispersion etc); what has been your experience with the Lexus IS200 reflector housing + HID light?

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my opinion is if you want 6000k but want that hint of blue then go for a 8000k in a 50w because i think compared to a 6000k 35w kit they produce the same brightness being 8000k.....correct me if am wrong guys an girls....

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  • 1 year later...

Hi guys,

I have an IS200 and just to confirm the dipped are HB4 and main are HB3 right? Also, will I need a separate kit to convert the main or will I just need the bulbs since I'd already have installed a kit for the dipped beam?

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hb4 for dipped beam and fog lights

hb3 for full beam..

and you will need two kits per light ie one for dipped and one for full beam

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cough cough sorry to disapoint guys but as of yesturday hids became an mot fail unless you have headlight washer and AUTOMATIC headlight leveling system. This does not mean the dial on the dash to adjust them.

new mot inspection manuel out yesturday all mot testers have been notified of these changes for at least 6 months sorry guys.

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/doitonline/bl/mottestingmanualsandguides/mottestingmanualsandguides.htm

i will confirm this tomorow after consulting direct with VOSA as on re reading the manuel it appears theres a loop hole. The reason for rejection states "A headlamp levelling or cleaning device inoperative or otherwise obviously defective." its doesnt say not fitted.

The method of inspection talks about checking hid/led headlights its doesnt specify hid bulbs in normal headlights..... its would appear to be a fail item to me but as a tester we are always told if its not there you cant fail it unless it states missing in the reason for rejection section.

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The other way round the problem of course would be to put your old bulbs back in for the time of the test. The ignitor/ballasts can stay fitted as they wont be part of the test if they arent connected to anything. Then again i always get into trouble when i suggest ways of bending the rules to my advantage so maybe this is a bad idea to post this one lol.

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thing is their going to run into problems with this due to some cars

cateram...hid's no washers no leveling

atom as above so they are aparantly going to reword it to as long as the suspension is stiff enough to cope with hids being fitted

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All manufacturers choose to fit HIDs of about 4300k. This is not a random choice but because of the human eye's response and light-scatter by moisture particles (the faintest mist to dense fog) which means that this colour temperature provides the best view ahead and minimises glare/dazzle to on-coming traffic. This has been widely researched.

There is a simple rule: Colour temperature above 4300k might be "cool" or even seem brighter to look at but you will see less.

I agree 4300k produces the most useable light. When it rains the blue colours reflect and scatter throughout the raindrops reducing vision. It is for this reason that american and european spec cars have yellow fog lights! The more yellow the light the less it reflects in moisture droplets. I have used 6000k and 5000k and 4300k and I can't believe I ever used 6000k! Its so difficult to see in the rain in comparison.

to get the "Audi/Merc effect" does not mean putting blue lights in your car! the Blue that is seen from these cars is caused by "light refraction" across a shield in front of the bulb. Its called the colour flicker in the Projector retrofit world. to get the real "audi/merc" (any car with a projector type lens) effect you need to install projectors. Go to this site for a slight education in automotive lighting www.hidplanet.com

typical HID in Reflector type housing (useless blinding other drivers)

img1037w.jpg

Proper HID install using projector lens (note the blue line at cut off gives the colour flicker AKA "audi/merc/range rover effect)

img1038g.jpg

As for the talk about the 300c the extreme blue light is caused by their projector design creating a much broader colour band on their Xenon equipped models. the light upgrade available from the dealer was simply a Xenon upgrade that is now offered by most manufacturers. including Lexus.

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thing is their going to run into problems with this due to some cars

cateram...hid's no washers no leveling

atom as above so they are aparantly going to reword it to as long as the suspension is stiff enough to cope with hids being fitted

The manuel doesnt say anything about certain makes and models. The new manuel went live 2 days ago and now as it stand hids with out leveling and washers is an mot fail!

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as i said they are going to run into problems atom and cateram are chalenging right now as the mot ruling makes their cars illegal......ive had the manual for a while now

also just because it doesnt have visable self levelers it doesnt mean its a fail

Vehicles equipped with High Intensity Discharge (HID) or LED dipped beam headlamps may be fitted with headlamp washers and a suspension or headlamp self levelling system.

Where such systems are fitted, they must work;however, it is accepted that it may not be possible to readily determine the functioning of self levelling systems. In such cases, the benefit of the doubt must be given.

if i say my cars fitted with a self leveling headlamp function then boom you cant really argue as you cant take covers off to check.....

as said theirs loop holes all over the place

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