i was going to upgrade to the hotwired h4 bulb/housing. but since i will be halfway there, and the hid kits have gone down....... i want to go with hids. i dont want to just put in the lowbeams. i want high and lows. yes some will say that high beams will not be needed....... but i still want to to have both. my questions is: do i get the highbeam brightness by going with , lets say, a 8k bulb for high and then using a 6k bulb for low. or do i need to change to a higher watt ballast for the highbeams and still use a 6k bulb. so far i am not planning on using a bi-xenon bulb for the lows, so that all 4 lights come on when the highbeams are turned on.
hid headlight question
- Thread starter zpd307
- Start date
HIDs color is measured with the 6k, 8k, 10k, etc.... It has very little to do with brightness, 8k is more blue than 6k, 10k is more purple than 8k. Somewhere on the net should be a color chart. The high/low will use the same wattage bulb/ballast, it's just a matter of headlight aiming. If you aren't planning on using a bi-xenon bulb on the lows (Outer headlights) to get all 4 to light up on highs, you'll need to wire up a relay to keep the lows on when on high. Where did you find the H4 housings? I have HIDs lows & fogs on my vette, and there is a HUGE difference over the silverstars I had...
The attached pic shows the difference in 8k HID fogs and "High" Silverstars on the "Low" side of the headlights...
The attached pic shows the difference in 8k HID fogs and "High" Silverstars on the "Low" side of the headlights...
for the housings, i was going to go the ebay route. there are a few glass housing selections in the 4x6 or 165mm. i knew the different k bulbs changed color, but i also thought they also were brighter as they went up. for the wiring, i was going to have it that the outers, lows, would be on. on lows of course. and when highs were turned on, just the inners would turn on. most of the newer gms have it that way all ready. this would require four ballasts instead of two. the highs only have two wires to the prong, where the lows have three for the high and low function, so it wouldnt be hard to take the high beam wire out of the equation for the outers when building the harness.
i did some researching. i found out that, 4300k is the brightest. any more k's and the lights get dimmer and just more blue/purple. i see that most oem's still use halogen for high beams. there is a lot of concern on beam patterns as stock halogen reflectors do not work well for hid's. i wonder how well the 4x6 projector housings will work with hid's. i will continue to research.........
I was thinking of doing the same thing at one time. I would up going with a regular H4 conversion instead. I went with 90w white-halogens instead (they are plenty bright). I realized I don't drive much at night and at the time the $$ were better spent elsewhere.
With the price of HID kits being so low now, I may just upgrade to them.
Anyway here are some links I saved on the topic. This thread has some good install pics. It also has good advice on letting one know to get a BI-Xenon kit so you can work the highs/lows right. I wound up getting the same headlamp assembly as in the thread for my conversion.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/hawaii-buick-enthusiasts/208076-hid-conversion-kits.html
Here is a link to one of the many Bi-Xenon kits for sale on ebay.
eBay Motors: HID Conversion Kit H4-3 8000K Hi/Lo Beam Dual Bi-Xenon (item 220350570801 end time Jan-27-09 20:21:22 PST)
It has some good pictures of the color difference. Personally, I purchased a 6k kit for my Corolla and, to me, it has just the right amount of whiteness one is looking for while only sacrificing 10% or so of usable light (as compared to a 4k OEM) bulb.
The other concern you mentioned about using HID's in a halogen reflector housing is a valid one, but I believe for our usage it's not a problem. The issue affects newer cars that use HUGE halogen reflectors to shine and amplify the bulb light. Our reflectors are very small in comparison and, in our application, the light is filtered and amplified via the front glass housing, not so much the reflector itself. That's why the front of our bulbs don't use a metal cover around the tip.
Good luck and keep us posted.
With the price of HID kits being so low now, I may just upgrade to them.
Anyway here are some links I saved on the topic. This thread has some good install pics. It also has good advice on letting one know to get a BI-Xenon kit so you can work the highs/lows right. I wound up getting the same headlamp assembly as in the thread for my conversion.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/hawaii-buick-enthusiasts/208076-hid-conversion-kits.html
Here is a link to one of the many Bi-Xenon kits for sale on ebay.
eBay Motors: HID Conversion Kit H4-3 8000K Hi/Lo Beam Dual Bi-Xenon (item 220350570801 end time Jan-27-09 20:21:22 PST)
It has some good pictures of the color difference. Personally, I purchased a 6k kit for my Corolla and, to me, it has just the right amount of whiteness one is looking for while only sacrificing 10% or so of usable light (as compared to a 4k OEM) bulb.
The other concern you mentioned about using HID's in a halogen reflector housing is a valid one, but I believe for our usage it's not a problem. The issue affects newer cars that use HUGE halogen reflectors to shine and amplify the bulb light. Our reflectors are very small in comparison and, in our application, the light is filtered and amplified via the front glass housing, not so much the reflector itself. That's why the front of our bulbs don't use a metal cover around the tip.
Good luck and keep us posted.
eBay Motors: UNIVERSAL 4x6 PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS H4 CHROME GLASS LENS (item 320330711601 end time Feb-07-09 00:18:13 PST), or this eBay Motors: 4X6 UNIVERSAL BLACK H4 GLASS PROJECTOR HEADLIGHTS PAIR (item 320335944599 end time Feb-01-09 16:42:04 PST). i am leaning towards the black projector as it looks more sinister. some will disagree. to cut costs, i will go with a single bi-xenon bulb system for the low beams and still use halogens for the high beams, converted to h4. i would go with a higher wattage.
Note.....
paypal ONLY!
I would never use paypal again!. my account was hacked, and I had to retain an attorney to recoup my losses, (threw paypal they obtained my bank account information & #) paypal took no repsonsilbility at all!
and it was there server that was hacked,
beware!
paypal ONLY!
I would never use paypal again!. my account was hacked, and I had to retain an attorney to recoup my losses, (threw paypal they obtained my bank account information & #) paypal took no repsonsilbility at all!
and it was there server that was hacked,
beware!
If it were me I would go for the clear to stay closer to the stock look...which, admittedly with regards to headlamps, I prefer.
and Cruzn57 - I may be wrong but I think ebay is Paypal only now, or at least that's what they published a couple of months ago.
HellOnWheels
HellOnWheels
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2002
I'm interested also, would you please post a daylight photo when you get em installed?
Thanks,
HOW
HellOnWheels
HellOnWheels
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2002
BTW...anyone know what make/brand the black projector lights are?
HOW
HOW
can I make a suggestion
I have learned the hard way how to do this. Be careful with all of the H4 Headlight housings you have been looking at, the lenses are made of glass, but you have to be sure the housings are made of glass or metal, not plastic! I just installed a set of headlights with the hid conversion and had no idea how hot they get and melted the plastic housing!
I believe AutoPal is the set you want for headlight housings.
I also found that relays were an issue and you need enough power to get the hid's to ignite. I found this kit on ebay that wires directly from your battery to the hid lights and helps the wiring work seemlessly.
The xenon kit I used was this one from ebay and I have been impressed with it for the price of $53!
I will say I am more than impressed with HID's on my Buick and it just adds to the cool factor, I chose the white diamond lights and that seemed to be nice and clean with out the rice factor.
I have learned the hard way how to do this. Be careful with all of the H4 Headlight housings you have been looking at, the lenses are made of glass, but you have to be sure the housings are made of glass or metal, not plastic! I just installed a set of headlights with the hid conversion and had no idea how hot they get and melted the plastic housing!
I believe AutoPal is the set you want for headlight housings.
I also found that relays were an issue and you need enough power to get the hid's to ignite. I found this kit on ebay that wires directly from your battery to the hid lights and helps the wiring work seemlessly.
The xenon kit I used was this one from ebay and I have been impressed with it for the price of $53!
I will say I am more than impressed with HID's on my Buick and it just adds to the cool factor, I chose the white diamond lights and that seemed to be nice and clean with out the rice factor.
