HID Color Rating

[Toms-SC]

Word,

For the HID Pro's out there I require some help. I'm looking into buying a retrofit kit for my bulb size 9006. I have noticed a wide selection of color index i.e. 6000K, 3000K.

My question is which color out of the following will be less annoying to on-coming traffic while still providing more light than my current halogens. I'd rather not be cop bait and stick with a sleeper look.

3000/4000/5000/6000/8000/10000/15000

I am currently leaning towards 8000K.

Help?

[Chester]

They will all be annoying to oncoming traffic if in a halogen housing.

The higher the kelvin rating, the bluer the light = less light output.

[Toms-SC]

Originally posted by Chester
They will all be annoying to oncoming traffic if in a halogen housing.

I really don't have anothing choice for that right now. So I'm trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

[Dj Dhaliwal]

i have 8000k rite now in my crv

ppl usally go after 6000k

[Weapon_R]

Factory is around 4000k, which is the best choice IMO. Anything higher is ricer purple.

[benyl]

4100K

Any more than that and you are losing light output.

9006 puts out about 1000 lumens.
9005 (you high beams) 1500 lumens.

6000K HID ~1700 lumens
4100K HID ~3000 lumens <-- don't quote me on that, it could be 2500... I can't remember.

[frostyda9]

4300K is OEM spec for most HID's. Go higher than that and you start to get blue...higher yet you get purple. As you go above 4300K you actually start to lose lumens, and that is why you're a ricer if you do

edit: benyl beat me to it

[dj_rice]

8000K would be pretty blue, if your worried, get 4300K or 5000K, I have 6000K on my ride and it looks almost stock as a QX4, mines produces white light with a slight blue tinge

[?????]

Yeah oem would be from 4100k-4300k. 3000 would be yellow i believe for your fogs.

Anything higher would turn blue and into purple.

EDIT: i know i reply slow.

[Toms-SC]

So with 4000K being more yellow, is it less annoying than say a 6000K blue? Thanks a lot for the replys.

*Edit: Does anyone have a picture with 4000's installed?

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Toms-SC
I'm looking into buying a retrofit kit for my bulb size 9006.

If you do that, you will be dead to me. More dead than your dead mother.

Originally posted by Chester
They will all be annoying to oncoming traffic if in a halogen housing.

HID projector retrofit or bust.

Originally posted by Toms-SC


I really don't have anothing choice for that right now. So I'm trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

You're not trying hard enough, son. If you can't afford a proper HID setup, go for HIR bulbs. You need 9012. These put out 75% the output of HIDs for $30/bulb. Go to www.rallylights.com to buy them or http://hirheadlights.com/ for info.

[rc2002]

^ I second that. Do it properly or don't do it at all. You'll be wasting your money on a plug and play kit. When I put an 8000k kit into my Prelude, light output was worse than the stock halogens.

[Police]

its very annoying when these retards put hids in their halogen housings, u all suck.

[Lo)2enz0]

ya ghetto rig some projectors in your headlights if your going with hid's

3000k is a fog light hid, they are really yellow, and 6000k is more of a whiteish blue and anything over 10000 is purple and 25000k is green

[Police]

anything over 5000K looks like shit

[Lo)2enz0]

i would say anuthing over 6000

my friend has some pink ones in his teg, looks cool but a bit one the rice side

[mutsuraboshi]

this is what it looks like for oncoming traffic if you have:
3000k golden yellow
4500k normal halogen(birghtest for you driving in your car)
5000k pure white
6000k bluish white
7000k blue
8000k+ almost purplish

my claim with 4500k being the brightest is based on our eyes being most sensitive to yellow white light.

[eur0]

[soupey]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
^ I second that. Do it properly or don't do it at all. You'll be wasting your money on a plug and play kit. When I put an 8000k kit into my Prelude, light output was worse than the stock halogens.

i disagree.

ive done the change in bulbs and the difference is HUGE, and ive lowered the aim of my headlights (glare is there, but not terrible), but the glare is not terrible like others on this board seem to assume, its entirely dependent on the type of housing.

the overall effectiveness of the light output from HID's IS there, if u upgrade to HID u WILL light up the road much more than with halogen, theres simply no way u can say that its the same or worse than halogens.



that said, 6000k will appear very slightly blue at first, over time the kelvin value decrease and you will lose some of the HID's blue appearance...i have a 6000K 9006 kit from HIDstop. its worked wonders for me on the highway so far...

and as for glare, ive had more issues with improperly aligned (or JDM) cutoffs than i have with HID kits while looking at oncoming traffic, u have to remember that being blinded by glare from a halogen housing comes from light that has been very diffused, not NEAR as bad as being blinded by being under someone elses really high cutoff. im not saying halogen housings are better, but theres a shitload of retrofitted housing on highway 2 who have their cutoff way too high and its MUCH worse than any halogen glare ive ever seen.

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by Toms-SC
So with 4000K being more yellow, is it less annoying than say a 6000K blue? Thanks a lot for the replys.

*Edit: Does anyone have a picture with 4000's installed?

The 4300K are the best ones to get, or some close variant like 4100K or 4000K or 4500K. They're brighter, give more natural colour and provide the best contrast. Why go any higher?


Time to dig out my old 2002 photos. These were shot with Fuji daylight flim using a manual exposure camera. Same exposure used for all photos and same settings used during print scan. Car is an Audi S4 with European HID single-beam projectors.


6000K



4300K (driver's side) & 6000K



4300K



6000K



6000K & 4300K (driver's side)



4300K