Just ordered some HIDs!

[smokinssei02]

Just bought some 5000k 9006 HIDs for the Bonneville! I've wanted HID headlights for a long time now so I'm super excited to see them coming. Hopefully the install goes easy enough. I hear they are really easy but then again I've never tried it before so I will probably get lost somewhere...

The debate over 5000k and 6000k was a tough one. I had a bunch of people telling me 6000k was the purest white and the best vision I could get... I didn't want people to be blinded though so I decided to go for 5000k. What are your opinions? Is 5000k or 6000k better? Also, if I'm unhappy with 5 can I change to 6 without having to upgrade wiring or ballasts?

[sethjamesrimrodt]

I had 6000k In all my lights on my SLE, and they were blue and extremely annoying to other people, if I ever get HID's again they will be 5000k.

[smokinssei02]

Ok so it sounds like 5000k might be the better, less dangerous choice for other drivers...

[sethjamesrimrodt]

I have a feeling they will still be kind of painful for other drivers, but at this point I don't care. So many people in my town have plug and play HID's its ridiculous. Even out garbage trucks have them.

[smokinssei02]

Some intense garbage trucks if they have HID.

[nos4blood70]

I'm glad you went with 5000k. I'm running that right now. They're very very white with only a slight touch of blue sometimes. However, I don't have HID's. They're just 9006 and 9005 blue tinted bulbs with 5000k matching switchbacks. I love the look of no orange.

[00Beast]

I hate plug and play HID's, no matter the color or the wattage. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

[smokinssei02]

Why's that? Is it just because you get blinded too often or do you just think that without a retrofit of some sort the light output is just not worth it?

[00Beast]

The fact that it's not in the proper reflector, as well as the fact that it's illegal. Halogens and HID's emit light on two different planes, and neither should be used in the housing of the other, period. You're not putting the light where it should be, on the road, it's going up and out into others' eyes.

[MattStrike]

That, and you'll probably hate them the first time you have to drive in rain or snow at night. They tend to reflect a lot of that glare back at you from any reflective surface.

I wonder if anyone has tried installing a cutoff plate in these to prevent the glare?


I thought the issue wasn't the plane, it was that the HID bulb does not line up with the focal point of the reflector (so the light scatters instead of focusing down the road) combined with the high lumen output of the bulb?

I just don't like HID at all because the roads we drive on aren't perfectly flat, and 80% of people don't know how to properly adjust them..

[nos4blood70]

Is there any way to aim our buckets down to get rid of at least some of the glare?

[repinS]

I thought the issue wasn't the plane, it was that the HID bulb does not line up with the focal point of the reflector (so the light scatters instead of focusing down the road) combined with the high lumen output of the bulb?

Bingo. You can aim them down to prevent blinding other drivers, but think about that for a second. You're taking reduced headlight performance due to scattered light, and aiming it FURTHER down - you're no longer lighting up the road ahead. Even worse, the bright blob of light right in front of your bumper messes up your eyes and reduces your long-distance night vision. So you're effectively killing yourself THREE times: the glare, the throw of the beam, and your night vision. This is why we stress projector swaps - yeah they look cool, but they put the light in all the right places.

5000K vs 6000K is almost irrelevant when it comes to glare. What matters most is the fact that it's a plug and play HID kit in a conventional 9006 reflector housing. The mismatch of focal point is the cause of the glare. If you're okay with looking slightly cool (read: anybody who knows anything about automotive lighting will still hate you) at the expense of properly lighting up the road, install your plug and play kit. Just because lots of people do it and it's seldom enforced by police, doesn't mean it's okay!

[yonkerse]

I have 6K HID in my low beams (9006) and fog lights. At night, I run these lights ALL THE TIME. 95% of my driving at night is country roads and my preference is my 9006 and fog lights over my high beams. I bet I have only had my high beams on 5 times the past two years. My largest concern with driving at night is animals and never once have I had a close call because I see them well in advance. I see them much better now than I did when I had OEM bulbs. I will try posting pictures sometime soon of my light output...

[sethjamesrimrodt]

Here is what my 6000K's looked like

[repinS]

I have 6K HID in my low beams (9006) and fog lights. At night, I run these lights ALL THE TIME. 95% of my driving at night is country roads and my preference is my 9006 and fog lights over my high beams. I bet I have only had my high beams on 5 times the past two years. My largest concern with driving at night is animals and never once have I had a close call because I see them well in advance. I see them much better now than I did when I had OEM bulbs. I will try posting pictures sometime soon of my light output...

I know we have a difference of opinion on this issue... but if you prefer your low beams over your highs, there is something inherently wrong with that setup. People have gotten so desensitized to the sheer number of HID kits on the road and may not be flashing you... but you ARE blinding them!

A properly aimed low beam teamed up with an HIR bulb is pretty disasterously bright when you need it to be. Even better if you pair it with a bixenon projector.

[nos4blood70]

I have to agree. I decided the leave my 9005's with the clear bulbs for light output and they are much better on a truly dark road. The car I compare to is my parents GX with a dual projector set up. That car has the best lighting I've ever experienced, and it doesn't even have HID's.
Eric did you replace or put HID's in your high beams as well?

[yonkerse]

I have 6K HID in my low beams (9006) and fog lights. At night, I run these lights ALL THE TIME. 95% of my driving at night is country roads and my preference is my 9006 and fog lights over my high beams. I bet I have only had my high beams on 5 times the past two years. My largest concern with driving at night is animals and never once have I had a close call because I see them well in advance. I see them much better now than I did when I had OEM bulbs. I will try posting pictures sometime soon of my light output...

I know we have a difference of opinion on this issue... but if you prefer your low beams over your highs, there is something inherently wrong with that setup. People have gotten so desensitized to the sheer number of HID kits on the road and may not be flashing you... but you ARE blinding them!

A properly aimed low beam teamed up with an HIR bulb is pretty disasterously bright when you need it to be. Even better if you pair it with a bixenon projector.

$40 > $400 + for the time being.

I looked into HIR bulbs and couldn't get them in 6K to match the rest of my lighting up front.

[yonkerse]

I have to agree. I decided the leave my 9005's with the clear bulbs for light output and they are much better on a truly dark road. The car I compare to is my parents GX with a dual projector set up. That car has the best lighting I've ever experienced, and it doesn't even have HID's.
Eric did you replace or put HID's in your high beams as well?

No, running silverstars for high beams, the HID take too long to warm up and didn't want that delay when switching back and forth.

[nos4blood70]

Ahhh. Makes sense. Are there no HID's one could effectively use as high beams? Or do they all have a couple second warm up time?

[smokinssei02]

So is it just mind trickery that when I ride in friends vehicles that have HID plug'n'play kits installed their light output seems like 1,000,000 times better than mine with silverstars?