I have been wanting to put new (8000k bulbs) since I bought my RX8 last year and the DIY section of this site has helped me tremendously with various projects, i noticed however there was no DIY Hid Upgrade. I decided to write one. This step-by-step guide w/pictures that will show you exactly what to do. The total time for this project with average mechanical skills, myself, including two beers was 24min.

Project: DIY Low-Beam HID Bulb Replacement/Upgrades
Time to complete: 24min, including two beers.
Tools Needed: Small Phillips screw driver, towel if you don't want to get dirty.

Step 1 (see pic, 4797)

Pick somewhere on level surface you would like to work. Either use a jack, as I did and jack one wheel at a time, or put your car on a lift.

Step 2 (see pic, 4798)

Using a screw driver turn the black plastic screws 1/8 or so counter clock wise to release them. You might have to place your hand on the back of it to get it to unlock. There are 8 that need to be taken off of each wheel wells.

Step 3 (see pic, 4805)

Gently pull down the black plastic wheel well piece so it hangs and gently lays on top the tire.

Step 4 (see pic, 4803)

Turn the cover to the left to open it up and expose the back of the connection which connects to the xenon headlight bulb.

Step 5 (see pic, 4804)

Remove the connector. Turn the connector to the left (counter-clock wise) and it will release and expose the light bulb) [drink 1st beer]

Step 6 (see pic, 4807)

Gently pull both the left and right locks in and then down, releasing the bulb.
Remove the bulb and place it in the box where your new bulbs are.

Step 7

Insert the new bulb the same way you took your old bulb out.
If you are looking at the bulb there is a square cut out, if you will and then a notch to the right (d2s). If you buy the wrong bulbs there will be the same square cut and then a notch to the left (d2r). d2c bulbs have both a notch on the left and right of the square one, make sure you line it up so your using the square in the middle and the notch on the right to lock in the bulb or else it isn't going to fit properly.

Repeat steps 1-6 in reverse order to seal eevrything back up. [Drink 2nd beer]
Do the other side.

 

Heres the finished product. The one picture, you can see the difference between stock and the new bulbs. The other picture is the finished project. Enjoy.

 

Nice write-up. Very simple to do.
I'm going to update the "DIY Section – by Category and Alphabetically" thread today or tomorrow and I'll be sure to add this.

Now for some newbie questions.
I have the Xenon bulbs in my car. Are these brighter? Do they shine white or blue-ish?
And, approx. what should someone expect to pay for these?

Thanks.

 

^^^^ what he said.

 

Well I bought my first pair from eBay, I don't recommend that at all.
Problem is even though eBay sellers, im talking about the ones that ship the bulbs from japan. There is a slight difference in the depth of the socket, where the connector from the car locks onto the back of the bulb. I had to return the ones I bought of eBay to get a pair that were made locally (in the states, and they work great).

The xenon bulbs in your car are the 4300k philips oem, they emit a yellowish/bright white looking color light. It looks white or sometimes blue, depending on elevation and level of the beams to oncoming traffic. These emit a lot of light (lumens, i want to say 32xx something)

The higher you move up on the kelvin scale, the less visible light your eyes can see. So 8k is about 2x brighter, more blue and cool looking but they rank in at 2489 lumens, about 1/3 less visible light. The plus side is you get cool looking lights and they are much easier on your eyes at night. I wear contacts and I can see just fine, I dont plan on changing the high beams just in case I need to see far away, there is a reasonable amount of distance loss with upgrading. If I had to do it over again, I would probably get the 6000k bulbs; best of the two worlds in my opinion.

I paid 89.00 on ebay +10 for shipping= 99.00, and i had to return them so. -20.00 for shipping and then my refund back so I ended up throwing $20 away.

The new ones are from http://www.plasmagarage.com I paid $159 and got free next day shipping~ good for me since I had just bought bulbs and had to return them

 

I will take a shot tonight of what the bulbs from that website look like @ night for you guys, so couple of hours if you are unsure of upgrading but considering it. I have a great camera, because I like photography so the pics will be good.

 

Why this will happen?? the bulb are D2S so technically all D2S will fit the 8, right?

 

Denifon, I am assuming you are referring to how my first set of bulbs did not fit and lock in correctly. Yes they were D2S bulbs but I guess the manufacturing style of those particular ones from that particular source were not being made correctly which is why I went with the ones from plasmagarage.com

I am extremely happy with the amount of light output and the performance form these bulbs.

 

Another newbie question regaring this topic:
With the references you made above, I unfortunetly fail to see where this qualifies as an 'upgrade'? Besides the new lights being, 'cool' & 'more blue' you mention that 'reasonable amount of distance loss with upgrading'.

I was under the impression that an upgrade would offer better visibility?

Nice DIY write up, nonetheless!
Laters!
Edgardo 'Confused how this is an upgrade'

 

I agree with you, I would edit the post and change upgrade to something more appropriate, but I am just too lazy to do so. Regarding your remarks it is more of appearance then an actual upgrade which would be designed to help the driver. It really does not help the driver, I am use to driving with the lights at night, but when I take people out or my girlfriend out, sometimes ill get the comment such as, wow those lights are weird, or wow those are really blue. If it is something you want, you can make necessary changes in order to accommodate it, if it is something you dont want then one can always find flaws in it. With that being said, it really is up to one's own opinion, as far as im concerned I feel it gives the rx8 a different look, a more exotic look, which I enjoy. Honestly it just comes back to the question of who you are and what you are trying to show I guess. Thanks for the compliment on the guide too.

 

Thanks LivinLrge for the DIY and pics of the color of the 8000K light. Very nice.
I have thought about changing mine also but I am still undecided as to the fact of lose of light, as in distance. Whether that would be a good thing. There's not a lot of street lights here in AZ (where I live) and I do like the brightness of the stock bulbs. But the blue color is very attractive. Decisions ,decisions.
Again thank's for the DIY.

 

Sorry to say, 8000K is a mistake. Its just not the same amount of light as 4300K. Post pictures at night of the lights on the road. Then compare with the stockers and you will see.

 

I installed some 10000K low-beam HID bulbs. Cost me 60 bucks shipped from ebay, and took me less than an hour to install. Ya, I agree with Sephiroth that compared to the stock HID's (which I think were 6400K), my blue HID's barely put out as much light. But since the light is so different, you can easily tell who's headlights is who's

My 10000K HID's work great when their are no other light sources around me

 

Keef mentioned something that I think is very important and also very true. When and if you do upgrade to a higher kelvin temperature hid bulb, the only real difference occurs when other light sources are nearby,it drowns out the color of your hids; However, on dark roads, no lights whatsoever, and cloudy with no moon, the 8000k lights up the road well enough for me to be satisfied with. We can go back and forth on who thinks they dont like them, who likes them, who doesnt blah blah blah, well who cares; I like them, people that would like to make the change, this DIY was provided for those people and thats it.

Here are some more pics I just took, its overcast with some rain here in Florida, and also some night shots are included.

Also regarding whoever said about the stock, stock is 4300k not 6400k and also everyone knows that the stock bulbs put out more lumens because of the lower kelvin temperature. Lower kelvin temperature does not mean that they are brighter however. Higher kelvin, increases brightness of the light.color and decreases the light output of the color ect.


Also in one of those pics there is that yellowish light, that is not from the car lights ...it is my security light and since its daylight out right now i cant retake the picture... sorry.

 

Those pictures don't really show the difference - here's one of mine....

S

 

livinlrg,
what driving lights are those??? they match up nice w/ the 8000k...

 

WLED-x5 LED Wedge Base Bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com They are the super whites.

 

hey LivinLrge, the WLED-x5 LED Wedge Base Bulbs that you got , did you buy the white ones or the blue ones?

 

^^^^

 

haha! I didn't even post and I was quoted...

still lovin 10,000 K...

 

this is off topic, but I've personally messed with having LED's on this car for months and would always find myself having LED's from that company burning out atleast within a month. Until I most importantly got my driving lights in a single inverted LED

On top of that it's 5 LED that spin round for sidemarker, 6 LED for license plate

9 red LED for interior door, and 6 straight for the front map lights... Today I'm actually installing red footlamp LED's! haha... I'm addicted...

 

Well...the passenger side led light just went out tonight...2 weeks old..and the passenger side is a bitch to put in. I ended up just removing the drivers side and turning them both off all together, until i get some time to take apart the whole bumper ect to install new ones, but it definitely isnt a priority.

 

It is easier to remove the PCM unit to get to the passanger side lights than it is to take off the front bumper.
PCM removal by Zoom44

 

thats great, thanks for that i might do it this weekend, thats not bad at all

 

I got my D2S HID bulbs from a guy on ebay. His ebay ID is MotoringMax and he sells HID bulbs and LED bulbs.

his ebay store is http://stores.ebay.com/MotoringMax. He has pretty good price with really fast shipping.

Hope this helps on everybody.