i want to chnage my HID bulbs ..like to go either 8000k or 10000k ? i have a black rx8.. which one do u guys suggest ? and where can i get the bulbs from ..??

 

I like the 10k myself, been running those for a couple years now. Thinking about running 10k in my new fog lights.

 

Neither because you're going to lose visible light.

 

Ehh, you lose a little but it definitely looks nicer IMO.

 

Anything over 6k is obnoxious to other people.

 

^+1. I agree with EMart. 6k is about as high as I would go. But since there was no option for that, I didn't vote. All my personal opinion, but I think it's silly to go over 6k.

 

When I bought some 8000k, I put one bulb in, to compare with the stockers - there is no comparison in terms of light output - the stock bulbs put out about twice the light.

....but the 8000k is very blueish.

S

 

6000K is the perfect compromise between looks and light output. Any higher and you're going to notice the loss of lumens. If you live in a big city or never drive at night that might be OK I suppose. 6000K gets my vote (even though that's not an option).

 

Thread hijack+Noob question:

I've never looked into changing out my HIDs... but what is the light that gives the maximum illumination to the road?

This doesn't seem to follow logic that 6000k is brighter than 8000k because it falls off the visible light spectrum... from what I am gathering.

 

I vote for 6k

 

Vyn, there is a difference between color and brightness. The 6000K refers to the color of the light, not the brightness.

This small article explains it pretty well...

http://avexracing.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page_3

Basically, as color temperature goes up from 1,000, usable light increases, until around the 4500-5500 range, at which point the usable light starts to decrease again.

 

i like 8k but 6k is nice too.

 

8k FTW!!!!!

 

I believe 4300k is 'brightest' and I agree that 8000k is 'trying too hard'.

I like 6000k, they usually call it 'Crystal White' or 'Diamond White'.....

 

Ive put in 6000k and they look great, not too blue but I wouldn't go much higher than 8000k. 10000k look kinda hokey with that nearly purple tint to it.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/

they have some really nice quality HID's and bulbs. I've used their bulbs for almost three years now in two different cars with 0 problems.

 

is that what u have in the pic,6000k ? what abt ur side markers, what r they and wht kinda bulb is that ? where did u buy those from ?
what kinda wheels r these ?

 

the lights in my sig pic are the parking lights and side markers. Both are white LED 194's sold by v-leds.com. The side markers are the JDM clear corner lenses. The white color they generate is actually slightly bluish and almost perfectly matches my 6000k headlights.

here's a long exposure that i used to capture the pic of my headlights, side markers, parking lights, and turn signals. The parking lights are slightly different in color due to the nature of the internal cover. In person it's less noticeable and it looks pretty good overall.



oh and my wheels are a set of volk gt-s



sorry, this is an old pic with my 8 and my buddy's truck and these are the only ones I have handy of my wheels up close

 

The brightest you can possibly get is pure white because all colors of the spectrum are equal. 4300K is near pure white. As you move in either direction from that (lower into yellow or higher into blues) light is removed to get more color (less red and yellow wavelengths gives you blue light, etc). Here's a chart I found that shows color temp. It doesn't show related brightness, but you can kind of get that from the graphic.

 

Cool, what are the stock bulbs rated at? its can't be much over 4k I'm guessing.

 

i believe the stock lights are actually 4000k

 

Stock bulbs are 4300K.

 

oh, i wasn't too far off

 

So the goal of going higher than that is just cosmetic? Correct? There no other advantages like bulb life or better visibility in wet conditions? (Idk)

 

yes, higher K rating on bulbs is usually just done for cosmetic looks. I have to admit though that the higher the K rating, the less eye strain I have seen when driving on a VERY dark road at night. I have 6000K 55watt HID's in my H3 and even though they actually are brighter than my original 4300K 35watt HID's that came in the RX8, it doesn't hurt your eyes quite as much.

3000K is usually used for fog lights because the super intense yellow light is less reflected in fog conditions so in reality the higher you go in the spectrum the worse it gets.

Bulb life is pretty much identical across the board though, regardless of color temp

 

typically 3000K is better for foglights. the yellow light penetrates fog better than white light.