Oem Hid K

[sha4000]

i bought a new bulb for the passenger side last year but the old one on the drivers side is noticeably brighter than the new one i was wondering if the k is different and how do i check

[ED.]

Do you have Xenons? If so I believe the K is 4300. Halogens should be 4000. I wonder if you have to replace Xenons in pairs?

thanks

[SW03ES]

All OEM HID is 4100k. Halogens are more like 3000k.

The difference in the color is because of age. Like all headlights they should be replaced in pairs. Xenons get visably brighter and usually purpler as they age.

[GRAND_LS 4]

All OEM HID is 4100k. Halogens are more like 3000k.

The difference in the color is because of age. Like all headlights they should be replaced in pairs. Xenons get visably brighter and usually purpler as they age.

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You mean visably less brighter?

[ED.]

I thought Lexus was 4300. I know BMW is.

[bartkat]

Philips makes a replacement bulb that's about 4900 ct so it will match an old bulb and you don't have to replace both.

[sha4000]

All OEM HID is 4100k. Halogens are more like 3000k.

The difference in the color is because of age. Like all headlights they should be replaced in pairs. Xenons get visably brighter and usually purpler as they age.

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yeah the older one is def. brighter so do you think i should get another bulb and where do you recommend to get it from without paying so much?

[SW03ES]

ALL OEM HID is 4100k, its the only DOT legal color temperature. There wouldnt be any real difference between 4300k and 4100k anyway.

Grand- No actually, older HIDs look brighter than new ones. bartkat's right about the Phillips bulb, I had forgotten about them. For the best match though I'd still replace both.

[sha4000]

Philips makes a replacement bulb that's about 4900 ct so it will match an old bulb and you don't have to replace both.

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where do i buy this bulb and how much does it cost? if its not that exspensive i can get one to match the old one for now and later buy a new later to match the bulb i just bought. is that a plausible scenario?

[bartkat]

Philips makes a replacement bulb that's about 4900 ct so it will match an old bulb and you don't have to replace both.

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where do i buy this bulb and how much does it cost? if its not that exspensive i can get one to match the old one for now and later buy a new later to match the bulb i just bought. is that a plausible scenario?

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I got mine from the guy who has this ad on Ebay. Don't know if he'll sell just one, but the price is ok. I got two because I wanted a slightly higher K without going too blue.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-New-PHILI...995593359QQrdZ1

[SW03ES]

sha- But you already bought the new 4100k one, so you may as well just spend the money on another new 4100k bulb.

[bartkat]

sha- But you already bought the new 4100k one, so you may as well just spend the money on another new 4100k bulb.

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Yep.

[GRAND_LS 4]

sha- But you already bought the new 4100k one, so you may as well just spend the money on another new 4100k bulb.

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Yep.

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I dunno guys, I just replaced both of my bulbs, the older ones were bluer, and much dimmer then the newer ones.

I lost some of the nice blueness for a while, but the new ones are definitely brighter.

[SW03ES]

Think about it this way. As you move up the color temp scale the lights look bluer, but they put out less usable light. The optimum light output is OEM, 4100k. 6000 is dimmer, 8000even moreso. As the lights age they move up the color scale to 5000k or so, bluer but with less light output. That explains what you've experienced. Older bulbs are brighter colored, but put out less light. Make sense?

[GRAND_LS 4]

Think about it this way. As you move up the color temp scale the lights look bluer, but they put out less usable light. The optimum light output is OEM, 4100k. 6000 is dimmer, 8000even moreso. As the lights age they move up the color scale to 5000k or so, bluer but with less light output. That explains what you've experienced. Older bulbs are brighter colored, but put out less light. Make sense?

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exactly, thats what I was saying. As the bulb ages, it gets LESS brighter, and more bluer. Because as the blub gets bluer, its gets dimmer as well.

[SW03ES]

Thats the basic gist of it, but it doesn't really get dimmer in the sense that a halogen bulb gets dimmer. The nature of the light just changes.

[bartkat]

Spectral shifting.

[SW03ES]

There ya go.

[bartkat]

There ya go.

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:D

[GRAND_LS 4]

There ya go.

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:D

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I'm pretty sure when I say they get dimmer. In addition to the color shift.

This varies from bulb to another, some get bluer, some get purple (like acura's).

[sha4000]

Think about it this way. As you move up the color temp scale the lights look bluer, but they put out less usable light. The optimum light output is OEM, 4100k. 6000 is dimmer, 8000even moreso. As the lights age they move up the color scale to 5000k or so, bluer but with less light output. That explains what you've experienced. Older bulbs are brighter colored, but put out less light. Make sense?

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sorry guys been at the hospital all day visiting with moms. your def. right SW my older bulb is bluer/purple than the new one but i kind of like it like that, my lights are not as bright as some of the cars i see with hid and i now know what you guys mean when i see people with thise cheap looking knock offs. i would like to get a new oem bulb but i paid like $300 for it at the dealer. of course that was b4 i became a member of this site. i see alot of ads on the web about bulbs but i really dont know which ones i can get that are really oem. can you just list one that has the oem for a decent price? thanks for all the help

[SW03ES]

Like everything else, its cheaper if you dont buy them at the dealer. You can find them for $100 or so online.

GRAND- The blue/purple disparity is because of the housings the lights beam through. Soume housings (like projectors) bring out more purple while some (like reflectors) bring out the blue.

[aahn]

hey there,

looked into this actually because i recently wanted

to get a HID conversion kit for my '00 RX to match

the hue of my '03 SC, and the people I talked to

said that Lexus uses Phillips bulbs and ballasts and

are at 4300K.

I actually bought a McCulloch 10000K kit...

[SW03ES]

Just so you know, a 10,000k kit has approximately 50% the light output of a 4100k kit. The color is achieved by dying the glass.