Xenon Bulbs

[apantale]

Being new to the club, there will be a period of questions that may have been answered many times before,,and for this I apologize. In any event, I see many eBay bids for Xenon bulbs. For my 202, is this as simple as "plug-n-play", or does this require any retrofitting? I know that there are quick and dirty ways of doing things, and the right way to do things. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. The costs of these bulbs are not that expensive, but I usually equate cheap, with a quick and dirty way out..normally followed by frustration and and inevitable investment that is almost 2.5 times your initial cheap solution.

Thanks

PS. Is there also a considerable difference in visual distance and depth? and are they all blue in color?

[Golden1245]

4100-4300K has THE MOST light output, it's whitish in color, but after it settles, sometimes there's a little yellow...well, isee that in my CLK, that outputs about...3200 lumens. It's standard on all the OEM xenon headlamps.

6000k is more blue, greenish/blue, and i think looks the coolest out of all of them, but it outputs less light...about 2700 lumens?

8000k is garbage because i heard it's pink/ or deep purplish or something and projects literally very little light on the road, (probably meant for show purposes only).

[BenzoAMGpower]

welcome.....glad to see another member from FL!!!! Hit me up on AIM sometime..... Eurospek AZN

[solmagic2]

Originally posted by Golden1245
4100-4300K has THE MOST light output, it's whitish in color, but after it settles, sometimes there's a little yellow...well, isee that in my CLK, that outputs about...3200 lumens. It's standard on all the OEM xenon headlamps.

6000k is more blue, greenish/blue, and i think looks the coolest out of all of them, but it outputs less light...about 2700 lumens?

8000k is garbage because i heard it's pink/ or deep purplish or something and projects literally very little light on the road, (probably meant for show purposes only).

the reason you see more with the 4300 is because this is what your eye sees the best.

The human eye is most sesitve to yellow and orange light and less to blue. This why alot of rally drivers use yellow light, same as fog lights.

If your eyes were adjusted to diffent light then the 8000 would be the britest in our eye.

Hope this helps alittle bit with lighing and how it works.

[Badinfo]

More topically, the stuff you see on ebay aren't true xenon. They might have a little xenon gas in the bulb, but they are definetely not HIDs. They are simply halogen bulbs that shine a different color. I think far blue halogens look downright cheap. Philips cool blues or sylvania silverstars will offer you a more appealing headlight color without looking like you painted your lens purple.

[Tinman]

the brightest you can see is between 4300 and 4600. Sunlight is 5200k. When you go above that, you start to get color. The higher the number, the more color. On the lesser-quality or older-technology systems, they start blue, and get more purple. On the newer, higher-quality systems, they just get more and more blue. I have 7,500k bulbs, you can see them in my sig and members gallery. Soon, they'll be replaced by 10,000k, much like the ones that amg142 has.

If you're going true HIDs, go quality. Do it once and be done with it. Check out http://www.santeca.com. Good set will run you around $650. Or, if you just want more light, try out the Sylvania SilverStar bulbs. Brightest out there. They'll be about $30. Check it out and make your own call.

L8

[Brabus]

OEM is most stable...

I have a Phillips kit. It's not too bad, but the connector is loose now.

[apantale]

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the replies. I think for now, as a cost effective approach I will do the best bulbs. I may go full HID later, but for now, i think the brighter, clearer bulbs will be the best bang. This will give me more resource dollars for other upgrades.


Thanks guys...:cool:

[Golden1245]

get PIAA extreme force headlights (halogen) if you want close to HID performance.

[Dan The AMG Man]

try this site for back up.

www.proxenon.com (http://www.proxenon.com)

[newt3no]

best prices ive seen so far

here (http://cgi6.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=deepakmanuel&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50)

philips bulbs and hella ballasts