Those really bright headlights

[TheLoneGunman]

I smashed my front end and so I figured it would be the perfect time to add in those super bright bulbs.

Anyone have any experience with them?

What types do you recommend? (Ebay seems to have the best deals)

I have a '95 Infinti Q45 if that matters. Also, I live in a pretty urban area and don't really think I have a headlight issue, but I guess more power is always beneficial.

[hapoo]

I believe the "super bright bulbs" your refering to are HID (High intesity discharge) lights (aka Xenon lights). They're not bulbs so you can't just switch it with the ones you smashed up, and upgrading (aftermarket that is) costs around $1000 and up.

[TheLoneGunman]

Well they have a bunch of "HID-like" bulbs in a variety of colors, mostly white, blue, but sometimes purple.
I saw these in person at PepBoys so I know they are legit.

[hapoo]

Originally posted by TheLoneGunman
Well they have a bunch of "HID-like" bulbs in a variety of colors, mostly white, blue, but sometimes purple.
I saw these in person at PepBoys so I know they are legit.

yeah, but those arn't very bright (and most are illegal). In order to get that color they're coated in a dye to block out the other non-blue colors, they tend to burn out pretty quick.

[Memo]

Yes, I put some of the HID-Like bulbs in my truck. They lasted a few months before one burned out. I don't know if it was my fault or maybe just the bulb. I thought they were cool as hell. Cheap way to make your car look a bit cooler ;) If you actually want to get an HID-Light casing and system it will run you in the thosands, I'd just recommend getting the bulbs unless you really need bright lights.

[rum]

As long as the police in your area aren't picky about the smallest thing, I would recommend the cheap bluish "white" bulbs. You can get them from Pep Boys , or any riceboy fix up shop in your area. They'll only cost you about $40-80 for a pair depending on the brand you get.

[Sportzcoop]

I have PIAA super white lowbeams, which are street legal and look good, but they are not very bright. I also have Superwhite bulbs in my stock foglights that are Eaglelight brand I believe. They are a lot cheaper than the PIAA's although not street legal and they are very bright and nice looking. If you don't care about the legality issue, then go with the eaglelights, but there r 2 types get the ones in the case with the blue and silver wrap not the boxed ones. The boxed ones are the old version and they are not nearly as nice.
PIAA-$65 pr
Eaglelight-$25 pr

[ArkiStan]

how long will the PIAAs last before burning out?

[shaggymatt]

If you don't want to spend all the dough on HID's the other option is to to go with E-code (Euro) lighting. The lens is glass instead of the cheesy plastic that US DOT spec lights are. There is a substantial lighting improvement with these lights, and a sharp cutoff like HID's have. For my car these are about $400, in retrospect, HID's are $1050.

The fake HID bulbs are worthless, you get less light output, and they are illegal because they are blinding to oncoming drivers. Just because you can get them at Pep Boys doesn't make them legal. I can buy a straight pipe for my car there also to bypass the cat, is that legal, no!

Other colors in the light spectrum when using non OEM bulbs can actually reduce your rain/snow/fog vision. You really want to stick with something true white or yellow (standard OE halogen is considered yellow).

On my car I had Hella Optilux Xenon bulbs for low beams and PIAA SuperWhite for high beams. The Hella's lasted a year, they had a lifetime warranty, but the place I got them from stopped carrying them because of quality control problems in production, so they refunded my money. These bulbs were great, although I went through three sets in my wife's car before he stopped carrying them (same bulb lasted a year in my car!). I'm now back to OE bulbs. I'm looking for a suitable replacement, but might do E-code lights now.

[Sportzcoop]

I have had my PIAAS for over a year with no problems. At one point I had the cheap blue bulbs in my headlights but one of the bulbs bubbled (literally) so i stepped up to a name brand legal bulb.

[ArkiStan]

The biggest problem with my stock lamps is not as much the brightess as distance. The lights just don't reach that far, and with oncoming traffic, I'm pretty much in the dark. Pretty dangerous huh? Is it the bulbs' fault? Or is it just my car? Will brighter bulbs let me see farther?

[shaggymatt]

You might have poor quality reflectors in your lens which might be your problem. If that is the case, no matter how bright the bulb it will not help. Basically the bulb shines forward, bounces back to the main part of the lens, and that is the light that you see coming out of your car.

Also if you go to a higher than stock bulb wattage, you might need to beef up your wiring, or risk melting/shorting your factory wiring harness.

I've heard of a couple people with the cheap fake HID bulbs actually having them explode while they were using them. That's not dangerous, but the glass from the bulb ends up in the lens, which is basically sealed. So you then need to make something with like duct tape wrapped around it to pick up all those little pieces of glass through the little hole that the bulb goes in, doesn't sound like much fun to save a few bucks!

[Jihforce]

ignore

[Edited by Jihforce on 04-23-2001 at 11:49 AM]

[Jihforce]

I think the HID-like bulbs burn out faster, because when I got car, I wanted to get the dealer to get me those installed since i didn't want to fork out 1500 bucks for a set of xenon lights. The dealer adviced me not to since they run on different wattage they burn out faster.
Besides, its just for looks and it has no real functionality. Then again, who cares! As long as it looks good, right?

[Apex]

Most modern cars have harness's that can take up to about 90-100 watts (on average). Most, not all. Above that, you definitely want to upgrade.

[rum]

Originally posted by shaggymatt
I've heard of a couple people with the cheap fake HID bulbs actually having them explode while they were using them.

Headlight bulbs usually only explode if you hold them by the actual bulb. You're supposed to only touch the base, or use a cloth. Otherwise, oil from your hands gets on it and can cause it to blow.

[speedracer120]

That goes for any really expensive high heat light bulbs, i.e. for overhead projectors, halogens, etc.

[shaggymatt]

Quite true but unless all the people that were lying that had them blow up, they claimed to never have touched the lens.

[TheLoneGunman]

It is the bulb, not the lens that you can't touch. Also, it is not just touching, any foreign matter will cause it to explode.

Basically the scientific reason is that the part with the foreign matter will get slightly hotter (or colder) than the rest of the light and so it will expand (or contract) more than the rest of the bulb and carried to the extreme, it will tear itself apart (like what the human body does when exposed to the vacuum of space for prolonged periods -- you can actually survive about 90 seconds without a space suit)

[shaggymatt]

I meant the bulb, sorry. It's pretty darn hard to touch the lens on most modern reflector style headlights.

I'm a bit weary of my PIAA's. They have what appears to be cracks on the bulb's glass surface. Leads me to believe the coating is cracking due to the extreme heat.

None the less I really don't drive at night very often, or I would get HID's.