Guys - I was speaking with my eye Dr. Recently about eye strain. He mentioned the color (kelvin temp) of headlights have an effect on eye strain, he suggested looking at a yellower light to reduce strain.

I have been driving more during the dark and pondering adding the yellow lamin-x film to see if it makes it better. I found mixed info about colored films on headlights. Anyone have first hand experience on adding yellow film to headlights? Thoughts?

I highly doubt yellow tint is legal on your headlights.

Foglights, yes.

Better check local laws first.

Why and how are you looking into your own headlights?

What headlights or rather, bulbs, are you currently running? A standard halogen bulb or 4300k hid would probably be best.

Have you considered yellow tinted glasses for night driving? That would also negate the strain from other vehicles.

i would think anything you put on your headlights, no matter how thin or transparent, will in some small way reduce light output. i would also think the best way to avoid eye strain would be to get as close to daylight as possible. I think i've read that 4300k is about as "natural" of a color as there is, you'd just need to figure out how bright you can get. My wife's 3rd gen with 5K projector retrofits is a pleasure to drive at night, plenty of light.

You should just replace the fog bulbs with HIDs or a different temp quality halogen. personally I have had great success with DDM HIDs and they can be had for ~30 bucks in any color temp you like. I don't like the look of the yellow tint and you will get a lot more output from HIDs.

You can always do a retrofit for more output and better light, but if you don't want to go baking the headlights, higher quality halogen bulbs will help, the stock ones really sucked.

+1 on DDM. I have ran them for 30k miles. 5000k/55W. Bright as hell. I swap out the ballasts and ignitors every 15k miles or so, just as a preventive measure. $50 or $60 bucks for HIDs can't be argued with.

I currently run a hella bulb that is slightly above 4300k, closer to 5000k. Since I don't have projector housings I have 2 options, buy projector housings and find a bulb lower than 4300k or run a film and see if it helped and reevaluate at that point (good or bad).

My regular prescription glasses are great, but the eye dr thinks that a yellower bulb may help with eye strain.

I asked about the film as it was a cheap trial method to see if there is a benefit. I don't want to run HID's in a halogen housing. I did consider the HIR bulbs as an option.

I realize this yellow light option might not be the 'Cool' thing, but this is more of a function versus form thing.

Thanks for the input so far!

What would be cool, is if someone took the lights from a 3M sungun and threw them in all they're lights. Make some KC (actual)daylighters! Honestly, it would be really cool. But to OP, would it be an issue wearing lightly tinted sunglasses?
Or a combination of our ideas:

this guy over in the 5th gen forum seems to like this stuff..

Building a pavement princess - 2014 TE build thread

he also has one hell of a nice land cruiser

First off, not sure if you've read this link yet, but he provides a nice overview of yellow lighting: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

Now back to your issue at hand, have you thought about just going back to stock halogen bulbs? Those are closer to the 3000K range, and might be substantially warmer to your eyes and give you some strain relief.

IMO, if you throw on a yellow film, that will probably make it too yellow, and might be too distracting to you due to the huge color difference (from you vs everyone else). I have yellow film on my fog lights and it definitely reduces the output substantially...not sure I would want to do that to my headlights where output range is the key, lol.

If you're just wanting to try it out like you said, yellow film might be the way to go, I would check out your state's DMV website and see what colors are acceptable for headlights. Surprisingly, some states actually allow yellow or white

"cool" is all relative buddy, maybe you're going for that Lemans race car look,

In college I did a lot of driving at night. I purchased two types of very nice sunglasses. Both were Bausch & Lomb "shooter" glasses. One had the yellow lens; the other was the photo changing gray tint. Depending on weather, rain, snow, or during the dark, these glasses really relieved the eye strain. It worked on every car I drove.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I ordered a set of Osram bulbs last night. Should be oem color with more lumen. We shall see.

To those suggesting colored glasses, I thought about it, but I do need my prescription glasses to see at night. Needless to say I don't want to order a new pair of prescription glasses right now.

If you have an extra pair of glasses you could lamin-x them!

Jk of course...but it would be cool

I also ordered a set of HIR bulbs.