HID Conversion Kit, Bulb Size Questions.

[yobeez]

Hello everyone. I am a NOOB on this site. Just wanted some info. I want to Install some HIDs on my truck. I have a toyota 4 Runner SR5 2005. I was wondering what bulb size do I need? I looked at some websites they have h1 h2 h3 9006 9005 etc.... I was wondering which ones would fit my Truck. I dont want to do any custom jobs or clipping of the plastic pieces, etc....

I went to this website,

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/LampReplacementGuide/default.htm


And it says that I can use my Fog Lights and my Low Beam Lights with the 9005 Bulbs, and the Hi Beam wit 9006 bulbs. Does anyone concur with this? Hopefully someone with the same model and year as my truck can answer this , as well as I know most of you guys can as well. So please, I would love to hear from anyone! Thanks!

 

[Uneek]

And it says that I can use my Fog Lights and my Low Beam Lights with the 9005 Bulbs, and the Hi Beam wit 9006 bulbs. Does anyone concur with this?

Welcome to T4R.org.

The other way around...

Your 2005 uses the following bulbs:
Fog: 9006
Low beam: 9006
High beam: 9005

IIRC, I think there's an H equivalent for the 9006.

If you are doing HIDs, get the 9006 for the lowbeam and/or fogs. Don't bother getting 9005 HIDs for your low beams. I'll explain why below.

Most likely what you read about using the 9005 for lowbeams is: 9005 are 65w bulbs for the highbeam, whereas 9006 are 55w bulbs. So naturally, they're brighter. The modication involves cutting tabs inside the bulb where the electrical connection is made so the 9006 headlight wiring socket connection will plug in and modifying the base so the bulb can fit into the 9006 housing.

If you're doing HIDs, why bother with modifying the base? It's better to get a base that's designed to fit into the 9006 housing rather than a 9005 and deal with modifying it. You won't be doing anything to the wiring because HIDs are powered by a ballast and your factory headlight should go to a wiring harness kit (relays and fuses) that's connected directly to the battery and the OEM headlight plug is only use to trigger the relays to turn on the HIDs.

It's your money, but I and many others recommend against HIDs for highbeams because most of the time you'll use your HIDs to flash. Short on and offs are very hard on HID components (HID burners and ballasts). Leave them with regular Halogen bulbs.

To sum it and make it easy, if you're going HIDs for fogs and/or low beams, get a 9006 kit. If you're going use Halogen bulbs of whatever flavor (Piaa's, Polarg, Hella, Philips, etc.) you can get 9005 high beam bulbs and do the 9005 to 9006 conversion mod.

Hope this helps.

 

[yobeez]

wow man, you really summed it up!!! I might just get HID's for my LOW Beams, and get regular Blue Bulbs for my Fog Lights. What do you think about that Idea? I rarely drive at night. I just drive back and forth to work but the extra Lighting will help on the road during the winter times in NYC!!!!

 

[Uneek]

That's a solid plan right, with the exception of the blue fogs. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the idea, but I like to provide you with any info that may help you... after all, different strokes for different folks.) If you're doing the fogs for looks, that's fine. But keep in mind blue bulbs are actually dimmer than the standard halogen bulb. HIDs for highbeam is a definite overkill. Yellow HIDs for fogs would help for foul/wet weather performance, but it depends on the amount of driving you'll do in those conditions at night. For me, I travel in snow quite a bit during winter nights, so I'm looking into yellow lighting for my fogs to help out in that area.

You will literally notice a night and day difference once you put HIDs for the lowbeam. But check your aim though, because the in reflector based lowbeams it could have glare for other vehicles. I've been flashed before with HIDs in my stock projectors.

 

[yobeez]

You will literally notice a night and day difference once you put HIDs for the lowbeam. But check your aim though, because the in reflector based lowbeams it could have glare for other vehicles. I've been flashed before with HIDs in my stock projectors.

Hmmmm Possibly I Might go For either 6000k or 8000k for my Low Beams, and Maybe Bright Whites, 4000k for my Fogs? What do you think about that? I already have Yellow Fog Lamps on my BrushGuard... That does wonders when i was driving up to Boston!!!!

 

[Uneek]

I wouldn't get anything above 6000k because it gets too blue. But you're going for the "look" then there's not much of a choice.

A member (can't remember their name) had 6000k and switched to 4300k and said the extra blue in 6000k was giving his eyes a lot of fatigue at night. I wondered about this personally too (see below). This is debateable and each person has different tolerance levels. In that member's thread, they had pictures from the interior of 6000k and 4300k, which was enough to illustrate and convince me not to upgrade to 6000k. I currently have 4300k in my low beams.

Originally, I got 4300k because I wanted the brightest available light, that was 4300k which is used by all OEMs, though some now are using 5000k. After I got the 4300k, I wanted a little more "color" since I felt my 4300k looked too much like Halogens and considered getting 6000k. (I didn't want to spend another $100-$150 for new HID burners to expermiment with.) I'm told after 100 or so hours HIDs will color shift and get a little more color. But I questioned how the additional blue color would affect me. The last thing I want is to wear myself out at night because of my lighting. One thing I find annoying now is when I pull up behind another car and my HIDs are reflecting off their car, gets my eyes tired really fast from the increased brightness. It's not a problem in my Tacoma with Halogens. Some have posted 8000k and 10000k pics. IMO, that's way too blue when the ground is blue and signs are lit up blue. (This is my view and no disrespect to anyone who prefers the blue lights.) One other note, the blue flicker you see (most notable in Audi's) are from the projectors, not the color temperature of the HIDs.

Not sure how law enforcement deals with blue lights in your area. Here where the "import" culture is a big deal with illegal street racing, cops will pull you over for blue lights. I've heard of some going as far as shining their flashlights into your headlight housing, if they see any blue, you're cited.