Light Question

[Spastik]

First off, thanks a ton for all the info guys, I have learned a lot lurkin around

My question is what bulb should I get for my new lights? I have an '08 sport, V8 4WD that I installed HID's in last week (6k in high/low/fog spots) and am getting Hella Rallye 4000 compacts with the Celis in em. It looks like they are rated at 55 watts and would really like something to put in there that would look similar to the 6k HID's I already installed. Granted, its bright as hell allready so this may be overkill, as long as its not underkill and I get lights that don't shine more than the HID's hehe. I believe the size for em is H1.


Thanks for the help!!!

 

[BlairB]

Why not just convert them to 6000k HID's as well? If not that, what are you looking for, a White/Bluish halogen bulb? I am sort of confused by your question to be honest. Maybe some clarification would help.

How are you mounting them by the way?

 

[Spastik]

Sorry for the confusion! Conversion to the HID's is an option, but I would like to try a regular bulb if its at all possible. The color would be the white with the light hint of blue that the 6k's I installed have. I am mounting the lights to my bull bar so the will be about level with the lower grill.


What about going up in wattage from the 55 it comes with to compensate for them not being HID?


BTW Blair, my 08 sport is Shadow Mica as well

 

[BlairB]

Well, have you considered other lights besides the Hella 4000's? PIAA makes these lights called the 520 ATP's, they are not blueish, but are supposed to be "xtreme white". The Hellas would be much more yellow than these, but it still wont be an exact match to your HID's.

Kragen also makes these HID's. They are very affordable and IIRC running around 6000k. There is some debate about their quality so its hard to give you a definte answer as to how great they are (usually people say great things), all I know is my friend has 4 of them on his F350 and they are BRIGHT.

Going up in wattage is very possible with the Hellas, you may have you put in better wiring and a larger fuse. Many people put 100w bulbs in the Hella 500's for example. I would stray away from putting some whitish/bluish light bulb in though, since it will really decrease the amount of light thrown by your aux lights.

I, like you, love having bright lights. I am currently running 2- 130w KC Long Range Slimlites and 2- 100w KC Driving Beam Slimlites on my lightbar and I just ordered 4- 55w Hella 500's to put on my roof rack (I will prob put 100w bulbs in sometime soon).

And its all about Shadow Mica! :bigok:

 

[Spastik]

Thanks for the info! Have you had any issues with your KC's? I had a 98 4Runner and they didn't fare too well for me. It may just have been the way they were made back then, but the casing completely rusted out (I live outside of Pittsburgh back then). That is the main reason I am going for Hella, the housing durability from them seems to be the best. Swapping out the bulb is going to be the first thing I do as, like you said, the light just isn't that great in em.

I can't immagine how much light you are kickin out with all those LOL!! Why haven't you gone HID with your bigger lights?

 

[BlairB]

My KC's have been great, I heard bad things about some of the older KC's as well, but my Slimlites seem very well made and I would be shocked if I ran into rust problems. They have a 23 year warranty which is also pretty hard to beat.

Awhile ago, I put HID's in my headlights but the kit I got was really poor quality and ended up returning it for a refund. I think that left a bad taste in my mouth. Also if I start changing some lights to HID's, I will want to change them all to HID's, which would be a very expensive endeavor, not to mention I do not like the idea of drilling extra holes in my off roading lights and voiding their warranties. I like having uniformity between my lights. Also I don't like how long HID's take to warm up, when I flip a few switches it is instantly daylight in front of me .