Upgrading forward lighting. 5k or 6k?

[mavrick1903]

Wondering what the arguments are for 5k or 6k in any of the three placements, high, low, fog.

 

[Twan]

No, no, and no. 5k is pushing it when it comes to light output, 6k is giving up output for color. Assuming you're talking about HID lighting, sticking an aftermarket kit in factory housings is another terrible idea. A projector doesn't automatically mean HIDs are OK, despite a lot of people thinking so.

You need to ask more specific questions, otherwise people will just make wild, condescending assumptions about how you just want to stick a crappy DDM kit in halogen housings and blind everyone you pass then tell us how you haven't been flashed by a passing car ever because you adjusted your lights so far down you stripped out the adjustment screws.

 

[mavrick1903]

Fair enough. I guess still figuring out what questions I need to ask. I'm considering going to an HID. And I would adjust the lighting to spec. No disrespect, but how does that cause a problem? I honestly don't know. First set of wheels I've thought about doing this sort of thing with.

PS: what's a DDM kit?

Sounds like you're saying I should not do an HID kit at all. Help me understand why, please?

 

[Twan]

Not trying to come off in a rude way or anything, it's just lighting upgrades are easy to do poorly and are often a touchy subjects on forums. First off, what vehicle are you looking to upgrade?

DDM is just a brand of cheaply made "HID" kits that you often see in cars with blue/purple lights that creates the obnoxious glare. Halogen reflectors in headlights aren't designed to focus the light output those bulbs create, which leads to hot-spots and annoying traffic around you with all the scattered light. Halogen projectors suffer from the same issues, but are often not quite as bad. It's also why they're not a good idea in fog lights, too much scatter, and the color temps you mentioned would actually create more glare reflecting off the water in the air. That's why a lot of fog lights are in the 3 amber color range. There's also been a few cases of fires from the heat generated in projector fog housings over on Nasioc.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lighting, but what it sounds like you're looking for is some sort of projector retrofit. Check out HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum to see some projects and get some ideas. Oh yeah, another reason some of these kits are a bad idea if you want to run them in your high beams, and it's separate from the low beams, these kits have a warm up time, which could leave you in the dark for a moment while they heat up.

 

[mavrick1903]

Not trying to come off in a rude way or anything, it's just lighting upgrades are easy to do poorly and are often a touchy subjects on forums. First off, what vehicle are you looking to upgrade?

DDM is just a brand of cheaply made "HID" kits that you often see in cars with blue/purple lights that creates the obnoxious glare. Halogen reflectors in headlights aren't designed to focus the light output those bulbs create, which leads to hot-spots and annoying traffic around you with all the scattered light. Halogen projectors suffer from the same issues, but are often not quite as bad. It's also why they're not a good idea in fog lights, too much scatter, and the color temps you mentioned would actually create more glare reflecting off the water in the air. That's why a lot of fog lights are in the 3 amber color range. There's also been a few cases of fires from the heat generated in projector fog housings over on Nasioc.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lighting, but what it sounds like you're looking for is some sort of projector retrofit. Check out HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum to see some projects and get some ideas. Oh yeah, another reason some of these kits are a bad idea if you want to run them in your high beams, and it's separate from the low beams, these kits have a warm up time, which could leave you in the dark for a moment while they heat up.

I'll do some more reading on that link. thanks.

I'm looking to upgrade my 2007 T4R Limited. yes projector low beams. Was considering HID for all three (High/Low/Fog) or HID for Low, and LED for High/Fog. Trying to get a grasp on 35w vs 55w, Lumins wanted/needed and color temp. I'm either at 5k or 6k, no higher. "hint" of blue is ok, but no more. I'm looking at http://www.hidextra.com/ as a source. though I've looked at Amazon as well. Would like more feedback about White Beauty on the forum here and his product offering. I'm hesitant to buy with text messages being the only conduit.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Definitely check out HID planet. 4300k-5000k MAX. Otherwise as stated you loose output. If you are putting HIDs in do a bixenon and don't worry about the fogs or highs. And a hid projector is different then a halogen projector.

Good luck.

 

[Twan]

With an '07, you're in luck. The Retrofit Source offers a bolt in projector upgrade for your year truck. Retro-Quik: Toyota 4Runner (06-09) I've had nothing but good things to say about TRS when I bought one of their stage 3 FX-R kits for my last retrofit.

 

[iBison]

I went with 5k and would do the same again. The color is very white, 4300 would be closer to the color temperature of your stock headlights. I went with xenon depot, steve from xd is on here regularly/daily and answered my questions in a very short amount of time. I had thought I had gotten my order incorrect, but he explained the set-up and all was good. The lights are incredibly bright, like you can see them reflect off of signs in the daylight at times, like you can't tell when you hit the brights other than where they light area that are not cover by the HIDs. When I first had them in I was getting flashed by other cars. I thought they were aimed ok, but I lowered them one full turn down on the adjuster and I believe that has fixed that problem. I was going to go with DDM but was unimpressed with a number of reviews and delivery timers some people had talked about. I have an 04 with 08 headlights.