I tend to drive with my lights on all the time, I think it gives me an extra feeling of visibility, if that makes sense.

Anyway, bulbs are starting to look a little dimmer and compared to other xenon equipped cars it's clear that my bulbs aren't what they used to be.

I need 2x D2S bulbs, but not sure which colour rating/make to go for. I'm thinking 5000k as I don't want them to look too blue or aftermarket and I think 5000k is as close to natural light as you can get.

Does anyone have any experience of online retailers and can anyone give me some advice on where to buy/what to buy please?

Cheers

IIRC std colour, and closest to daylight is around 4300k.


3000k
Yellow light (suitable for fog lights)

4300k
White light with tinges of yellow.

5000K:
PURE WHITE LIGHT.

6000K:
White light with tinges of blue

8000K:
Distinct blue color light

10000K:
Bluish-green light

12000K:
Bluish-purplish light.

good info

Why? It just makes you look like a tosser.

whats the law regarding these bulbs ? is there any legislation ?

Yeah, OK. I'm of the opinion that if it makes me even slightly more visible then it's a good thing.

But I'm not going to argue with you. If headlights make you think someone is a tosser then you have some issues to deal with.



Not sure, I imagine if you went too blue or purple or whatever then you'd be at risk of being pulled by the police/failing MOT but I don't plan to.

Also, this isn't an HID kit which I think there are certain issues with, these are factory fit xenons.

If you drove with fog lights on I'd think you were a tosser...
but with headlights I'd just think you were a Volvo driver

Plus a lot of new cars have LED Daytime running lights with has become / is becoming EU legislation? and these are pretty much as bright as headlights.

If you drove with fog lights on I'd think you were a tosser...
but with headlights I'd just think you were a Volvo driver [/quote]

I agree re fog lights - they hardly even make a difference in fog! It's also a £30 fine so why people bother, I do not know.



I'd also say more dazzling as the light isn't concentrated onto the road. The EU have implemented it as a safety thing so it must make the roads safer. Since I don't have LED DRLs then I put my headlights on. Stick that one in your pipe MikeT!

I bought my HID (High intensity Dischacge Lights) from ebay for about £50, i fitted them myself very easy to fit. Forget about buying bulbs that are supposed to give you the same effect, over the years i have paid alot of money for so called "whiter light" bulbs, all failed to impress.

I like the visibility that a HID gives off. the lights replace your existing bulbs and you have a small controll box that you fasten behind the light.

Im pretty sure your car will have 4300k D2s lamps as standard. As you use them all the time then perhaps they have started to lose their brightness with age as all gas discharge lamps do. You would see an improvement just replacing like for like. Personally I would go for 5000k like all those mercs use as I think they look great although 4300k apparently gives you the most light on the road. I use 6000k lamps and they are very bright but I think they do look slightly chavvy.

Alex's Z4 already has HIDs as std - I think he is just on about changing the OEM HID (probably 4300k) bulbs to a slightly higher temp

What sidelights are on the Z4? 6000k HIDs are very close to the colour of LEDs if you want them to match. Dont forget to get canbus LEDs if you do swap them though, as non canbus ones will mess up the lighting warning system

Correct Stu, it's not that I want to change the colour in particular it's just that they have lost brightness and need replacing anyway so looking for advice on temp.

The Z4 has LED side lights, I bought them a while back, I think it was you that was selling them and told me where I could get them. Seem to match quite well the bulbs that are in there now (4300k I presume). I will probably go for 5000k as has been recommended elsewhere too.

Just a note for TheComputerLab, those HID conversion kits can quite often scatter light all over the show and do a cracking job of dazzling people. What car have you got them in and are they projector lenses?



Yep, D2S and I think you are right with the age thing, they're quoted as being good for the life of the car and can last 3000 hours, well 3000 hours doing 30mph = 90,000 miles and guess what mileage my car is about 200 miles off

They probably should last the life of the car if you only use them in the dark

Someone else told me the newest Mercs use 5000k so with that in mind I think I will be going for something like this;

http://www.hids4u.co.uk/D2S-Upgrade-Bulbs-brilliant-white-high-quality-5000k.html

I know this is no use to you whatsoever but I also use 6000k in my torch

Cheers - just taken a call from the garage sorting my auto leveling sensors out, turns out I have a broken headlight motor too! Great news! So have told them to leave that for now until I've sorted bulbs and they can do them at the same time.

This car is a pain.

Probably just get the 135i as previously mentioned and get rid of it.