Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

Hello

I just replace the OEM HID bulb with an 12K (Violet white hue) one, I know, I know many will say that visibility wise it is not a very good idea, but man it looks sweet. I have posted some day pictures that does not do justice, I will try to take some pics tonight.

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RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

Well for sure you can tell a hell of a diff in the brightness

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

the kelvin has nothing ot do with power, it's the color. Violet white must look really good. I want yellow HIDs installed (like the Le Mans cars).

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

Very nice Laredotexas, the color looks awesome!!! How much did you pay for them and where did you get them?

my other car, an '06 Subaru Outback Sedan has the yellow HIDs. Its nice but you dont get the nice luxurious car look that the higher Kelvin rated HIDs give you, at least in my opinion. But its whatever looks good to you man!

Like 87 turbo II said, kelvin the rating of the color temprature on a special scale, 12k being very very white, 4k, 5k, 6k being a more blue shade, and the 2k and 3k being a lower blue changing into a yellow. Lumens or candlepower is the brightness level, the hugher the lumens the brighter the bulb is going to be.

Laredotexas, do you know the lumens rating for the 12k bulbs that you got and how did you install the bulb? I cant get into the back of my HID housing without having to take the bumper off which is a pain to do everything something goes wrong! Any suggestions?

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

Thanks for all comments

I got the bulbs from a local shop, for about $150 a pair. You can also get them on ebay for around $100 including shipping but I could not wait a week to get my hands on it. Installation was not that hard, I did took the bumper off "not a big deal", once the bumper is off you just get the entire headlight housing out and unplug the OEM bulb and replace it with the new one ( it is always good to be avail to see what you are doing, if you dont take the bumper off it will be very very hard just to know what is going on in there). I forgot to take pictures but it is not that hard.

It took me less than one hour to do get it done, you might just need some help when pulling the bumper out and once again when putting it back to void any scratch on the paint.

My next mod will be HID fogs, what do you guys think? I will pull the kit out of my wife's H3 she doesn't use them at all and they are also 12K.

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

I just took some pictures at night, I will also attached pictures from the hummer for you all to see the diffrence when you have two kits on at once.

Frist Picture H3

Second Picture M3

I just notice that both of my vehicles are 3's


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RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

Good job man.

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

I just got a pair of 6000k installed and they look much better, not only I have better visibility but they also look good!! 12K are nice but not good when traveling.

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

12,000k...... Hmmmmm. Why?

That's not quite correct. The kelvin rating is simply color temperature, not a "special scale". 1000-2500k is redish light, 2500-4000 is yellow going to white, 4000-5500k is the closest to white (sunlight) that you can get, 5500-~7000 is bluish white, and anything above that is blue/violet. All OEM HID systems use lamps in the 4100-4300k range.

Here's a kelvin color scale to give you an idea about what's where light-wise.
http://www.neon-lighting.com/articles/colortemp.jpg

The violet color you have might look cool, but it's producing less usable light than stock HIDs. Not only that but bluish/purplish light will fatigue your eyes more quickly if you do a lot of night driving. I don't think stock to 12,000k was a good move, but still it's your car, so do with it what you will.

RE: Replace OEM HID Bulb with 12000K Bulb
 

hmmm OK, I change from 12K to 6K .. does this make sense.