I'm online shopping for them now, but every site has different pics. I do not want any purple or violet, so I was thinking the 6500k's, but I have seen some 8000k's that look great.

I understand the whole light output will be less deal, this is for merely looks.
In the end i want a nice blue/white.

any advice???

 

In my rx-8, I've had the following colors:

8500K
7500K
6000K
5000K
4200k (stock)

9000K + approching UV
8500k is deep blue
7500k is blue
6000k is aqua white
5000k bright white

5000k is by far my favorite color. It still produces a lot of usable light.

FYI- the stock bulbs are:

Philips 85122+
Luminous Flux = 3200lm (avg)
Color Temperature = 4200K
Rated Life = 3000 hours

For every 1000K increase you will loose aprox 300-500 lumens. That means if you go with 8500k you would have about half the usable light compared to when you were stock.

Also note that any bulbs that are not made by Philips are low quality and on average have 1/5 the lifespan. The highest color temp bulb Philips makes is the 6000k Ultinon (actually 5800k) and prepare to pay a large penny for a pair. The Ultinon produces 25% less light then the 85122+. If you must have a 6000k bulb, get the Ultinon's.

Note that manufactures are not required to provide any proof how how they tested the color temp of their bulbs.



Lastly, the base RX-8 with the Halogen H7 bulbs produce about 1400 lumens.


Our stock bulb is the brightest 35w bulb money can buy.




Here is a picture of my car after I installed custom fogs and modified projectors. The light output is simply amazing with zero glare.



more pics:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/vr-night-pics-111865/

 

tagged for future modification

 

I'm interested in converting my fogs to HID also, I've read through your threads, Rotary Rasp, and know that the rebased bulb kits are not the way to go (too bright, glare, not the correct optics for the reflector, no cut off, etc), but I don't really want to convert to projectors either.

I found this on PIAAs japanese website and it seems like the answer. Seems PIAA has created HID kits that actually utilize custom burners (not just rebased D2S's) that are shorter and mimic the optical output of their halogen counterpart. They are 5000K, and they also have 5000K D2S bulbs available to match.

Not only that, they come with a 3 way ballast that allows you to switch between 25w (for show), 35w (normal), and 45w (when you really need some extra light).

Links:
Bulbs:
http://www.piaa.co.jp/whatsnew/whats...ew?Info_ID=243

Balast:
http://www.piaa.co.jp/hid/hid_conversion/hh49_ts.html

You'll have to run these through a translator as they are in Japanese. I have yet to find a way to actually order these. PIAA's US headquarters just happens to be in Portland and I stopped by and asked if they can special order these and they told me to F off basically. Maybe someone on the far East forum can help me.

 

Good find Aipex8,

I bet these will be very expensive. The biggest factor when using HID bulbs in reflectors or even halogen projectors is that if the bulb is not within 1/1000 on an inch of where it was designed to be, glare will be produced. Using projectors over free-form and parabolic reflectors is a major step in the right direction. However, nothing beats a complete retro-fit.

I don't know about the PIAA's you have here, but all HID bulbs that all plug and play halogen upgrades started as D2S's that were rebased. They never get the bulb within the allowed specs. (1/1000)

Lastly, when I installed the H11 plug in play kit in my rx-8, it didn't fit. The bulb was too long which required bending of the reflector, thus making the glare even worse.

Find out how long those PIAA bulbs are and how much a kit cost, then go from there.

 

Yeah, I'm sure they will cost quite a bit, and I don't even know if I'll be able to find a way to get them. I'm no fabricator though, so if I did some kind of retrofit I would certainly have to pay someone else to do it and that could get spendy too. I'd also like to keep the fog housings as OEM looking as possible.

The translated page assures that they will pass vehicle inspection not only because the color temp is 5000K but because of the shorter bulb and the 25w balast (from what I can understand from translating this and a couple other PIAA pages, Japan is cracking down on blue headlights, PIAA warns on pages for their 6000K and higher color temp HID bulbs that they won't pass vehicle inspection because of the color).

 

Oh, also, I can't seem to find it right now, but I did run across a page on the PIAA site that showed blueprints of these bulbs next to halogen bulbs with lines showing that the length and the position of the light source is the same. I'm still a little skeptical, we'll see if I can even find away to get ahold of these.

 

Rasp is the bulb master!

 

I think 6000k is the best IMO. I'm considering getting some asap..

 

Hate to revive a old/dead thread..But didn't really see a place about these and you guys touched based lightly on these, but not much.

Was curious on your guys thoughts on these..?
http://dolls.orz.hm/archives/2006/09/led.html

1. Think they're illegal in MA? Don't look it..
2. From my understanding, just double checking, stock are still brighter then those?
3. Thoughts?
4. Anyone know of any quality ones that are the same as PIAA in terms of quality but maybe less price? Or is it really worth paying for PIAA. (I personally try to stick to good known brand names because I know it's good..)

I've seen a lot of Jap RX8's with these..So they must be good. But then again, don't know for sure. And if this really IS posted somewhere, either I suck at keywords for search or something. :/

 

The link that you posted is showing PIAA LED 194 bulbs for the parking lights, not HID bulbs. Quite a few people here use LEDs for the parking lights and I would suggest vleds.com. PIAAs LEDs are really expensive and not that bright.

 

Gotcha. What about HID's for the main lights then? Are those PIAA's any good? the $300 ones on their website..

http://piaa.com/Bulbs/Bulbs-HID.html

they're 6600k and apparently Cobalt blue? I wonder if that looks any good. And is still good seeing quality. Thanks for the LED recommendation though. Was looking for a good place to get some for my parking/daytime driving lights or whatever.

 

Do a google image search for "PIAA 6600K" and you should be able to find some pics. PIAA typically has good quality, but the prices are too high. You can find Philips OEM quality 6000K bulbs for under $200. The color will be close to the same and the quality will be second to none.

 

Awesome. Any direction you can send me for the phillips bulbs? I must've typed in the wrong thing for keyword in search...Plus don't want to hit up a bogus site. Thanks again for all the help.

EDIT: Mean't to ask..the 6000k Aqua Blue looks really good actually.. They're not illegal I hope?

 

just took a lesson!
good info out there!

 

Technically, 6000K and above are illegal, the Philips bulbs say "Not for use in the US" right on the bulb itself. Would you ever get pulled over for it? I highly doubt it, 6000K isn't that blue.

 

Awesome. Thanks. Besides..Like you said.. phillips REALLY only do 5800k anyways.. :P But that's worth it for me. Cops obviously look for the REAL dead on BLUE stuff.

EDIT: I wonder if there are any good pics of them on cars out there anyways...

 

Very useful thread. Thanks!

 

I'd say so too..Maybe get this sticky? :P BTW, Phillips 6000k = $180 at Amazon.

 

This is on my 'list' one of the things that bugs me about having the stock HID's is that my fogs, parking, and HIDs are all different colors.

If I match the same light temp, the color should generally be the same, right? Has anyone swapped out all three to form a matching set?

 

Well I'm planning to put my fogs to an amber bulb (most likely PIAA's.. I like my Hoen's right now but not yellow enough) ... putting in these Phillips..they look real good for a good price...and put in some blue LED's for the parking lights. so the headlamps are all a diamond blueish color....and my fogs are amber. That's just my taste though. Best way really is do what Rotary Rasp did and do HID fogs and headlights.

 

i have 8000k bulbs and find them a nice aqua blue colour. havnt tried 6000's, but from what i have seen they seem to be white. depends on the look your after

 

i run 8000k they are blue/purple... best place that I know of to get them are from jlevi. the website is jlevisw.com

 

I just purchased the Phillips Ultiron 6000k... So we'll see what they look like. Hopefully they're what I'm looking for. I'll show pics when I get em.

EDIT: $180.00 at Amazon incase anyone was wondering..

 

Congrats! I just won an auction for a single Philips 6000K bulb on eBay for $30 shipped! If it works OK and I like the color, I can order another single bulb from http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Philips_Ul.../pb-d2s-6k.htm, and I'll still save around $50.