stupid question.....

ok i am wondering if i could change the lights of my car to somthing other then the stock lights and those are HID's right? so somthing better would be xenon lights? and all i would have to do is buy the bulbs and install them without having to buy other modifications so the bulbs will fit?

 

The HID (high intensity discharge) lamps available as a option with the GT package (at least on the 04's) are xenon lamps. That is cutting edge in headlight design; there isn't anything better.

 

The HID (also known as Xenon) headlights are equipped on the sport package and better RX-8's, but not on the base model. If you have the stock foglights, then you also have the HID headlights (base model doesn't have fogs either).

If you do have HIDs you can change the bulbs if you want a different color. The OEM bulbs are 4300K, you can get after market bulbs with kelvin ratings as high as 18000K. Basically the higher the Kelvin rating or color temp, the more bluish purple the lights appear. But remember, the OEM 4300K are the brightest and the more blue you go, the less light is actually produced. The bulb size that the RX-8 uses is D2S.

 

Thank you for the information about HID bulb color availability. I didn't know that.

Returning to the original question, I'm just guessing (since the original post is hardly clear) that he has the base bulb (a halogen, I suppose) and wants to upgrade to HID. Still supposing, I guess he would need to replace the entire headlight assembly at a cost of about $500 each. Is that right?

 

Yes there is...bi-xenon.

And I'm sure theres something even better than that.

 

You do need to replace the entire assembly if you want OEM HIDs. The assembly is $1,000+ea and the lights are $400+. I know. I just called my dealer. So now I'm going to call http://www.proxenon.com/users/registered.xml

 

18000K?!?! It goes that high? The highest ones I found (so far...) is 6600k From PIAA.

 

I hope that you're not suggesting that all xenon headlamps are HID... That may be the case with the RX-8, but there are plenty of xenon lights out there that aren't HID.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrDiaboloco

I hope that you're not suggesting that all xenon headlamps are HID... That may be the case with the RX-8, but there are plenty of xenon lights out there that aren't HID.

Can you explain further?

I know that the Honda crowd refer to any blue tinted halogen bulb as "Xenon", but as far as I know the only real xenon bulbs are HID capsules.....

S

 

As far as I know, you can have xenon BULBS in any kind of lighting fixture, assuming that someone went to the trouble to manufacture them in that size and style. I've got xenon bulbs in my MagLites and Surefire flashlights, for instance.

I seem to recall that my '03 Mazda6S advertised "Xenon lamps" as part of the Sport Package, but I'm pretty sure they weren't HID's. If they were, they didn't behave at all like the HID's in the RX-8, with that momentary color change as they were initally turned on. The 6 did have projector-style lamps, but I don't think they were HID.

But hey, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong.

 

ok sorry about the question not beeing clear... but I have the base model 2004 model and was wanting to know to change the head lights to somthing brighter, and if yall are thinking i have the fogg lights, well i don't. From what I think yall are saying for brighter lights that that would be to get HID's right?

 

Yes, you're right, the maglite type still have a filament and use the xenon as the filler gas, allowing higher temperatures/more light.

The HIDs have just a gap that has a tiny arc in it.


S

 

o ok and how much do those run? im guessing around $200?

 

I guess the answer is that all HID's are Xenon (in auto applications, that is), but not all Xenons are HID.

 

Changing the bulbs costs around $200, changing the whole (Halogen) original light to the Xenons will be megabucks.

Changed my stock (4300k) HIDs to 8000k, and took some pics.....

Color thread....

(Thread says 7500k, they actually were 8000k)

 

StealthTL, thanks for posting that link.

 

Would it be hard to change the halogen assembly to the hid assembly? And the wiring would be different or same? Thinking about this also but I got no experience with it.

 

You can go with an after amrket HID kit for about 250 bucks...that includes the ballast and bulbs.

Here are some pics of my HID projector fogs.



this is the cut off line from just my fogs.

 

What are the opinions on just installing the aftermarket HID bulbs W/ballasts into the non HID housings?

 

I'm actually buying some new 10000k bulbs on ebay for 60 bucks, and I bought some pretty expensive 6700k H11 fogs... I'll post pictures once I install the D2S bulbs

 

10000K!!?? dang!!

 

If you go to the dealership and start pricing the parts to convert the halogen projectors to the xenon, it will cost a small fortune, because they are going to sell you the new lamp assemblies and assorted parts to make them self leveling. You can go much cheaper by purchasing after-market xenon bulbs and balasts that fit the standard projector without the self leveling feature.

Just choose the color you want. As was said above, the bluer they look, the less light they produce. Whiter is brighter.

 

don't do it. i had an aftermarket setup in my old WRX, and constantly would get flashed and flicked off by other drivers. the beam pattern is not correct for the HIDs, and you'll endanger everyone else on the road.

(i ended up pulling the HID kit and selling it. $10 halogen bulbs FTW. on the other hand, my current RX-8 Touring has the OEM HIDs which have been just fine so far.)

 

i can understand that for most other vehicles with open can projectors, but the 8 with the focused lens -and- the "Z" blockers..

I havent pulled stock bulb yet to investigate whats in there yet however.

 

Do you understand how -dark- 10k will be?

You'll get more usable light out of OEM halogen bulbs.