Which HID Kit should I buy?

[royalflush313]

So I have looked around, and here are the options I found locally:

"Visions" HID Kit - $430 Can
Brighstar HID Kit 5000-6500 - around $550 Can
Phillips HID Kit - $600 Can
No name HID Kit - $500 Can

or from Ebay

McCULLOCH Kit - $283US + shipping + taxes

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7927748254&category=36476

X5 kit

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7927213357&category=36476

I don't know if there's actually differences from brand names to el Cheapo kits made in korea. So direct me in the right direction if you can.
like anyone else, id prefer to save a few bucks if the difference is minimal.

:)

[Ryan Stewart]

The difference is the quality. Difference in the ballasts, bulbs, and how the bulbs are based.

The $300 kid does save you $200 over the $500 kit but a lot good that does you if the no-name kit fails in 6 months.

I have the Phillips kit in my car. Get the lowest # you can. I have 4100k, owns the road.

[sweetride01]

Or, if you like INTENSE white then get a 6000K Philips kit.

It's not quite as bright, but it's still far more than enough.
If you get the Philips kit, make sure that it is 4100K or 6000K, as these are the only 2 real bulbs that Philips makes. The bulbs are not real if they have any tinting.

[Ryan Stewart]

Umm, the 4100 is brighter by 600 lumens IIRC.

[sweetride01]

Yes, about that I think.
Although, 6000K is still about 2800 lumens (I think), whereas halogen is around 800-1000.

[royalflush313]

So I decided to get the McClulloch kit.

The final decision I have to make is whether to get the 5000k or the 6000k.

I dont want the light to be too yellow or too blue.

The 5000 seem to have a yellow hue to it, and the 6000 looks like it could be too blue.

opinion?

[T.Dot E30]

I recently got a McClulloch kit.

I got the 6000k. It looks amazing, from far u'd think it was a newer car bcus mostly only the newer ones come with hids.

I choose 6000k bcus it looked closer to the hids in the newer cars.

I know about 10 ppl with the exact same kit in toronto, After bimmercuise, some of us went for dinner. there were 3 e30s with the same kit

[royalflush313]

^^ pics?

[GaryE30]

So I decided to get the McClulloch kit.

The final decision I have to make is whether to get the 5000k or the 6000k.

I dont want the light to be too yellow or too blue.

The 5000 seem to have a yellow hue to it, and the 6000 looks like it could be too blue.

opinion?

To be honest with you, I think even the 5000k temperature bulb will be enough light, and I doubt that any of them in real life look yellow. I believe the computer has something to do with it. I'm sure the 5000K is just a really really bright white, no yellow at all.

[Addissimo]

Do realize that the elipsoid will change the hue a little bit, it becomes more blue. Thats why audis and bimmers look badass and almost purple, while acuras and what not look lame... I think lumen wise 5k will be better, and you'll get a similar color to 6k with your elips. most 5k kits i've seen are 3200lumens, the same as the 4100k kits.

[MattM20]

Do realize that the elipsoid will change the hue a little bit, it becomes more blue. Thats why audis and bimmers look badass and almost purple, while acuras and what not look lame... I think lumen wise 5k will be better, and you'll get a similar color to 6k with your elips. most 5k kits i've seen are 3200lumens, the same as the 4100k kits.

would you happen to know the color temps of the factory HIDs that come on the new bmw's and audi's?

[royalflush313]

Do realize that the elipsoid will change the hue a little bit, it becomes more blue. Thats why audis and bimmers look badass and almost purple, while acuras and what not look lame... I think lumen wise 5k will be better, and you'll get a similar color to 6k with your elips. most 5k kits i've seen are 3200lumens, the same as the 4100k kits.

would you happen to know the color temps of the factory HIDs that come on the new bmw's and audi's?

ive been looking too. But it seems that those info would be irrelevant, as each headlight structure makes the hue of light different even if the temps are the same.

I searched around this site, and saw couple pics of guys running 6000k with their euro ellips. Looked like it was a little bluer than I would want, but pictures are never realistic, so it's really hard to see what it actually looks like.

[Addissimo]

4100k is what they used to use... I dont know if they've bumpted it up to 6k, or what... But when audi first introduced them, they used 4100, or 4300k and with those elips, i think they look alot better than any of the 6k systems.

[sweetride01]

ALL OEM CARS HAVE 4100K-4300K.

Secondly, the ellipsoid does not really change the colour. From a distance, the light cutoff has a colour spectrum, which is why it looks blue or purple. This is also why even Saturns with ellipsoids look like they have HID's from a distance. When you look right into the beam, the colour should be almost the same, ellipsoid or no ellipsoid.

[MattM20]

ALL OEM CARS HAVE 4100K-4300K.

Secondly, the ellipsoid does not really change the colour. From a distance, the light cutoff has a colour spectrum, which is why it looks blue or purple. This is also why even Saturns with ellipsoids look like they have HID's from a distance. When you look right into the beam, the colour should be almost the same, ellipsoid or no ellipsoid.

it is because of the ellipsoid lens that the purple fringing can sometimes occur. same is true with camera lenses because of chromatic abberation. taken from another site, "chromatic aberrations are caused by the lens not focusing different wavelengths of light onto the exact same focal plane...and by the lens magnifying different wavelenghts differently"