Lowbeam out, PO waffleswaffleswaffleswafflesery, Not sure what to buy

[Sehnsucht]

PO did some things to the headlights, can anyone help me figure out what I'm working with? My driver side low beam went out and now it's time to figure out this waffleswaffleswaffleswafflesery...

The low beam bulb is cloudy and blown up, says it's a 9006 but with no brand, appeared to be a 6.something k bulb when it was working.

The ballasts are a chrome finish, have some random illegible numbers printed on one side but worn off, and it's had what appears to be a light blue semi transparent label that was ripped off. They're pretty big.

The enclosures are your typical Hella US spec ellipsoids.

I don't like the bulbs that were in it because they were way too blue for my tastes, what are my options when replacing them? I assume I need to figure out what my ballasts are before I can pick out bulbs right? Are there any decent white colored (~4k or so) lights I can put in it, or should I rip out all the wiring and just go back to stock 9005's?
Oh yeah the back of the low beam in the car has wires coming right out of it, unlike the plug-style 9006's that are (normally) in the high beams... If that matters...

I am retarded when it comes to headlights, and it doesn't help that this is the only thing that isn't oem on the car...

[bmw325csi]

Ballasts don't really matter. Aftermarket hid bulbs come In one size fits all style. You can get any bulbs in any color.

[bmw325csi]

Oh of course make sure that they are 9006

[bmwguy325is]

Or take it all as a sign and just put regular bulbs back in.

[ky0u]

Ballasts don't really matter. Aftermarket hid bulbs come In one size fits all style. You can get any bulbs in any color.

15000k. Do it. Dont be a bitch

[bimmer2288]

I put Silvania Silvertar 9006 in my car. It is not blue but people have commented and said they liked the look. You can pick them up at Napa, AutoZone, Carquest, etc. About $20 per.

I want to break the headlights of those cars that are super blue. One guy last night as I was coming home from work had his brights on and wouldn't dim them. He had those stupid blue headlights on a crappy mini pickup. I have much anger toward fake blue wanna be HIDs. That is all.

[AndrewBird]

Read this before putting in HID's.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

[ELVA164]

Ultraviolet bulbs or GTFO.


Seriously though, just go back to regular 9005 and 9006 bulbs. If you want to try an upgrade, try HIR bulbs:

http://hirheadlights.com/

They're made by GE/Phillips which cuts down on the sketch factor, and require minutes of work at most to make work.

[Sehnsucht]

I put Silvania Silvertar 9006 in my car. It is not blue but people have commented and said they liked the look. You can pick them up at Napa, AutoZone, Carquest, etc. About $20 per.

I want to break the headlights of those cars that are super blue. One guy last night as I was coming home from work had his brights on and wouldn't dim them. He had those stupid blue headlights on a crappy mini pickup. I have much anger toward fake blue wanna be HIDs. That is all.

Oh me too, I just decided I would run them until they burn out because my effort could be better put elsewhere until it's a problem. They weren't annoyingly bright or aligned high which helped.

I'm going to put 9005's back in probably and rip out the PO's wiring, the ballasts made an annoying rattle on idle anyway.

Should I go stock or are the HIR's worth it?

[ELVA164]

Dunno if you mind spending the extra 50 bucks or whatever to find out, but you could get both and compare...it seems like there aren't any E30-specific comparisons done yet.

[bmwguy325is]

HOLY COW! :crazy:

[Varinn]

I use HIR's in my bike and the difference is drastic (1700lumens vs 2800-3000). Highly recommended, I threw my HID in the garbage where it belongs.