Picked up a 2005 Roadster a week ago and have not had much sleep since. Too much to read on this forum and I hate to not being able to look at the car, touch it or drive it!

When I got the car, I noticed that I could not see very far at night. It has those fancy blue lights that I always hear about, but I couldn't see.... If there was something way down the road that had a reflector, I could see that, but if the road turned and was not marked..... well lets just say that I am glad that it corners as quick as it does. After reading the forum, I double checked and made sure that the bulbs were properly seated and they were. I adjusted the beam down a little which helped some.

I decided to make a quick change and see what regular bulbs would do. I pulled out the existing bulbs, marked NOKYA H7 12V 70W and I replaced them with some good old Wal Mart H7 55W. I think that I have died and gone to heaven. I can see the light and everything in front of me. Even the curve in the road! I can see again and every thing is NOT a funny shade of blue.

I guess, to each his own.

What did the car come with originally?

Terry

 

Here is my (rooted in experience) take on this:

I think the previous owner was one of the guys that did not realize that ANY filter on a lightbulb makes LESS light come out of that bulb. In addition (s)he seems to have been too cheap for real HID bulbs. (Remember: The chepest part on our cars is still the owner)

I have seen MANY. MANY folks that tried to 'explain' to me in discussions because this and that I must be wrong and there is actually more or 'better' light due to their filtered HID look alike light bulb.

Here is the main problem these folks are facing with standard incandescent's: The color temperature of a standard 55W H7 is approx. 2700 - 3300K depending on the manufacturer, the material of the light emitting element, the gases in the bulb, ... you get the drift. Now this is NOT a sharp and EXACT color temperature but rather the max of a typical gaussian bell curve. That means: Even normal incandescent light bulbs emit 4000k and higher, just very little. If you now put a filter outside on the lightbulb that filters out all the red-ish parts of the light then you'll get a light bulb that SEEMS to emit 4000K or even higher light. The drawback of this method is OBVIOUSLY that you get only a fraction out and your output goes *W*A*Y* down. BUT you have a 'whiter' light.

In all reality there is no replacemen for a real HID light. if you want the high output, white-ish light get yourself one of the 4100K HID sets for around $70-$75 and THEN you'll be in heaven.

 

Plus traditional bulbs use a filament high in resistance (like tungsten) that produces light from said resistance. The way HIDs work is that 12V source is then bumped up to about 800V at the ballast/ignitors and then goes from point within the HID bulb then jumps the air gap (like points ignition in a distributor cap) to the other point, and in doing so creates light. This is the corona style HID there are one or two other styles but I can't remember the names at time of text.

Justin

 

I view Nitrous like that hot chick with an STD; you want to hit it, but you're afraid of the consequences....

I don't care who you are, that $hits FUNNY !!! ROTFLMAO !

 

yeah but at least with the hotchick you can double up and feel better...now if only they made a prophylactic for nitrous set-ups...

i personally feel that using a filter instead of real HID's is pointless in the fact of removing the intergrity and classiness of the crossfire itself...just saying.

 

Hate seeing the blue lights coming at me. Seems like 95% are BMW's and have them on 24 hours a day.

 

Also the human eye responds far better to the yellow/orange light.
Take a look at the difference between a blue and an orange street light and how it lights the ground.

 

This is accurate. High Intensity Discharge lighting can be either a metal-halide or a high-pressure sodium type w/an arc tube and halides (chemicals including mercury) that 'excite' from the energy sent to them through tungsten leads. There is a huge increase in light output with an arc tube (also heat) vs a filament style lamp - but they need ballasts to work. I would guess that headlamps are metal-halide without knowing...but do know how HID lamps are manufactured and operate.

 

blue lights = rice.

 

Thanks for the en"light"enment! May have to try the HID's some day but the standard bulbs are more than adequate for now.

 

Your standard bulbs are adequate because the halogens that came with the car were meant to be used with the stock housing.

Even the people who are buying the HID ballasts and bulbs aren't getting the same light output as an AUDI, for example, that came equipped with HID's because the Audi has the correct projector/housing. So if you think you are spending big bucks on a $75 or $175 HID, you are (compared to the cheap blue lights Plus, with the $75 HID's, you're blinding oncoming traffic. Everytime I see those lights, I know right away they're just the bulb/ballast and not being projected properly because the lights seem diffused; they don't have that precise, twinkling beam.

If you really want true HID's, as you'd see in a European car, it's going to cost at least 2g's, unfortunately

 

I noticed a signifigant improvement in my srt4 switching to $450 Phillips HIDS. The were 4000 or 4500(cant remember).

Keep in mind as temperature(color) increases (yellow to white to blue to purple) the lumens(how brightness is measured) decreases.

The way the light is projected on the road is determined by the design of the headlamp assebly. The pattern shouldnt change based on switching to HID's.

Feel free to correct me if i am wrong.

 

I hate seeing those blue lights coming at me, too. They kill my eyes.

 

Had a black Charger come up on me today around noon. I was doing the speed limit at 55, just passed two state cops with a truck pulled over, he was doing about 80 weaving in and out. He had High, Low and fogs on all in the HID fluorescent blue. Looked kind of cool in the middle of the day.

But if it was in the middle of the night I'm not sure what I would have done. Been known to do some crazy s*** when I'm mad. They blind you. I hate them.

HID's are illegal for a reason.

 

i learned that you can buy this corona style HID in separately cheaper then sets. and no they were not cracked or fixed they are in perfect condition. i started looking and within a week i had two box on their way.

 

I'm just gonna buy some of these...


2010 Audi R8 LED Headlights - Tech Dept. - Car and Driver