So the last 2 nights when I have been driving at night, I noticed my left low beam, flickering, I was like wth.
Then all of a sudden it went pop. no actual sound, it just went out.
BUt this is so strange to me b/c I have only had my light for not even 4 months.
Very interesting.
I installed 100% corrent, no finger prints, and perfect install, so why the short life?
Was the bulb defective do you think? I have a call into the company that I purchased from and will keep you posted as to what they say/recommend.
Lend your thoughts in the meantime.

 

Jason
if they were not osram or phillips, then they may have been cheap bulbs which on the average last about 180 hours. if you drive with the bulbs on all the time, then you may have essentially used up its usable life. OEM bulbs last something like 3000 hrs. What brand were they ?? This link explains short life on cheap bulbs, and is the reason why I went with phillips kit for my GX470. http://intellexual.net/hid.html

 

They were phillips from what I remember researching (I will check again to make sure) and from a reputable distributor. I won't say anything more, until I get a call back from the company, and we discuss the situation and options.
As long as they stand behind the bulb, I don't mind if they burn out every 4 months.

Side note* I only use my low beams at night, for at most 2 hours driving time 3 nights a week, so 9 hours about / week, for 12 weeks.
I will post when I find out more info from the dealer.
Thanks.

 

Sounds like a crappy bulb.

 

Thank you for the great link. Very informative...

 

I heard my friend telling me about someone selling bulbs on CL and they were not lasting as well...

 

Well, I purchased mine from Xenon depot.
From experience I can tell you that their products are very good. I have purchased a few different HID kits for different cars, and one for my GSXR1K.
Each one of those have lasted quite a while. So far my HID fogs I just bought for the GS450h have lasted about 1 year so far.
The low beams one is still working and one popped.

For the one that blew, I called Steve from Xenon Depot and he graciously swapped the bad one out for a new one. I did purchase another one, so I can replace both at the same time, so there isn't a different color b/c of burn time, and in case the other one is about to go, just in case.

But to make a long story short, Steve from www.xenondepot.com was wonderful and took care of the situation as I expected and b/c of it I will continue to give his company my business.

Thanks.

I didn't mention any names of products or people names at first, b/c I wanted to see how the situation was resolved. But everything was resolved to my satisfaction.

I await my new bulb in the mail, any day now.

Hope this one last longer than the first one. I really hate changing that driver's side bulb. It's a pain in the *** to get my big hand down in that little hole to insert the bulb. Hopefully not again though after this.

 

Jason
what is the brand of bulb ???

 

from the website this is what it says. take a look.
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/PhotoGalle...e=XD%2D6K%2DRB

BUT when I actually look at the bulb in person, the bulb doesn't specifically say Phillips, it just has a blue dot and a 6K written on the base of the HID bulb.

I put in a question for Steve at xenon depot and I will await his response to that inquiry and I will get back to you.

 

This is the brand:

The brand is Xtreme (same manufacturer as our HID kit). The bulbs are rated at approx 2000-2500 hours.

I have had good luck with the HID kit for my fogs, so I am guessing it was just a bad bulb before.

 

great, one of my bulb just blew out too after 2 weeks.

time to call xenondepot

 

I assume the XD d4s is not phillips or osram, just some japanese bulb....


from http://intellexual.net/hid.html

Now in selecting the brand of HID bulbs, you really only have two right choices to make. The safest, most dependable bulb manufacturers to go with are quite simply Philips and Osram-Sylvania. Between the two, I tend to favor Philips as, mano a mano, the Philips are slightly brighter and bluer than Osram. Both are incredibly reliable brands though. All automakers make seemingly simple business decisions on which companies they subcontract their manufacturing to. They ask themselves questions like "Which bulb brand should we use in this car?". A basic question like that leaves millions of dollars hanging in the balance. One minor defect in a sub-par HID bulb could force up to 100,000 bulb recalls per year. So if you follow these successful corporations who pour many hundreds of man-hours worth of scientific research into this stuff, you'll notice that they unanimously select German Philips or Osram-Sylvania bulbs. Even the Japanese cars that use Japanese ballasts and Japanese projectors will still use German bulbs. Philips and Osram bulbs have a lifespan of between 2000-2500 hours (the longest in production). Studies have shown that the average "alternative" Taiwanese and Korean-made bulbs last about 176 hours. This is largely due to massive defects attributed to poor manufacturing technique, workmanship, quality control, and distribution channels. These other smaller companies simply lack the major R&D money needed to develop the optimal chemical mixtures inside the capsules, which serves to preserve the electrode tips and prevent them from eroding prematurely. Automakers using exclusively Philips or Osram or both include: Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, GM, Honda, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes, Nissan, Porsche, Saab, Toyota (2003), VW. No other automaker in the world uses any other name brand.

 

yea i already knew all those, but the problem is that Phillips apparently does not make an D4S application for its 6000k line (Ultinon)

that was what I used for both low beam and fog on my previous bmw. The Xenondepots bulbs, on the other hands aren't bad and produced nice enough color to match the Phillips and its price is also hard to beat.

I guess I will just get replacement bulb from xenondepot for now.