wing0

Anybody tried putting the new HIR bulb by Philip? Want some opinion as I want to switch out the factory bulbs that's been there for 10 years. It's getting dimmer now and thought I might do an upgrade.

It's the 3rd generation and doesn't have the black tip at the front so people warn that it should not be placed in housing where there is no cap on the front of the bulb.

I took a look at my 01 RX300 and it seems to have the cap, but only about 1/2 the height of the bulb. Is that enough so the bulb will not produce glare when looking head on?

wing0

Any input?

wing0

Reviving thread as I am seriously thinking about this now.



There is a cap currently blocking the front tip of a 9006 bulb. Is this good enough for a HIR bulb?

99rx

iTrader: (6)

You should have no problem with those. I put those on the Honda Accord we have in the house and it has the cap like the RX. They produce no heavy glare head on. SO go or it and let us know how they look.

obscene

I'm not sure what kind of shape you lights are in, but I resurfaced my headlights using a 3M head light restoration kit, and then I installed an HID kit that i picked up on special for around $30. It greatly improved the look and functionality of my head lights. HID's range from yellow to purple in color and offer increased visibility, improved look, and they tend to last longer.

AUTO Design

Ya get the HID if you want to increase visibility on road! or get projector retrofit for better output!

imherenow

ya def go HID...and also get HID for foglights..even better

amblyn

how hard is hid kit to install whats included also my outside lenses arent as clear ive used some restore kit think it made it worse any ideas that work..

i currently have those bright 50$ SYLVANIA installed in heads and fogs they are bright drivers hate me but i can see.

think when my stereo thumps drain batt dimming light people think im flashing them plus they flikr some normally i guess a capacitor may help me out

AUTO Design

Its not hard to install the HID kit, its usually plug and play. If you need a set just let me know! We also do headlights restoration however I see you are not in CA

wing0

I was thinking about HID too, but wanted more of a plug and play thing with minor modification and because it's mainly my father's car. I was thinking the more yellow colour lights will be easier on his eyes.

The stock headlight, does it have a clear cutoff suitable for HID? I know HID was an option, but not sure if the headlights were the same or they added some sort of shield on top to get rid of any glaring.

I'm not really looking to spend money to replace both good headlights with projectors just to put HID, the car is 10 years old now and it's more about keeping it in good shape.

wing0

Took the plunge and ordered two 9012 HIR2 bulb from amazon. Even with the duty+shipping(ugh...I wish I was in USA), It's still around the same price as Silverstar Ultra up here and knowing how long those last...it made this purchase a lot easier.

wing0

The bulbs are here! 6 days earlier than anticipated, go Amazon!
Looks like RX is getting her Christmas present...

I'll post up picture of comparison to my 10 yr old 9006 later, but first a shot of the bulbs in packaging.

hypervish

Let us know if there is a large improvement in visibility at night.

bob2200

I found this on a google search. I had never heard of them before.

"THE BEST ALTERNATIVE TO HID

Want to get great illumination without extra heat, wiring upgrades, relays, transformers, and blue tint? Want to SEE better at night instead of HEARING a bunch of dubious chatter about xenon-filled, over-wattage, blue-tinted bling-bling bulbs that are supposedly "just like HIDs"? Want a bulb where you can have a simple swap into a 9005 or 9006 socket and maintain the correct filament placement for a perfect light pattern, instead of causing glare and scattered, diffused light? Want to save hundreds of dollars over the cost of retrofitting an illegal, bootleg HID system? Then you want these Halogen Infrared Reflecting bulbs.



These HIR bulbs are a unique product, the only bulbs available that use the research technology that General Electric patented in 2000 (patent number 6,087,775). It was GE's goal to create a bulb that produced 75% of the light output of HID headlights at 25% of the cost. GE sells HIR bulbs for residential lighting and specialized projectors, but decided to stay out of the automotive market and licensed this technology to a division of Toshiba. In fact, Toshiba and GE are among the few companies in the world with the expertise to engineer and build this product. These bulbs attain light levels 75% to 110% brighter than stock as a result of an engineering process that deposits multiple, yet almost invisible, layers of semi-reflective coating on the surface of a specially shaped quartz bulb. This coating ( a titania/silica, zinc oxide/silica, zirconia/silica, silicon nitride/silica, and titania/magnesium fluoride tantalam/silica multi-layer dielectric, according to the patent) reflects a portion of the infrared energy emitted by the filament back onto the filament, causing it to glow brighter and emit more light from the uncoated forward portion of the bulb. Although the filament gets hotter, the glass does not. IT GENERATES NO MORE HEAT THAN A REGULAR HALOGEN BULB, AND IT DRAWS THE SAME WATTAGE AND AMPERAGE AS THE STOCK 9006 BULB IT REPLACES "

wing0

Finally changed the bulbs. The passenger side definitely tight to change bulbs even after moving the windshield reservoir filler tube.

First, the bulbs comparison and the trimming.

Pic 1 - 9012 vs 9006(Original Sylvania bulb). The purple tint on the 9012 seems to be the IR coating.

Pic 2 - I used a pencil to put the trim markings on the tab.
Refer to this site, the measurements are spot on. http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/HIRmod.html

Pic 3 - Trimmed tab. I used a large nail clipper and clip the excess tab progressive down to the right measurement.