I have a 2015 ES 350 Luxury Pkg. with HID low beam headlights. I am pretty sure they are OEM. My problem is I don't think they are bright as they could be because of their age. When the car is started you see a brightness "surge" for a fraction of a second and then they reach normal brightness. The surge in brightness doesn't concern me. I know its power is regulated. It is the age of the HID's and since they are fairly easy to access, would replacing them help with the inferior vision? Plus, they have an older yellowish projection compared to newer cars. Has anyone replaced their HID low beams and saw an improvement?

I replaced both my ES and GS with the Philips Xenon X-treme Vision gen2HID bulbs. T

hey claimed they were 150% [size=13px]Brighter[/size]. I did notice a [size=13px]difference[/size] while maybe not 150%. I did research on comparisons and [size=13px]overall[/size] these were [size=13px]brightest[/size] and best. They also lasted long. Some others did not last to long.

I believe my model takes the D4S ? And then decide temp. Looks like 6k is most common? As long as they last longer than the, it rhymes with "multra smar". They were bright, but only lasted a year. There was even a Class Action settlement where years later you got a check for 20%. Philips is a good brand and the price is not bad. I see a pair on eBay for $43 with Free Shipping. Does that price seem too low to be reliable? 2x New Genuine OEM Philips D4S XenEco 42402 DOT Xenon HID Light Bulb Lamp Flash. Thanks.

Dont cheap out on HID bulbs. Get the OEM brands only. Go to the retrofit source or lightwerkz or one of the retrofit people to get the proper OEM bulb. I have the Osram CBB and its nice.

I doubt they are both fading out at that age, but anything is possible. You can definitely get a more "blue" look by going with a different color temperature. The higher the temp color, the bluer it gets. 4300k I believe is stock.

I'd get a quality OEM like Philips, not something Chinese. But getting a "bluer" color you might need to go "off brand".

Be mindful of the retailer, there's a lot of counterfeit Chinese stuff floating around, it's very easy to make a fake box. Ages ago before I knew better, I bought some bulbs on Ebay and I'm pretty sure they were fake.

Thanks for all the advice. I never had HID headlights before, so I don't know their characteristics. I am pretty sure other than tires and routine maintenance, my car is all original equipment, right down to the battery. I'm the 3rd owner. So with a 6 year old car, you know things may fail. Knock on wood. I want the HID's to be as blinding as the new cars bright white look. The high beams in my car work great. It's the low beams that could be much better. Will replace with Philips.

I have a 2013 ES and a 2011 ES (previous gen) and I noticed a decent decrease in brightness for my 2013. The 2011's are much brighter and slightly white compared to my 2013's yellowish dimmer lights. I was planning on switching out one of the bulbs to see if that makes any difference. I bought by 2011 almost brand new so I know it has OEM bulbs but my 2013 was bought used last year with minor front end damage reported so there is a possibility (however slight) that the bulbs were replaced.

My only fear is handling the bulbs, I dont want to damage the bulbs while doing my experiment and end up with needing to replace both sets $$$.

That's a very good point about possible HID's were not original and could be replacements? They are definitely yellow. Just because they look installed correctly was my basis of thinking. There is some telltale notice on my car that the entire headlight units were tampered with. Too long of a story, though. Anyway, with DIY replacement of headlight bulbs, wear gloves. Any bulb probably made in the last 30+ years, like halogen, has been like that. I.E. do not touch with bare hands. But once you've replaced one headlight bulb, you'll get the hang of it. Plus, there's always "How To" on YouTube. I need brighter bulbs, so I'll replace these.