just ordered a set of 6k D4S for the 08 ES350. it's pretty much just eye candy. will post before and after pics as soon as I receive/install them.

 

What's the purpose for changing out the factory bulbs? Didn't your car come equipped with HID lamps?

 

for "eye candy" purposes

i want the light's color output to be a bit more white/blueish. the ES's oem bulbs are under 5k in temp.

for example:

 

OEM should be around ~4200K or 4300K or so - that's where you'll get the most useful white light.

Higher ratings just gives out more blue light, more glare - and less useful white light . It looks ricey in my opinion, and just less safe in general to be driving with less light.

just my $0.02

 

correct. that is why i am sticking with 5.5k to 6k only. anything higher will be fake looking or ricey if you will.

 

I had 6000k on my previous car and they make the OEM lights look yellow. But it is true that you lose visibility, but not too much. Please post pics after you install them.

 

it's gonna take a bit longer. i received the bulbs today. installed them in 5 min. one bulb was showing nice white/blue but the other one was showing white/purple. exchanging them this week for another set. will post better pics then.

 

Why try to improve upon something so good? I could understand upgrading the fog to xenon or the tails to LED...

 

it's good. just not eye candy enough. it's the same reason of upgrading the fog to xenon or tails to led. I wouldn't suggest xenon setup for fogs though, it will just make it harder to see in a foggy situation.

 

There are 3000K fog light HID kits out there--I've seen a set in action; they're not as yellow as the halogen-based fog lights I've seen but good enough if you're looking for an "eye-candy" HID fog light setup.

FWIW--technically, the "fog" lights on the ES 350 aren't really fog lights at all (from a practical/usability standpoint) but more like driving lights; as such, one could consider replacing the halogen bulbs w/ HID equivalents that should offer (somewhat) improved visibility (over the halogen driving lights) AND make for good eye-candy too!

 

i totally agree. my bad, i was actually referring to the ppl who installs 6k+ xenon setup to their fogs.

 

Here it is. I got the new bulb. it's looking a lot better than the sub 5k OEM temp while staying non-rice

 

Lookum good.

 

Snaf,
I am considering doing the same thigh in my ES 350- 2008; I loved my brother LS460 xenon brightness and color ( brighter than the ES350) and my roommate Audi S6 2011 > 6000 K. when I asked one of Lexus technicians about replacing mine with 6000k he said it is risky as it might overload the capacitor.

1- Can you kindly give the link of the supplier you dealt with and the specs of the 5.5k HID pulb.
2- was the headlight cover turning yellowish and less transparent? Did you do some restoration work?
3- was D4S or D4C ?

Regards

 

That might be THE single dumbest thing I've ever heard...maybe if you installed a 55w bulb on a 35w system it would pop the ballast, but that's why you check the wattage before you buy bulbs. Typically OE systems are 55w in my experience. Thus, you would buy 55w 6000K bulbs. Voltage and resistance don't change, only wattage. That's why you can run a 35w PnP HID kit on the factory 55w halogen system (as I will be doing soon)

See answers in red:

Also, to clarify, the reason that higher color temperatures are a waste is that as color temperature increases, so does the wavelength of the light, resulting in lower output of Lumens. This means the actual light output is decreased and will tend to cast more shadows than light things up. In my experience 4500k - 5000k is the ideal range for a balance of light output and appearance. I also prefer to use 3000k in my foglamps as particularly in winter and wet road conditions, they help illuminate a lot of the stuff you'd normally miss with standard lights.

It should also be noted that wattage is a factor, in that a 55w kit with one step higher color temp will have better output than a 35w kit with a lower temp. For example, a 55w 6000k will have better ouput than a 35w 4500k, etc.