Enjoy your new Philips Ultinon D4S HID bulbs! 
Brighter Headlight Suggestions?
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: California
Brighter Headlight Suggestions?
The headlights on my GS 450h seem not as bright as I feel they should be. I did ask the dealer to adjust the beam a little higher and that helped a little, but still not as much light as I hoped for.
I was wondering if a simple swap of the bulbs would do the trick? I really don't wanna have to completely swap out my headlight assembly, just want brighter night vision. Living in SF, I really want to see obstacles as good as possible(Pedestrians, stupid cabs/uber drivers not paying attention, etc..)
I was thinking of these in maybe 5000K?
Also,
The interior LED are very cool to look at when opening the doors, but again not as bright as I like. Are there any brighter replacement options anyone could suggest?
Thanks Guys! I'm sure there are tons of threads on this, but don't have the time to keep searching, I tried lol
I was wondering if a simple swap of the bulbs would do the trick? I really don't wanna have to completely swap out my headlight assembly, just want brighter night vision. Living in SF, I really want to see obstacles as good as possible(Pedestrians, stupid cabs/uber drivers not paying attention, etc..)
I was thinking of these in maybe 5000K?
Also,
The interior LED are very cool to look at when opening the doors, but again not as bright as I like. Are there any brighter replacement options anyone could suggest?
Thanks Guys! I'm sure there are tons of threads on this, but don't have the time to keep searching, I tried lol
Lead Lap
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 475
Likes: 17
From: NV
yes, simple bulb swap for the head light bulb will do the trick, i got a set of Garax i really love and highly recommend by the forum as well, they work for me for a good 3 years until they start turning red and turn off itself evetually and i had to go back to stock,
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 326
Likes: 12
From: NC
With your GS being a little older and the bulbs most likely not having been replaced yet, they have lost some 'juice'. HIDs work off of electrodes igniting an arc created by your ballasts that lights the gas up in the bulb itself causing light!! WOO HOO! Science class over. That being said, new bulbs alone will give you brighter output. The next step is temperature. The highest possible output that is DOT legal would be a 4300K temp HID bulb running on a 55w ballast. You can still just get a 4300K set of bulbs though and that will work. If you go any lower or higher, you change the color of the output but will lose output. If you go up in temp, you go towards purple. If you go down in temp, you go towards yellow (that's why people use 3K for functional fogs).
My post got cut off for some reason. But I summed it up by say that you're spot on with your selection. The 5K will add some color and not lose too much output. I would just compare the color to a industry standard like Phillips or Osram.
My post got cut off for some reason. But I summed it up by say that you're spot on with your selection. The 5K will add some color and not lose too much output. I would just compare the color to a industry standard like Phillips or Osram.
Last edited by Broncosi; Dec 23, 2015 at 02:51 PM.
Driver
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 147
Likes: 21
From: CA
5k should be good. I got Morimoto XB XenGreen D4S bulbs in 5500k and they have a nice white light. However the Morimoto bulbs dont seem to play nice with my ballasts and either driver or passenger side will go out randomly (swapping side to side with no effect). Sometimes i could drive for an hour and i wouldn't have a problem. Other times after 10-15 min either driver side or passenger side flickers and dies out.
Went ahead and bought genuine Philips D4S from Amazon for about $50 a pop (also checks as genuine on philip's website). Light is much lower in the color/temp scale, it is said to be around 4200-4300k. Should color shift to a whiter light as they age. Hopefully I dont have the same issue with the Morimotos.
sorta off topic, Morimoto claims to use philips glass but it definitely does look different than both of the philips bulbs I bought, it's similar but not quite. Kinda doubt the quality of morimoto stuff.
Went ahead and bought genuine Philips D4S from Amazon for about $50 a pop (also checks as genuine on philip's website). Light is much lower in the color/temp scale, it is said to be around 4200-4300k. Should color shift to a whiter light as they age. Hopefully I dont have the same issue with the Morimotos.
sorta off topic, Morimoto claims to use philips glass but it definitely does look different than both of the philips bulbs I bought, it's similar but not quite. Kinda doubt the quality of morimoto stuff.
Last edited by ez12a; Dec 24, 2015 at 06:57 PM.
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 7
Likes: 1
From: AB
Wow I am having the same issues with the Morimoto D4S bulbs. So annoying. They work great and are really bright when they are on but they keep turning off randomly. I thought it was my ballast at first but I put in an old bulb and the old one never turned off.. I question Morimoto quality as well.
Gonna spend a little money and go with the OSRAM CBI 5000 K bulbs.
praying these are awesome.. anyone have these?
Gonna spend a little money and go with the OSRAM CBI 5000 K bulbs.
praying these are awesome.. anyone have these?
5k should be good. I got Morimoto XB XenGreen D4S bulbs in 5500k and they have a nice white light. However the Morimoto bulbs dont seem to play nice with my ballasts and either driver or passenger side will go out randomly (swapping side to side with no effect). Sometimes i could drive for an hour and i wouldn't have a problem. Other times after 10-15 min either driver side or passenger side flickers and dies out.
Went ahead and bought genuine Philips D4S from Amazon for about $50 a pop (also checks as genuine on philip's website). Light is much lower in the color/temp scale, it is said to be around 4200-4300k. Should color shift to a whiter light as they age. Hopefully I dont have the same issue with the Morimotos.
sorta off topic, Morimoto claims to use philips glass but it definitely does look different than both of the philips bulbs I bought, it's similar but not quite. Kinda doubt the quality of morimoto stuff.
Went ahead and bought genuine Philips D4S from Amazon for about $50 a pop (also checks as genuine on philip's website). Light is much lower in the color/temp scale, it is said to be around 4200-4300k. Should color shift to a whiter light as they age. Hopefully I dont have the same issue with the Morimotos.
sorta off topic, Morimoto claims to use philips glass but it definitely does look different than both of the philips bulbs I bought, it's similar but not quite. Kinda doubt the quality of morimoto stuff.
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Driver
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 147
Likes: 21
From: CA
Wow I am having the same issues with the Morimoto D4S bulbs. So annoying. They work great and are really bright when they are on but they keep turning off randomly. I thought it was my ballast at first but I put in an old bulb and the old one never turned off.. I question Morimoto quality as well.
Gonna spend a little money and go with the OSRAM CBI 5000 K bulbs.
praying these are awesome.. anyone have these?
Gonna spend a little money and go with the OSRAM CBI 5000 K bulbs.
praying these are awesome.. anyone have these?
Good luck with the cbis! Would make sure you get a good return policy from wherever you get them haha.
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 7
Likes: 1
From: AB
They have factory warranty if anything goes wrong. Just no returns.
I was lucky with the Morimotos, I was gonna get new bulbs sent in but they issued a refund since I said both bulbs were going off randomly. Yea I put in my 4 year old Garax bulb and it never went out as well..
I was lucky with the Morimotos, I was gonna get new bulbs sent in but they issued a refund since I said both bulbs were going off randomly. Yea I put in my 4 year old Garax bulb and it never went out as well..
Yeah. I've been driving with the Philips bulbs and although a little yellow for my taste ive had zero issues with bulbs going out. Disappointed with morimotos as they seem to be a favorite on CL. Not even the crappy 6k bulbs that came with my car went out.
Good luck with the cbis! Would make sure you get a good return policy from wherever you get them haha.
Good luck with the cbis! Would make sure you get a good return policy from wherever you get them haha.
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 553
Likes: 54
From: pa
Its like the only design I know that the bulb goes in at a 90 degree angle into the projector housing, because they deigned the space for the headlight so close to the fender it needs a very short projector housing to fit int hat space. SMH
I thought about doing a projector swap, and lose the AFS and leveling, but I cant find a quality 3 inch projector that short.
Last edited by samsonn25; Aug 2, 2019 at 03:56 AM.