Headlights
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 23
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From: Northern Illinois
Headlights - recommendations on latest D4S choices
Look like it’s time for new HID bulbs, my ‘06 GS300 has pink eye on the drivers side and it goes out completely occasionally. Switching the lights off and on brings it back. I still have the original bulbs in all of my lights. I skimmed thru a number of threads and it seems that Philips D4S are the OEM bulbs and are the best way to go on these. Is that still the case? Where is a good place to get these, any vendors on CL sell them?
On another note, I’m seeing plug and play LED replacement bulbs for the Halogen high beams. Has anyone tried these? My high beams work fine but an upgrade would be nice.
On another note, I’m seeing plug and play LED replacement bulbs for the Halogen high beams. Has anyone tried these? My high beams work fine but an upgrade would be nice.
Last edited by stevewins; Jan 21, 2022 at 04:27 PM. Reason: Clarify title
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 23
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From: Northern Illinois
It looks like the latest OEM D4S choices are:
Osram -
Cool Blue Boost (CBB) 7000k, 3200lm, 1500hr
Cool Blue Intense (CBI) 6000k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Cool Blue Intense NG (CBN) 6200k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Night Breaker Laser (XNL) 4400k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Xenarc Original 4500k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Xenarc Ultralife ?k, 3200lm, ?hr
Philips - Standard 4200k, 3200lm, 1500hr
Although they all claim 3200 lumens, usually with a +/- 450 lumen variance, various you tube video comparisons show a noticeable difference with the Night Breakers seeming to output the most light, albeit not the whitest and the Cool Blue Intense NG coming in a close second. The videos I’ve watched so far haven’t used D4S, most use D2S. I’m not sure if that makes a big difference or not.
Osram -
Cool Blue Boost (CBB) 7000k, 3200lm, 1500hr
Cool Blue Intense (CBI) 6000k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Cool Blue Intense NG (CBN) 6200k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Night Breaker Laser (XNL) 4400k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Xenarc Original 4500k, 3200lm, 2000hr
Xenarc Ultralife ?k, 3200lm, ?hr
Philips - Standard 4200k, 3200lm, 1500hr
Although they all claim 3200 lumens, usually with a +/- 450 lumen variance, various you tube video comparisons show a noticeable difference with the Night Breakers seeming to output the most light, albeit not the whitest and the Cool Blue Intense NG coming in a close second. The videos I’ve watched so far haven’t used D4S, most use D2S. I’m not sure if that makes a big difference or not.
Last edited by stevewins; Jan 21, 2022 at 05:58 PM.
Let us know which you choose and how are the results. I too have a winking light, but I havent diagnosed it to be the head lamp or the xenon module. Ive been wanting to swap the headlight to see if the winking goes to the other side or not. But it rarely turns offs
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Joined: Jun 2017
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From: Earth
Speaking of headlights, has anyone successfully converted their HID to LEDs? I’ve already swapped out the fog lights and DRL. Now I just need to turn those old school HIDs into LEDs. I heard it’s more complicated for LEDs when applying to projector headlights.
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 23
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From: Northern Illinois
I ordered a set of Osram Night Breaker Lasers from the retrofit store, should be here in a few days. They’re not cheap. Wouldn’t you know my winking pink drivers side low beam seems to have gone back to white and isn’t winking now. Still, they are the original HID capsules and are 15 years old with 117k miles. I’ll report back once installed. I also need to aim my low beams higher, they’ve stopped self testing when turned on and seem to be pointed lower lately.
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From: Earth
I’ve decided to go with the OSRAM CBH HID bulbs as the LEDs are said to reflect poorly in the projector housings. Hopefully the OSRAMS will give an output closer to the LED fog and parking bulbs already installed. Additionally, I just don’t want the hassle of converting the HIDs to LEDs given the projector lenses on the GS. I’ll report back when they arrive.
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 23
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From: Northern Illinois
I received my Osram Night Breaker Lasers and just finished putting them in. Although the procedure is simple, the bulbs don’t fit tightly into the socket so you have to hold them in place with one finger while you use another finger to latch the retaining springs. The drivers side is pretty difficult to maneuver around in because your hands don’t have a lot of room to get in there. The passenger side is easier. It probably took me an hour at least to finally hold the bulb in place and latch the retaining spring on the drivers side, which I did first since it was the winking one. Also it was really cold so my hand was freezing the whole time, decreasing my dexterity. I’d recommend doing the passenger side first to get the feel of it since you can see a little bit of what you’re doing. You pretty much have to do the drivers side by feel only, you really can’t see what you’re doing at all. Also, the translucent plastic covers only go on one way, despite appearing to be symmetrical and able to go in in any orientation. The clear “window” goes on top so you can view the adjustment indicator inside. Now finally it’s time for a test drive.
Last edited by stevewins; Feb 1, 2022 at 05:11 PM.
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Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 23
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From: Northern Illinois
Just got back from the test drive and it made a huge difference. My 15 year old original bulbs were really dim, I didn’t even realize how much. It no longer seems like my headlights are aimed so far downward now also, although I think I’m going to aim them a little higher anyway. I didn’t take any before pics, didn’t really think of it but I should have. These new ones are about the same temperature as the originals (4400) just a lot brighter and they shine much further down the road. I think I’ll replace the high beams and driving (fog) lights also, even though they seem fine. I’m thinking maybe 5500 kelvin for the highs, and I’ll keep the driving lights the same temp as the new low beams. I think I’ll also change the parking/DRLs from that orange bulb to an LED.
Pit Crew
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 135
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From: WA
I'm no expert here, but from what I understand, the DRLs are actually the high beam bulbs run at like half voltage or something wacky. When you turn on the headlights to low beams, those high beam bulbs turn off, and a second bulb in the high beam housing (a 194 bulb, I believe) turns on in addition to the low beam bulb. When you switch to high beams, the high beam bulbs come on at normal voltage. So getting the DRLs to look white like that requires a special kind of LED that can run at half voltage for a lower output, or your high beams might not work correctly, or your LEDs might flicker or blow out when run as DRLs.
Last edited by CruzinGS; Feb 2, 2022 at 02:09 PM. Reason: Added info about DRL flicker
Driver
Joined: Sep 2020
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From: AKL
I'm no expert here, but from what I understand, the DRLs are actually the high beam bulbs run at like half voltage or something wacky. When you turn on the headlights to low beams, those high beam bulbs turn off, and a second bulb in the high beam housing (a 194 bulb, I believe) turns on in addition to the low beam bulb. When you switch to high beams, the high beam bulbs come on at normal voltage. So getting the DRLs to look white like that requires a special kind of LED that can run at half voltage for a lower output, or your high beams might not work correctly, or your LEDs might flicker or blow out when run as DRLs.
My car interestingly enough doesn't have any sort of DRL (I want to get this changed to fog lights if possible)
However in most cars your are correct in that the high beams are run at a lower voltage as a DRL
The easiest thing to do (and what I have seen the most on the forum) is to use LED bulbs that only work as DRL and forego having high beams
I haven't actually come across any links to bulbs that will correctly function as high-beam and DRL
I changed my parking lights out for LED bulbs recently and checked just before and it looks great!
I didn't start the car, but it appears that with my headlights on, the high-beam stays off so I get the LED effect with stock hi-beam bulb.
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