30,000k isnt a headlight, its a blacklight, meaning its completely and utterly useless and will probably get ur friend injured or killed in an accident.

30,000k is ultraviolet light-ie 400nm light waves meaning its so purple to the point that it is invisible.

anything over 8000k produces so little actual light (lumens) that you may as well get regular old halogens.

a standard HALOGEN system is brighter than your friends 30,000k kit.

 

thanks for stating the truth.....

30000k...... what a joke. when some companies they have no better ideas on selling their stuff

 

well, i haven't seen them yet. but thats what they tell me and i'm not lying either.

 

well, i haven't seen them yet. but thats what they tell me and i'm not lying either. dthe highest i'll get would get is 10,000k.

 

Some of you guys aren't understanding the point I think.
4300k is the optimum for human eye from what I've ready.
Anything lower, is obviously less white meaning you see less from the road.

Anything higher is more blue to the point it could be purple, and then as one poster stated it turns into a blacklight. Obviously that's worse than OEM.

Stick to OEM, they are the best.

 

4.3 k is the legal limit? Would i have a problem with 6k in california?

 

probably not. the more blue the more likely u are to get pulled over.

 

I agree, if you have very blue, thats more of an indication that its an aftermarket bulb. Because you get intense purple from the flicker off of some cars that have projectors, and you also get it from cars with colorshifted bulbs. My cars bulbs are so colorshifted, they are probably 6000k at least (original bulbs from 98'). and to a cop it would be hard to determine if the color was coming a colorshifted OEM bulb/projector/aftermarket lense, in which 2/3 are legal, so with purple you are more likely to get away with it i think.

but blue I dont think really comes from any OEM DOT approved headlight assembly. I think some cops still use that as an excuse to pull you over however.

 

a cop told me that... if he stands in front of the headlight it should shine clear white and not any other color. That's how he determines it and i guess that's how he's taught. I was under the impression that 4.3~4.5k is the legal limit.

I only ask because it seems that many are getting above that color value. I guess i'm leaning towards 4.3k

 

actually 4300k OEM bulbs will burn in between 5000-5300k after ~200hrs or so.

there is no legal "limit" to the color temperature of bulbs other than the light projected on the ground must be white or yellow in color.

aftermarket HIDs are technically illegal in the US but 99% of cops wont give u a problem if the light is white (4300-6000k).

 

im goin w/ 6000k.

 

technically illegal, but in reality, they just can't tell. you go anything higher than you start to run the risk

 

at what point will it be a good idea to change out HID bulbs? in comparison, my headlights dont seem as bright as some newer cars. would that be due to optics or is the bulb not producing as much light as it used to? car is a 99 GS400. thanks!

 

its all a function of how many hours the lights have been in use.

if ur saying that ur lights arent as CLEAR (ie cutoff) then its more likely a difference in optics.

if its the actual brightness then it is POSSIBLE that the bulbs are very used since HID bulbs, like halogens, do tend to lose brightness before failing, tho much less than a halogen bulb.
100% at 0 hours
90% ar 200 hours
80% at 1000 hours
75% at 1500 hours
70% at 2000 hours

 

i mean brightness. i know a reflector's cutoff will never be as sharp as that of a projector. for example last night i was side by side with a new body Acura TL and the ground in front of that car was noticably brighter than the ground in front of my car. my car is a 99 with 86k on it. bought it used so im not sure how many hours the lights have been burnin. care to take a guesstimate?