I have a HID retrofit for my GS3 that was installed back in 2000. Anywho, I go in to the car today, and I notice that my passenger side headlight is now a deep purple, and seems to be less bright.

Do you think that the actual bulb needs replacing, or do you think it might be the ballast? Or something else?

 

most likely the bulb is dying.

 

when hid bulbs die they get darker in color and lose their brightness. time for a replacement bulb

 

Alewifebp:
I have a set of HID bulbs for your car. PM me if you are interested

 

Mine did the same thing today. I was pulling into my driveway and noticed against my garage that my left HID was flickering and didn't look the same color as the other. I got out and the color was sorta a light pink,purple. What's the problem? What do I do?

 

I ordered a new bulb from autolamps-online, since it seems as though it is the bulb. I was going to do a swap of the driver and passenger sides, but I couldn't with the snow.

 

it seems to be dying, specially from the flickering

 

So it IS the bulb? Where can I get a replacement that matches the factory bulb(btw, what bulb does the factory use?). About how much? Thanks.

 

try and get the bulb from autolamp-online.com you most likely have to replace both coz' otherwise color would be different. you need to get d2r, try to get philips, the best out there

 

Better yet, get the D2S Philips pn 85122. The brightness is 3200lm compared to the D2R which is only 2600. The only thing you need to do to get the bulb to fit is sand a little notch in the base. This can be done with a file. You will not be disappointed. Autolamps-online is a great place to buy reputable stuff. I've shopped there many times and recommend them. Their prices are a bit steep though. Check ebay for bulbs, I've seen them for as little as $35 each.

 

the problem with d2s on d2r housing is, yes you get more light output, but no they are not aiming at the floor. all the extra light output they are reflected out and shining at the sky...

 

The light output is blocked at 3 and 9 oclock for d2r bulbs. In a reflector housing designed for d2r, this section is toned down quite a bit. I tried this on my is300 and had a noticeable increase in light output on the road. From far away, yes there is slightly a little more glare. It isn't annoying and makes my car stand out more. It gives the output a slight diamond purple hue so people will know I'm coming up from behind.

 

weird, i have seen a lot of d2r bulbs in action, the after you install the bulb the metal piece is always at the TOP part of the bulb, to reduce light that goes to the sky. but then i have to say i haent' seen a d2s in a normal d2r housing

 

The bulb is only covered on the sides to reduce glare for drivers to either side of the car, if there was metal on top of the bulb to block out light, then it would effectively reduce light on the road. Remeber, light reflected upwards from the bulb is reflected back down by the reflector. That is why the return wire is always turned down and why all shields(reflector and projector) goes from bottom to top.
I think this is why some people like to modify their 9005 bulbs to fit into their 9006 housings. The 9005 has more lumen output and doesn't have the glare shielding.