Hi all,

Recently I purchased some 2012 OEM headlights for my 2007 IS250 and bought some cheap 5000k HID bulbs to go with which cost $20. The bulbs did the job okay for a few weeks but then I decided to go all out and purchase some Philips Ultinon 6000k bulbs. I'm 95% sure they're genuine as they set me back $350AUD and I matched the security code on the box to the Philips website which stated they were authentic.

As soon as I installed them, I took the car for a drive as it was night and I noticed no difference in colour temperature or brightness/output from generic. Confused, I swapped one of the Philips with one of the generic 5000k so I had one of each bulb installed to compare side by side. Side by side the Philips did look ever so slightly whiter but brightness was virtually identical to the generic. See here, Left is Philips 6000k, right is generic 5000k: https://i.imgur.com/X8hLDGn.jpg. Here is a pic with both generic 5000k bulbs: https://i.imgur.com/XhoPK5h.jpg

As you can see in the pic, the light output is still very yellow from the Philips. In my old Camry I had a generic 6000k HID set and they shone a very white light on the road, much whiter than the Philips (they were non projector). This is the kind of output I was hoping for: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZdySyzeDQM

I'm not sure if I'm expecting too much of these bulbs? But I am extremely disappointed in spending $350 on bulbs that to me have no output improvement over my old $20 bulbs and don't project a white light on the road which is the main reason I chose the Philips. Can someone shed some light please? (No pun intended lol)

Thanks in advance

 

It is the design of the projectors. The bulbs are side mounted and do not give good light output no matter what you do. I am going to retrofit s2000 projector bowls that use D2s bulbs into my stock halogen lights soon because I too have phillips bulbs/aftermarket HIS and the projectors suck so much that the only thing to do is change them