danchon

First off.. disclaimer: I'm aware retrofits offer superior lighting (I have limited budget). Also aware that 55w hid ballasts tend to have shorter lifespan. Let's not bring these points up.

I am wondering if anybody here is running 55w hid kit? I'm currently running 35w 4300k kit from ddmtuning.com; it's definitely quite an improvement over stock, but it does look a bit too blue for my tastes. I heard the 55w version is whiter, and since ddmtuning has recently reduced prices for their kits ($49 for lifetime warranty kit) I'm considering buying the 55w version. Keep in mind I will be running a separate wire harness to the battery due to the higher wattage. Also keep in mind I will be properly adjusting headlight levels to reduce glare to oncoming traffic.

Onwards to the questions:

-Has anybody actually melted their housings from running a 55w bulb? I know that the HIDs don't run as hot as halogens but the bulbs are physically longer than the halogens, which may cause problems?

-Has anybody opened up stock 97+ foglights (oven method, etc.) ? I'm thinking of sticking in a 3000k hid kit in there, but am afraid the yellow will be washed out. I want to stick some type of yellow film or lens INSIDE of the housing to produce a really strong yellow.

soulific

iTrader: (3)

all my experience with 3000k hids have been the same. They all appear washed out and not truly yellow.

Even with yellow film over the lens you will have a issue. Often what happens is the hid will appear bluish till warmed up. So during that warm up time, the blue will mix with the yellow film (if you applied it to your headlight) and appear lime green.

After it warms up to be yellow, I guess it is fine.



I would rather just go with a nokya bulb if you want yellow. They sell hi wattage ones now also I think. There are a couple of new models.


If you want white or bluish fogs, then HIDs ftw.


55w hid is still pretty hot, my 35watts seem pretty hot. But still I dont think either would melt a housing.

danchon

I've heard that the Nokyas (due to their higher wattage) do not have a long bulb life. I just bought a set of ES300 yellow foglights (I believe they use projectors) on ebay for $40 i'm going to see if I can somehow fit these in to the 97 fogs. Will see how it looks with the stock H3 bulb, but will consider 3000k 35w HID bulb as well.

I learned that ddmtuning uses 35w bulbs with their 55w ballasts (which truly only probably put out like 40-45 watts). doesn't seem like a good long term solution. Eventually will have to retrofit tsx projectors just need to get all the materials together.

sc-driver

iTrader: (7)

Dont go with Nokya, they are crap. I bought some that said they were 80 Watt ones. I open them up and the bulbs say 65 Watts. I still put them in and they were dimmer then my 5 year old sylvania's that are 60 Watts.

You should be fine using the 55 Watt HID's since oem halogen bulbs use 55 Watts as well. I would suggest not getting 55 Watt fog lights because it might get a little too hot in there and the color will be washed out. Go with the 3000K 35Watt. I think they'll look the most yellow out of all of them.

LexAnt

iTrader: (2)

I installed 3k hid fogs in my 97+ fogs and they seem fine. I'm using OEM k for lows.

I'm not sure what you mean by washed out but I can certainly say the yellow hits the ground pretty well and apparently when I drive at night. When the 3k hids startup, they're actually green until they turn yellow after the warmup. Here's a pic of how my 3k hid fog kit looks like with 6k hid lows (at the time). No film whatsoever over the lens either, just a pnp kit.