Can you swap OEM 4300k HID bulb for 6000k bulb?

I have swapped out my H16 fog bulbs for 6000k LED's and I can see the colour difference between these and my 4300k OEM HID low beams.

 

It seems most easily obtainable bulbs are of the 6000k variety and also the Diode Dynamics C lights which I would like are also 6000k temperature.

 

In order to have all lights match, is it possible to do a straight swap on the D4S bulbs to a 6000k replacement (which are on ebay for $80- $100)?

 

I am wondering as I am not sure on how HID systems work etc.

 

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Photo of current setup for reference.

 

I just want them all to match

 

http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/muncee/Mobile%20Uploads/20170502_172442.jpg

 

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yes, I used:

 

D4S: MORIMOTO XB XENGREEN

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/d4s-morimoto-xb-xengreen.html?preselect=49472

 

Instructions have already been posted, but basically the rear of the HID housing twists off to access the bulbs.

 

Morimoto bulbs are inexpensive and of good quality imho.

yes, I used:

 

D4S: MORIMOTO XB XENGREEN

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/d4s-morimoto-xb-xengreen.html?preselect=49472

 

Instructions have already been posted, but basically the rear of the HID housing twists off to access the bulbs.

 

Morimoto bulbs are inexpensive and of good quality imho.

Thanks, but it seems Morimoto only offer 4500k, 5500k and 6500k.

 

I guess I would be looking at 5500k. Is that what you used?

 

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yes, it is a good match for my 6000k Philips LED fogs. I like the white color output over the more yellowish stock.

yes, it is a good match for my 6000k Philips LED fogs. I like the white color output over the more yellowish stock.

Do you have a photo of your setup by chance?

 

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Stock Subaru HID's are 6k.. The Optimum light should be a 5500.. I will be changing mine soon..

 

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Stock Subaru HID's are 6k..

 

The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of OE Subaru HIDs is nominally 4300K, just like the rest of the auto industry.

Do you have a photo of your setup by chance?

 

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no pics, maybe I can get one tomorrow night.

 

It is a pretty good match. The only non matching light now is the yellowish high beams, the halogen high beam probably provides better visibility than if you try substituting an 6000k LED bulb for the OEM high beam housing -- you could retrofit an HID projector, but that is a lot of extra work to lose that yellow light that nobody driving toward you should see anyway.

... you could retrofit an HID projector, but that is a lot of extra work to lose that yellow light that nobody driving toward you should see anyway.

 

Only a bi-xenon projector would be a reasonable choice. There are several good technical reasons that HIDs are not suitable for switched high beam use.

no pics, maybe I can get one tomorrow night.

 

It is a pretty good match. The only non matching light now is the yellowish high beams, the halogen high beam probably provides better visibility than if you try substituting an 6000k LED bulb for the OEM high beam housing -- you could retrofit an HID projector, but that is a lot of extra work to lose that yellow light that nobody driving toward you should see anyway.

 

Philips DiamondVision bulbs would be a good option for your high beam if you did want them to match. Did a retrofit on my friend's E46 Bimmer, with 5000k HIDs in the projectors and DiamondVisions in the stock high beam location. It's quite a perfect match.

 

Also you're right about the halogen bulb working better than an LED replacement, after dropping decent money on two different LED sets I finally realized it was a hopeless cause. I'm currently running Philips CrystalVision bulbs which match my 4300k HIDs nicely. Since I have bi-xenons, having two different high beam colors getting thrown out would drive me crazy lol.

I was going to rant about HID and color matching and all that jazz, but I lost my post while typing it on my phone. Essentially just don't be dumb and put one of the LED bulbs in the high beam as it can have a negative affect on the lamp performance.

Stock Subaru HID's are 6k.. The Optimum light should be a 5500.. I will be changing mine soon..

 

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This cannot be correct... if you refer to my photo at the top of the thread, it is clear that my 6000k fog lights are if a different temperature to my stock HID low beams.

 

The low beams are definitely warmer.

 

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yes, I used:

 

D4S: MORIMOTO XB XENGREEN

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/d4s-morimoto-xb-xengreen.html?preselect=49472

 

Instructions have already been posted, but basically the rear of the HID housing twists off to access the bulbs.

 

Morimoto bulbs are inexpensive and of good quality imho.

Thank you, I have ordered my new Morimoto lights!

 

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I was going to rant about HID and color matching and all that jazz, but I lost my post while typing it on my phone. Essentially just don't be dumb and put one of the LED bulbs in the high beam as it can have a negative affect on the lamp performance.

Haha thank you for the tip, it is sound advice as I have also learnt.

 

I already swapped out my high beams for LED'S and during might time highway driving I was horrified at the high beam light output being next to no improvement on low beam.

 

Can't wait to swap back to halogen haha..

 

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Does anyone have any experience with Philips Crystal Vision?

 

Am considering ordering these for my high beams - apparently they are very bright white light even though they are halogen.

 

 

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Philips DiamondVision bulbs would be a good option for your high beam if you did want them to match. Did a retrofit on my friend's E46 Bimmer, with 5000k HIDs in the projectors and DiamondVisions in the stock high beam location. It's quite a perfect match.

 

I don't need them to match, high beams are rarely used on my commute due to the number of other cars around, and on country roads where I do use them the light color is way less important to me than the light output, we have a lot of deer about.

 

But I did shop for a car that would have LED or HID stock this last round (after retrofitting the WRX to HID's), I am done with halogen low beams (they are probably going to be replaced with LED's universally soon) and retrofitting lights in my kitchen, too much of a hassle.

 

I think OP will be happy with the Morimoto bulbs, the white output is way more pleasing to my eyes -- I don't really care what others see when I drive down the road, I care what I look at (I actually changed all my office and home bulbs to Daylight LED's for the same reason), Soft White (aka, yellow) just doesn't do it for me -- good thing my wife doesn't really care that much that everything is Daylight.

This is a fantastic thread explaining why LEDs in halogen housings suck. Also any halogen bulbs with the color coating to make them appear more white actually have a diminished light output.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

Does anyone have any experience with Philips Crystal Vision?

 

Am considering ordering these for my high beams - apparently they are very bright white light even though they are halogen.

 

 

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I run CrystalVisions in my high beams and Hellas. The color is identical to 4300k HID low beams.

 

If you want even whiter than that, look into DiamondVisions. They're the whitest halogen bulbs I know of.

 

http://i.imgur.com/oMb7Oho.jpg

 

 

I don't need them to match, high beams are rarely used on my commute due to the number of other cars around, and on country roads where I do use them the light color is way less important to me than the light output, we have a lot of deer about.

 

But I did shop for a car that would have LED or HID stock this last round (after retrofitting the WRX to HID's), I am done with halogen low beams (they are probably going to be replaced with LED's universally soon) and retrofitting lights in my kitchen, too much of a hassle.

 

I think OP will be happy with the Morimoto bulbs, the white output is way more pleasing to my eyes -- I don't really care what others see when I drive down the road, I care what I look at (I actually changed all my office and home bulbs to Daylight LED's for the same reason), Soft White (aka, yellow) just doesn't do it for me -- good thing my wife doesn't really care that much that everything is Daylight.

 

You bring up a good point about light output. It's worth mentioning that any whiter bulb is going to have slightly worse performance than a high-performance halogen due to the blue coating. With having bi-xenons and the Hellas I'm not as concerned with maximizing output, all 3 running at once is excessive as is:lol:

 

Found this comparison awhile back:

http://i.imgur.com/m4lzA3v.jpg

 

I'm set on bi-xenons for every car here on out, even LEDs aren't quite up to par with their performance. What I'm really looking forward to laser lights, but it's gonna be quite awhile before they go mainstream.

I'm set on bi-xenons for every car here on out, even LEDs aren't quite up to par with their performance. What I'm really looking forward to laser lights, but it's gonna be quite awhile before they go mainstream.

 

It'll be interesting to see how things change over the next few years as headlamp performance begins to have an affect on IIHS Top Safety Pick results. I can't recall the specifics, but in the future, a vehicle will be required to offer a headlamp with good or acceptable performance to be a TSP or TSP+. For reference, the HIDs on the Limited trim levels are rated at good for vehicles built Dec 2016 and beyond (vehicles built prior are rated Acceptable).

 

And regarding laser lights, it'll be quite a while here in the US before laser lights are a thing. IIRC, they are not permitted under current DOT regulations. The technology also only exists currently for high beam use to provide more output down the road and is a very focused beam. I think we are quite a ways off before it becomes at all mainstream or sees use on anything other than extremely high level vehicles (I think the R8 and i8 currently have the technology, and I don't expect it to make it onto more common models anytime soon). We're talking probably 10+ years.

I'll bet LED headlights become the standard within a few years (cost is coming down, they are more common on higher trims, and they reduce electrical load on the car, so minimal MPG improvement from that).

 

For myself, I will only buy LED or HID OEM equipped cars from here on out. The main advantage of buying OEM HID is the autolevelling, and the fact you don't have to do the 6 hour plus job of removing and opening the headlights, retrofitting, etc.

 

PS: My wife's RDX is all LED, is about 6,000k, and has great lights, the low beam light output is a little more diffuse (more like a halogen light) vs The Legacy HID low beams are that are very good, but like any HID, have a very stark/sharp cut off line.

I'm not a fan of the LED lights in Acuras from what I have seen so far. The ones I've come across blind me like CRAZY at night. Drives me mad.

I'll bet LED headlights become the standard within a few years (cost is coming down, they are more common on higher trims, and they reduce electrical load on the car, so minimal MPG improvement from that).

 

For myself, I will only buy LED or HID OEM equipped cars from here on out. The main advantage of buying OEM HID is the autolevelling, and the fact you don't have to do the 6 hour plus job of removing and opening the headlights, retrofitting, etc.

 

PS: My wife's RDX is all LED, is about 6,000k, and has great lights, the low beam light output is a little more diffuse (more like a halogen light) vs The Legacy HID low beams are that are very good, but like any HID, have a very stark/sharp cut off line.

 

Disclaimer: I work for an OEM in exterior lighting. Just a few things I want to mention:

 

LED is still significantly more expensive than HID at this point. However, LED is still a much bigger marketing point for OEMs than HID.

 

If I recall correctly, auto-leveling is not required in any regard in the US. Just because a vehicle has HID does not mean it is equipped with automatic leveling. That being said, it is required is some situations for cars sold in Europe or other regions, and OEMs may choose to carry over the auto-leveling system to reduce the number of variants of a headlamp. However, European lights have a very different beam pattern to US lights, so I'd say it's equally likely to have it removed for the US even if it's offered on the same model in other regions.

 

If you think the cutoff on the OEM HID is sharp, you would despise the cutoff on Morimoto Mini H1 projectors. Most customers prefer a softer cutoff with a bit of a gradient. However, I'd expect to start to see sharper cutoffs in general in the coming years because:

 

IIHS has started to rate headlamp performance, and it will have an affect on the ability for cars to receive top safety pick ratings in coming years. Unfortunately, how the IIHS rates lamps and what most consumers want from lamps aren't 100% in line. It's easier to perform well in the IIHS tests with sharper cutoffs. Another quick note - the OEM HID on the Limited trim levels is actually rated at Good (the best rating from the IIHS). This applies to vehicles build Dec 2016 and beyond (for the 3.6R at least, and I'd imagine it's the same for the 2.5i Limited). Vehicles built earlier with HIDs are rated Acceptable (second highest category). The halogens are rated Marginal. Overall, there's not many vehicles at all that currently score Good in the IIHS test. I'd be very curious to get a Morimoto Mini H1 HID projector and get some measurements taken at work to see how we would predict it to score in the IIHS test.

 

Last note, just in case anyone is curious, the headlights for the 6th gen Legacy are made by North American Lighting.

 

 

 

And all that being said, from a personal point of view, I'll trade the sharp cutoff for better lamp performance. I put Morimoto projectors in my 2008 Legacy and had a very sharp cutoff. However, there was a world of difference in light output compared to the stock halogen projectors, and they were also significantly better than the OEM HID in my current 2016 3.6R limited.

 

Lastly, I feel inclined to make the disclaimer that the statements I've made in this post in no way represent the views of the company I work for, any automotive supplier, etc. They are entirely my own views and/or opinions, and I am only trying to provide some additional insight into the complicated industry that is automotive lighting. One more little fun fact - if I recall correctly, I believe lights are actually the most regulated portion of a vehicle.

The WRX I traded in had Morimoto D2S projectors that I retrofitted into the OEM headlights (along with the Diode Dynamics C-Lights), I used the same bulbs (Morimoto 5500k) that I have in my current OEM HID projectors (well, one was D2S, other is D4S).

 

Other than the fact that the Morimoto D2S were bi-xenon (which kicks ass when combined with the OEM halogen high beam), I think both the cars had good HID output. The Morimoto D2S definitely had more of a "rainbow/blue tint" at the edge of the cutoff.

 

Legacy OEM HID has the autolevelling. of course the WRX retrofit didn't have that. I honestly can't tell if and when it is making a change to the angle of the lights.

 

If Legacy had LED projectors (like the WRX offered in Limited trim) I would have happily bought that rather than the HID, but either works. Halogen is not an option for me any longer after driving with HID's (and now LED, via my wife's Acura RDX that has the jewel eye headlights). The kids have halogen projectors in their honda civics, which is not bad, just not for me, and I like the white color output personally as I find it easier on my eyes.

 

PS: HID light has a sharper cut off IF it is put into an HID projector designed to focus it. If you have HID inserts in a halogen projector, the light won't have a proper cut off, and the "squirrel finders" that are in your halogen projector is making sure there is HID light being reflected upward.

This cannot be correct... if you refer to my photo at the top of the thread, it is clear that my 6000k fog lights are if a different temperature to my stock HID low beams.

 

You do not have HID low beams! The Liberty 2.5i Premium comes standard with LED low beams. *NO* Australian market 6th Gen Libertys come with HIDs.