OEM xenon color temperature?

[andy92782]

Does anyone know how "hot" the OEM xenons are? I also have a Honda S2000 with factory xenons and the S2K's xenons are considerably brighter/hotter, if you know what I mean. The light is whiter. I also used to own a BMW equipped with factory xenons and those were hotter as well. I have to admit that I'm less than impressed with the Maz3's xenons. Kinda wish they had more punch, for lack of a better term.

[midnightfxgt]

You are expecting the Mazda3's lighting system to be on par with cars which cost more than double, or even triple what the 3 costs? :shrug:. I would understand if the Civic came with Xenons and were better.... sorry, but I cant help ya man

~JOHN

[andy92782]

Originally Posted by "midnightfxgt"

You are expecting the Mazda3's lighting system to be on par with cars which cost more than double, or even triple what the 3 costs? :shrug:. I would understand if the Civic came with Xenons and were better.... sorry, but I cant help ya man

~JOHN

Well.. yeah, I am! The xenon option on a Mazda3 costs the same as the xenon option on a BMW 330i. The fact that the 330i has a base price twice as high as the Mazda3 has nothing to do with it. And yeah, I know that the $700 I spent on xenons also got me the TPMS system but the BMW gets bi-xenons (high-beams as well as low) and also automatic leveling that the Mazda doesn't get, so in the end it's a wash. But even the BMW xenons aren't as good as the ones they put on the Honda S2K. The S2K's headlights are simply awesome.. the best of any car out there.

I'd be willing to wager that if I can swap out the xenon bulb elements on the Mazda3's OEM headlights for aftermarket units with a hotter color temperature I'd probably be happier.

[Monkey_3]

Shouldn't the "best" temp be at 4100k?
That should give you the whitest color which BMW/Benz has it at.
Anything higher would give you more of a purple color which i've seen in the S2K.

[DJ Paolo]

i have 4100k D2S bulbs in my ford focus I am willing to part out. They are not re-based bulbs, they are for D2S lights only.

[TxAggies07]

Arent pretty much all OEM xenons made by 1 of 2 companies. I know one popular bulb is the Philips. I just thought pretty much all OEM bulbs were the same from car to car. I think the difference might come in the design of the housings.

[Xenon]

Usually OEM is somewhere between 4100 K and 4300 K.

I know the Japanese use 4100 K, BMW uses 4300 K and Mercedes uses I htink 4500 K

You can tell by colour, the higher the number the more the colour fades from white to blue to purple.

6000 K is a purplish colour.

[RedRaptor]

Does that mean that 6000k kit gives off less light on the road? I don't mind the purple tint to HIDs...actually the Audis that I see have a purple tint to them.

[01aww18t]

Originally Posted by "RedRaptor"

Does that mean that 6000k kit gives off less light on the road? I don't mind the purple tint to HIDs...actually the Audis that I see have a purple tint to them.

The blue-purple you see from BMW's, MB's etc are due to the optics of the projector system (ie. the lens). The best light output from a hid bulb will be in the 4100 - 4300k range and this is what most car manufacturers use. Anything higher will give you bluish to purplish colour with the sacrifice of light output.
I retrofitted an OEM set of hids with Hella ballasts and 4100k phillips d2s bulbs in a VW Passat. On the passat, the halogen low beams use projectors, and the result of putting hids in was amazing. From different angles, it would have the blue-purple effect (from the optics) of bimmers and benz's, but the light output is the highest possible.

Hopefully that clears up some confusion about colour temperatures and the perceivable colours coming from expensive cars.

I placed 4300K hids in my 3, and the output is great, from different angles you can notice the colour changes (blue-purple) as well (as a result of the projector lens we have).

HTH

[mz6zoomzoom]

Originally Posted by "RedRaptor"

Does that mean that 6000k kit gives off less light on the road?

If it's because of the actual color temp, yes.