BRZ Limited OEM HID, brightness?
 

So I have a BRZ limited and I know it comes with factory HID headlights already... But to me it still doesn't seem as bright as others. My friends 92' civic has a 35w HID kit and it's quite brighter than the BRZ's lights.

Does anyone know if there is a reason for that? Or maybe I'm just imagining things...

Aside from that, is it possible to upgrade the OEM HID ballast to an aftermarket 55watt kit? Also does anyone know where the OEM ballast is located at?

Thanks in advance.

Brightness, in my opinion, is subjective as there are numerous factors that play into usable light.

Is your friend's Civic retrofitted with HID projectors? Without them, light will disperse all over the place, causing them to seem like they're brighter. Projectors will create a light cut off, allowing the light to be more usable (aimed at the road) instead of the treeline above.

If you look at a car head on w/o projectors, they will definitely seem brighter than they really are from the driver's point of view.

Another thing to as what the Kelvin value or color temperature that your friend is running. I too have a BRZ Limited and I'm not sure what the Kelvin temp is, but it looks close to 4000K. If your friend is running anything above 5000K to 6000K, it may seem a bit brighter if you looked at them head on.

Hope that helps.

i've noticed that too. My BRZ HID doesn't look bright.

Does your friend have a projector lens setup for his HID? If not, then it would appear a lot brighter than the BRZ's HIDs. That's just because his light is being scattered everywhere, blinding everybody on the road. BRZs have projector lenses for its HIDs. It's a focused plane of light. It's really bright but at eye level, it will not blind you.

IMO, the BRZs lights are really bright and projects really far down the road. That's the most important part.

BRZ stock HID bulbs are 4300K. This is what most OEMs use because it is close to what the sun emits and therefore theoretically provides the best output for the human eye. Don't judge how bright your lights are by looking at them, but rather how they look from the drivers seat. They are the first HIDs that I have had on a car and I will not go back to halogen.

I think the OEM BRZ headlights are great.. love the look and the brightness.

Heard our OEM HID unit is the same thing as RX350 unit.

It's bright as hell imo.

You probably think your friend's is brighter because HID can blind your eyes without projector housing.

I don't believe he has projectors. Just staring and comparing the two focal points between the BRZ and civic. His focal point just seems quite a deal brighter. I think he is running 6000k or 8000k.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, the higher you go up on the kelvin range, doesn't that appear to diminish the "light output?"

Yes.

Ideal is 4200-4500k range. 5000k is white which some like.. past that you start getting into the dumb blues and stuff that people seem to think is cool, despite having reduced output.

If he doesn't have projectors, it is definitely not actually brighter. It just scatters light everywhere and appears brighter. The usable light is far less if you had them side by side. And the obnoxious-to-other-drivers factor on his will be much higher.

Makes sense.

Do you happen to know if it's possible to upgrade the our HIDs to 55w?

not really worth it. at 55w, you're going to start risking damage to other components if you're not careful..

it's really just best to just stop comparing apples to cassette tapes...

But cassette tapes are so delicious when you unwind them a little bit...

you are comparing HID's in a projector housing to HID's in a housing made for standard bulbs that shoot light everywhere...

i've always preferred the taste of beta tapes over cassette tapes, but 'different strokes' i guess...