55w HID Kits
 

Anyone had success with updating their FR-S with 55w HID Kits? If so, what brand or may i ask where did you acquire the kit?

I have the 35w - Ebay kit running and it is doing a great job, but since no fog lights. I was figuring maybe updating to 55w.


Regards,

Exam23

We strongly advise customers not to install 55 watt HID conversion kits for a variety of reasons. Check out our research page to learn more about HID lighting: http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/research.html

A quality 35 watt HID conversion kit will provide you with plenty of usable light output

Nick C.

Those reasons all sound like bs to me.
1. Bulb life - Halogen bulbs are usually only rated for 300 or so hours, HID are rated for much longer.
2. Extra Heat - Producing almost triple the light output of a halogen and putting out more heat while using 55 watts is literally impossible. Energy In = Energy Out.
3. Brightness - Too bright, really?
4. Diminishing Returns - This is probably right, however when you just want maximum usable light output without mounting a silly light bar on the front of your sports car there are few options. Your example says that you might get an extra 800 lumens of output. That's 800 lumens you didn't have before.

What you failed to mention is that putting HID kits in halogen housings is illegal and scatters light everywhere. Don't put HIDs in your halogen housings.

Get some H9's for low beams and 9011 for high beams. I do plenty of highway driving and this combo produces more usable light than the OEM HID's in my e90 bmw.

I will preface my post by saying I haven't read through DD's link.

1. Bulb life is shortened due to the fact that most 55W HID kits come with 35W bulbs that are overdriven at 55W. When you make something run at a higher power than it was originally rated for, expect failure to occur much sooner.

2. Wat. Of course there's extra heat. More Watts = More Heat.

3. It is possible to have headlights be too bright. When walking outside at night without any auxiliary lights, you can see. When walking outside at night with a stupid ultra bright 1 million candle power flashlight, you can see everything in the light brilliantly, but everything outside of the light (children, deer, birds, yettis, etc) will be a mystery. Your eyes will only be able to focus on what's seen in the light. There is a very fine balance that must be maintained so you can see the road and see everything else as well.

4. I'm not sure what the argument here is.

The OEM HIDs in your E90 are ZKW bixenons, right? ZKW projectors are only good for their clear lenses. Their bowls are crap and burn out (they literally get burnt... from the heat of the HID bulbs).

1. I'm saying that even when they are over driven to 55 watts they will still last longer than halogens.

2. I'm comparing the 55 watt HID to 55 watt halogen bulbs which will actually produce more heat than a HID bulb of the same power consumption.

3. This might be considered applicable in a city driving environment, but not on unlit highways. More light focused where you need it will always be better.

4. The argument here is that while the increase in light output might not equal the increase in power input, this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad idea.

Yes, they are ZKW, and for what it's worth the AL's on my previous e46 were no better, although I do appreciate the adaptive function on the new ones where they turn with the wheel.

Fog lights have no bearing on useable light output. They're short range is easily overdriven (i.e. by the time you see something, it's too late to do anything about it).


They're for fog, and driving slow in it.





1. HID's lose lumens gradually while halogens keep most of their lumens until they finally pop. You end up wearing the electrodes out faster running 55w HID. There are specific bulbs made for it with beefier electrodes to counter this issue.


2. Ah, here's the fun part. HID's produce a TON of UV light, this is why there's two glass tubes over each other. The outer tube is to block the UV light (and keep in mind many cheap bulbs skimp on this). It's a different "heat" but it does a ton of damage regardless.


3. Yes and no. A super bright hotspot vs a nice wide beam of a real HID projector is a night and day difference. Also, when it comes to actual roads, brighter is potentially unsafe for other drivers.

I recently did 6000k 35W hide on mine. No glare, doesn't blind and brightens up the road well enough. Just be sure to aim down the projectors to where it still illuminates enough of the immediate road while keeping it tamed for other drivers

Stay with 35w. 55w is way too bright for the road.

I currently have 35w, diode foglight kit and the road is plenty bright for me.

I believe 35 is enough. Don't need more than that. These have worked awesome on my cars the past years.

http://www.o-nex.com/h11.html

Ive been running the 55w kit about a year now with no issues. They only downside ive encountered is that if you turn the car on prior to turning the headlights on the headlights wont turn on, you have to flick the stalk 1 more time. Other then that they look great not too much output that it would blind others, if they were in the highbeams yes but the lowbeams are projectors so they aim the beam correctly (as to not blind others).

I paired my 55w kit with the DD led switchbacks and they look good. Shine almost as white.

The low beams are halogen projectors so they throw unfocused light. Whether you choose to believe it or not, there is glare, especially since you have a 55W setup.

Yep.


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...pscde49cee.jpg

Coming from a setup without projectors from my previous car, this is nothing that can compare, ive driven in both front and opposite to another fr-s with the same 55w setup, no annoying glare or potentially unsafe setup but you can definitely notice the difference between the two.

We aren't comparing reflectors to projectors. Any projector will be better than a reflector. Just because it is a lot better does not mean it's perfect. Heck I still have stock reflectors with a 35W kit. I plan on doing a retrofit because I know there is glare. Just because there isn't a ton of glare, doesn't mean there isn't any at all.