Xenon Bulbs

[Emily.]

I know there's probably loads of threads on this already, but I've had a search and it confuses me lol!

One of my headlight bulbs went on friday and I was going to order to 6000k ones from HIDs Direct because I'd prefer them to be nice and white like the bulbs I currently had, but they would have taken too long to come. The only ones I could find that would come at the weekend were some 4300k ones from Amazon that I'll just use temporarily.

I've just fitted it and it looks so yellow compared to the other side. The bulb that I took out was an Osram Xenarc 66040. Is it just yellow because I had to get the 4300k instead of the 6000k or is it the type of bulb?

These are the ones I was looking at ordering and just swapping them over, will they be pretty white? I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount on the bulbs.
http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/d2s-35w-hid-xenon-bulb-set/

Thanks

 

[sburrell93]

4300k is standard in these cars, so shouldn't look yellow at all. Those xenarc bulbs are 4300k as well. Xenon bulbs change colour as they age though (get bluer as they get older) so my guess would be that they look different because you've got one new and one old bulb in there. If you change them in pairs they'll be fine

6000k is pretty blue IMO but it just depends what you're after. I have 5000k in one of my cars and 4300k in another, and prefer the 4300k for light output but the 5000k ones do look slightly better.

 

[Emily.]

Thank you I think I'll order some 6000k ones, see which I prefer and keep the other set as a spare.

 

[turke]

Just to note, the bluer you go the more annoying and irritating they become to other drivers who have view of your headlights, it starts getting bad at like 8000K+

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Thank you :smile: I think I'll order some 6000k ones, see which I prefer and keep the other set as a spare.

I have the 5000k xenon bulbs from HIDS direct . I think they are whiter( with no hint of blue) than the oem 4300k bulbs and light up the road better too.

 

[ado]

I run 4300 Osram CBI in the R53, I have found they provide the most light and are the whitest of 4300k and rival 5000k but they are 80 quid for the pair.

 

[Emily.]

I noticed this evening when I went out in the dark that the xenon I changed the bulb in is pointing downwards compared to the other side. I have no idea if it's because I've put the bulb in wrong or something. The rubber cap thing for the back of the light is missing and the little metal clip that holds the bulb in place seemed to be broken on one side. Any ideas?

 

[joebloggz]

you will need the whole usable clip mate or it wont stay in place securely ,its most probably fallen down or to one side , the clip holds it in its notches

 

[hansthebear]

They have a burn in time, 20 hours or something where the colour temp comes up to the rated value.

5000k ftw

 

[Emily.]

Right I've got the bulb fitted properly but when I was changing my sidelight bulbs I noticed that on one side the inside of the xenon seems to be loose. I've had a quick search and it seems like the headlight adjuster could have come off or something. I'm guessing that would explain why that headlight seems to be shining downwards? Is it a bumper off and headlight out job to pop it back in? Are there any guides on how to do it?

 

[sburrell93]

Depends what headlight it is really...the aircon pipes on the drivers side make that one a b**ch to get into if it's still on the car. It's manageable with small enough hands though lol. The adjuster just clips into the headlight in a sort of ball and socket joint. The white bit in the photo below should be attached to the inside of the headlight, and the adjuster just clips into the 'socket' bit of it from below. You'll need to remove the adjuster motor from the back of the headlight to let you move it about and clip it back in, but it just twists (cant remember what way) and pulls off.

 

[Emily.]

Thanks, I'll give it a go tomorrow. It is the drivers side, it was hard enough just changing the bulb so i think I'll take the headlight out!

 

[sburrell93]

I'd give it a shot with it all still in place. It's a 30 second job if you can get into it and get enough movement to click it in place, if not though bumper off and headlight out will make it faaarr easier!

 

[N4TH4N]

Shame yr not local i can do this in 30 secs flat

 

[Emily.]

I would try with it still in place but I have no idea which part I should be moving and where abouts the adjuster is lol. I'm hoping that by taking the headlight out it'll be fairly obvious?

 

[choong-moo]

It's a shiter of a job imo. Easily broken, so for the sake of popping the headlight out that's what I'd do to be on the safe side. Good luck

 

[Emily.]

Okay so I got the bumper off today and the adjuster was disconnected so I popped it back in, but while doing this I noticed that a bit of plastic was broken off. I think it was a bit of the plastic that the screw goes into as you adjust it. Just took it out and the headlight that side is still pointing downwards

 

[Emily.]

Depends what headlight it is really...the aircon pipes on the drivers side make that one a b**ch to get into if it's still on the car. It's manageable with small enough hands though lol. The adjuster just clips into the headlight in a sort of ball and socket joint. The white bit in the photo below should be attached to the inside of the headlight, and the adjuster just clips into the 'socket' bit of it from below. You'll need to remove the adjuster motor from the back of the headlight to let you move it about and clip it back in, but it just twists (cant remember what way) and pulls off.

Right I've just realised how thick I've been. When I took the headlight out, I saw that the ball and socket bit wasn't connected, managed to get that back together, put the headlight back in and realised it was still pointing downwards and assumed it was something to do with the little bit of plastic that had broken off. Just looked back over your post and seen that I didn't even take out or look at the adjuster in the pic. If the ball and socket bit is connected, could it be that the actual adjuster isn't connected to the headlight and that's why it's pointing downwards? Sorry if I'm being totally thick!

 

[sburrell93]

Right I've just realised how thick I've been. When I took the headlight out, I saw that the ball and socket bit wasn't connected, managed to get that back together, put the headlight back in and realised it was still pointing downwards and assumed it was something to do with the little bit of plastic that had broken off. Just looked back over your post and seen that I didn't even take out or look at the adjuster in the pic. If the ball and socket bit is connected, could it be that the actual adjuster isn't connected to the headlight and that's why it's pointing downwards? Sorry if I'm being totally thick!

Emm, basically the whole inner light unit is sort of hinged on 2 clips, and then the adjuster motor connects to another clip (with that ball and socket joint), and this pushes in and out and tilts the light up and down. If any of those 3 clips have broken then the light wont adjust and that could be what's causing it to still point down.

If you remove the adjuster the whole inner light unit should be free to sort of swing back and forth inside. If it doesn't, one of the other clips has more than likely broken or come off. If it does swing about, it probably just needs reconnected to the adjuster motor with that ball and socket joint and then manually adjusted. Hope that makes sense lol!