I want to change my fogs to yellow ...would these H1s work in my x type (2003) and would they be brighter than OEM. lastly...would any mods be required.

JDM Yellow H1 55W Xenon HID Fog Light Bulbs : Amazon.com : Automotive

 

Or these?

RECON Part # 264H1SY - H1 (2,600 KELVIN) Fog/Head Light Bulbs in Solar Yellow

 

Hey yellow is what I am doing get your own idea..lol

Mine aren't H1s though they are some kind of 9000 series

 

drdnaga, the first link that you pulled from Amazon, DO NOT GO WITH THEM!!!!! I am basing this all off of the fact that they are calling the bulb something that it is not. They call it an HID bulb. What they picture is a standard H1 incandescent bulb. Completely different monsters (would be like trying to compare a Chevette to a Corvette, they are both cars made by Chevy). So, odds are, if you buy them, you are going to be disappointed with them. If they are truely HIDs (which the picture is then misleading and the statement about no modifications is completely wrong), then you have other issues (specifically the stock wiring is not rated to handle the starting surge of a 55W HID bulb). Just to give you a point of reference, the 55W H1 bulbs that are in the fog lights right now emit around 1500 lumen of light. So, if you can find a lumen rating for those bulbs, you can then compare. Higher the number, the more light you will get.

The second link that you post I would say is a good bulb. As for being brighter, they don't give enough information to make an informed judgement. You can give it a try and see.

If you are after a yellow bulb that has a garanteed light output improvement, then you are looking at stepping up to 3000K true HID bulbs. The install is not quite plug and play, but a back yard mechanic can do it if they get the right kit. Some of the kits are not so "mechanic friendly". These bulbs would output about 3100 lumen of light (compared to the 1500 lumen that your current bulbs put out). If you are looking to go this way, let me know and I will help you get something that you can manage on your own.

 

Thermo... thanks.. I would love another project for my son and I to work on. With that said.. I would prefer to stay away from having to do TOO much electrical work... not my thing. Shoot options as you see fit!

David

 

drdnaga, I am thinking something more like this:
Xtreme HID H11 4300K Phillips Bulbs Xenon Conversion Kit Morimoto 3FIVE SS | eBay

The benefit of this kit is that the bulbs fit right into the housing where the old bulb went. So, no needing to be drilling out the old base, trying to fight to get a bulb in, then RTV'ing it into place, etc. For this, you will undo the old bulb, slide in the HID bulb, mount the ballast near the fog light housing, then make up a plug that will plug into the connector that went to the old bulb. The hardest part of doing it this way is making sure that you have the correct wires in the plug you make as HID bulbs are polarity sensitive and if you have them wired backwards, they will not come on. The nice thing is, you are only dealing with 2 wires. So, if you didn't wire it up correctly, you reverse the wires and you are in business. This is how I did it on the wife's 2010 Fusion and it was super simple. It is well worth the few extra dollars kits like this run to make the install fast and easy.

Not all H11 kits are this way (as I eluded to initially). You can tell kits like the one I recommended above as you will have a rubber seal (lots of times it is orange, but doesn't have to be) next to the bulb. That is the big give away with these "easy install" kits. So, do some looking around and see what you can find. I have found all of my kits on e-bay and for the most part have had good luck with them. The problems that I have normally had is that the ballasts will go bad early in use (within a month of use). If you are truely worried, you can buy the HID "kit" in pieces where you can get the color bulbs that you want, find the pig tails that go between the factory bulb plug and the ballast and then you can get the MaxLux ballasts. They are a bit on the more expensive side ($30 a ballast, vice spending about $35 on a complete kit), but for the people that have bought them, they haven't had any issues. MaxLux is the distributor for a lot of the OEM HID setups.

 

Oh yes, one last, but very important thing. I know this is going to sound wrong, but it is correct. When looking at HID kits, you want the 35W kits. You DO NOT!!!!! want the 55W kits. HID bulbs are very efficient in making light. You do not need the higher wattage bulbs. Along the same lines, if you go with the "build your own kit" idea, you need to make sure that you get 35W bulbs and 35W ballasts. You can not mix and match 35W bulbs and 55W ballasts (or vice versa).

To put the light output in perspective, you halogen fog lights right now put out about 1500 lumen per bulb. 3000K HID bulbs (35W) (those that will have the yellow tint to them) output about 3100 lumen. If you were to use the 55W HID 3000K bulbs, you would be outputting about 4400 lumen of light (or like using 3 high beam bulbs). I do not know about you, but I might be a little pissed at those people.

You may also hear people talk about how you need a relay setup to power HIDs properly. Your car already has the relay setup in it. So, installing them is as simple as it gets. Not all vehicles have a relay setup for their headlights/fog lights. So, the need for a relay kit would be required with other vehicles.

 

Isn't the kelvin of 4300k too high on the link you gave to me?

 

drdnaga, 4300K is a fairly white light with a slight yellow tint to it. That has the most like output of the HID bulbs. If there is a special color bulb that you are after, let me know and I will tell you the temperature rating of the bulb you want.

 

Thermo what I meant was....is 4300k to brite as you stated in your prior comment.

 

drdnaga, as long as you get the 35 watt HID bulbs, then you are fine. It is when you start getting into the 55 watt bulbs that you start having issues. The temperature rating has a minor effect on the brightness of the bulb. In your case, if you are after a true yellow bulb, then you are after the 3000K bulb rated for 35 watts.