I bought my 04 x type used, and a few days later a head light went out. It was under warranty, but it was a sunday so i said illl just do it myself. But to my surprise, my local auto parts store told me the light was $130 because it was an HID bulb. Its been two years now and the lights are still good, but im trying to be ready, so i went to look up bulbs on ebay, and they are all like 8 bucks, and say that they r X type HID bulbs. What gives?

 

nobody has anything for me? lol

 

I do, I have the HID bulbs Advance Auto has a price of $100 for my 03 X. The list is $130. I wouldn't buy an $8 bulb on Ebay, in fact I wouldn't buy much on Ebay. Don't know if you changed it yet but I am told the front bumper cover has to come off to gain access to the bulbs.

 

front bumper does not have to come off to change the driver side bulb, i think the a.c is in the way of the passenger but i cant remember.
the OEM hid bulbs are 100-150 usually, they are made by a wellknown name brand but i cant remember what it was...
i replaced them with ebay bulbs for $40 or so. bulbs work fine and you can get the color temp you want, the oem only comes in 4300 i think.
i switched to 6000k, i like the slight blue to them, they make the lines on the road glow a little nicer in the rain.

 

thanks for the info

 

6000K HID bulbs are illegal in this state. I bet they give out some light.

 

its a toss up, i have 5k lows in my truck and 6k in its fogs, the 5 k looks brighter but the 6 gives a wider throw of the light because of the type of housing.
i useto have 8 k in the lows beams where i just put 5k, and the 5k is MUCH brighter than the 8k...i think i have one 6k bulb that will fit i can test out for a comparison, but the other burnt out.

i dont think 6k is illegal, most BMW come stock with 6K(i think)...they really arent all that blue...its when you get into 8k+ that the colors get annoying...i ordered 12k for someone once but i never saw them turned on..i think they would have been purple.

my CTS has 6k fogs and 4300lows that im switching to 6k when i get a chance.

 

I don't know what the standard HID lights are 4500 perhaps? Anyway my son and I went out last nite and as I was backing out of the driveway and down the street he said turn off your highbeams. I said Junior I don't have my high beams on. He said I didn't drive this car much at night when you where getting better but those HID's are really bright. So I can imagine what the 6K or higher must be like. Yes, 6K are not legal in Mass a friend of my son converted his 08 G6 to 6K HID and they flunked state inspection, they have some way of testing the intensity of the light from your headlights. How? I don't have the faintest. Besides they banned license plate frames here also and tinted windows unless they were factory. Then they rescinded the tinting, now you can have a max of 25% tinting aftermarket. Ma is known as the state that wants to tell people they are better at doing good things for us then we are.

 

As for the manufacturer of the factory headlights, that would be Hella. They make all the lighting for the Jags as I recall (atleast as of late). So, if you can find a Hella bulb, that would be the factory bulb. The factory system for the earlier cars was a 4300K bulb. But the later ones appear to be 6000K bulbs.

As for being able to tell what type of bulb you are using, that is easy. Photographers have them. They are light intensity meters. You can even get them calibrated to measure the light wave frequency. By knowing the light wave frequency, you can know what degree HID bulb you are using. Now, keep in mind that standard halogen bulbs only output around 1300 lumen. So, as you can see, HID bulbs are around 3 times as bright. Without a quality reflector inside of the headlight housing, I can see why some states would band the use of HID bulbs in a non-HID headlight housing. But, every state is different in what they will and will not allow.

As for HID light intensity, for reference, here are the standard lumen ratings of various temp HID bulbs:

3000K - 3100 lumens
4300K - 3300
5000K - 3200
6000K - 3100
8000K - 2900
10000K - 2700

 

Would the higher lumens effect the electrical system of the car? ie if you have 4300 standard and then changed to 6000?

 

Adam, they both pull the same amount of power. You are only loosing efficiency of the bulb to convert electricity to light. So, no harder on the car than any other bulb, just less for you to see with.

 

Thanks, a few years ago a friend purchased some halogen bulbs off E Bay for a BMW 3 series he had. When he put the bulbs in and turned them on they blew a fuse, he replaced the fuse turned the lights on again and the fuse blew. So he went to the local auto parts store and purchased some Silverstar bulbs and put them in, turned them on and no fuse blowing. He kept those bulbs for years. I also had the Silverstars on my previous ride, I thought they were the brightest bulbs around, until I got the Xtype with HID. Since I had the car I don't thing I used the highbeams at night and there are some dark lightless roads around here. Amazing technology. I was at the dentist today and in a Car and Driver it had a short story about LED's U see on Audi's. The article said the tech is relatively new but once it is perfected they will start showing up in headlights and such. They will outlast anything out there today and burn brighter, but one factor now is cost. And probably government regs, they didn't say that, but as we all the the government knows what is best for us.

 

Adam, the problem with LEDs at the moment is their inability to throw light all that well. Not to mention getting something that is capable of tossing a bunch of light in a small package. But, with the advent of the luxeon stars, that is becoming more and more possible. I am playing with the luxeon stars right now and have a pretty good idea in mind for our x-types using a string of 1 watt stars. But, what I have planned would probably emit about the same light as a 55W bulb. So, probably overkill.

 

I would be interested in how your LED project progresses keep us posted.

 

My driver's side factory HID bulb went out too (2003 X). Advance Auto said to use H1's but I keep reading about D2S here. Is there a difference? Also, 4300K is the OEM intensity correct? Thanks.

 

Queen, H1 bulbs are halogen bulbs and are for cars that don't have HID bulbs. If you have HID headlights, then you need the D2S bulbs. So, you need to make sure that you have HID headlights (there is a silver sticker in the drivers door jam up near the hinge for cars with the HID system) and then select the bulb that is for your vehicle.

As for factory bulb intensity, that would be 35W bulb. The 4300K number that you are talking about is the light color that is projected. To my understanding, the factory bulbs are 4300K in color at 35W. But, at some point I believe they upgraded to 5000K to get a more white light out of the vehicle without dramatically affecting the light being shined on to the road.

If you need to know more about the correct bulb, let me know. I will talk you through everything.

 

Excellent. I'm definitely a novice when it comes to lighting. Thank you for the great clarification. I believe mine have a slight yellow tinge so I am guessing they are 4300. I did confirm they are HIDs through the dealer, but they quoted $360 for an OEM bulb. After hearing the price I forgot to ask what the part # was! Thanks again and if I come up with anymore quesitons I surely be back to you.

 

I've got an 04, still the original bulbs and they are 5000. More of a bluish tinge than yellow.

I have my 10 pack of LED for the little running lights (2.99 shipped from China), and I'll play on the weekend, I bet I got exactly what I payed for.

As far as access, I've got ogre mitts and had no problem getting my hand into the lights. The battery box is in the way a bit on the one side but it is still managable, take the lid off the battery box.

 

The problem with the "HID" lights advertised for $8 on e-Bay is that they are NOT HID! They are H1 bulbs that have a blue tint to the glass that supposedly make them LOOK like HID bulbs. If your car uses HID bulbs, they must be D2S, not H1. There are D2S bulbs available on e-Bay, and they are considerably cheaper than the dealer's price, but they are not $8.

 

Ok well I got the cover off with no problem, but when I undid the mechanism where it says open/close the bulb stayed in the assembly. I am guessing that wasn't supposed to happen, or am I missing a way to get the bulb out? The dealer said he got it in and out with no problem so I am not quite sure it didn't come out for me. I hope I don't have to get a new assembly. And I still could not relatch the inside latch... errr