Headlight upgrade
 

Just wanted to check with the members who had the low beam headlight upgrade and see what their thoughts were. Can you see better, can you see a difference? Hope they are working out for you. :)

Re: Headlight upgrade
 

Just a little sidenote - I work as an IT manager and operations supervisor for a valet company, so I get to drive a lot of nice cars with HID headlights.

Anyway, the upgrade makes the beam cutoff much, much more apparent. I'm not sure if many people have had the privilege of driving cars with HID headlights, but I drive them in garages somewhat often. Since the beams are then projected into the wall (instead of into open air), the cutoff becomes very apparent. Almost all HID lights have a near-complete cutoff of light after a certain horizontal point, like drawing a line on paper, sideways, and coloring underneath it. Above it, there is no color, just like on the HID projection. It's difficult to see this on the open road, so a wall makes it much easier to see.

This cutoff is very easy to see with HID lights, even at a large distance. With the stock 9006 low beams in the SVX, the cutoff is very difficult to see, but becomes apparent at point-blank distance. After upgrading to the 9005 bulbs, the cutoff can be seen from a greater distance, but not as far away as with HID. A definite improvement though.

The cutoff is significant because the light is projected down onto the road, which is obviously what you need to be looking at when driving at night. Headlights without projectors have a beam pattern that diffuses very quickly, and are therefore less efficient. The projector creates a cutoff, and "focuses" the light into a more "dense" beam pattern. The stock SVX bulbs, as mentioned above, do not have such a sharp cutoff as the 9005 bulbs - i.e. the light diffuses differently with 9006, and is more similar to headlights without projectors in comparision to the 9005 bulbs.

Is this making any sense, or is my wording too funky?

So yes, it is much brighter. :) If you use a bulb with a blue tint, you will be getting light that is much whiter. So, upgrading to 9005 with something like Cool Blue or a Street Glow bulb will yield a whiter light that is pretty similar to less-intensive HIDs. If you use a bulb with a purple tint, you will be getting light that is somewhat blue. While I haven't used one yet, this will probably appear much similar to the high-intensity HIDs that you see on some Porsches, BMWs, and Benzezzezesss (Mercedes :D ).

How about a true plug-and-play HID conversion system, with a choice of bulb temperatures.

A little pricey, but check it out anyway. Lots of good information.
Click HERE

I notice a big difference. So much so that I upgraded my 94 to 9005. The fog lamps no longer provide much improvement.

Do the crystal ion lamps from piaa make much of a difference with the upgrade to 9005?

Have you tried these?

Any idea what would happen if I replaced my fogs with these? That way i could just use the normal HB/LB (both 9005's) and hit the foglight switch when I need the EXTRA light.

Do they need a projector lens like our LB's have??

You could use HID capsules in our fogs. It would take some retrofitting. You would need to remove or relocate the bulb shield, and cut the housing out to allow for an H4 retrofit.

You could NEVER use them in traffic. They would be completely blinding since there is nothing other than a stamped tin reflector to aim the beam. But on a deserted country road, fire 'em up.

BTW: Mr. Jung is not selling "TRUE" HID conversion kits. True kits would come with a headlamp housing, HID designed projector, and leveling equipment. They also cost thousands and work exactly like factory HIDs. There is no kit for the SVX at this time. Any retrofit kit is just a "Fast n Furious" mod, not legal or safe for street use.

Doug

Hi, Earl. I put CarQuest BP9005TV lights (at $11.00 each) in my car, and Sylvania Cool Blue 9005s in Diana's car. They make a big differance, yes we can see better, and no problems.:)
Di said "She forgets to put on her high beams now, on our road,(a dark windy country lane thru the woods) because the low beams are so bright, and she never could before.

On mine I also upgraded the fogs to H-3 100 watt bulbs, and that was not nearly as noticeable.

I use the modified 9005 bulbs as my low beam lamps and PIAA Ion-Crystal bulbs for my foglights. I delfinately see a difference in snow and fog over the standard "white" bulbs.

The reason that yellow lamps are so commonly used as fog lights is because white/blue light is much more reflective than yellow. In snow or fog, you want your fog lamps to illuminate the ground just ahead of the vehicle, not the fog or snow.

Driving w/ my fog lights on I do have increased visibility of the road but I still focus out past the fog lights as they project much closer to the front of the car. It is a good idea to use the foglights only when needed to avoid focusing too close to the front of the car.

Tip: when shopping for bulbs I use Froogle and search for the bulb type number (9005, PIAA H3, etc..) and browse untill I find the best price. Don't forget to factor shipping. Cartoys wanted $84.99 for my Ion-Crystals... I had them shipped for less than $45! From a store called Racerwheel out of CA.

120W NOKYA Stage II Halogen HO 9005
 

I just ordered a set of hgh output halogen bulbs from Nokya. These have dark blue crystal and an output of 120W. Just over double the wattage of the standard 9006 low beam bulb. They also claim a color tempature of 7000K. These are 9005's so I will be modifying them to fit as I have done w/ previous sets. I will take some pictures of standard 9006 cool blue, 9006 silverstar, modified Eurolite 9005's, and the new Nokya's when I recieve them next week. I think it will be interesting to view the difference from stock output halogen, 9005 Xenon, and HO 9005 Halogen.

On a side note, I am using the 9005 Eurolite Xenon's at the moment, the amount of light I'm getting is incredible and it seems like a narrower / more focused set of high beams. I'm satisfied w/ the amount of light output but I want the HID simulated look I had before w/ my cheapy Hi-Lites (ever heard of them? yeah me niether.)

Headlight comparison
 

Allright guys, as promised I took a few pictures of a few different bulbs. I have labled and posted the pictures in my locker under "lighting comparisons". The cool blues and silverstars are normal 9006's and the cool blue is on the driver's side w/ the silverstar on the passenger side.

My camera took accurate pictures from inside the car but taking the exterior shots the colors are off and everything. At least you can see which one is brighter by the size of the distortion.

Bulbs used

9006 Cool Blue Halogen 55W
9006 silverstar Halogen 55W

9005 Eurolite Xenon 65W

9005 Nokya Stage II Halogen 120W


Enjoy! :)