RS HID headlights not bright enough... suggestions?

[MrTeacher]

Hello all, I have a 2010 2LT/RS. I've upgraded the DRL and HID headlights with Oracle P13W DRL LED bulbs (with their DRL harness) and Diode Dynamics RS replacement OEM HID 6K bulbs. While the color of the lights is great, both are whiter than stock, the headlights are NOT as bright as they were before and it makes me nervous driving at night because they don't light up the road as much as they did before. The DRLs give me more light on the road at night than the headlights do! (but they don't project far down the road)

Anyone else have this problem? What do you guys recommend? Do I just have some bad bulbs?

I haven't found many options for the HID headlights... I previously bought ones from Gen5Diy, but neither performed any better... and I've just been dealing with it for a couple of months now. I'm thinking the Gen5Diy DRL harness looks more legit than what I got from Oracle... would that affect anything? I'm wondering if it's a power issue, but don't know how to fix it.

I need help and/or suggestions. Thanks!

[lscamaro]

When you go up the temp scale like you did, you lose some useable light. That's probably what you're noticing going from 4300k to 6k

[mycamaro2011]

you lost light going up with a 6k hid bulb.
i believe are stock hid lights are 4300k
the higher you go the more light output you loose and it starts turning blueish

[MrTeacher]

thanks... I've been learning about that as well... my 6k lights aren't very bluish, but I do understand the whole color wavelength thing... but so then wouldn't it simply be a power issue? Doesn't somebody offer a higher wattage bulb that is also whiter than stock (so above 4300) so you get whiter AND brighter?

[Green Machine]

4300k is pretty white and will give you the most amount of light. The 6000k and 6500k lights do have a blue hue to them and give off less light.

The color of your lights will change depending on what you are used to seeing. You have 6000k now and going back to a 4100k or 4300k may seem yellow to you but its white.

If 4300k HIDs are not bright enough for you to see at night you either need to properly adjust your headlights or not drive at nights because your eyes are that bad...

Sent from somewhere on the road.

[Cool AirZ28]

I swapped my fog lights to HID's. The HIDS are brighter and throw out more light than the rs halos. Easy fix for your problem

[Str8_W8]

Originally Posted by Green Machine

4300k is pretty white and will give you the most amount of light. The 6000k and 6500k lights do have a blue hue to them and give off less light.

The color of your lights will change depending on what you are used to seeing. You have 6000k now and going back to a 4100k or 4300k may seem yellow to you but its white.

If 4300k HIDs are not bright enough for you to see at night you either need to properly adjust your headlights or not drive at nights because your eyes are that bad...

Sent from somewhere on the road.

This. Adjust your headlights to move them up a little bit. Also, I have bulbs made by EFX and they feature a different designed inner light tube that is suppose to direct way light forward instead of to the side. They shine as far or maybe a little further than the stock 4300k HID bulbs and I have them in the 6000k series along with my Sylvania 6000k fog light bulbs. They have a very noticeably blue tint to them and they put out more light.

PM me for more info. I'll try to post a picture tonight of the light output.

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

There are higher power HID (stock is 35 watts), but you have to remember more power more heat, we have fixed many RS headlights, where the chrome holder of the bulb has melted or burned, if some of the chrome comes off then you have less light output.

[MrTeacher]

How did you do that?

Originally Posted by Cool AirZ28

I swapped my fog lights to HID's. The HIDS are brighter and throw out more light than the rs halos. Easy fix for your problem

[MrTeacher]

Previously I've ordered new bulbs from Gen5Diy and Diode Dynamics... as I look at other various places, like EFX and even Amazon, what is the difference between them? I see prices all over the place for the "same" bulb (D1S, HID, either 6000K or 4300K) - Gen5Diy only has the 6000K, for $50; EFX has both for $60, Diode Dynamics has both for $80, Amazon is offering: Osram Xenarc 66144 D1s CBI bulbs for $230 (!!!); and on and on...

At this point, it sounds like I need to drop back to 4300K, but if there are better bulbs out there that will direct light further down the road than standard, then I'd be willing to pay a premium (though $230 seems a bit outrageous comparatively).

[Str8_W8]

Originally Posted by MrTeacher

Previously I've ordered new bulbs from Gen5Diy and Diode Dynamics... as I look at other various places, like EFX and even Amazon, what is the difference between them? I see prices all over the place for the "same" bulb (D1S, HID, either 6000K or 4300K) - Gen5Diy only has the 6000K, for $50; EFX has both for $60, Diode Dynamics has both for $80, Amazon is offering: Osram Xenarc 66144 D1s CBI bulbs for $230 (!!!); and on and on...

At this point, it sounds like I need to drop back to 4300K, but if there are better bulbs out there that will direct light further down the road than standard, then I'd be willing to pay a premium (though $230 seems a bit outrageous comparatively).

EFX has a different designed inner tube made to direct more light forward. That's what made me purchase them. I believe in small companies that list very specific details about their products and why they are better than the competition. Comparing the stock bulb vs the EFX bulb, you will notice the inner tube is rounded instead of square just like they describe in the listing. They were $60-$70 and produce a 6000k light atleast if not better than stock. They are really blue though.

Apex and R2C are also stand out companies to me because they specifically list why their products are better than the competition. They are also affordable and do not list their products for outrageous amounts of money. You are right, $230 for two bulbs is more than I would pay especially when the only upgrade you might be buying is the name.

[MrTeacher]

Thanks for your help. I decided to go ahead and get the EFX bulbs; though I got both the 4300 and the 6000, ha! Hopefully that will fix the situation.

Originally Posted by Str8_W8

EFX has a different designed inner tube made to direct more light forward. That's what made me purchase them. I believe in small companies that list very specific details about their products and why they are better than the competition. Comparing the stock bulb vs the EFX bulb, you will notice the inner tube is rounded instead of square just like they describe in the listing. They were $60-$70 and produce a 6000k light atleast if not better than stock. They are really blue though.

Apex and R2C are also stand out companies to me because they specifically list why their products are better than the competition. They are also affordable and do not list their products for outrageous amounts of money. You are right, $230 for two bulbs is more than I would pay especially when the only upgrade you might be buying is the name.

[blackswan]

How'd this work out?

[96SS10SS]

There are a few threads going about this issue but in the end, replacing my entire headlamp assemblies was the fix for my unsafe headlights. The projector bowls can burn off the mirrored reflective coating and cause the lights to hardly light up anything. Nobody sells the projector bowls or can recoat them once they are damaged. You can retrofit new projectors or replace the assemblies. TYC makes a OE quality assembly with clear (not cloudy or fresnel) projectors. That’s what I bought from RockAuto for $385 each.

Here is my experience with taking apart my projectors and replacing the entire headlamp assemblies:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...=491102&page=2

Bulbs were the first thing I tried last year because it’s the cheapest and easiest to try. However my 7+ year old original bulbs were not the problem; there was no color shift indicating they were wearing out and the new bulbs didn’t seem to improve anything. I dealt with it until this month when I really noticed how difficult it was to see at night. These lights used to be very bright so I knew something was wrong. According to what I have read, ballasts will either fire up the lights or they won’t; my lights always came on and stayed on. I wasn’t going to replace the ballasts to test that theory when I could get the entire assembly with bulbs and ballast for $385 each.