Hey guys I have a question on HID lighting. I put some HID XENON lights from ebay on my 95 Honda Del Sol's headlights with Color Temp 6000k low beam. Here is the problem I thought it would be a little bit brighter, but I can't see **** at night. I understand that the higher the color temp is the less natural light is omitted. How can I make my headlights brighter, should I go down to 5000k? Any suggestions will help.

 

It's not your color temp that's the problem, it's your housings. Either get good traditional bulbs (Sylvania Silverstar Ultra) or get some projector housings and do a retrofit.

A pair of Silverstar Ultras will be a lot cheaper than a retrofit, a lot easier, and a lot more legal.

 

Aside from getting a better bulb, what type of housing projectors would you suggest? My budget is $400.

 

You can get a retrofit kit from http://www.theretrofitsource.com for anywhere from $120 to $180 depending on what projector you decide to go with. The Morimoto Mini is easier to install (and cheaper). The FX-R (what I have) will give better light output, color cut off, and hi/low, but is considerably harder to install.

Make sure you know exactly what you're getting yourself into before you go ordering anything. There is a lot of precise DIY work involved in a retrofit, and most companies will charge $500+ to do the work for you. Morimoto's can probably be installed in 3-4 hours per side. FX-Rs will take longer (if they even fit in the EG housing). I would also recomend buying some cheap housings off eBay to do it to, so you don't chop up and ruin your stock housings.

There are a lot of resources out there for projector housing retrofits in our cars. Search and read before you make any decisions. There's a reason I mentioned the Silverstars - five minutes and zero risk of ruining your headlights, versus a weekend project with a good chance of ******* it up.

 

Yeah I figured the amount of work I would have to do just to get bright lights. I think what I will do is buy some decent headlights and go with the better bulbs. Also, is it better to get Low beam or high beam bulbs? and should I stick with 6000k HID's or go with Silverstar?

 

Sylvania makes bulbs specifically for your car. Sylvania's website says the 95 Del Sol uses a unified beam, so I'm going to assume that's correct. Yes, they do make the Silverstar Ultra in a 9003, which is what your car uses (once again, assuming their site is correct).

Here is a link to Autozone's listing for the bulb. You can probably find it cheaper on another site, but once again, convenience.

Also assuming they're correct, the proper way to do a projector retrofit would be to use a single housing projector that has a built in relay for hi/low. The FX-R does, but I can't speak for the Morimoto Mini.

 

Thanks for your help man. I'll try it out. I might change the housing first to see how the HID's work out if not I'll go grab bulb you suggested.

 

OEM Honda housings are notoriously bad for HIDs, and eBay housing reflectors are going to be even worse.

Good luck with whichever route you decide to go.