Well, finally got my Apexcone HID's installed in my 5. Took some trial and error, but thanks to the help from dreamym5, got them burning perfectly. (What hung me up was the little 'tab' on the bulb... it needs to be aligned between the two metal posts inside the projector housing, or else kiss any respectable beam pattern away.)
Anyway, I'm completely happy with them... simply beautiful! The roads were wet tonight, and any time the roads are wet, the light reflects and refracts so it's hard to gauge the brightness you'd see on a typical night road that's dry. What I will say about the brightness, is my eyes adjusted to them so I didn't think they were much brighter, until I turned on my high beams and they were actually kind of dwarfed in intensity by the HID lows! (Note that the HID's stayed low height and the high beams shot at a higher level, so there was still separation of the light, but the HID made the high beams look weak). This is also a good time to note that in about 90 min of driving tonight, I was not flashed with high beams from other drivers, not even once.
Okay, that's the intensity... now my favorite part, the color. I got a set of 4500k Apexcone's. These babies are sweet... NO YELLOW, trust me. Pictures can make them appear yellow, but seeing my reflection in glass windows and behind other cars, even the 4500k's have a subtle purplish hue (and not the cutoff, the 5's projectors don't seem to cast a blue/purple cutoff line, mostly greenish/brown). So as far as how they look from outside the car, you'll not be let down by the 4500k. Now, as far as how the road looks from within the car, pure white. There's absolutely no blueness cast on the road. Like I mentioned, the wet roads made it hard to tell what exactly they'll look like when on dry roads... but a few objects that stood out as exceptional are, concrete barriers and metal guardrails were lit very bright and clear, reflective surfaces such as road markings and speed limit signs jump out at you more, and although trivial, one thing I love is how GREEN the grass looks... beautiful stuff! Bottom line, if you're on the fence, I'd say go with the 4x00k color temp, I highly recommend it, you get very clear road lighting and still be a bit of blueness in appearance to onlookers. I think 6000k would be too blue for me. Ultimately, it's just personal preference, though.
Okay, time for pics. You won't find any road/beam patterns here... as mentioned, the roads were wet and it would make for lousy pics... I'll try to get some of these shots sometime in the not-so-distant future.
OEM Halogen left, 4500k HID right. (I know there's glare here, that's what happens when you place your camera directly in the line of fire
)
Another side-by-side
Head-on closeup - Halogen
Head-on closeup - 4500k
Angle closeup - Halogen
Angle closeup - 4500k
Top-down closeup - Halogen
Top-down closeup - 4500k
Both HID's installed... pic taken just above cutoff line
Both HID's... pic taken below cutoff line (ie, direct shot of beam)
HID projector cutoff line...remains greenish/brown as with the Halogen's
Engine bay post-install. Note the Apexcone(DDM) slim ballasts by the coolant reservoir and fuse box. The relay harness runs behind the engine.
Mounted the ballasts using heavy-duty velcro tape. Tucked in all the connections and igniters into that fender cavity you see here.
Same deal, driver's side of the car. You can also see the relay harness ground.
UPDATE: 5/24/08 - Beam pattern & Action shots added
Beam pattern, like 10 ft. away from the wall. Note the dreaded 'glare spots' above the cutoff line. I must say that in person they're as weak looking as they are in this pic. Furthermore I stepped out and put my face in one of those three spots, and nothing significant changed... dropped below the cutoff, and sudden blindness
Beam pattern, like 30 ft. away from the wall. Now check out the dreaded 'glare spots'... they're virtually gone. So I don't think they're an issue with the 5 as discussed later in the thread with the Scion xB.
Action shot #1
Action shot #2 - FWIW, that's a box truck in front of me... to far ahead of me to be within the cutoff line.
Action shot #3 - With this one, note the distant road signs illuminated nicely.
Anyway, I'm completely happy with them... simply beautiful! The roads were wet tonight, and any time the roads are wet, the light reflects and refracts so it's hard to gauge the brightness you'd see on a typical night road that's dry. What I will say about the brightness, is my eyes adjusted to them so I didn't think they were much brighter, until I turned on my high beams and they were actually kind of dwarfed in intensity by the HID lows! (Note that the HID's stayed low height and the high beams shot at a higher level, so there was still separation of the light, but the HID made the high beams look weak). This is also a good time to note that in about 90 min of driving tonight, I was not flashed with high beams from other drivers, not even once.
Okay, that's the intensity... now my favorite part, the color. I got a set of 4500k Apexcone's. These babies are sweet... NO YELLOW, trust me. Pictures can make them appear yellow, but seeing my reflection in glass windows and behind other cars, even the 4500k's have a subtle purplish hue (and not the cutoff, the 5's projectors don't seem to cast a blue/purple cutoff line, mostly greenish/brown). So as far as how they look from outside the car, you'll not be let down by the 4500k. Now, as far as how the road looks from within the car, pure white. There's absolutely no blueness cast on the road. Like I mentioned, the wet roads made it hard to tell what exactly they'll look like when on dry roads... but a few objects that stood out as exceptional are, concrete barriers and metal guardrails were lit very bright and clear, reflective surfaces such as road markings and speed limit signs jump out at you more, and although trivial, one thing I love is how GREEN the grass looks... beautiful stuff! Bottom line, if you're on the fence, I'd say go with the 4x00k color temp, I highly recommend it, you get very clear road lighting and still be a bit of blueness in appearance to onlookers. I think 6000k would be too blue for me. Ultimately, it's just personal preference, though.
Okay, time for pics. You won't find any road/beam patterns here... as mentioned, the roads were wet and it would make for lousy pics... I'll try to get some of these shots sometime in the not-so-distant future.
OEM Halogen left, 4500k HID right. (I know there's glare here, that's what happens when you place your camera directly in the line of fire
)
Another side-by-side
Head-on closeup - Halogen
Head-on closeup - 4500k
Angle closeup - Halogen
Angle closeup - 4500k
Top-down closeup - Halogen
Top-down closeup - 4500k
Both HID's installed... pic taken just above cutoff line
Both HID's... pic taken below cutoff line (ie, direct shot of beam)
HID projector cutoff line...remains greenish/brown as with the Halogen's
Engine bay post-install. Note the Apexcone(DDM) slim ballasts by the coolant reservoir and fuse box. The relay harness runs behind the engine.
Mounted the ballasts using heavy-duty velcro tape. Tucked in all the connections and igniters into that fender cavity you see here.
Same deal, driver's side of the car. You can also see the relay harness ground.
UPDATE: 5/24/08 - Beam pattern & Action shots added
Beam pattern, like 10 ft. away from the wall. Note the dreaded 'glare spots' above the cutoff line. I must say that in person they're as weak looking as they are in this pic. Furthermore I stepped out and put my face in one of those three spots, and nothing significant changed... dropped below the cutoff, and sudden blindness
Beam pattern, like 30 ft. away from the wall. Now check out the dreaded 'glare spots'... they're virtually gone. So I don't think they're an issue with the 5 as discussed later in the thread with the Scion xB.
Action shot #1
Action shot #2 - FWIW, that's a box truck in front of me... to far ahead of me to be within the cutoff line.
Action shot #3 - With this one, note the distant road signs illuminated nicely.
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