builthatch
Member
I bought these a while back from www.rallylights.com, a customer of mine. They rave about these things and i figured with the new car, what better platform to try a set.
HIR (halogen infra-red) is a technology that GE patented to give a cost effective alternative to industrial HID. They ended up licensing the technology to Toshiba for automotive use. I believe that the Dodge Viper at one point was using these bulbs along with some Nissan vehicles and maybe the BMW Z8...anyway, the advantage to HIR vs. any other replacement bulb is for about the same wattage as stock, you produce almost double the lumens, which is actually the measured about of light and no more heat. it's not a fashion bulb that fools the eye, it really makes more light.
HIR is available in two fitments, 9011 and 9012, which are compareable in base shape and use to 9005 and 9006, respectively. the only difference is the top tab on both HIR fitments needs to be trimmed. to add, i did not know it until tonight, but additional modification is needed to the bulb to fit in our fogs. it's not 'hard', but more on that later....
so, on to the meat of the info-
let me preface this by apologizing for the quality of the pics. i photograph scale models that i build and i would never be caught dead with photos like this, but i really was in a rush to figure out how to make these fit, so i spent the right amount of time working on the bulbs and less time on the pics...anyway-
here are the bulbs lined up-
you can see the difference in the shape of the capsule from the stock 9006. note the trimmed tab on the middle base, and the marking they use to note where to trim on the right bulb. i have to note that their marking work is sloppy, so you have to mark it better using a pencil, studying how the stock bulb tab is shaped.
so i thought that all i had to do was trim the one tab, but i found out that the plastic base toward the capsule, above the red o-ring, interferes with the bulbs inserting all the way into the spot on the light. So, i had to in essence shave down the base, leaving just enough above the red o-ring to allow it to stay in place.
after that little realization and modification, everything went in like stock. It was POURING rain, so the pic quality is not the best as mentioned, but i took a pic with one stocker left in vs. one HIR. i think you can tell which one is HIR and which is stock.
the light color is a bit whiter than stock, but the overall intensity is definitely increased vs. stock. all that with no more heat and no more current draw than stock. It's more noticeable now when the fogs are on vs. off, but due to the aiming of the fogs, it's not going to be night and day until you actually are in the fog. i believe it is THEN that you will really see the function benefit of the upgrade.
the cost is something like 30 a bulb, so they are expensive, but considering the quality of the bulb, and the performance gain while keeping the wires/etc safe, they are worth it to me. To get a brighter light in there, of course you can resort to high wattage "off road only" performance bulbs, but then you run the risk of melting wires/plugs due to too much current draw and skinny japanese lighting wires, as well as melted lamp internals from the hotter light bulb. Also, those high wattage bulbs never have the life that a lower "DOT" wattage bulb does.
so all in all, i think it was worth the effort. i know these aren't for everyone, but i figured 'why not?'
HIR (halogen infra-red) is a technology that GE patented to give a cost effective alternative to industrial HID. They ended up licensing the technology to Toshiba for automotive use. I believe that the Dodge Viper at one point was using these bulbs along with some Nissan vehicles and maybe the BMW Z8...anyway, the advantage to HIR vs. any other replacement bulb is for about the same wattage as stock, you produce almost double the lumens, which is actually the measured about of light and no more heat. it's not a fashion bulb that fools the eye, it really makes more light.
HIR is available in two fitments, 9011 and 9012, which are compareable in base shape and use to 9005 and 9006, respectively. the only difference is the top tab on both HIR fitments needs to be trimmed. to add, i did not know it until tonight, but additional modification is needed to the bulb to fit in our fogs. it's not 'hard', but more on that later....
so, on to the meat of the info-
let me preface this by apologizing for the quality of the pics. i photograph scale models that i build and i would never be caught dead with photos like this, but i really was in a rush to figure out how to make these fit, so i spent the right amount of time working on the bulbs and less time on the pics...anyway-
here are the bulbs lined up-
you can see the difference in the shape of the capsule from the stock 9006. note the trimmed tab on the middle base, and the marking they use to note where to trim on the right bulb. i have to note that their marking work is sloppy, so you have to mark it better using a pencil, studying how the stock bulb tab is shaped.
so i thought that all i had to do was trim the one tab, but i found out that the plastic base toward the capsule, above the red o-ring, interferes with the bulbs inserting all the way into the spot on the light. So, i had to in essence shave down the base, leaving just enough above the red o-ring to allow it to stay in place.
after that little realization and modification, everything went in like stock. It was POURING rain, so the pic quality is not the best as mentioned, but i took a pic with one stocker left in vs. one HIR. i think you can tell which one is HIR and which is stock.
the light color is a bit whiter than stock, but the overall intensity is definitely increased vs. stock. all that with no more heat and no more current draw than stock. It's more noticeable now when the fogs are on vs. off, but due to the aiming of the fogs, it's not going to be night and day until you actually are in the fog. i believe it is THEN that you will really see the function benefit of the upgrade.
the cost is something like 30 a bulb, so they are expensive, but considering the quality of the bulb, and the performance gain while keeping the wires/etc safe, they are worth it to me. To get a brighter light in there, of course you can resort to high wattage "off road only" performance bulbs, but then you run the risk of melting wires/plugs due to too much current draw and skinny japanese lighting wires, as well as melted lamp internals from the hotter light bulb. Also, those high wattage bulbs never have the life that a lower "DOT" wattage bulb does.
so all in all, i think it was worth the effort. i know these aren't for everyone, but i figured 'why not?'
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