Just got my HID's installed this weekend *pics*

[TapOut]

So I was talking about the HID temperature in another thread, and although the 4300k is what I eventually went with, I'm not sure if it's the right color I was hoping for.
I took some OEM HID comparison pics with one of my other cars....and you can actually see they are very close in temp/color...but the OEM's seem to have a slight more white/purple hue to them? What did impress me was the cut off for a non OEM HID kit.

So here are the details. I went with a XenonExpert Xtreme 4300k kit, and everything was pretty high quality. They have excellent customer service, and one night they were actually replying to my questions around 11pm-12am. However it appears they sent me the wrong spacer for the back of the projector, but I was able to improvise with some washers which worked out really well. All in all, the product seemed very high quality....no splicing or anything required, and no weird noises, smells, or any other issues of the sort.

For those attempting the install....I would highly recommend removing the bumper and headlights for the install. You can do the whole thing without, but plan on running into some PITA situations, and you won't get a nice clean install with everything hidden out of site. I found several locations to mount the products using factory blank screw holes, and you cant' tell I have an aftermarket kit by popping the hood. Almost everything is tucked away and clean. Now for some pics showing you guys how my install came out.

Everything removed and ready to go:

Starting to mount components and run wiring:

Now some comparison pics. Some of the pictures the light output looks really blue, but note that is just the way the picture came out....it's really not blue AT ALL! It's pretty much pure white. Even the OEM's look blue for some reason in the pics?

And from inside the car. The difference was amazing. All my other cars are HID stock, so going back to halogen SUCKED bad. I would say it's almost identical to my old GT 3 Sedan that had OEM HID's.

 

[TapOut]

What do you guys think about the temp? Should I go up to 5000k? I want the color to be more of an OEM shade. Well BMW, Acura, Chevy color....which all seem to be more blue/purple/white??? Hard to explain....but you can kind of see it in the side by side shot.

The 4300k is more white, almost yellow, the OEM on the right seems to be a little more white almost blue?? (dunno)

 

[mr_mazda329]

What do you guys think about the temp? Should I go up to 5000k? I want the color to be more of an OEM shade. Well BMW, Acura, Chevy color....which all seem to be more blue/purple/white??? Hard to explain....but you can kind of see it in the side by side shot.

The 4300k is more white, almost yellow, the OEM on the right seems to be a little more white almost blue?? (dunno)

I say 5000k. Best trade-off. All the other cars OEM run 4300k but they all look bluish/purple because of the projector on how it focuses the light giving it that flicker effect of colors.

OP, very nice write-up. I only wish you could have posted pictures of the washer mod too.

 

[TapOut]

I say 5000k. Best trade-off. All the other cars OEM run 4300k but they all look bluish/purple because of the projector on how it focuses the light giving it that flicker effect of colors.

OP, very nice write-up. I only wish you could have posted pictures of the washer mod too.

Yeah sorry, I didn't even think about posting a real write up until I was halfway done with the project.

So it's like this. The stock bulb is held in place with a metal clip that just pushes down on the back of the bulb. So the only thing that holds the bulb in place is the tension from this metal clip. The problem is that the stock halogen bulb has a thick base, and the HID bulb has a very thin base. So when you place the HID bulb in the hole and re clip the wire, there is no longer any tension to hold it in snug. The wire clip just snaps back in and barely touches the back of the bulb.

You can pull off that wire and reshape it to fit, but I figured it's easier just to "pad" the back of the HID bulb to make the base as thick as the stock bulb. I went to OSH and grabbed 4 thick rubber washers that fit around the base of the bulb and added the base height. Now when you push down the wire clip it actually rests on the rubber washers, which in turn is pushing down on the bulb and creating the tight seal.

Sorry if that is confusing, but it makes 100% sense when you see the 2 bulbs side by side. Plus don't forget that I was accidentally given the WRONG spacer by xenonexperts. So most of you will never have to worry. I've asked them to send me the correct pair, but I don't see a real need to change out the washers unless I change the color of the bulbs.

I believe you are right on with the flicker effect idea of OEM projectors, but I also know of another company that recently told me stock BMW's run 5000k from the factory. Wish I would have known that before getting the 4300's...but what the heck. I'm really happy with the results for now, and in no real hurry to swap out the bulb colors just yet.