Xenon bulbs - Are they worth it?

[CMF_Toma]

http://tinyurl.com/k7b8j

Ebay for $18-23
Apparently retail at $70?
I might not buy these ones, but the real question is, are they worth the hassle? I see all sorts of cars with fancy blue looking headlights and stuff, but theyre lighting performance is horrendous. I guess im after a white light rather than the normal yellowish light that most bulbs produce. Also some new headlights would be nice :*( Mine are all tinted yellowy-brown and i fear cleaning them with the oven and the melting and stuff wont work.
O woe is me.

 

[CMF_Yom]

Absolutely useless.

Look at the phillips range for street legal halogen bulb upgrades. These will improve your night vision quite remarkably. It also very important you remain with the standard wattage globes (which is 60w) as any higher and you might just find yourself with some melted wiring.

There are some genuine HID kits around and they're OK, I think GTRHOLIC knows more about these.

 

[CMF_Toma]

Yom WROTE:

"... you might just find yourself with some melted wiring.

I had that!!! Before the last bulbs were put it, i guess some idiot put some "upgraded" lights in there and melted the plugs. had to buy some new ones a few months back because theyd melted so much the metal connectors had warped and were contacting. Bastards.
Thx Tom
<3 Tom.

 

[CMF_jay85]

i am running philips crystal vision which give off a really white/blue light. they make a huge difference over standard globes.

proper xenon globes themselves are over $100 each and then you need ballasts for each side as well. when they say xenon they just mean whiteish light coming from the globes

definately source out the philips globe.
there are three levels blue/crystal/diamond
the first to are legal and crystal is the best

 

[cisco]

Hmm good thread.

I put 110w bulbs in my crystal headlights..

Bad move me thinks..

Some of the inner housing has started to melt, and also I'm now thinking it might be one of the reasons why my car stalls so easily when the headlights are on and the engine is cold.

If only you could get proper genuine headlights that were correctly aligned and looked modern like the crystal ones..

Would LOVE to import a HK11 2000 model march and slap my mechanicals into it.

 

[CMF_Sean]

Bah Bow!

I've already tried. No chance of importing anything remotely looking like a Micra (K11 or K12)

Sean

 

[CMF_micra-man]

Have you looked at http://www.japaneseusedcars.com/auction/auctions.htm

 

[cisco]

I think you can legally import one as a "race car" if you have a CAMS license. But you will not be able to register that CHASSIS No. on our roads, but what's to say you couldn't virtually "swap cars", so you end up with your existing chassis number but with the whole HK11 installed on your car..

 

[cisco]

Whoa cool web site micra-man!

They have some top vehicles on there. An AWD one! Arfgh!!!!!!

 

[CMF_milko46]

ive fitted an aftermarket hid xenon kit to my lx and they work awesome. we stock them at my work however they are not cheap. they are rated at 35w so use half the power of conventional globes and are around 4 times as bright and also crystal clear white!

 

[cisco]

Nice.

 

[CMF_Sean]

Yeah you could import them as "Race Only" cars, but you need a CAMS license (not sure which one though) and you can't really swap cars when you've imported one of these

http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/modules/yahoo/index.php?carID=123244271

I'd put down a deposit already. Was told at first that the company would be keen on getting a compliance plate for it until they saw the cost for it, then they said no. So got my money back and now looking for some local options!

Sean

 

[CMF_Yom]

Yeh the SEVS procedure for bringing in a K12 or a Z10 cube or something is ridiculous.

I think its around $500 to get the approval but then you've got to import a few for crash/saftey testing.

Its not worth it unless you're a business and you're going to be selling them.

EDIT: I think the cams license is a level 2... But it may have changed since I looked at the sevs scheme.

 

[CMF_Sean]

On the contrary! A few workshops around Australia have already imported 1 or 2 of these for crash testing, but the plates are over $1000!

Thats what I've been told anyway

Sean

 

[CMF_Yom]

The K12 isnt on the SEVS list of eligible vehicles...! I think I'm looking at an old page which isnt updated anymore. lol

Not suprised at the compliance plate cost though. $500 is just to get the inital papertrail processed..!

Government certainly makes a few pretty dollars on the whole import scheme.