Hid Lights On Mk1 Gs300

[finest1]

hi all,

i was chatting to my brother the other day, and the subject of HID lights came up. he suggested i think about them. to be honest i haven't a clue what he's talking about!!

so:

1) what are they

2) why convert

3) can it be easily installed in a mk1 gs300 sport

thanks

:D

[Steviewevie]

There's an article which explains a bit about HIDs here. Proper HIDs are *much* brighter than regular halogen bulbs, that's the main reason people upgrade (so they can see a lot better at night). Don't confuse proper HID kits (which use a very high voltage and "bulbs" without a filament), with the HID-mimicing halogen bulbs that places like Halfords sell (which are just regular bulbs with a tiny bit of Xenon gas and aren't significantly brighter than regular halogens).

You can get HID kits for around £40-£50 on eBay. Sorry but I have no idea as to whether you can fit them on a GS.

[Keith Bowler]

Hi

I have had a conversion kit fitted to my car for the past 4 years or so.

Technically they are not legal but you can get by if you have a MK1 with projector lamps, your headlamp leveller works and your headlamp washers work.

I have 4500K as they are close to what the OEM standard was for the era so they do not attract attention.

As for the brightness compared to the standard Xenon bulbs there is no comparison as the standard factory set up for the quality of the car is pants.

I would get a kit as the prices have come down and they are so easy to fit being 'plug and play' and if you ever want to change back you can, but you wont!

[finest1]

thanks keith,

can you tell me where you got yours from?

thanks :winky:

Hi

I have had a conversion kit fitted to my car for the past 4 years or so.

Technically they are not legal but you can get by if you have a MK1 with projector lamps, your headlamp leveller works and your headlamp washers work.

I have 4500K as they are close to what the OEM standard was for the era so they do not attract attention.

As for the brightness compared to the standard Xenon bulbs there is no comparison as the standard factory set up for the quality of the car is pants.

I would get a kit as the prices have come down and they are so easy to fit being 'plug and play' and if you ever want to change back you can, but you wont!

[TigerFish]

I have a 6000K kit fitted on mine, they look great and give a much better view of the road. As Keith says, not technically legal but mine has sailed through the MOT with them and never been stopped by the feds because of them. Got mine from eBay, about £60 at the time. Probably cheaper now. Just buy the ones that are the same bulb type as the dip beams. 9006 I think, but double check that first.

[Steviewevie]

You can get them from eBay for about £40 if you look around.

[rtjc83]

I'd be interested in this too, but would only want that OEM look so nothing too bright (4500k look alright Keith?) Post up links if you find something good so we can all have a look. As said, having projector lamps that adjust with wash does make it look more OEM.

[Mike_B]

The 'k' number isn't, per se, the brightness but the colour of the light. If you think of the colours of the rainbow, and assign low numbers to the red end and high numbers to the violet end, it makes more sense. A colour of about 4300-4500K corresponds to 'midday' daylight, and actually throws out the most useful light to human eyes. Traditional bulbs have a much lower colour temperature, which is why they look very yellow. 6000K light is actually a cold blueish colour, but produces *less* useful light as there is no red/yellow light in the output - hence the blueish colour. 10000K light is almost pure blue/violet, it looks cool to a passerby, but is horrible for oncoming drivers as the very short wavelength tends to cause a haloing effect to human eyes. They also don't actually illuminate the road so much, there is quite simply less light coming out the headlights than a lower colour temp bulb.

In general, OEM bulbs are about 4500K for a good reason - you see better with them. The blueish tone of early HID bulbs is nothing to do with the colour temp, but simply because the projector lens acts as a prism and unless you're directly in the beam line, you see a blueish tone thrown off the side of the prism. If you stand in just the right spot, you'll also see beams of pure red etc, showing that the colour of the bulbs is actually around the middle of the spectrum.

[Keith Bowler]

Hi finest1

Unfortunately I don't have the details.

From what I remember they were from a Canadian company with a UK affiliate as there was a UK fitting advice number given.

They are plentiful on eBay as others have mentioned.