fraseman999

Hi Folks,
My last bmw had the standard halogen bulbs and i got the kit to upgrade them to xenons. Fantastic result. My new wheels came with xenons factory fitted and they are total crap. When on dip and if its raining it borders on dangerous. Now i see that you can upgrade the d2s bulbs to 6000k or 8000k but my understanding is that although they may look cooler, they dont give out more light.
I dont want to look cool i just dont want to hit anything.
Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

m630

if you have a 6er, or any BMW for that matter, that has bad lighting, then something is wrong and you should have your dealer look at the car...i drive on ocean side roads with no street lights without issue on the factory xenons, which is at ~4200K; 6K or higher are a more purple/blue color, the higher the temp the less actual light...

fraseman999

Thanks for the reply, its a 530d i have. When you stand in front of the vehicle they look really bright but when driving they are very poor. On the diagnostics they are not showing any faults.
I am going to contact a company that sells upgrade bulbs and see what i should expect from them.

Cheers

m630

wow that is strange, my do perform flawlessly in trully dark situations...good luck with your fix!

Richard in NC

Mine are fantastic in all situations. If you drive past a wooded area, how well do you see the swath of light down the right side of the road? It should light up a 6-10ft tall 100 ft long area. Also, straight ahead, I see the reflectors on the road for 100s of feet.

schulrog

There virtually no light loss between 4500, 6000 and 8000K. where you might start noticing it is 10000K up. 6000K is pure white. 8000K is slight blue.

m630

not sure where you heard that, but 4200 is nearly optimal, 6K is way blue...



http://www.sizes.com/units/color_temperature.htm

schulrog

Where did I hear that from? nowhere just experience my friend I've been dealing with automotive lighting for quite some time now not to mention that I've had everything from 4500K(stock)-12000K so I have a pretty good idea

I can post 100's of pics of lighting temperatures that are all different haha here's an example. Anyway.. it also matters if you are talking halogen or xenon since the scales are going to be different.

NWS Alpine

Yes the ~4300K color temp has the best light output in lumens. If the OP wants better lighting he needs to retrofit his 35w ballasts with 55w ballasts. The D2S bulbs will burn out faster but they will still outlast halogens. If after a ballast upgrade you still aren't happy you could replace the lens of the projector itself with a euro spec lens. They are typically more optically clear. The US DOT requires the lens to be cloudy to reduce the lumens because they think they blind oncoming drivers.

m630

im talking temp, there is only one color scale for one temperature value, and as you can see even on your pix, pure white is 4K while 6K is blue, xenox nor halogen makes a difference