Here is a side-by-side comparison...
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the white HID bulb on the left, and the yellow factory halogen on the right. After the first night using these lights, the difference was pretty drastic and clarity was greatly increased.
Have you ever driven down the street and seen a luxury car with clear, white headlights heading toward you? Those are called High-Intensity Discharge headlights, or HIDs for short. HID headlights first appeared on the BMW 7-series in the early '90s, and they eventually became smaller and more affordable. Now many non-luxury cars come with HID Xenon headlamps from the factory, but for those of us without this excellent lighting source, there is a solution.
How It Works
The claims made by HID manufacturers seem almost too good to be true: "Three times brighter and 30-percent less energy." If this is true, how is it possible? Well, unlike traditional tungsten-halogen bulbs, which burn at a color temperature around 3,300 K (Kelvin), HID bulbs do not have a burning filament. Instead, they operate using Xenon gas. A constant arc is created through the gas-filled tube-similar to lightning. The result is a constant lighting source that is less sensitive to shock, creates an abundance of light, has about 4,300K color temperature, and lasts for up to 2,500 hours.
Not only is the light more powerful, providing around 3,200 lumens-more than double that of most tungsten-halogen bulbs-it also offers more contrast on the road surface, and illuminates reflective tape and road signs better. Essentially it's a far superior lighting system and is much safer to drive with at night, and let's not forget the fact that they look great.
This kit is from Maverick...
This kit is from Maverick Man Carbon, which sells these O-Nex HID Conversion Kits for a variety of bulb applications in various color temperatures. Every kit comes with a one-year warranty. The company keeps 6,000K (Kelvin) versions of the H11 headlights and 9005 foglights in stock as they are the most commonly used, but it can order others. We were going for an OEM look, so the 6,000K (Crystal Blue) kits were a good choice. With kits in higher temperatures, the lights become deeper blue, even purple, which limits vision.
Early HID conversion kits were expensive and difficult to install. They didn't take off in popularity and were seen more as a novelty than anything else. Also, only an elite few factory cars had them as an option. Now we find quality kits have dropped below $100 per side. Not only that, they have become plug-and-play, meaning there isn't any wire cutting or direct power lines to run from the battery.
I found this intriguing since HID headlights are something I've always wanted on my '05 GTO. The '04-'06 GTO and '08-'09 G8 came with projector headlamps, which have a built-in shade to give the headlights a clean cut-off at the edges of the beam. It makes these cars excellent candidates for HIDs because installing an HID kit on a vehicle without projectors may prove to be unwieldy considering how much light is thrown out-you'll know as soon as people start flashing their high beams at you. Just stick with the 35-watt kits and resist the temptation for the even brighter 55-watt kits.
Installation on most cars is as simple as swapping the bulbs, plugging in everything, and mounting the ballast. The '04-'06 GTOs require an extra step, as you will learn. Our 35-watt kit from Maverick Man Carbon took only about 20 minutes to install, and the total cost was approximately $200. Read on to see how we did it.
Visit www.maverickmancarbon.com and click on "Specials for Readers of High Performance Pontiac" to receive a special price. Use the password ilovehpp.
A Bit About Color Temperature
The color temperature (measured in Kelvin) is really all about preference. For as close to an OEM HID setup as possible, the 5,000K is probably your best bet. The 3,000K is similar to that of a halogen's color. We went with the 6,000K Crystal Blue, a pure white with a small hint of blue. They look great and offer exceptional lighting. We've heard that anything beyond 6,000K actually decreases lighting.
| 3,000K |
Ion Yellow |
| 5,000K |
Crystal White |
| 6,000K |
Crystal Blue |
| 8,000K |
Aqua Blue |
| 10,000K |
Blue/Purple |
| 12,000K |
Violet Purple |
Not to be confused with a...
Not to be confused with a Xenon-filled halogen, which is a traditional filament bulb charged with Xenon gas to give it a blue hue, these Xenon bulbs emit light by using a ballast to create a charge that is sent through the gas. The end result is more lumens.
Here is what the factory headlights...
Here is what the factory headlights and foglights look like. They're very orange and dull.
This is what kind of light...
This is what kind of light gets thrown on the road by the factory bulbs in most Pontiac headlights.