Improving stock HID Bulbs?
 

Im very keen to change my stock HID/Xenon bulbs on the 370Z as to be honest I dont find them very good/bright at night.

Yes they are o.k and better than Halogen but if I jump into a company car (Volvo for example) the amount of light the HID's in those give out is a noticeable improvement.

Has any replaced the stock bulbs with aftermarket ones and noticed a big improvement?

Ive read up on several aftermarket bulbs which claim to be better than stock but before I spend a fair but id like to hear if they can be improved upon!

Thanks

Every car I own I find I have to raise the beam. Does nothing for me driving on a dark country road or highway at 60-80mph with the light only 10 feet in front of the car giving me zero time to react to a deer, tire, animal etc. maybe raise it up a hair to see if that helps. Then search bulbs. I'd stick to name brand if I could. A lot of HID bulbs out there will be the cheap $5 ones they put in the Chinese $55 HID kits for other cars.

This guy however is the most insane knowledgeable guy on bulbs ever if you have questions! I did all the conversions of my OEM WRX bulbs to more powerful ones that you have to mod. For example the OEM low beam is a H11 with like 1100 lumens. But shave the tab down on a 9006 HIR and you have almost 2000 lumen.

http://candlepower.com

http://store.candlepower.com

Many thanks for the reply and the link.

Will have a fiddle with the headlight level adjustment first see if get any improvement.

Not after changing colour balance of the HID's or anything just want more light!

We'll more light will come from color. I believe we have 4000k. You want as close to sunlight as possible for more lumens so I believe you want a d2s 5000k bulb.

I've had Philips Ultinon D2S 6000K bulbs for nearly two years now with no problems. Once you go over 5000K to 6000K-ish you begin to lose visibility but I think 6000K is ideal. Great even during inclement weather at night.

180 customs makes a new headlight clear shield that helps the light and beam. They do this with every set they upgrade, but I think you may just be able to purchase the new clear headlight shield.

you can aim them slightly higher to get some more output. but the problem is the z is a low car already. thats the reason you dont get as much light as you want. you could upgrade the bulbs as well. our stock bulbs are 4200K Koito D2S bulbs.

if you want brighter, but same yellowish tint (4300K), you can get these from philips:
D2S: Philips 85122+ - HID Bulbs from The Retrofit Source Inc

if you want brighter, but a diamond/blue tint (5000K), you can get these from osram:
D2S: Osram Xenarc 66240 CBI - HID Bulbs from The Retrofit Source Inc

any of the bulbs will give you more output, about 3500 lumens. personally, from what ive seen our stock koito bulbs arent as bright as the philips, so id give you an "estimate" that the stock bulbs put out 3000 lumens or less. this is completely subjective of course

I've read that the CBI's don't work well for some people with the 370 ballasts, anyone has had good experiences with them?

Thanks for the pointers. Yeah will deffo raise them a touch to start see if it helps enough.

But I agree the light output is definately down on other HID's, even just parking it next to the Volvo's we have at work can easily see the brightness emitted is higher on those without factoring in light levels. Likes of some of the new Mercedes seem to be far far brighter at night.

I just want to be able to see where im going lol

That would be interesting to read upon before purchasing any bulbs.

Can the ballasts not take the extra draw from these particular bulbs?

does the volvo have traditional halogen lights? if so, thats a given unfortunately. halogen lights are designed to throw tons of light forward, in no real particular manner. the reflectors are aimed to an extent, but they just throw alot of light forward. thats it. your HID projectors in your Z are designed to throw lots of light far, and wide. this gives you more visibility in reality, but it appears to be less bright, because it is not as focused as a halogen throwing as much light forward as possible. instead, the projector is trying to spread as much light as possible over a wide area

its really hit and miss. i experienced the same issues as everyone else, one bulb always not firing on the first try. id have to turn the lights off, then flip them on to get both lights working again. after a month of driving, it stopped. not sure why, but ive never had any issues aside from that very first month or so.

I raised my headlights from day 1. Not only to see the road better, but to see the reflective logos of hidden police cars down the road. Really saved my @ss a few times.

The Volvo's all have the active bi-xenons in and give out much more light than the Z, halogen as you say is just a reflector but the xenons all use the projectors so ive been comparing like for like.

in that case, then the reason for seeing a huge difference is likely the projector. our Z's have a 3" projector lens, but the bowl itself isnt that big. im willing to bet the volvo has a much larger projector or at least a more efficient design. you can always pay someone to do a retrofit!

throw a lexus ls projector in there and you'd light up miles of road :p

370z projectors arent that bad, and thats coming from me. I have a TL with upgraded clear lens and osram CBI bulbs.
You may want to raise the aim of your projectors a bit like previous posts have said. Factory aim is kinda low and definitely hurts visibility. But don't aim it too high or you will blind oncoming drivers.
You should also check to see if your headlight lens is clear, having a lot of dirt and dust on the headlight will also block output. Or if you are having yellowing haze issues, a good polish will bring the clearness and shine back.

However if you really want more visibility, consider getting the osram SVS bulbs, those are the highest lumen HID bulb on the market and has been for awhile now. In terms of brightest HID bulbs, it goes from: 1. Osram SVS 2. Osram CBI 3. Philips 85122
Another thing to consider is upgrading to the STI-R clear lens for the projectors. A clear lens allows more light to pass through compared to the OEM fresnel lens.

If you are looking to someone to install the STI-R clear lens, hit me up, I have worked on many 370z headlights. You can also check out my work at www.facebook.com/headlightgarage


the 370z has HIDs stock, that website looks like it specializes in high performance halogen bulbs. While those are good, they still cannot match HIDs in output.