New Fog Bulbs

[ShadowfaxII]

Okay so im thinking of putting new xenon bulbs in my regular headlights to give them the HID look. should i also replace my fog light bulbs at the same time? where i live i never use the "foglights" for actual fog, more just for decoration (looks alot better at night) and for the slightly increased visibility.

my thinking is that it would look retarted running xenon blue (the ice blue color) regular bulbs and regular bulbs on the fogs (its the oem toyota fogs so the fog light "color" matches that of the stock headlights).

Do the fogs use the same bulbs as the regular headlights? And if so do u guys think it would look better to go with a matching color for the foglights, or go the other direction to the deep yellow you see on some cars' fogs?

Finally, is it easy to swap out the bulbs in foglights? can u do it without taking off the bumper to get to the wiring, or what? any help would be really helpful

[ShadowfaxII]

Also, if you guys know how blue you can actually go and still be street-legal, that info would help alot of people out. i think the companies rate the color of the bulbs on a "K" number system. for example, K4000 would be whiter than K4500, which would be bluer.

if you guys know, that would be awesome.

[t^3]

I can't really give you any opinion on what kind of combo you should have, but the fogs use the same 9006 bulbs as the regular headlights (not the hi-beams), and you only have to take off the bottom covers to get to the fog lights. The "K" number system you are referring to is actually written as 4000K or 4500K, which refers to the temperature of the light. Temperature in this case doesn't mean like 70 degrees F, just another way to express the color of the light.

[ShadowfaxII]

hey, you mentioned the high beams. would some crazy light problem occur if i would change the regular healights, but not the high beams? or would it be okay, just 2 different colors of light?

[t^3]

You can't have both the regulars and hi's on at the same time, so it wouldn't matter. They're separate from each other.

[BLUEMEANIE]

Originally Posted by ShadowfaxII

Also, if you guys know how blue you can actually go and still be street-legal, that info would help alot of people out. i think the companies rate the color of the bulbs on a "K" number system. for example, K4000 would be whiter than K4500, which would be bluer.

if you guys know, that would be awesome.

K = Kelvin ...as in degrees. lol. shoulda learned that in jr.high earth science.

The Kelvin temperature scale "K" was developed by Lord Kelvin in the mid 1800s. The zero point of this scale is equivalent to -273.16 °C on the Celsius scale. This zero point is considered the lowest possible temperature of anything in the universe. Therefore, the Kelvin scale is also known as the "absolute temperature scale". At the freezing point of water, the temperature of the Kelvin scale reads 273 K. At the boiling point of water, it reads 373 K.
Whereas the Kelvin scale is widely used by scientists, the Celsius or Fahrenheit scales are used in daily life. These two scales are easier to understand than the large numbers of the Kelvin scale.


check this for color, its in the G/D MEGA Sticky - Need to know if something's legal on the streets in the US or Canada?


You could have a different type/brand and/or color in every socket on your car so long as they are all the correct bulb# for their respective socket.
I had Silverstars in my low beams and Luminics JDM Yellow bulbs in my fogs and high beams.

try reading this it may help (also located in the G/D MEGA Sticky) - Headlight Bulb Info - Halogen, HID, HIR, Lumins, etc...

...and this may interest you as well - MORE LIGHT (9005 bulb mod)

[Hawkeye-SE]

Originally Posted by t^3

You can't have both the regulars and hi's on at the same time, so it wouldn't matter. They're separate from each other.

The stock headlights keep the lows and highs on together when high beams are activated. So yes, they stay on together... but as per the original question, no it won't matter.

Btw - Higher K = less light. Not only do those blue bulbs look retarded, they work much worse.

[BLUEMEANIE]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye-SE

Btw - Higher K = less light. Not only do those blue bulbs look retarded, they work much worse.

BUZZZZ. wrong.

Measuring color temperature in Kelvin is a system of designating a light source's spectral distribution. You don't get more or less light, you get color shifts in visable light towards Cyan the higher you go in temp.




Quantum physics 101. ...btw I work in a photography studio, its all basic knowledge. I have to maintain specific room temps and light levels in order to keep printers and monitors balanced to 6000K.

[BLUEMEANIE]

here - http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t82775.html - I did a write up on Light/Color described in Kelvin and added it to the G/D MEGA Sticky

[Super Kaioken]

hmmm.....dang that is a lot to read........but to sum it up.......isn't 6000K the optimal Kelvin temp for the eye you can get? i mean actual lumins you get. it's like x-rays where you can't see it but its there?

anyway back to the original, i have XD5s are they're rated at 5800K. they're really good and have lasted me a year and a half so far. they have a bluish white color to them unlike the other bulbs company's that state a Kelvin temp and the light that is produced isn't even that color -_-' oh yeah.......when i changed my bulbs.....i did all three sets of bulbs. You should do the fogs if you're gonna do the lows.

[Mikey21]

Originally Posted by ShadowfaxII

Okay so im thinking of putting new xenon bulbs in my regular headlights to give them the HID look. should i also replace my fog light bulbs at the same time? where i live i never use the "foglights" for actual fog, more just for decoration (looks alot better at night) and for the slightly increased visibility.

my thinking is that it would look retarted running xenon blue (the ice blue color) regular bulbs and regular bulbs on the fogs (its the oem toyota fogs so the fog light "color" matches that of the stock headlights).

Do the fogs use the same bulbs as the regular headlights? And if so do u guys think it would look better to go with a matching color for the foglights, or go the other direction to the deep yellow you see on some cars' fogs?

Finally, is it easy to swap out the bulbs in foglights? can u do it without taking off the bumper to get to the wiring, or what? any help would be really helpful

I would definitely go with the headlight and the fogs. You don't have to do the highlights. I believe it's the 9006 bulb for both of them. The fogs require you to take a couple of screws off of the splash pan. Don't remove it, just take off a couple of screws off so you can pull it down and reach your arm in. Here's a pic of my 2003 SE & 2004 SE. The one on the left is the 2003 SE with the OEM lights. The one on the right is the 2004 SE with the Xenon 4200K bulbs.

Mikey21

[xpeed]

Originally Posted by BLUEMEANIE

K = Kelvin ...as in degrees. MORE LIGHT (9005 bulb mod)

I shortened your quote, too long, but Bluemeanie. I never knew that about the Kelvin System. I learned something today. Thanks.

[Super Kaioken]

Sun and Crystals oooh.........shiny. that's a really good comparison picture. you could start selling xenon bulbs with that loll.

[ShadowfaxII]

im thinking now of going with something relatively white, like say the sylvania silverstar 9006 because although they have a very tiny hint of blue, they are relatively just plain white. also i hear they last really long and make really good light. for the fogs im thinking of going a little bluier lke the nokya arctic white or the sylvania cool blue ( not sure of that name). this would give me real good visibility because of the truer white regular headlights, but with the better look of the bluer fogs. anyone have opinions on that?

[ShadowfaxII]

hey mikey21, what kind of bulbs did u put in that were 4200K?