our headlights

5442 Views 17 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Mercury, Jun 30, 2005

selfinfliction

Discussion Starter · Jun 29, 2005

i was gonna drop in a set of lights on my car sometime this week, just wandering though: i think we have 9007 series bulbs in our headlights. any 9007 bulb will fit in these correct? i'm guessing so, but i had issues with my cougar using 9005's and 9006's and it was really picky on which high beams would work. some of the bulbs i bought were perfectly fine, yet they would not even turn on in my car, and worked great on my mom's grand am.. strange..

has anyone had any issues? i was going to get the eurodesignz 6k krypton 9007's.. i think they will go good with the red car

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

GoofyGuy

· #2 · Jun 29, 2005

i have a 9007 set of HID's no highbeams. you get use to it though theres plenty of light. But all 9007's will work.

selfinfliction

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 29, 2005

i'd love to have actual hid's, but when we're talking about $15 for xenon, or $300+ for hid's.... i think i'm going to go the cheaper route and spend my cash on go faster material lol

mayo11297

· #4 · Jun 29, 2005

im kinda new to the whole car modding thing, i had a 93 buick for 3 years so my ss is my first car that i can do stuff with. anyways what is the difference in the two(xenon and hid) i know that the hid is a whole new light setup(at least i think) and the xenon is just the bulb but what is the difference in looks and things

Mercury

· #5 · Jun 29, 2005

selfinfliction said:
i'd love to have actual hid's, but when we're talking about $15 for xenon, or $300+ for hid's.... i think i'm going to go the cheaper route and spend my cash on go faster material lol

You should remember from NECO, Silverstars are the way to go! HID xenon bulbs aren't effecient unless you retrofit an HID projector. To get the best out of your stock halogen reflector lamps, use Sylvania Silverstars!

selfinfliction

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 29, 2005

i had a set of 8500k high wattage bulbs that looked better than any of the silverstars i seen. that was with the 99-00 headlight assy. as well

i'm pretty sure these lights will be sts

Mercury

· #7 · Jun 29, 2005

Keep in mind that "colored" bulbs may look brighter but they are not. Compare an HID look bulb to a silverstar and you will see the difference. If the bulb is "HID look" that means that the glass is colored blue to give the appearance of HID. This takes away from the actual light output.

GoofyGuy

· #8 · Jun 29, 2005

Mercury said:
You should remember from NECO, Silverstars are the way to go! HID xenon bulbs aren't effecient unless you retrofit an HID projector. To get the best out of your stock halogen reflector lamps, use Sylvania Silverstars!

I have to disagree. Although Im sure there could be more light. There is a huge differnce in the light when I swaped to HID. I can see more and easier. No high beams but I dont need them I can see everything. Also no they are not aimed high. I have not been flashed once.

Mercury

· #9 · Jun 29, 2005 (Edited)

As they might not be aimed high, they are too bright. The reflector in the cobalt's headlamp was designed for Halogen.... Not a High Intensity Discharge Xenon bulb. HID Xenon bulbs are way brighter than the standard 55w Halogen bulb and need a special projector/reflector to distribute the light without glare.

In addition to the HID Xenon causing glare, you risk destroying your entire electrical system unless you have an aftermarket wiring harness/relay for your HIDs. If you simply plugged your old headlight harness into the ballasts from your aftermarket HID kit, you are just asking for trouble... It only takes one jump of voltage to start a fire. Believe me I have seen it happen before.

As Xenon HIDs run on a lower wattage than halogen, this is only true after the xenon bulbs heat up. Upon start up the HIDs can suck in about 3x the power a standard halogen bulb does.

I retrofitted a set of e46 xenon projectors into my cougar with phillips 4100k d2s bulbs with a 16 gauge wiring harness. I have also done retrofits in 2 other cars.

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selfinfliction

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 29, 2005

i think that's a little early to say when not many people know everything about these electrical system, don't you?

as for the the glare, yeah i know that's totally true, but i am going with the "fake" hid bulbs, not an actual hid kit

the cougar electrical designs were completely fubar'd anyways.. even the altenator wiring was screwed up right off the production line and they would never do a recall to fix it

ericsean

· #11 · Jun 29, 2005

selfinfliction said:
i think that's a little early to say when not many people know everything about these electrical system, don't you

The Low beam and High Beam relays are soldered into the underhood electrical center. Each lamp has 2 10 amp fuses, one for High and the other for low. They use 0.5 mm wire ( I would need to look up the AWG rating for that ). It looks like the High beams have 5.1 amp through them, and the lows 4.3A through them. The side marekers and park/turn/DRL have their own fuse and relay, relay also soldered in the box. I can give you the color of the wire if you want.

oh, and btw, this is all public knowedge taken from the electrial schematics of the GMX001 platform dated March 2004. Chances are not much have changed as far as the content goes, but some gaugeing could be slightly different.

selfinfliction

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 29, 2005

i stand corrected

Mercury

· #13 · Jun 29, 2005

selfinfliction said:
i think that's a little early to say when not many people know everything about these electrical system, don't you?

Not really because the wiring to the headlamps wasn't desigined for an HID system. It was designed for a 55w halogen bulb.

GoofyGuy

· #14 · Jun 29, 2005

still your a frigin genious arent ya. My HID system uses a 35 watt ballast. All HID system use less wattage then stock bulbs. So theorticaly its better for the sysem.

ericsean

· #15 · Jun 29, 2005

GoofyGuy said:
still your a frigin genious arent ya. My HID system uses a 35 watt ballast. All HID system use less wattage then stock bulbs. So theorticaly its better for the sysem.

Not really. The way the wiring in a car works is the system is always prividing the maximum power to the headlamp systems, therefore if the lamps are requiring less power the harness must dissapate this extra energy as heat, and too much heat is not good for obvious reasons. It is very inefficient I realize but it is the cheapest way right now, and cheap is everything from a wiring standpoint.

Mercury

· #16 · Jun 29, 2005 (Edited)

All ballasts are 35w...... Unpon startup they use around 100w or more to ignite the bulbs. Then the ballast draw 35w.

GoofyGuy

· #17 · Jun 29, 2005 (Edited)

they do make 50 watt ballasts now. As well the system may always be providing but less draw will mean less heat. The wires are not going to be hotter becuase its using less power. It would make more heat if it were using more power. Like the 100w bulbs will melt a system down.

doesnt matter I will get over it. I have done a bunch of conversions never a problem. But hey to each thier own. As for the Redline the cutoff is sharp there are pics in the Redline forums that you can see the headlights are well made.

Mercury

· #18 · Jun 30, 2005

GoofyGuy said:
It would make more heat if it were using more power. Like the 100w bulbs will melt a system down.

This is the same theory right here. Your 35 watt ballasts will draw almost triple the amount of power on startup. I have seen it happen before. Friend of mine spent a grand on having the dealer replace his wiring.

I am not here to argue, I am just giving you the facts.

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