I was thinking of buying some simple xenon bulbs for my 2004 X-Type 3.0. Do you guys tend to prefer blue or white xenon bulbs for this car? What do you all think about doing a blue/white combo? Maybe blue on the outside white on the inside? I've never paid attention (I'll check tonight), but are both lamps used evenly or is one primary and one secondary?

The 2004 X-Type 3.0 wouldn't have HIDs installed, right?

Question #2, probably a dumb/newb kind of question:
This bulb on Ebay says it's "Xenon Halogen." What does that mean? I thought you could have duller halogen or brighter xenon. What is xenon halogen?

Thanks!

This isn't mine, but a photo for easy visual reference:

 

xenon halogen is a way for them to sell more bulbs. They put a coating on the halogen bulbs which makes them look bluer and by doing this, they also hurt the output of the light. Your 04 may have HIDs because my 02 does. The easiest way to check is to look in your doorsill of your driver door. Right where the door hinges are, there should be a warning label to dispose of hazardous material and your HIDS should be listed there along with the navigation screen if you have them.

I personally have a setup like this:
6000k driving lights
8000k fog lights
6000k dip lights

 

Sounds kind of scammy. Although I might be willing to give up a some brightness if the blue + white looked good. Yours are both white, then, right? And the fog lights are brighter white?

Thanks, I'll check and see if I've got the HIDs.

 

Schlim, like was mentioned, it is more of a gimmick to get you to buy the headlights since "Xenon" is associated with HID bulbs. In the case of the more traditional incandescent bulbs (what you are referring to as halogen bulbs), they are really a glass fixture with the air removed, and a small wire inside. Since there is no oxygen there, the metal can get really hot and not fail. By adding some inert gas (aka halogen gas), you can get the bulb to run even hotter because now the gas can transfer some of the heat away and not melt the metal wire. Xenon gas is one of many inert gases that can be added to things.

When you start talking about HID bulbs, now you are getting into something completely different. In short, an HID bulb works by heating the gas to the point that it becomes plasma and that causes light to be generated.

When looking at blue verses white light, you may want to get a feeling for how cops treat people with non-white headlights. By definition, having blue lights on your car (regardless if they are your headlights or some small 1 watt bulb), that is a ticketable offense because the only vehicles that are allowed to use blue lights are cop cars. PERIOD. If you look closely, you will find that the blue colored HID bulbs do not have a DOT stamp associated with them. Only DOT stamped bulbs are supposed to be used on vehicles. Do people use them, yeppers. I see it all the time. Also keep in mind that the blue headlights may appear very bright when they are shining at you, the light that gets reflected back to you sucks and it makes it really difficult to see if you are the only one on a road.

Also, if you are looking at the 10K HIDs, you are loosing about 600 lumen of light when compared to say 4300K HID bulbs. The 4300K bulbs are rated at 3300 lumen of light, where the 10K ones are rated at 2700 lumen.

Your call. If you need any assistance, let me know. I am just south of you down in southern Maryland (California, MD area).