HID Bulbs
 

Not that I don't trust ebay, but I do trust the advice on this site. I have a 2004 3.0 AWD and was wondering if these bulbs will be ok

THanks

Pair 6000K D2S D2R D2C HID Xenon Bulbs Replace Factory HID Headlights B | eBay

I bought mine from ebay, different vendor same bulb, same price, been working fine for last 6 months.
Autozone wanted $98.00 for one bulb. I figured if I have to change them every year I wouldn't spend that kind of money in ten years.

Rossy, the big thing I would start looking for is what the package says the lifetime of the bulb is. The 3,000 hour life span of this bulb seems a little short from what I remember. Granted, even if you drive with your headlights on for 3 hours every day, you are still good for about 3 years. So, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

If you are truely worried, then go with say OSram or Phillips and get a name that you can trust. Sure, the bulbs are going to be a little bit more, but how much peace of mind worth? Probably more than the $10 more that you will be spending.

50,000 miles later my $10 hid bulbs are still strong.
I was nervous at the time, now very glad i didnt pay $100 each.
Buy 2 as the "color" will prob be a little different, and keep your current working bulb as an emergency spare

Thanks everyone, I ordered them today

Just received the bulbs today and the end fitting is round? The ones on the car seem to be a kind of spade type. Did I get the wrong bulb? I went back to the site and it says it should fit my car. I can post a picture if anyone needs it.

Thanks

Rossy, just to ask a silly question, but do you have a sticker in the driver's door jam that says something to the effect of "Vehicle is equipped with High Intensity Discharge ......"?

From what you describe, your vehicle has standard halogen lighting and not HID lighting. These are two completely different lighting systems and the X-Type came with standard halogen lighting unless the car was upgraded to the HID lighting. LIke I mention above, there should be a sticker in the driver's door jam between the door hinges that states that the vehicle is equipped with HID lighting.

they look like there 70w make sure the ballast match the wattage

Nope, no sticker. Looks like i'll have to look for some halogen bulbs.

THanks everyone.

I was wondering how hard it would be to upgrade to HID, I have seen some posts where people have bought plug n play kits and would be interested in how long the bulbs last. Mine last about 6-9 months

I used opt7 from amazon and have had absolutely no problems with the ballasts. I had a fog light go out after like 18months so I replaced both of them with a 3000k rather than the 8000k that I had in it along with the low beams.

The projectors I just retrofitted into the high beam locations came with some no name cheapy stuff that seem to work on the bench pretty well but I ordered another set of the Opt7 to use in the projector once mounted just because I have had good results with them so far.

The HID conversion is easy. Straight forward, everything is plug and play minus having to drill a hole in the back of the assembly cover to allow the wiring to come out.

The forums say to take your front bumper off to make it easier but you don't necessarily have to. Yes it would be easier but it wasn't difficult without taking it off either. I put my junk up on ramps and probably took 3 hours total with goofing off and drinking some beers lol

Thanks, I'll look into them today

The big thing that you need to keep in mind if you are going to upgrade to HIDs is that you currently have 55W halogen bulbs but will need to look at 35W HIDs. Yes, they make 50/55W HIDs, but those are illegal (look to see if you can spot a DOT stamp of approval on the box, you will not find one, but there will be one on the 35W ones). From there, just make sure that you make some good electrical connections. If you need help with this, let me know. I can help you out with this.

Thanks for the reply, I did some research and my head is swimming. I tried to look at reviews and it was up and down with reliability so I ordered two new halogens and will do more research. Thanks for the offer, I will definitely take you up on it

Get some Sylvania Silverstar Ultras and you probably will be happy enough with them to not want to change to HIDs.

Thanks hlgeorge, this is what I ordered


Hopefully they will be ok. I want a better looking light, quality first so may look into buying the Sylvania you recommended.

Thanks

Sylvania ZXE's will put out a whiter light, but are expensive. Also keeping the 55w.