Other than the factory HID low beam bulb, what other other brands are there? Mine are getting dim, I really like the color Audi and BMW has. With the bumper needing to come off, I don't want to experiment, I want what has proven results. Thanks.

 

alvin18, the bulb that you are after is known as a "D3S" bulb. It is a 35W HID bulb. As for the color, the factory one is 4650K. So, this is going to be a little bit on the yellow side, but mostly white. If you are after a brighter white, then find that same bulb in say a "6000K" temperature/color range. This color will be a snow white light with a very slight blue halo to it when you look at the bulb from a certain angle. Otherwise it will be a very bright white.

The 6000K D3S bulbs are available all over the place. Stick with a brand name like Phillips or OSRAM and you should be fine.

 

Thanks for the info, my experience with 6k bulbs are they don't do well when it rains. I just want to buy the brightest bulb in that size. Phillips/Osram are OEM brands but still curious what Audi and BMW are using, I notice they have the brightest stock HID on the road.

 

alvin, they all use the same bulb. If they are truely brighter, then it has to do with how the light is focused, not with the bulb. In short, all 35W HID bulbs are going to output around 3300 lumen. If you are not desiring the 6000K due to not being as bright in the rain, you can take a step down to say 5000K (going to be slightly whiter than stock, but give you back a little bit of yellow to help with the night vision) or you can even go to say 4300K (which is going to have more yellow in it yet, but be the brightest bulb).

Looking online, it appears that BMW uses 4300K bulbs in their cars. It would appear that Audi uses 4300K bulbs too.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I get what you are saying about the differrences between manufacturers. When you look on ebay, Amazon there are bulbs that are $120+, I would guess they have to be brighter even though they are still 35W? I was just wondering.

 

alvin, all I can tell you is to look at the spec sheets for the bulbs and look for what is called "rated lumen". That is your measure of brightness. Higher the number, the brighter the bulb. But, I think you are going to find that the same color bulb is going to have the same rater lumen between manufacturers. With this being said, there is a definite lumen difference between the colors of bulbs. You loose about 200 lumen per step away from 4300K (ie, a 4300K bulb is normally rated at 3300 lumen, a 3000K bulb (1 step away) will be normally rated at 3100 lumen, a 6000K bulb is 2 steps away (4300K to 5000K to 6000K) and will normally be rated around 2900-3000 lumen). So, the color of the bulb is going to have more effect on the brightness of the bulb than the manufacturer. Also of note is that the different color bulbs do reflect light differently. But, I don't see a lot of difference between the 4300K, 5000K, and 6000K bulbs in all sorts of weather conditions. You start using say 10000K bulbs and yes, their ability to light up stuff at night can suffer greatly in different situations.

 

As usual Thermo has brought some clarity to the subject

 

XJsss, don't get me going on how the 6000K and up bulbs are now being blamed for causing people to not be able to go to sleep after they have been driving at night because of the blue light that the HID bulbs give off. I like finding out all sorts of stuff and it seems to stick with me. I have 6000K bulbs in the wife's car and I don't feell any "negative effects" of not being able to fall asleep after driving her car at night. But then, I am that guy that can lay down just about anywhere and be out cold in a matter of a few minutes. Gotta love submarine life and what it can teach you.

 

A bit of debate over these types of bulbs on the F-Type forum.
After having played around with all sorts of HID bulbs on various cars over the years, I went for the Osram Zenarc CBI (Cool Blue Intense) D3S 66340 5,000k lumens on my F-Type and I'm very happy with them. Nice strong bright white light, much better than the stock bulbs. You can also get these same bulbs in 5,500k or 6,000k, but I've learned over the years that once you go over around 5,000k the lighting intensity (lumens) drops off a fair bit.
Also, the 5,000k are a bit cheaper.

 

Try these.. its from Philips so good quality w 3 yr warranty. I have the 5000k bulb (rated at 3200 lumens, 6000k = 2700 lumens) Def brighter then stock hids but not as bright as the led lights. Tried cheap ones from amazon and didn't like them at all then ended up finding this bulb and couldn't be happier. (is it 50% brighter then the stock one? no... but def brighter and whiter lights)

XenonDepot | 2013 Jaguar XJ D3S HID Xenon Headlight Upgrade Bulb

Hope this helps..

 

Thanks gochurush I'll try a pair. Just ordered and they had a 20% off code.

 

There is a reason *ALL* manufacturers supply 4300-4500 bulbs, and that is because it gives the best illumination.

HID bulbs age dramatically with use, and probably have a useful life of about 5-8yrs depending on use. Additionally, the lenses get dirty, including the projector lens that's a pig to clean

 

I'll try a pair. Just ordered and they had a 20% off code.

 

I just picked up some OSRAM CBIs.

Do I really have to remove the bumper to change the bulbs?

 

Yes you do have to remove the bumper and then the headlight assembly to get to the bulbs.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I figured it was better than starting a new one.

I picked up my 2013 XJ 3.0 AWD in July, and was never really happy with the factory HIDs and have finally decided to do something about it.

They seem less "blue" to me than the HIDs in my 2006 XKR, as well as my 2008 Land Rover LR3, and I'm used to that color temperature.

But what's confusing to me is that, as far as I know (and as Thermo mentioned), all manufacturers supply about a 4300K bulb - so why does the light from these bulbs seem so much "whiter/yellow" as opposed to what's in the XKR?

I was going to get the 6000K Philips Ultinon or OSRAM bulbs, but not sure if I'll get the same color temperature as in my other 2 cars with HIDs. Could it be something with the reflectors or headlight design also contributing?

 

When a HID degrades - which it starts to from the very first time its used - it starts to lose its blue tinge, as it edges towards red, at which point they frequently don't strike.


I will watch this thread with interest, as mine have a yellow/pink tinge, so likely need replacement pretty quickly. Illumination isn't that great, but only having it since April, not sure how good the XJ lights are when new.

4200-4300 is generally deemed to be the "best" with regards to illumination, hence why that's what most manufacturers fit at the factory.

 

I bought the ultinons before I discovered that you need to take the bumper cover off to do the swap. They've been sitting in the package for 6 months.


Please...can someone give me words of encouragement to motivate me on this. lol.

 

Yes, mine also are still in their package.

 

Not helping!