I bought myself a new set of 6000K HID headlamps on eBay. They were only $32 including shipping. It was much easier to replace them than I thought it was going to be. I thought I was going to have to take out the entire headlamp assembly. They can be accessed through that little hatch in the front on the wheel well liner, though. It took maybe ten minutes to replace both of them. It's a very easy job. Now I can't wait until it gets dark to see what they look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y676ywGclfg

 

Thanks Reverend Sam for another useful video.Would I have these HIDS on my 2002 if not can I upgrade?Tell us what they are like when you have tested them.
Thanks Al

 

I think it was an option on the 2002 model year cars. Just look at your headlight from the front of the car. If you see a round lens about 6 or 7 cm across inside the headlight, then you have a projector headlamp, which means you have HIDs. If you don't see the lens, then you have reflectors, which means you have halogen headlights.

 

Uhhh....projector headlamps are not necessarily HID. If your headlights throw light reminiscent of a Zippo glowing through a glass of Coors Light you have halogen bulbs (but you may not realize it until you've experienced HID lighting.) If your lights 'pop' on and take a few seconds to come up to full brightness you have HID bulbs.

Hint: when changing to HID bulbs be aware that if you also change the high beam bulbs you will have considerable lag time. If that is an issue for you stick with the halogens in the high beam positions. Otherwise, the HID bulbs are great.

 

Thanks Sam I have had a look and they are hologen,shame I would have liked the projectiles.
Regards AL

 

Thanks Beav your reply came in as I was replying to sam.So not quite straight forward then.Can you have dipped HID and leave main as halogen,do the HID generate a lot more heat?
Thanks again Al

 

I thought the projector headlamps only came with the HID bulbs. In fact, I thought it was the law. The H1 bulb is designed to work with a reflector and the HID bulb is designed to work with a projector.

 

The HIDs generate less heat, believe it or not. They are only 35 watt bulbs, compared to the 55-65 watts for halogen.

 

And yes, since the main beams are on constantly, those are fine with HID bulbs. The HIDs have to warm up before they achieve full brightness. For your high beams I recommend HIR bulbs (yes, HIR, not HID). Look up HIR headlights on Google and you'll find some info about them. I installed them in my car and they are incredible.

 

All XKs have projector style headlights it is why you can do conversions. The main beam is halogen, they keep them that way for the exact reason Rev has said, they take time to warm up and achieve full brightness, no good if you try to flash your lights. I do know a few people who have changed the lot to HID including there fogs.

 

Thanks , FAQ'ed

 

Thanks everyone I have learnt alot on the headlight bulbs.I will look at mine from the access panel and see what I have and to see if I can replace with HID and then HIR for the high beams.
Thanks for all your help Al

 

It's been so long since we had a new video from RevSam Productions, I was beginning to think you'd retired. Thanks for sharing.

 

I recall reading some Jag literature that mentioned starting in '03 any car equipped with headlamp washers also comes with HID, however I'm not sure if that's correct.

Mine has the headlamp washers, the lights are extremely bright compared to any other car I've driven, however I've never noticed a lag time when turning them on.

 

good video Reverend. It is true that all 97s thru 06 have the projector headlamps, so putting HID bulbs into lamps that originally had halogen bulbs is easier than ever. It is also recommended highly for the dramatic difference in light output. They may have to be manually adjusted afterwards to get the beam pattern correct and at a safe level, but also easily done. If I get a few moments, I'll measure what the levels are from the factory setting on my car - height to beam cutoff at a couple distances from a wall. That should help anyone who does the 'upgrade' to theirs.

BTW, 4300K is the OEM 'color' for their bulbs. The 6000k is preference and will emit slightly less usable light than a 4300k.

 

I'm certain that the thing about headlight washers is the law for HID headlights. European law requires that HIDs have a self-leveling mechanism, and that they have a method of keeping the headlight clean (washers).

 

By the way... I took the car out last night to see how the new bulbs looked. The difference is incredible! My old bulbs were probably the original factory bulbs and they had gotten dimmer with age. It had gotten to the point where people would be behind me and I could see the shadow of my car on the ground because their bulbs were brighter than my bulbs. That won't be a problem anymore with these new ones. They are very white (6000K) and bright. They were only $32 on eBay for the set. If you decide to buy some, make sure you get the D1S bulbs with the built-in igniter. There are apparently some retrofit D1S bulbs that fit into the socket, but they don't have the big square thing on the back. The igniter is integrated with the ballast, so to use those bulbs you have to replace both the bulb and the ballast.

 

hm, well maybe I do have the HID's then, they're certainly bright. My uncertainty mainly stems from also having the chrome headlight bezels, which I've read were not offered with HID's due to a glare problem. Perhaps some were produced with both.

 

Reverend Sam,
I looked on ebay for the D1S bulbs with the square igniter on the back. All of the listings say they are not compatable with my 2001 XK8. They look like the units you describe on your post.

 

These are the ones I bought:

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

The listing says they are for an Audi, but the seller just put that in the title to draw attention from Audi owners searching eBay. The same seller sells the same bulbs for many other cars.

Keep in mind, however, that if your car has halogens those will not fit. If you have halogens, then you need something like this:

35W H1/3/7 Slim XENON HID Single beam kit Digital Light 4300K 6000K 8000K 10000K | eBay

And make sure you get the "slim ballast" kit (the one I linked to above is a slim ballast). XKRacer says the slim ballasts will fit right into the headlamp assembly, so you don't have to modify anything,