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Question for the HID guru's

B

B.Brattina

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
1,053
Location
Northville, Michigan
Hey everyone,

I had a quick question for those who are experienced with HID kits. I am picking up my new (2007) Mazda3 Hatch tomorrow and will be replacing the stock bulb with an HID kit. My question would be, the kits come in 35W or 55W. I can't seem to find anywhere what the stock lighting is for the Low Beam (H7). Would it be a massive issue if I were to purchase the 55W (causing melting issues potentially?)? If anyone has any insight or experience on this I would love to know!

Thanks for looking!
 
Its not going to make a difference, go with the 55W as I believe they are brighter. What color bulb are you looking to get? I recommend the 55W 4500K from DDMtuning. Here is a pic of my 55W 4500K headlights...

headlights.jpg
 
While a 35w kit and be hooked up to the stock wiring, a 55w kit might require a fused harness. I'd go with a 4500k bulb temp.
 
The 55w kit shows brighter for the reason being that it burns harder/hotter, just about 30% brighter than a 35w kit. This washes out some color. 55w kits will be more prone to melting any soft plastics in the headlight assembly, mainly the lense of the headlight because of the fact that its more powerful/hotter. My headlight lenses are slightly warped as I have the 55w kit. But I've been using that kit for quite a while. As far as the color being washed out, the 8000k 55w kit will be comparable in color to roughly a 5000k 35w kit. My setup before my 8000k 55w kit, which is what I have now, is more white than the previous kit, which was a 6000k 35w kit, which was a slight blue color. Mine right now show up as a really white color. If you go with a standard 35w kit, remember this, 4000-5000k kits are the whitest. Any lower, you will start to yellow out on color. 6000k will show some blue. If you like blue, but not deep, 6000k is a good choice, I think. 8000k will become very blue. Once you hit 10000k and over, it will become very purple. As for the 55w kits, to compare in color since they burn hotter and washes out some color, youd need to bump up the k rating of the bulb to match a lower k rating of the 35w kit.
 
Thanks for the quick input guys, the Mazda forum moves sooooo slow so I knew I could come back to the old stomping grounds for some advice. As far as bulb color, I'll be looking for something with a slight blue hue to it, as there is NO way I will be going with a full out obnoxious Blue lighting system like I used to enjoy when I was 16, lol. So in the case of the color differences which I have read on regarding the 35W v. 55W, I believe I would go with a 5000K or an 6000K (55W). I have been to DDMtuning's website and it seems they have a pretty good reputation. My only road block is the only shipping option they will give me is standard ground? I want to install these this weekend, as I will obviously have some enjoyable beer drinking time with my brother and would love to have a little project to do while sitting around!
 
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6000k on a 55w kit will not net you the slight blue hue you are looking for. My 8000k 55w kit shows as super white. I'm just saying. It is your final decision, just trying to help out.
 
Honestly I think the color depends on the car and brand of HID. I know when I had 55W 5000K DDM bulbs they had a blue color to them, even my 4500K have a blue color before they heat up.
 
Do you still have the box they came in, it should have a sticker on it somewhere with what color they are? I say that because I know if you go into their store here in CA those idiots will give you whatever color bulb just to get you out the door, could be totally different for shipped orders though. It just doesn't seem like an 8000K bulb would be even close to like the color of my bulbs in the pic, I could be wrong though.
 
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