MARYLAND TACOMAS

So I'll have my first free weekend since God knows when on the 12th and 13th, can we please do something truck related? RC, backroads, spin a wrench, drink beer??

 

I prefer 5000k 35w for headlights no yellow and no blue. just pure white. and 35w keeps you out of the "stop blinding me asshole" category. just remember to aim your lights lower than normal if you are running them in a reflector housing.

 

I'm running DDM Tuning. If you don't want to be a dick go 35W for head lights. Id rather see the deer out by me so I went 55w... My latest kit is the Ultra which is 5500k (suppose to be as close to daylight as you can get which aids in recognition of features). I have a comparison thread down the bottom of my build page for 55w 6000k and 8000k. If you don't know the higher the K the more blue all the way to purple, the lower the K the more yellow kind of dead ends at the gold yellow. In this state I wouldn't recommend going over 8000k or lower than maybe 4000k. If you go 55W it washes out the color so keep that in mind. Picture heavy below:


Just a chart I pulled from google seems to match my experience.


Another more in-depth chart pulled from Google.

Don't know if either of them are using 35W or 55W.

Here are some pictures of the one I have:





The cut off on the DDM kit with the stock housings isn't horrible but in wet weather I do get a lot of high beams in dry weather I get some but significantly less. My plan is to eventually do some Retrofits. Keep in mind that cops will pull you over for off colored HIDs (blue purple yellow green pink) I believe it's a fix it ticket and you can just plug in your stock bulbs get it signed off and put the HIDs back in but don't quote me on that I've never had to deal with it. Alignment is the most important if you have a lift your gonna want to adjust your housings down a little bit. Hope this helps if you have any further questions feel free to ask.

 

RC trip is planned. Check out the permanent Rausch Creek thread for details

https://www.tacomaworld.com/index.php?threads/418757/

 

Similar to what I've been looking at. I'm thinking either the 4300k or 6000k from the kits he is offering to avoid the colored light trouble. I haven't looked at the wattage so much yet. I'll have to look at that now.

 

if you go up to a 6000k, the light you see from the drivers seat will be very very white. you may not see blue while driving, but if you look back at the truck, the lights will have a blue tint. keep in mind, blue light puts a strain on your eyes at night. red/yellow/orange are the easiest on your eyes, and will not fatigue you as quickly. that's why out dash lights are orange.

if you are doing the fog lights as well, either go with a 3000k, or go with a 5000k-6000k, with yellow filters. lower temp, yellow light cuts through fog/snow/rain much better than white/blue light.

 

IMO the cleaner colors look better both looking out from the truck and looking at the truck. But it's personal preference. Id recommend 6000k if it were up to me between those two.

 

I thought I'd be able to avoid the blue tint by staying 6k max. Might have to consider staying 4K.
I am looking at doing the yellow fogs, probably the 3k. Thanks.

 

yeah, you definitely get a nice clean/modern look with the 6000. I had them for a while, and they looked great in all of my pictures. when I lost a ballast to water damage, though, I decided to swap out for some 5000 bulbs, and really liked driving with them, so I've kept that color when parts have needed replacing. I only use my fogs when I really need them for their true purpose, so I went 100% function with those and installed the lamin-x yellow filters.

 

I can only vouch for the 55w kit but the 6000k didn't have any blue. I don't think the 35w does either but never ran it personally, 8000k is generally the hint of blue from what I've read.

 

Also for fogs at yellow I don't believe they will pull you over for running yellow fogs only headlights if I understand the law correctly.

 

Seems to be what I've read so far

 

I plan on getting some Baja Designs fogs here soon (working on Amazon points) but those are 4600 lumen each.

 

it kind of depends on the manufacturer. with the entry level stuff too, you may even see some very small color variation from one kit to another with identical ratings.

I have zero picture of my current light setup at night, but i'll try to remember to get some photos this evening, so you can see some differences. for example, my roof lights are 55w 5000k, while my bumper lights are 35w 5000k. that will give you a good idea of the color difference you get going up 20 watts. i'll get a picture looking back on my headlights (35w 5000k), but they are in a projector housing, so it'll only be a color reference.

 

Baja designs is some good stuff

 

That's what Sean told me. I asked him about his lights he said he swapped out his RI for the BD after doing a comparison with his buddies said they were much brighter and nicer. I like that you can swap lenses yourself without voiding the warranty and not having to send it in.

 

The cheapest I was able to find the D2s was 285 shipped I'm close to getting $100 off on Amazon so I can get the BD Squadrons Pro for 375 shipped (minus $100 comes out to 275 shipped).

 

LED bars have yet to catch HID from an output standpoint. their advantages are low profile designs, and instant on. but LEDs cannot match the output of HIDs and with LEDs being relatively shallow compared to an HID reflector housing. the throw isn't as good either.

i love the plusses to LEDs, but until they come a bit farther, it would be a downgrade for me to swap out my HIDs right now.

 

oh great, so instead of getting a couple more fishin rods, I gotta git super-duper xtra headlight bulbs??

 

sell some baby juice and buy both!!!!