11k HID upgrade

Wondering if anyone has done one of these light upgrades, I believe these are the lights that produce a slight blue tint

 

11k? Slight blue? No. 11k will be purple. Not exaggerating either. That number is the color temperature based (loosely) on the Kelvin scale. If you want slight blue tint you'll want something more like 5000k. OEM HIDs tend to fall in the 4500k range. Under 4300k they start to take on a warmer color down to around 3k where they're basically yellow. IMO the 10k & 11k look absurd & are also going to net you several tickets before you replace them. Don't do it. Go 4500k +/-200k and you'll be good to go.

 

And don't forget, the further one goes up in color temperature, the less useful light you'll be putting on the ground. I marvel at the idiots running around with 11k purple lights and wonder how they see anything in front of them.

 

oh I didnt know that, so what would be better around like 5500-6000k?

 

exactly. for road use most would say 7k max to respect other drivers not to mention seeing for yourself. my HIDs are 4300k. if you want some blue that's bright and useable then probably go for 6k, maybe 6500 if that's even made. if you really want the blue you need to think about what it's like for you to drive head on towards a car with those blue lights. they haze and blind others.

 

I have 6k in my wife's camry and 5k In my truck and the camry lights have a more blue tint, my truck lights seem to have cleaner and brighter light output, I need to change the camry lights to 5k but I put in what I had on hand at the time.

 

For my eyes I love the 4300k temp. It's a great temp for visibility and reduction of glare. It also keeps from dazzling other drivers.

 

I'm running 5600K HID's with my projector retrofit and it's a true brilliant white with a hue of blue. I'm really happy with the choice. When you see the truck oncoming it looks a lot more "blue", like you'd see in high end Lexus'. I would never recommend anything over 6500K. 6500K will give you that deep blue look you want. As someone mentioned above, the higher you go in color temperature the less useful light is outputted, but it also puts a lot more strain on your eyes, causing fatigue when driving at night. Please don't go with anything above 6500K.

 

FYI Lexus OEM HID is NOT 5600k.

 

I nedd to make a correction...my HID's are 5500K not 5600K. Not much of a difference but want to correct myself.

I never said Lexus OEM was 5500K. I was just making the point that my 5500K HID's appear to have the same "blue" appearance that I've seen in high end Lexus' with projection headlights.

 

Here's a great visual on color temperature.