Headlight Colour Mis-Match with Xenons

[fran-s3]

Hi Guys,

Strange one this. I recently had to replace my passenger side facelift headlight unit with a second hand unit from Ebay (due to the connector inside my original one melting and nearly catching fire on a short I believe) ... Melted most of my light inside!

Anyway to cut a long story short I'm running 6000k D2S bulbs on both sides. However on the new unit on the passenger side that I replaced the colour doesn't match my original headlight on the driver side. It's not as blue and seems 'flatter' in colour - almost non xenon looking which is very random?! Could it the reflector inside at fault? Or could it be the age difference between the two units? (Am sure the one I bought was the same year as mine though) The lens is just as clean as my other one...

To try and combat this I'm thinking of buying a single 8000k bulb to 'blue' it up to match the other side more. Thoughts or suggestions much appreciated as I'm at a loose end with it.

 

[Welly]

That is a weird problem. I guess it comes down to the ballast on the headlight itself.

Do you know if the ballasts have the same part number?

 

[fran-s3]

How random eh! Yes everything is exactly the same Welly and part numbers - they're from a 2001 S3 so connections everything is identical. So strange and yet frustrating!

 

[Welly]

How random eh! Yes everything is exactly the same Welly and part numbers - they're from a 2001 S3 so connections everything is identical. So strange and yet frustrating!

It's got to be 2 different colour bulbs then mate to be fair. It's not the first time I've heard of things being mispackaged.

There is no reason for them to be different colours, they receive voltage and output light, there isn't any more to it :-/

I'd suspect that you've unknowingly got 2 different bulbs.

 

[Sandip]

Standard S3 D2S bulbs are 4300K

I'd buy a pair of new D2S bulbs, that way you know they'll both be the same lol

 

[fran-s3]

They are both identical new bulbs I just fitted as a pair - both D2S 6000K ones from Ebay so I know they're identical. I even checked all the labels on them and both had 6000k stamped on them, but yeah I suppose they could be somehow different colour temperatures mispackaged.

Ok I'll try another set of bulbs and failing that I'll try a 8000k bulb to see if it'll matches up any better.

 

[JS1500]

How do you know the bulbs are identical? Like Welly said, they may have been wrongly packaged/labelled.

 

[aragorn]

And they're ebay ****e, so its unsurprising tbh.

Buy some proper Philips or Orsam 4300k bulbs from a reputable supplier.

 

[Welly]

And they're ebay ****e, so its unsurprising tbh.

Buy some proper Philips or Orsam 4300k bulbs from a reputable supplier.

I've been using my ebay ones for many moons without issue.... as have many others. They aren't that bad for the money you don't pay!

 

[aragorn]

Well yeh, but the reputable companies only make 4300k and sometimes 5000k bulbs, so anything other than that is quite likely to be of questionable quality, and when you buy things of questionable quality you find problems like this.

Fitting HID's then not using 4300k bulbs seems pointless. 4300k is used by all OEMs because it emits the most usable light. Given headlights are there to light up the road, why fit 6k or 8k bulbs, when they will light up the road less than 4300's?

 

[fran-s3]

Will try another decent pair then and see how I get on. :thumbsup:

 

[Welly]

Well yeh, but the reputable companies only make 4300k and sometimes 5000k bulbs, so anything other than that is quite likely to be of questionable quality, and when you buy things of questionable quality you find problems like this.

Fitting HID's then not using 4300k bulbs seems pointless. 4300k is used by all OEMs because it emits the most usable light. Given headlights are there to light up the road, why fit 6k or 8k bulbs, when they will light up the road less than 4300's?

The same reason that people change their wheels for bigger or different ones, or change the colour of their car. To make the car more individual. I think 6K Xenons look really good.

6K bulbs are what I use personally, I think that they are no worse than the original 4300s when it comes to emitting light, but look far superior (IMO).

Everyone is different, live and let live.