Xenon bulb question
 

What brightness is the OEM D2S bulb? 4300k?

I'm looking to upgrade and I was wondering what brightness its at factory

Correct, stock is 4300k. TRS is a good place to check out for bulb upgrades.

How much do they run from TRS?

40-200ish I thinks.....theretrofitsource.com

upgrade to 5500k is the best or 6000k.

brightness is 35watts, color temp on most OEM is 4300 because it gives the most visible light. As you go higher you get bluer then purpler light which can look cool, but won't give the best performance. (less visible light, and more reflection back at you in the rain and snow) 6000 is a nice compromise as most people said.

personally I'd just get a set of bulbs for $10-20 from ebay and call it a day.

Actually, brightness measures in luminen :D Wattage is power and 4300K is the color.
On my cars, 55W 6000K HID.

true, I was trying to keep it simple, the biggest factor on brightness is the power / wattage given the same color temp bulb. happy now :D

Thanks for that site! Great info there.:thumbup::thumbup:

Unless you run 55w ballasts moving to a 55w bulb can actually reduce your output and/or produce an inconsistent arc. Factory Hellas are 35w

Be aware of the multitude of made in China knock offs of Philips (and probably other brand) xenon bulbs. They are rampant. It's one thing to knowingly buy no-name of off-brand bulbs on eBay but another to expect Philips and get a knock off.

I am in the market for a pair of D2S bulbs and found pretty wide price ranges for the Philips bulbs so I started researching to discover yet another thing we have to be on the lookout for when it comes to knock off products. :tsk:

Comparison

I DO have the 55w ballasts. I knew better than trying to power the 55w bulb with a 35w ballast ;)

I've owner a bunch of kits. I would say that a very cheap ebay set of 55 watt HIDs will outperform a very expensive 35 kit.

My bad! :)
Surprisingly many people still think Its fine to power a 55w bulb with the 35w ballast simply on the premise it still lights up. :bustingup lol