I had this is another thread, but figured I'd start another to hopefully get some additional info.
I recently (3 ish weeks ago) changed the HID bulbs in my car, from the god awful 10k purply ones the previous owner had, to 4500k Morimoto's. They worked well, albeit a tad yellower than I had hoped.
Last week I noticed one of the bulbs was noticeably dimmer. Assuming a bulb had gone bad somehow, I ordered a replacement. Only to find that what was damaged was the retaining ring was damaged, so I got a new one of those. Now all is sorta kinda back to normal - except....the beam pattern just looks off. I don't know if it's the limits of the factory lenses, or my aiming, or a combination, or whether these bulbs just aren't up to stuff vs others out there from Hella, PIAA, Sylvania.
I opted for the Morimoto's - my car has factory HID. I went with the 4500k D2S XB because the previous owner had some 10k bulbs previously and it looked awful (and I couldn't see a thing).
The new bulb has a nice smooth focus, no obvious bright spots, and a good cutoff and color.
By comparison now, the passenger side looks like crap. With the last Morimoto bulb on the driver side, it looked just like the passenger side - the new one looks totally different with respect to it's beam pattern, etc. Color on both are good though. It has a huge hot spot that you can see right on a wall, and the cutoff is far more dispersed. Is it possible to install the bulbs upside down? I'm totally confused right now as to why it's like this. I will try to post a picture to illustrate, but it's very annoying. It's not that I can't see, I can - but with the reflection I see on a wall, I know I'm losing all sorts of output, and that's frustrating. So I really want to get it solved
I thought these bulbs had received very favorable feedback, despite their price. I'm starting to regret not ponying up for the Hella or PIAA HID bulbs I've used previously on builds though.
Any insight?
1 day later:
I re-aimed the lights after work...better, but the weird "spot" is still there on the passenger side. Not prevalent in some pics, but you can see it especially in the 1st, 5th and 6th pics. My driver side adjuster is nearly at max "up" adjustment. Car has never been hit, lights are right, no wobbling. I've yet to see my auto adjust work however. In the 2nd, 4th and 5th pic it almost looks like the driver side could stand a bit more up adjustment too smh.
This was only me playing with the vertical adjustments. And I did it by eye, it's too cold to be standing out there taking measurements. But perhaps it needs horizontal adjustment too?
With that said, are these factory lenses improvable? Easily moddable/swappable? Or is it these bulbds that despite the hype, just aren't all that and the bag of chips they were said to be
Any help is appreciated!
I recently (3 ish weeks ago) changed the HID bulbs in my car, from the god awful 10k purply ones the previous owner had, to 4500k Morimoto's. They worked well, albeit a tad yellower than I had hoped.
Last week I noticed one of the bulbs was noticeably dimmer. Assuming a bulb had gone bad somehow, I ordered a replacement. Only to find that what was damaged was the retaining ring was damaged, so I got a new one of those. Now all is sorta kinda back to normal - except....the beam pattern just looks off. I don't know if it's the limits of the factory lenses, or my aiming, or a combination, or whether these bulbs just aren't up to stuff vs others out there from Hella, PIAA, Sylvania.
I opted for the Morimoto's - my car has factory HID. I went with the 4500k D2S XB because the previous owner had some 10k bulbs previously and it looked awful (and I couldn't see a thing).
The new bulb has a nice smooth focus, no obvious bright spots, and a good cutoff and color.
By comparison now, the passenger side looks like crap. With the last Morimoto bulb on the driver side, it looked just like the passenger side - the new one looks totally different with respect to it's beam pattern, etc. Color on both are good though. It has a huge hot spot that you can see right on a wall, and the cutoff is far more dispersed. Is it possible to install the bulbs upside down? I'm totally confused right now as to why it's like this. I will try to post a picture to illustrate, but it's very annoying. It's not that I can't see, I can - but with the reflection I see on a wall, I know I'm losing all sorts of output, and that's frustrating. So I really want to get it solved
I thought these bulbs had received very favorable feedback, despite their price. I'm starting to regret not ponying up for the Hella or PIAA HID bulbs I've used previously on builds though.
Any insight?
1 day later:
I re-aimed the lights after work...better, but the weird "spot" is still there on the passenger side. Not prevalent in some pics, but you can see it especially in the 1st, 5th and 6th pics. My driver side adjuster is nearly at max "up" adjustment. Car has never been hit, lights are right, no wobbling. I've yet to see my auto adjust work however. In the 2nd, 4th and 5th pic it almost looks like the driver side could stand a bit more up adjustment too smh.
This was only me playing with the vertical adjustments. And I did it by eye, it's too cold to be standing out there taking measurements. But perhaps it needs horizontal adjustment too?
With that said, are these factory lenses improvable? Easily moddable/swappable? Or is it these bulbds that despite the hype, just aren't all that and the bag of chips they were said to be
Any help is appreciated!
