2004 Infiniti G35 - Headlight Tint/HID

[Denelaya]

Hello, Im a first time car owner with a question for my Infiniti.

I would like to get new HID headlights, along with a headlight tint. Since I'll be tinting the cover should I get a stronger 8000K bulb or would a standard 6000K bulb still do the job?

Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thankyou.

[kmckis1029]

if I ever tinted my lights i would go with a stronger bulb... it only makes since to me. But someone who has tinted their lights might know otherwise from me.

[audtatious]

The higher the kelvin rating of the HID's the less lumens are produced. 5300k is the factory level with the 6000k and 8000k you mention actually having less light output.

Just don't tint the headlights, it's illegal anyway

[livinglegend2100]

if you upgrade, go 6000k. 6000k is the brightest color temp you can get before you start to lose actual useable light. for instance, 8000k will be brighter in appearance, but will actually illuminate less of the road in front of you. And dont tint the headlights. If anything pull the lens off the headlight unit and tint/paint the inner housing around the lights. looks pretty good, doesnt hinder your visibility, and isnt illegal.

[audtatious]

Technically kelvin and lumens are two different things. Kelvin is a color/temp range and lumens is output brightness. The loosely used rule of thumb is that a 4300k bulb puts out appx 3200 lumens while a 6000k bulb puts out about 2800 lumens. This can change dependent on bulbs and manufacturers. As an example, the Philips D25 85122+ (4300k OEM-style bulb) has an estimated 3200 lumens from Philips while their Ultinon D2S 6000k bulb is rated at appx 2400 lumens. So, if you went from 4300k OEM Philips bulbs to their 6000k ultinon then you would actually lose 1600 lumens (800 per bulb, 1600 for the pair). Obviously that is less light output. Yes, the color of the bulbs would be more white than the yellow hue of the 4300k.

Now, with that being said, the human eye sees certain colors better than others (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision). Reds have the widest wavelength of color, followed by greens and blues. The wiki link shows blue/violet has the shortest wavelength while yellow/red is the widest range. BUT, from a brightness sensitivity perspective the greens and yellows seem to be the best.

So, with HID bulbs at least, you do get less lumens from the higher kelvin color ranges. There is also issues that involve color due to eye sensitivity and wavelength. 6000k bulbs have a whiter light to them but less lumens than the 4300k (which has a yellow hue), thus, 4300k actually put out the most light in comparison. 10000k and 12000k put more of a blue/violet light out, have less lumens output as tested (depending on the bulb/ballast, etc) against their similar counterparts, and the color shift to the blue/violet range is the worse from a sensitivity perspective.

I like my 6000k range. To me the whiter/slight blue hue picks up the white road stripes better on the highway. I've had 5000k HID in the wifes car that had a green/yellowish hue and didn't really care for it much. I saw OK but the color green was kinda crappy looking from a style/visual perspective.

Tinting the headlights will change the color range of light coming out of the bulbs. To what, I don't know. If upgraded to 6000k then I would think you'd have FAR less light output due to the 6000k light output AND less light being allowed through the tint. With my 6000k I feel at times I need more light and I would hate to drive in the rain in a car with tinted headlights.

[livinglegend2100]

^ you know too much... ha

more than I do anyway. ha. I just read enough to know not to be a retard and buy 10k + bulbs. the 55w 6000k kit i put in my audi was fantastic. Im just waiting for a nice set of 06+ projectors to come around so I can snatch them up for my G. stupid reflectors...

[audtatious]

Most factory HID kits are 35w, not 55w which is why you would have more output.