G37: Lighting sux

[audtatious]

OK, gonna have to fix the lighing on the coupe. It has bi-xenon headlights, halogen fogs and some crappy dim-azzed highlighting bulb (assuming it's for looks).

Since I'm lazy at the moment, who can name what each of these bulbs are?

Ready? Go

[CYO44Baseball32]

you got your regular HID, your H1 fog, and your parking or city light. I replaced all of mine. My brightness is so-so but thats because my headlights have layovers.

[audtatious]

What are the bulb numbers? I will probably upgrade everyting to 6000k and update the city lights to ultra white

[rn79870]

Are you saying the stock bulbs are not bright enough? I've got whatever comes stock on my car, and I'm pi$$ing off oncoming traffic all the time.

BTW, the bi-xenon are not cheap.

[audtatious]

I don't care for the 4300k range of the factory bulbs and the fogs and parking light looks like crap. I know they are not cheap but that's OK. I'm baller like that

Bulbs on the 2008 G37:Headlight: HID-D2Sparking light: 2825Fog: H1License plate: 168

[smockers83]

I've got whatever comes stock on my car, and I'm pi$$ing off oncoming traffic all the time.

Same here. I'm from an area where HIDs are not very common at all, so no one is used to them. I'm almost guaranteed to get someone to flash their brights at me when I drive at night...but I just flash mine right back at em, especially when they saw me go to my low beams.

The higher up in temp you go, you start to run into certain situations. It's a bluer light which has a shorter wavelength, which makes it appear brighter. However when this light hits surfaces like a road, less of it is reflected in a way usable for night-time vision. More and more of it reflects down road as you go higher up in temp, decreasing night-time vision. If you have wet roads, fog, rain, snow...the effect becomes worse. Also, as you go higher up in temp, it becomes more of a hazard to oncoming drivers because of the shorter wavelengths of light. So choose a temp wisely on looks and functionality.

[audtatious]

I've been runnin 6000k fogs and headlights in my Maxima for almost 2 years now. While they have less lumens, the slight blue color shift seems to light up the road better than the factory 4300k units did.

In regards to blinding others I have only been flashed by one vehicle and I do a lot of night driving. The vehicle that flashed me? A raised 4x4

[smockers83]

Gotcha. I don't know what the temp is where it starts getting worse, I just know that after a certain point it starts doing more harm than good. Or so I've heard.

[audtatious]

Usually after 6000k you get deminished returns for more color. The slight blue color of 6000k does good at highlighting the roads or I would not consider upgrading again

[s-mark]

Oh , please. Some of you guys just sit around thinking of things to complain and post about. You couldn't tell any real difference in any of the bulbs except perhaps for the color. And fog lights are a joke anyway, no matter what kind they are. They don't actually improve visibility in fog, not that you even spend any significant amount of time driving in fog.

What's next, the speakers "sux?"

[Sentientbydesign]

Oh , please. Some of you guys just sit around thinking of things to complain and post about. You couldn't tell any real difference in any of the bulbs except perhaps for the color. And fog lights are a joke anyway, no matter what kind they are. They don't actually improve visibility in fog, not that you even spend any significant amount of time driving in fog.

What's next, the speakers "sux?"

HEY!!! It's my job to be an a$$hole and piss of the staff. NOT YOURS! So beat it! lol.

Welcome?

There is a significant visibility difference when changing kelvin temperatures. 5600K is right around the color of daylight which should produce the best visibility. 6000K has a very pretty blue tint and improves visibility over stock...assuming it's a like quality bulb.

I'm also a little dissapointed with my G35 headlights. The ones on my mom's QX4 are definately brighter, whiter and higher lol. It's our money, let us complain and mod as we please.

Oh and yes!!! The speakers in my G suck!!!

Welcome to the club...and have a nice day

[smockers83]

Oh , please. Some of you guys just sit around thinking of things to complain and post about. You couldn't tell any real difference in any of the bulbs except perhaps for the color. And fog lights are a joke anyway, no matter what kind they are. They don't actually improve visibility in fog, not that you even spend any significant amount of time driving in fog.

What's next, the speakers "sux?"

Well considering you're from Texas, I can't imagine you have much experience with fog or snow.

[audtatious]

Oh , please. Some of you guys just sit around thinking of things to complain and post about. You couldn't tell any real difference in any of the bulbs except perhaps for the color. And fog lights are a joke anyway, no matter what kind they are. They don't actually improve visibility in fog, not that you even spend any significant amount of time driving in fog.

What's next, the speakers "sux?"

You are a dipsh1t. Thank you and drive through please.

[C-Kwik]

Blue lights cause more glare and scatter more readily against snow, fog and rain. I'd be a bit wary about changing the light color of my headlights to something that might be more blue...

[audtatious]

6000k is still white with a trace of blue. I have driven in heavy rain, snow and fog with no issues at all. In the G37 I find the factory 4300k HID's to be too yellow to the point that the road nor objects are as well defined (to me). The 4300k factory lights on my Maxima seemed more white than the ones on the G even though the color is supposed to be the same.

[C-Kwik]

Pure white light actually has blue light in it. The key here is it is a small amount of blue light. Moving to a light that has a higher percentage of blue light content, even is seemingly small is still a move towards poorer lighting.

You can look it up on http://www.danielsternlighting.com.

Further, I emailed him in regards to HID's specifically as his tech and FAQ section talks more about blue lighting with regards to blue filtered bulbs. Here is my question and and his response:

"> I'm curious if you know the negative effects, if any, of changing the > arc capsule of a OE HID lighting system to one of a higher color > temperature.

1. The intensity would be lower.2. The glare would be higher.3. The headlamps' light colour would be illegal.4. The light's effectiveness (from a seeing-performance perspective) would suffer."

He didn't get into the technicals of it, but it seems to reaffirm what he states about blue bulbs in general. It may be to a lesser degree as there will be a great deal of white light compared to that of a blue filtered bulb.

I also asked him a second question out of my own curiosity and it may have some bearing here as well:

"> Secondly, many people claim to perceive bluer lights as brighter. Is > this a result of the same slow pupil-closing response to blue light > causing this percieved increase in lighting?

There are a number of effects at work here. Bluer light is inherently more glaring (per Sivak & Flannagan; referenced in my HID-kits debunk page), and the shift in SPD away from yellow and towards blue does reduce the pupillary constriction."

Coupling this with info he has about yellow colored lights on his webpage strongly suggests that yellower lights are inherently much better for visibility than other colors, most notably blue.

[audtatious]

That's fine, but I see better with the 6000k even if they do have somewhat less lumens. I'm not talking 8000-12000k ranges which are actually illegal for on-road applications.

[C-Kwik]

Be careful that you are not simply falling into the trap of equating seeing better with what feels brighter. Bluer lights will not stimulate as much of a pupil-closing response which may feel brighter to the eyes. Eyes have a way of fooling us. In a similar way, if you were to light up the foreground (the area just in front and to the sides of the car) brightly, one might perceive the brighter foreground as providing better visibility. And in the areas that are brightly lit, this is probably actually true. But what they may not be looking at is the distance visibility. Headlights project a beam pattern that throws light out well ahead of the car so you can see what is coming. But if the foreground is lit too brightly, our eyes can't see what is off in the distance unless you can increase the brightness there as well. In which case, you'ld likely end up blinding oncoming drivers.

You're free to do what you want to your lights. Just be sure you truly do for the reasons you believe you are...

[audtatious]

If I were contemplating putting HID's in a car that did not have HID's from the factory then I'm sure I would imagine a lot simply due to color (and would be blinding/glaring people out). Both of my cars had HID from the factory so I do have the proper headlight system to support them. I understand the difference in color and feel I can see blacktop much better with the higher K levels. I believe there are no issues with color until around 5750k at which both visible color and lumens start to drop off from increasing visibility, thus why I suggest never going past 6000k.