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For D3S HID bulbs, I would not go to a "mystery bulb." There are tradeoffs, even if you stay with high quality, name brand bulbs in "blue bulbs" (higher Kelvin "color temperatures").
The light isn't "whiter," it's "bluer" and that's achieved with a blue tint in the glass for higher quality bulbs, or with a blue coating on the cheaper bulbs. Either way, light output is reduced by about 15% for every "1000K" increase in "color temperature," assuming the same quality and same manufacturer. Service life is also reduced by about the same amount. Switch away from GM/Phillips/Sylvania/OSRAM and some of the OE suppliers, and you take another potential hit, usually a big hit on service life.
If you absolutely must have something bluer than stock, check out the OSRAM "Cool Blue" bulbs. Of the junky "blue bulbs" that are available, those are about the best available. It's kind of a "world's tallest midget" claim, though. Those are still blue tinted, still reduced output and shorter service life. They just are not nearly as bad as most of the others. They still will be inferior to the stock bulbs.
If you want/need an upgrade to your stock bulbs, with greater light output and higher precision (often improves the beam pattern), look at the Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs http://amzn.com/B0185GYOM0 (rated as "+50" bulbs) or the Philips XtremeVision Gen 2 bulbs http://amzn.com/B074MPWDCS (rated as "+150" bulbs). Either of those choices will actually shed more light where you need it and improve your headlight performance. Both of those bulbs are also slightly bluer than the stock bulbs, but that's not their main selling feature or advantage.
Last edited by C6_Racer_X; 09-19-2017 at 10:24 AM.
Reason: Added some "upgrade" recommendations
Oh, and by the way, to change the headlight bulbs, you have to remove the entire nose clip! At least that's what I had to do! I also put in the Z06 grill while I was in there with the nose off!
This is a very good response. I put 6000K bulbs in my last car and they were horrible. It looked cool but did very little to light up the road.
Originally Posted by C6_Racer_X
For D3S HID bulbs, I would not go to a "mystery bulb." There are tradeoffs, even if you stay with high quality, name brand bulbs in "blue bulbs" (higher Kelvin "color temperatures").
The light isn't "whiter," it's "bluer" and that's achieved with a blue tint in the glass for higher quality bulbs, or with a blue coating on the cheaper bulbs. Either way, light output is reduced by about 15% for every "1000K" increase in "color temperature," assuming the same quality and same manufacturer. Service life is also reduced by about the same amount. Switch away from GM/Phillips/Sylvania/OSRAM and some of the OE suppliers, and you take another potential hit, usually a big hit on service life.
LED main beam definitely have a higher color temperature (5000k) vs the HID (Xenon, about 4300k) main beams on the C7. There's nothing you can really do about it.
I was torn between that line and something along the lines of Jack O'Donnel (played by Alan Cranston) in the movie Argo. Those are the best bad bulbs you can get.
Originally Posted by eboggs_jkvl
Oh, and by the way, to change the headlight bulbs, you have to remove the entire nose clip! At least that's what I had to do! I also put in the Z06 grill while I was in there with the nose off!
Elmer
They didn't make it easy to get to the HID low beams in the C6's either.
On other topics which I didn't quote directly:
The stock bulbs are about 4300K. That's when they are new. HID's get dimmer over time, much like fluorescent lights in your house or office. They lose strength at the red end of the spectrum faster than they lose at the blue end, so they actually get bluer (higher Kelvin rating) as they age and degrade.
The higher performance bulbs I recommended as upgrades are around 5000K when new, but they don't actually make much of a claim about color.
As for the animated picture with "Expert Recommended" tag, I guess that depends on who you consider an "expert." My go-to expert for automotive lighting matters is Daniel Stern, and I'm pretty sure he'd recommend one of the two bulbs I showed as upgrades. I'm absolutely certain that "color temperature" wouldn't enter into his recommendation at all. That reminds me, I really need to ask him specifically about that because the lights in our friend's C6 are getting a bit cloudy and the bulbs are probably factory original and are getting pretty dim after 12 years.
The C6 had access in the fender well through a flap. Turn the wheel, open the flap and you could change the bulb. The C7 is a royal PITA to change the bulb.
09-19-2017, 09:18 AM
C7 headlight "color"
