Nice headlights/bulbs?

[ut_cougar]

I have the standard headlights on my 02 Boxster S (Non-Litronic). I am wanting some brighter "cooler" looking lighting. Does anyone have any suggestions or input? I have seen plug and play HID kids and xenon gas bulbs, etc. I just want something that is plugn'play, something that doesn't require any difficult mods but will improve the color of the headlights (low beam) and possibly brighten them up. Maybe something that gives the HID effect, or I also saw some violet colored lights for sale online that looked really cool (they said they were xenon gas charges 12000 or something like that). Any input for the newbie? Thanks

Get the real-deal! :

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=00004490041&Category_Code=986lights

[humara]

do a search for "burnt". whatever you decide on, be very careful because most of the "whiter" hid looking bulbs run higher wattage to get the brightness necessary because of the blue coating they use. you'll see its pretty common for 996/986 headlights to have a nice little brownish spot because of hot bulbs.

[Kirk]

I recently got litronics and didn't like the yellow halogen lights for the high beam and fog lights. Your stock light housing actually has three H7 halogen bulbs in it - low beam, high beam, and fog light. Replacing all of them with something whitter/bluer can be costly...

I bought some Sylvania Silverstars and fortunately only opened one package to try them out. I returned another un-opened package. I was grossly disappointed. The light is whitter, but only barely so compared to standard Sylvania/Osram bulbs I had. I've got the Silverstars in my fog lights now, which are a little yellow any way (yellow plastic inside housing).

"Gary in BR" sent me some blue H7 halogen bulbs that I put in as my high beams. They are much more white/blue than the Silverstars and have that "cooler" look I think you want. Unfortunately I can't tell you what brand they are as they're not marked. They look MUCH nicer with my litronics though.

Based on my limited experience I would go for some of the blue coated bulbs, but just make sure they're rated for 55W or no more than 65W. The ones Gary sent me are rated for 55W.

[ut_cougar]

ok so i have decided to go with one of these HID coversion kits for like $100 bucks. They seem okay, no litronic, but affordable...and i plan on selling the car in a year so $100 is better than $1500 for litronics. So my question here is: do these conversion kits with the balasts, etc require ANY permanent mods? such as drilling, cutting, screwing, etc? (anything at all?) AND if they DO require any permanent mods are there any ways of getting around that? Such as instead of screwing maybe using zipties or running wires around of something instead of through it? if anyone knows a way to install them without any permanent mods please let me know. oh and this is for an 02 boxster S. thanks guys

[pompous]

just curious...which one u goin' with? I've been thinkin' about this for a little while now.

[Gary in BR]

Originally Posted by Kirk

I recently got litronics and didn't like the yellow halogen lights for the high beam and fog lights. Your stock light housing actually has three H7 halogen bulbs in it - low beam, high beam, and fog light. Replacing all of them with something whitter/bluer can be costly...

I bought some Sylvania Silverstars and fortunately only opened one package to try them out. I returned another un-opened package. I was grossly disappointed. The light is whitter, but only barely so compared to standard Sylvania/Osram bulbs I had. I've got the Silverstars in my fog lights now, which are a little yellow any way (yellow plastic inside housing).

"Gary in BR" sent me some blue H7 halogen bulbs that I put in as my high beams. They are much more white/blue than the Silverstars and have that "cooler" look I think you want. Unfortunately I can't tell you what brand they are as they're not marked. They look MUCH nicer with my litronics though.

Based on my limited experience I would go for some of the blue coated bulbs, but just make sure they're rated for 55W or no more than 65W. The ones Gary sent me are rated for 55W.

The bulbs are Hoen's
http://www.hoen-usa.com/

They are very good lights and come highly rated.

BTW,
Glad you liked them.

Gary

[ut_cougar]

well i looked at the Hoen site and they look like great bulbs but arent even close to 55W...the two decent models for low beam application are 70W and 80W (for the boxster's H7 bulbs) which will eventually burn the light housing and i dont want those brown spots everyone talks about.

[Gary in BR]

The Hoen 55w H7s are here:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/fog.htm


You can always go with yellow......its what I am running in my fogs:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/endurance.htm

This is the link for the bulb to insert into some headlight assemblies to match the whiter light:
http://www.hoen-usa.com/city2.htm

I know this bulb works in non xenon lights I dont think it works in the xenon light. Or you can be totally out of the box and run a yellow light...its what I am doing.

I by no means work for or get paid to send traffic their way but as Kirk said these are great quality bulbs. I tried just about every bulb out there and even burned a lens testing different bulbs. The best combination I found was a 90w H7 but as we know what can happen it burnt my lens. After that I bought a new set of lights and went to a HID retrofit kit.

Actually I am still running the 90w bulbs in my high beam. I use them so infrequently that even after a year I have had no problem with them. (knock on wood)

[Gary in BR]

In my reserch for better lighting I found this website very useful I recomend it to everyone.


http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html

After looking at his sight again tonight I emailed him about my interior dome light. I bought a led light and I am not really happy with it. I wonder if he has any options for us.

[Benny986]

hoen bulbs are good.

i have some bulbs from SPP supreme power parts. they are the ultra white, or whatever they call them. they match up to the factory HIDs pretty well.

just make sure to get the 55w ones.

[ut_cougar]

Originally Posted by Benny986

hoen bulbs are good.

i have some bulbs from SPP supreme power parts. they are the ultra white, or whatever they call them. they match up to the factory HIDs pretty well.

just make sure to get the 55w ones.

benny, have you used the hoens AND the SPPs? or have you seen both the 55W versions of each installed in low beam application? if so, which did you find to be "cooler" looking? or more of the "HID look"?

[ut_cougar]

also, has anyone seen a 65W bulb used for low beams in a boxster? and if so, any brown spots or burning lenses? IF no brown spots, does anyone know a good HID look 65W bulb, that has the look of those SPPs and HOENs?

[CJ_Boxster]

Sorry bud, cant use a 65watt bulb, thats too hot and will little by little burn a hole in your headlight lense... the max u can use is 55watts.

[Gary in BR]

I agree do not run 65w in the low beams.
You will burn lens, I have pictures to prove it.

[Benny986]

I have no personal experience with hoen.

I am ont he audi forums a lot. And when I got my bulbs for that car, (fogs, high beam), there were lots of posts online. I wanted a match for the audi oem hids.

The hoens an the SPPs were both talked about in the forums, and people liked both.

There was a GB on the SPPs, so I tried them. I like them. I liked them enough to get them for the boxster too.

Check out this thread. That is how it compares to the audi hids.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100238

here are some of my pics of the SPPs... NOTE. the audi hids are not as blue as the boxster, so, the SPP bulb looks more yellow than the boxsters hid.

ohh and i also have an optic yellow bulb in the other side as a sample of what yellow looks like.

notice how its almost a perfect match.



now on the boxster, it looks more yellow...



And just a few more pictures in the series.

http://lubrify.com/porsche/lights

[ut_cougar]

benny, wait a sec, in the pics on the boxster, which ones are you running the SPPs on? Are those HIDs on the boxster or the 55W SPPs (normal lighting)? Im not looking for fog lights, i'm inquring about the low beam application? IF and only if those are SPPs (plain regular bulbs, not HIDs) in the bottom pic and that is your low beam lighting that's pictured then that is amazing...that really does look like HID lighting...let me know because i think you are talking about the fog lights which makes much more sense (fog lights are the smaller ones on the inside). maybe im getting a little bit confused its been a looong week.

[Benny986]

its just an example.

i have the OEM HIDs. the main light is a HID.

the fogs and highbeam are SPPs.

its my understanding that the OE (non HID) bulb is an h7, which would be the same as the high beam and the foglight. in which case. the pics should illustrate what the bulb color is and what approximate temp those bulbs look like.

[ut_cougar]

hey thanks for clearing that up! that makes much more sense...i was thinking there is no way a 55W H7 is going to look like those HID's in that pic...the fogs dont look too bad, but nothing compared to those litronics. thanks for the pics