I made a mistake and bought H1 Solaris Ultra White bulbs. It appeared I lost light performance with the Solaris, and put the stock ones back and the lighting seemed better. An internet search showed me why my perceptions were not an "illusion".

http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=102
http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/info/blue_bulbs/
http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/info/superwhites/

Be careful when trying to get more performance than is offered by stock type H1 halogen bulbs.

 

Thanks for the very informative links! I would like to have better performance from my high beams, and I guess that means over-wattage bulbs. Too bad none of these was tested. Also, it would have been interesting to see how the stock S2K HID lamps compared to the stock Civic and M3 lamps.

 

I've had great luck with RAZO's, they still draw 55w and produce light the equivalent of 110w. They make two versions, one that is almost white (3850 kelvin) or one that is a little more bluer and pure white (4100 kelvin). I have a set of each in my motorcycle and my highbeams and have to say, they are BRIGHT.

The bad thing about getting high kelvin bluer bulbs (like Solaris) is while they look nicer externally, visibility is horribly cut down at night since blue doesn't illuminate worth sh!t. The other thing is putting in higher wattage bulbs... you don't want a melted harness.

RAZO's are a little pricey but the place I bought them from discounted me when I bought 3 sets. The place is "Auto Freak" in Japantown, San Francisco.

 

CoralDoc, There was another link pretty much discouraging overwattage bulbs, stating fire hazard, plastic parts or lenses nearby suffering from the heat, etc.; relays may not help extra juice heating the wires, connections, etc. Just my .02 there because I also am considering true 85-100 watt H1 bulbs. Because of those cautions, 85w is the most I probably would even consider. These bulbs do get extremely hot!

 

I have a (british) magazine that did a thorough test of bulbs last year. I can try to post it if you want.

The basic conclusion was that the premium bulbs of mainstream companies were the best (OSRAM, Philips, Bosch).

 

I've had excellent results with the 85W PIAA Super White bulbs. I really don't care how white or blue they are, but the extra illumination makes the some reflective signs too bright to look at sometimes at close range. According to the folks at the Japanese auto mod/accessory shop, the S2000 should have no problem with the 85W bulbs.

 

Thanks for that info, Dshea!

 

I tried a coated halogen (Korean $14.00 ea.) but instead of blue I opted for a dichroic coating. The blue "coated" bulbs give off less light. The dichroic coating is a filter that alters the light like a band-pass filter, the resulting output appears blue- white when compared to the stock halogens(less yellow light passes). Side by side the stock lamp appears pinkish-yellow compared to the dichroic bulb. The snowstorm cut my testing short this weekend but I like the dichroic color better although the 75 watt bulb does not appear any brighter than stock. Along with some needed adjustments to my HID aim height(down!!!) I'm pleased with the new hi beam so far.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dshea:
[B]I've had excellent results with the 85W PIAA Super White bulbs.

 

At the risk of sounding stupid... Does anyone actually use their hi beam lights? The HID lo beams are so good I rarely use the brights unless someone has flashed me because they think my brights are already on. (aim height lowered a bit more now as a result)
Recently I noticed that the HID lights were a pain to use in fog and smoke (Florida). I wished I could switch them off in favor of some low mounted driving lamps at the time. All other occasions I have had no complaints.