So i have seen alot of higher end cars and suv's around were i live that do have HIDs in them, but theres are eiter ALOT brighter or a darker blueish color compared to the ones in my S2000... Would these just be aftermarket bulbs?

 

HID bulbs can range in color "temperature". its the matter of finding the right balance. s2000s come stock with i believe 4300k bulbs which is the closest color to sunlight. it also produces more lighting. anything above 5000k yields a more bluish, purplish, whitish color which may LOOK brighter but acutally yield less light output.

-a

 

correct, look can be deceiving. You have no idea how valuable our stock projector is. Most of the people I know that want to do a reflector to projector conversion on their bike want to get their hand on s2k projector.

 

The color you see is in the cutoff of the beam, where the light is bent inside the projector or reflector housing. You'll notice this when you are facing a wall with your lights on. The rest of the color is near white. Suv's may seem to have more of that brilliant blue because their headlights are higher, thus bringing the cutoff point closer to eye level. The cheap Super-Xtreme-JDM-Plasma (you get the idea) xenon capsules are trying to mimic that color. Problem is the blue color is spread across the entire beam, which reduces output and visibility. Keep your stock capsules.

 

4300k is the brightest you can get, and the higher you go up, the less bright the light actually is (contrary to popular belief) Also, 8000k and up HIDs can cause problems in rain and snow. The higher temperature you get, the more "reflective" the light is, and it will actually reflect off of rain, fog and snow, making it more difficult to see. Here are some pics of what the different temperatures look like.

3000K - Golden Yellow
4300K - Bright White

6000K - Crystal White

8000K - Crystal Blue

10000K - Aqua Blue

12000K - Purple-Blue

14000K - Purple

 

good info

thanks for the pics too

 

I think Honda has some of the best HID systems on the market with the bulb/projector combination, most evident in the S2000 and TL.

 

The super bluish/green/purple you see from a distance may be because of the projector the car is using. The s2k's headlights looks super blue/green/purple from a distance.

 

When HIDs first came out, I would look at them and at some points they would appear to flicker from super blue to white depending on the angle. As Plutonium239 said, that is the cutoff. Depending on the angle you are at, all HIDs will have that blue appearance at one point, but as for the HIDs that are always blue/purple and light up the whole road those colors, that is due to the HID temperature.