I was sitting here wondering, what kind of headlights are on S2000. They are a perfect blue color.

 

What do you mean by what kind? They are HID's. or are you talking more technical?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they are Xenon.

 

Xenon are the gas that are inside the bulbs. HID refers to the whole system. I believe they are 4300K, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

All factory HID systems that come factory in new cars sold in the USA come with 4300K HID bulbs. Anyything above that is illegal and not DOT approved. The reason why some HID systems look more blue than others is because of the optics in the headlight assemblies themselves. This is why when people retrofit HID systems into standard halogen headlamp assemblies the 4300K system looks either bright white or a slight tint of yellow. This is why there are those 6000K kits available for retrofit systems(I have heard of even up to 12,000K systems are available). These higher color temperature systems make the light more blue/purple but the higher you go into the color scale the dimmer the light becomes. 4300K systems are still the brightest in terms of lumens. 6000K is not brighter than 4300K....and those kits that are 8000K to 12,000K are strictly for looks and not fuction. If you want color get tinted blue bulbs...if you are retrofitting a halogen system and want bright lights get a 4300K HID system. 6000K systems are still acceptable because they are only a couple hundred lumens dimmer than 4300K but anything above that and your not getting an HID effect.

 

IMO the s2k has the best looking HID's on any production car, i am 100% not biased. this was my opinion waaaay before i bought one earlier this year.

 

good info spankee, very informative

 

4300k isn't blue... the reason our headlamps cast off a blue/purple tint is the projector assembly.... I may be wrong, but the only ones I've seen that are blue after conversion were 7000+ Ks.

 

4300k isn't blue... the reason our headlamps cast off a blue/purple tint is the projector assembly.... I may be wrong, but the only ones I've seen that are blue after conversion were 7000+ Ks.

 

Somewhere I saw a poll of US headlight engineers regarding which car sold in the US has the best headlights. You guessed it, the S2000. Implementing an HID system is a lot more than just putting the parts on. The closest thing to an HID headlight is a welding torch in terms of the way the light is made, BTW.

My only disappointment has been with the S2000's high beams. I have bought what are considered in Europe the best halogen bulbs, the Philips "VisionPlus," which are 50% brighter than the stock ones using the same wattage. I'll see if I can get them in this weekend. (A small amount of xenon gas is usually put into the mixture in high-end halogen bulbs. For this reason, some people market them as "xenon" bulbs. However, they still produce light the old-fashioned way--with a glowing filament.)

That I had to buy these bulbs from the UK shows how much the blue-tinted halogen bulbs dominate the US market. Although some like these for cosmetic and/or status reasons, the headlight forums agree that they degrade the light in terms of both visibility (especially in fog or rain) and glare to oncoming motorists. They look blue for a different reason than do the HIDs. If you are in your 20's, you probably wonder why any of this matters. If you are in your 50's, good headlights mean you can drive quickly at night with a great deal more safety and comfort.