Why do the HIDs not look like HIDs?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SandMan @ Mar 31 2007, 10:37 AM) [snapback]415452[/snapback]</div>

The blue tinted halogens *do* look very blue at night, at least to oncoming traffic.. Worst of all, they *don't* look anything like HID.. You can see them coming down the road for miles because the front of the car is surrounded by a baby-blue halo due to the blue light being scattered by the atmosphere.. I have night contrast issues with my vision and those blue tinted halogens are IMO a severe driving hazard to oncoming traffic because of the severe glare they cause.. I believe that most of their supposed "benefit" is entirely psychological: you spent $50 on a single light bulb so they *must* be better right? NOT!!

The early HID headlamps did tend to be distinctly blue, but they were so well focused that they didn't cause much of a problem unless they were aimed incorrectly.. Virtually all of the modern HID headlamps have virtually eliminated the color problem and most produce a very white light with just a thin blue fringe at the edge of the illumination zone; I particularly like the new warmer colored HIDs which are in the greenish-yellow portion of the spectrum.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SandMan @ Mar 31 2007, 10:37 AM) [snapback]415452[/snapback]</div>

I swapped the standard halogen bulbs in my Prius for Sylvania "Silver Star" bulbs. They are not that stupid "cool blue," they are quite white - claiming to be about 4000K. A big difference in performance without the appearance of trying to fake HID with cheesey blue tint.

I tried the Silver Stars in my Chrysler when I lost a standard bulb a couple of months ago. The difference was so noticable that I decided to put a pair in the Prius for GPs. The standard OEM halogens are just as yellow as any other standard headlight.

I will note that I had choice words for Toyota while changing the bulbs. You have to remove a three foot piece of plastic and a part of the air cleaner to get to the right bulb, you need toddler sized hands to get the rubber lamp covers off (they don't tell you to do this, but I had to take the cover off the fuse box and could still barely get my hand in behind the left headlight), and trying to remove the retaining wire that actually holds the bulb in - when you can't see it - is a pain. The process is an example of them just not caring about keeping something simple as changing a headlight bulb... simple.