heres the situation. i put on 8000k HID bulbs in the STi about 1.5 months ago. Never had a problem with any police officer at any time, drive the speed limit, seatbelt, and dont get on it unless im getting on the highway or such. *i was very polite during this whole thing, yes sir, no sir type of stuff* Cop pulls up next to me at a light and asks to roll down my window. Asks me what color my lights are and i told him they are not colored, they are measured in degrees. He then asks what color they appear to be and i told him blue-ish. Keep in mind they look almost the same as the BMW's and high dollar cars i see drive around all the time and my car came stock with HID's. Now for the problem, he told me it's a $1000 fine for having blue lights on the front of the car, which they aren't just blue they are head lights. No one would mistake them for cop lights at all. so please give your input so i know what to do, i really dont want to waste the money i spent on the bulbs because of some guy having a bad day. also, after this was done he pulled over an esclade on probably 26'' wheels. :squint::squint:
it IS after all illegal to have really blusish lights on a car. 8k is WAYoff from what BMW and stuff use(4k)
the stock ones are 4300 i believe and they were just too bright, i would get flashed all the time so i tried to dim them up
yea i guess ur right after looking at them some more, maybe ill throw the other ones in until everyone calms down. btw. i did check with the MP's on base and they said i would be fine and if i got a ticket i could fight it and have a pretty good chance. the law says something like "cant be covered, or give off a police color of blue" just got back from there about 2 minutes ago but i would still like to see if anyone else has ever had problems with this and how they fixed it
honestly, the 8k lights are just a waste. the stock, and stock degreeish lights put out a much better light, and save on eye fatigue. PM 10th st jdm...he is the resident retrofit/hid guru
I had a friend get that ticket around christmas time. He had strung christmas lights on his work van. The bulbs were multicolored, however, like every 5th bulb was blue. These were not your daddy's christmas lights, just the newer small size bulbs.
I was just commenting on the sometimes comical way in which some tickets are passed out. 8K is about the temp of southern light on a sunny day, as in really blue. I agree that you should switch back to the stockers at least until you contest the ticket. It would suck to come across the same officer and get duplicate tickets.
i didnt get a ticket he just gave me a verbal warning. pretty sure thats what ill end up doing. this is stupid, i used to like savannah cops.
The sun burns 6500k that hasn't changed since man has been on the earth if anyone tells you otherwise they are full of shit. And that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Your hid's look purple if anything! The guy was just looking to give out a ticket
Yeah, those are pretty blue-ish. Maybe I'm a minority here, but on many occasions I've seen HIDs around that color and actually did think for half a second that it was a cop. Especially if I'm seeing the lights pass by through foliage or a guardrail (something that makes it look like they are flashing).
From the pictures you posted, they look alot bluer than the ones that come on bimmers lol. I would personally get some 4-6k. Blue lights are cool, but they are kinda annoying when they're behind you.
Source Color temperature in kelvin Skylight (blue sky) 12,000 - 20,000 Average summer shade 8000 Light summer shade 7100 Typical summer light (sun + sky) 6500 Daylight fluorescent (caution!) 6300 Xenon short-arc 6400 Overcast sky 6000 Clear mercury lamp 5900 Sunlight (noon, summer, mid-latitudes) 5400 Design white fluorescent 5200 Special fluorescents used for color evaluation 5000 Daylight photoflood 4800 - 5000 Sunlight (early morning and late afternoon) 4300 Brite White Deluxe Mercury lamp 4000 Sunlight (1 hour after dawn) 3500 Cool white fluorescent (caution!) 3400 Photoflood 3400 Professional tungsten photographic lights 3200 100-watt tungsten halogen 3000 Deluxe Warm White fluorescent 2950 100-watt incandescent 2870 40-watt incandescent 2500 High-pressure sodium light 2100 Sunlight (sunrise or sunset) 2000 Candle flame 1850 - 1900 Match flame 1700
It is not worth the ticket or is it worth trying to fight it in court. Youw ould probably loose since the cops are always right in a court.
it has t odo with wavelength of light thats let through if your confused as to why share is higher temp.
ya im changing them back today and ill just pick up some 6000k since those are pretty much just white with a small tint of blue
just get the 5k or lower and be done with it. also do you have projector lenses, or just crap reflector housings? if you put blue HID shit lenses in a reflector housing, kill yourself. I hate being blinded by that shit
Every company has different temps. for their hids. Some say that a 6k is a light white with blueish beam. Others would say the same but would come up to be "blue." Just like this guys 8k. I have 10k on mine and they don't look as blue as this guys lol. I also have projectors so I don't know if that helped...
10K?? jeebus. that's obnoxious. actually, I think I saw your car one night at BP on Pleasant Hill. I was across the street at Chipotle and saw a Scooby with wickedly bright HIDs
lol they're actually not that bright or blue. Well, not as bad as the op's hids. Here is a picture, its not the best, but should give a decent description of what im talking about. Also I haven't been to bp with my car in MONTHS lol.
I just bought a set of JDM projectors (bugeye) to get modded with TL hardware. my EDM and HID setup will be up for sale shortly.
i took em out and put the other ones back in. no more trouble. ill just wait and pick up some 6k and see how i like those. after i changed back to the stock ones i realized how much of a difference it made.
That's your mistake, you should have told him, "...what do you mean sir, they came with the car". You played right into his hands.