I've been deciding lately to upgrade my stock 2003 low beam bulbs to a brighter bulb. I believe the stock is 4300k. If I decide to upgrade to 6000k or 8000k, do I need to change the ballast? If so, would it be better to just stay within the 4500k range?

 

No u dont i have a 06 coupe and had a 05 u dont need to swap out ballast.. Get 6000k 8000k sucks i got 6k on mine nd i can see fine nd it is alot brighter thAn stock. Www.Intensehid.com on sAle for 50.00 for a pair dude they look amazing

 

6000K is not brighter than 4300K (stock). It's just different color temp, which play tricks on your eyes and make you see everything glows. I do agree that 6000K does make things look nicer and the only recommendation for upgrading. 8000K will be ok as well, it has a little purple-ish tint like those luxury cars (unlike the rice purple color at 12000K temp), but hard to see the road when it rains. The higher K temp you go, the less light you will get and color will become more ricer.

 

You do not need to change the ballast.

 

If you have a Coupe then you will see a bigger difference in visibility by upgrading to the 06 projectors than by just swapping bulbs. I upgraded on my car and the visibility is much better not to mention the headlamps look a lot better. I paid around $500 for mine including shipping and the bulbs, I just stayed with the stock bulbs. You can reuse the ballast from your old headlights on the 06 projectors.

 

+1....if you really want to upgrade go with projectors, now if that's just not an option for you right now go with 6000K

 

brightest=stock. You have to decide for yourself if you want to follow the ricer mentality

 

Why is everyone suggesting 6000k? OP wanted a brighter bulb. As redlude said, stock is already highest lumens. But if OP wanted that cleaner look and wanted to retain as much brightness as possible, I would strongly recommend 5000k. Very clean and little loss of lumen performance.

Oh, and get projectors, the difference is CRAZY!

 

well I think I, like others, were under the impression he was already going to get one of them, 6000 or 8000K if he doesn't have to change the ballast. Between those two, I'd go with 6000K, but personally I'd either stick with stock or go with projectors.

 

You want brighter go with a projector upgrage and stick with 4300k. Going to projectors might let you go to 5000k or 6000k for more color too.

 

I actually want to stay away from the ricer look, therefore, if 5000k is the best option I will go for that.

I believe the original bulb that has been on my headlights have never been changed. I currently have 114k miles on my car now, so I think even replacing a new bulb will show a brighter difference. Is that possible?

 

I know that 114k miles is a good way to estimate the lifetime of your bulbs, but if you really think about it, that doesn't measure your bulb lifetime at all! Bulb lifetime is a total number of hours of usage, and mileage doesn't tell you how fast you drove or whether or not your lights were on :P

Not sure if this is the correct d2r in our headlights but most of the philips HID bulbs have 75% lumen maintenance at 1500 hours. Which means, yes, replacing the bulb alone will show a brighter difference, most likely.

http://www.hid-online.com/hidonline/...specsheets.htm

 

If you are truly looking for a brighter bulb, then swap to new philips 85126+ d2r bulbs, which will have the highest output of any 35W d2r bulb guaranteed

 

This thread makes me think, I hate at night when I'm driving and a Civic or something comes behind me with ****ing 10k lights or 12k... Highly annoying.

 

Sounds good. Thanks everyone for the help.