What's with the blue headlights?

[JohnR66]

I'm starting to see more and more of these in the last few months. No, they are not the "sort of whiter" blue colored halogen. These are even a cooler shade than HID lamps I see in lux cars. They seem too cool and bright to be from a tungsten source. My guess is some sort of HID kit.

I don't want them, just curious.

 

[-Virgil-]

Cars with LED headlamps are beginning to hit the roads in numbers large enough that they're being seen in general traffic. The Nissan Leaf has them as standard equipment. The Toyota Prius has them as an option. The high-end models from Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, and Audi have them. The Cadillac Escalade Platinum has them. LED headlamps, so far, do have a bluer-than-HID light color in the main part of the beam.

 

[JohnR66]

This could account for some of them, but I've seen this kind of colored head light in some older pickup trucks and cars as well.

 

[markr6]

This could account for some of them, but I've seen this kind of colored head light in some older pickup trucks and cars as well.

These are probably the 17-year-olds that bought cheap blue noname bulbs on Ebay to put in their 1998 Honda Civic with fart pipes on the exhaust. Man they're cool! :shakehead

 

[fishx65]

Probably just 6000 or higher HID kits.

 

[hokiefyd]

They're rampant around here, and there are no boundaries as to the type of cars. Everything from lowered Civics and Celicas to lifted Chargers and Crown Vics. The look isn't complete unless you also have some bling wheels and some bling LED tail lamps. There are also many pickups with illegal HID retrofits.

I don't even flash my lamps anymore; they don't care. I actually think they enjoy the attention. Someone who installs that kind of lamp isn't one who will react to a high beam flash with, "oh nuts, I'm causing too much glare to other drivers, I better remove this HID system I just installed." But ironically, as long as nobody flashes their high beams at them, they get self-validation that, "it's not bothering anyone." Funny how that seems to be a one-way street with some people.

 

[TJJP77]

I don't even flash my lamps anymore; they don't care. I actually think they enjoy the attention. Someone who installs that kind of lamp isn't one who will react to a high beam flash with, "oh nuts, I'm causing too much glare to other drivers, I better remove this HID system I just installed." But ironically, as long as nobody flashes their high beams at them, they get self-validation that, "it's not bothering anyone." Funny how that seems to be a one-way street with some people.

This is the same argument I use with the various dipwads on Jeepforum that claim their crappy HID kit doesn't bother others - most of us know that flashing the d-bags that insist on running illegal lighting know that it won't do any good since they seem to enjoy the attention. It's no different than the jerks who used to run their factory Marchal driving/fog lamps on 80's Ford products - you can flash a pack of cars and the one jerk with the auxiliary lamps on will flash you back while the rest of the folks know they aren't doing anything wrong and therefore don't react.

 

[Hilldweller]

yo, 12000K is phatttt, yo

 

[markr6]

I saw a Prius last night and I couldn't believe my eyes!!! I would have suspected it was a mod, but who would mod one of those? I'm serious, these lights were BLUE!!!!!!! Not cool white or even like the 5-LED torches for $1.99 at Walgreens...WORSE than that! I was behind the car as it turned onto another street and couldn't see more than 20' in front of it. It's amazing he didn't wreck that thing immediately after sunset.

 

[JohnR66]

I saw a Prius last night and I couldn't believe my eyes!!! I would have suspected it was a mod, but who would mod one of those? I'm serious, these lights were BLUE!!!!!!! Not cool white or even like the 5-LED torches for $1.99 at Walgreens...WORSE than that! I was behind the car as it turned onto another street and couldn't see more than 20' in front of it. It's amazing he didn't wreck that thing immediately after sunset.

Yeah, that's what I'm seeing more of in the last few months. It seems too blue to from a tungsten source.

 

[Vesper]

I always just assumed it was a colored reflector or something.

 

[electromage]

When looking at ebay, a lot of listings for HID kits show graphics like this to illustrate the colors they offer.

I guess more people are just being dumb than usual.

 

[fishx65]

I don't really give a crap what color temp some of these youngsters are running and I'm not sure why it bothers some people so much. They do look ridiculous and most have some glare but I get blinded by people driving with their halogen highbeams on way more often then a bad HID install. A pretty girl struting down the street in short-shorts wearing a bikini top is much more likely to put me into a telephone pole then some purple glare from a high temp HID Kit!!!! Back in my Young Punk days I used to have those dark head and tail light covers on my 88 Mustang GT. Now that was dangerous!!!!!

 

[Alaric Darconville]

When looking at ebay, a lot of listings for HID kits show graphics like this to illustrate the colors they offer.
I guess more people are just being dumb than usual.

Note the mixed fonts in the numbers, and the misspellings. Awesome.

I don't really give a crap what color temp some of these youngsters are running and I'm not sure why it bothers some people so much. They do look ridiculous and most have some glare but I get blinded by people driving with their halogen highbeams on way more often then a bad HID install. A pretty girl struting down the street in short-shorts wearing a bikini top is much more likely to put me into a telephone pole then some purple glare from a high temp HID Kit!!!! Back in my Young Punk days I used to have those dark head and tail light covers on my 88 Mustang GT. Now that was dangerous!!!!!

It's not just about what's glaring to other drivers, it's also about what the driver of the offending vehicle can't see. It's about THEIR assumptions about what they can and can't see, and the changes in their driving (or lack of changes when conditions warrant them).

 

[Hamilton Felix]

The really bad ones are the big lifted 4x4 rigs with blue HID "kits" in both the headlights on the fog lights - which they naturally have to run all the time. You are in an ordinary car, and you meet four obnoxious glaring blue HIDs, two of them at a height equal to above your eyes. And most of these guys don't realize they are dangerous, they just think they look cool.

 

[Echo63]

The really bad ones are the big lifted 4x4 rigs with blue HID "kits" in both the headlights on the fog lights - which they naturally have to run all the time. You are in an ordinary car, and you meet four obnoxious glaring blue HIDs, two of them at a height equal to above your eyes. And most of these guys don't realize they are dangerous, they just think they look cool.

That seems to be every 4x4 that leaves the road here (ie...not soccer mum cars)
I saw one 4x4 a few weeks back that had his hid kit low beams (in a H4 sealed beam replacement unit) and a set of LED "driving lights" mounted to the top of his bumper, and switched on with the low beams - he also had 3 big lightfarce lights across the front, and 4 little ones across the roof rack.

Im going to guess he wasn't happy with the beam from the HIDs and augmented it with the blinding LEDs - but because he had "morelumenzzzzz" from the HIDs they had to be better.

 

[snakebite]

most of what you see is illegal junk ebay china garbage retrofit kits.
i have actual automotive headlight led's on hand and none are blue.
they are around 5500k.
i have samsung 1x4 and altilon 1x4.

 

[2000xlt]

1998 Honda Civic with fart pipes haha..that's great!!!

These are probably the 17-year-olds that bought cheap blue noname bulbs on Ebay to put in their 1998 Honda Civic with fart pipes on the exhaust. Man they're cool! :shakehead

 

[jtr1962]

You are in an ordinary car, and you meet four obnoxious glaring blue HIDs, two of them at a height equal to above your eyes. And most of these guys don't realize they are dangerous, they just think they look cool.

For some reason this sentence reminded me of the lead-in for The Twilight Zone: "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

You're traveling in an ordinary car through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of glare. A journey into a wondrous land whose stupidities know no bound. That's four obnoxious blue HIDs ahead. Your next stop, the "kewl" zone!

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I like it. :D I have definitely spent some time in "The Zone."