Ok, so I have started shopping for a 997, but I was quite surprised that not all 997s have hid xenons.

I am going from a BMW, I do like my lights to be very blue, its a personal preference, I thing it looks good.

So I want to put an after market 12000k hid lights into the 997 I am hoping to buy. Normally you just buy the kit and then install them.

So can someone please tell me what are my options to put the above hid kit in if:

1. The car I want has bi xenon or standard hids that come with the car?

2. The car comes with halogen bulbs?

I understand the main problem is the dipped/full beam issue, which I am kind of not sure about. BMWs have angel eyes so Im not sure about the whole issue.

Many Thanks.

 

I'm sure you know that 12K bulbs are not as "bright" as OEM but just more colorful?? Anyway, if you insist on blue bulbs and have bi-xenon you just need to replace the OEM D2S HID bulb with a 12K bulb - lots of options out there. If you don't have bi-xenon just get a "blue" halogen bulb as a replacement. Either way your illumination won't be as good as it was with the OEM color temps.

 

He is right. 12k will be pretty dim. Oem will give you the best illumination. They do have a purple hue to them.

 

Hi thanks for your reply, will rep if there is an option to do so.

Yes I am certainly aware that these bulbs have less light output, I'm currently running 10000k hids which are blue I'd say but not the deep colour which I was wanting.

If the car does come with halogens, firstly is there anyway to tell just by looking at pictures of the exterior, and secondly can I possibly buy my own aftermarket HID kid and fit it on there as I have done in my current car? (that is without messing up the main and full beam system and no error codes etc).

Thanks.

 

I fully agree with all the answers that were given. The OEM/white light will give you the biggest amount of visibility and safety at night.

I have tried Blue lights before (not on my Porsche) and quickly reverted back to OEM lights. The amount of light available from the so called blue light is simply ridiculous and most dangerous. Blue bulbs are okay in the city when you can enjoy street lamps, but totally useless in the country side.

The eye is the most sensitive with the yellow/white frequency and this is why for a long time, headlights in Europe were equipped with Yellow bulbs.

Yves

 

Just to clarify, your focal vision, i.e. straight ahead, is most sensitive to yellow/white. Your peripheral vision is most sensitive to blue. That is why emergency lights have blue so that they'll draw your attention out of the corner of your vision.

 

As you can probably tell from my location, my area is very well lit up, in fact even with lights fully turned off I can see where I'm going.

I like the look of an ice blue beam, basically.

 

It looks like you took the temperature of this forum, and it's far lower than 12000K. I say to heck with that. Do what's fun and enjoyable. The car is a blast to begin with, and only gets better with mods. Try the bulbs. If they're not bright enough, change 'em. Play with the fogs/DRLs. If you're in the city, as I am 98% of the time, you're not going to have safety issues if your color temp isn't optimized.

On the other hand, what the others posters said is interesting and useful information, and technically correct. Don't be afraid to break some rules in you ur quest to personalize your ride. People here, including myself, go to much greater extremes just to improve their car's sound, or its stance.

 

Thank You. Any puctures/videos of your car and it's exhaust? I'd be intruiged to hear it.


The DRLs I've decided to go for that popular led strip and line style a lot of people are buying. Its a direct replacement and on ebay.

Can I just ask, with the halogen option, how does the main and full beam work?

Because bi xenon both beams are obviously from one bulb.

Just need to know how to upgrade if the car comes with halogens.

 

I hope to post a video at some point. So far, I have the Gundo hack, and just received some Fabspeed cats today. Unfortunately I'm going out of the country for a couple of days tomorrow. I'm expecting my new IPD plenum to arrive in my absence, and I just got the cable to install a VR Tune on my ECU. My most fun mods are the visual ones, though, like carbon fibre wing and matching headlight bezels, aluminum/rubber pedals, and all LED lighting.

I have some eBay front fogs/DRL, and tinted LED tails, and live the look. The light quality is so much better there, and in the interior, engine bay, frunk, and license. All are very simple DIY. I'm not as daring as you with changing my xenon bulbs, but up you're giving me bad ideas.

Enjoy the search. That's half the fun.

 

I think it would simply be a bulb replacement if the car that you purchase already has HID headlights. I know that there are many conversion kits available if you buy a car that has halogens, but I don't have experience with them in a Porsche.

I'm all for modifications and I think that people should do whatever they want to do to their own car. That's part of the fun! However, I do think that it's important to understand the consequences of a mod. It sounds like you do.

When HID headlights were first put into automobiles in the 1990s, they were a huge improvement in lighting. They put more light onto the road, but it's also more useable light. The human eye has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to perform most effectively in natural sunlight. OEM HID lighting systems use bulbs with a color temperature of 4,300K, which mimics natural sunlight very effectively.

Many people prefer the bluish white light offered by higher color temperatures like 6,000K or more. I agree that they look great, but you do lose some visibility. This is especially true in poor weather conditions. As mentioned above, yellow lights perform well in these conditions and this is why fog lights should be yellow.

The difficult thing about higher color temperature lights is that the human eye loses depth perception in these color ranges. If you go to a movie theater, you'll typically see blue lights on the steps. These lights are visible, but they don't interfere with the movie. It all seems great, but have you ever noticed how many people trip on the steps? Lots of people trip because you have very poor depth perception in blue light.

I think that it's fine to put high color temperature lights in your Porsche, just understand the limitations. I would hate to be driving a car with those lights on a rainy night on a black asphalt road.

 

Hmmm... I Googled 997 xenon headlamp beam pattern and came up with nothing. Generally speaking, how is the 997 headlamps light output? Is it a good setup? Light output in my current car is horrible for a luxury car. Hoping the 997 has good output.

 

I think it's very good. It is a dramatic improvement over the output in my old 996.

 

I find oncoming "blue" headlights irritating when I am driving at night. They look cool on your own car, but it's not fun to be the guy in the opposite lane. For this reason, I've never put these lights on any cars I have owned. Am I the only one who finds the bluish light annoying?

 

4300K is the awesome for visibility and only a hint of yellow.
Personally, anything above 6000K where its showing a hint of blue looks cheap.