whups I'm actually extremly knowlegable about this subject but I completely mixed up and 4300k/6000k/8000k because some one said that 6000k is pure white. I'd explain why that is the most incorrectthing you could say possible about 6000k HIDs but the full shpiel takes a while (4300k is certified as the only DOT legal color BECAUSE it's the only "pure white" HID color which is mandated yada yada), but instead just shift everything I said down one notch.

6000k is NOT pure white.

 

I agree that 6000k is not PURE white. It's about as far up the scale as you can go without getting a real blue tint. I would tend to call it more "Bright White" myself. 5000k is the equivalent of "Noon sunlight". While I won't argue which ones are legal and which are not, there are plenty of other illegal mods that we do to our cars on a daily basis.

 

+1 i think that there are just so many of the blue and purple lights out there that it would be kinda hard to pull them all over

 

Sounds like I want 6000k but still might get 8000k lol thanks guys

 

yep, 6000k is the most popular choice and is technically legal actually because depending on the circumstances it is withing the tolerances of "about 4300k" mandated by the DOT, ie a totally messed up 4300k bulb can look like a 6000k so most 6000k bulbs are within DOT tolerances that were set up.

Even with 8k it's not that bad looking in an obvious way, but with 10k i've known people that have been pulled over, not because cops know that it has to be a certain shade of white etc, but because it's so obviously illegal at that temperature that it's not even funny.

Here is a picture of 10k, and even in the picture it looks MUCH less blue than in real life.

 

Colors wll vary by brand, some manufacturers even measure the bulbs differently, while most we have found measure them what we think is the wrong way. Anyhow, suffice it to say the colors vary. The second thing is pictures posted on the internet are meaningless to what you can actually end up with, and for good reason. We are talkign about light here, and cameras meter and capture light to expose a photograph. Unless pictures are taken on the same camera, with the same settings, and viewed on the same screen everytime, they are going to vary. Biggest culprit is white balance, it is a great way to throw color completely off. We always tell people when it comes to our kits, use our pictures, at the very least they use the same camera and settings. While each one may be off depending on the sceen veiwing, at least the jump in color temp. from color to color is going to help make a more accurate judgement in the end:

 

I have 6000K HIDs from Retro and I love them. They still have a slight blueish tint.

 

This site shows what the different temps look like..

http://www.stangmods.com/mustang_hid_lights_s/61.htm


"The factory installed HIDs on the 2008 Mustangs are closest to 4300K"