# HID's melting my reflector!!!



## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

I am currently using a HID-Plus conversion kit from SPW Industries.
the kit comes with Hella ballast & what are supposed to be phillips d2r bulbs or d2s, depending on the application...
the light housing on my 03' vw gti is not completely melting, but the reflective coating has a "frosted/burn mark" above the bulb & underneath the coating has burned away...
would uypgrading to e-codes or aftermarket light housings better deal with the heat???
all help is appreciated, thanks in advance


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## VReihenmotor6 (Dec 12, 2001)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*

hmmm, I thought that hid bulbs didn't put out as much heat
I've held a powerd up hella dual round projector in my hand
and a powered bi xenon projector
the hella dual round unit was noticably hotter
this may or may not be the cause, but I've noticed thet the plastic used for some of these new housing like the mk4 looksand such is a black plastic
now, if that plastic is exposed to the light from the bulb, it will head up and deform
I've seen it happen with a set of mk4 looks where the guy drilled his own city lights in the high beam reflector
this may offer you some answer
but, it sounds like the whole housing isn't shot
so, get another set of stock lights cheap
then mod the "damaged" ones to accept projectorsand enjoy increased output http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_I am currently using a HID-Plus conversion kit from SPW Industries.
the kit comes with Hella ballast & what are supposed to be phillips d2r bulbs or d2s, depending on the application...
the light housing on my 03' vw gti is not completely melting, but the reflective coating has a "frosted/burn mark" above the bulb & underneath the coating has burned away...
would uypgrading to e-codes or aftermarket light housings better deal with the heat???
all help is appreciated, thanks in advance

What kind of bulbs is this? The HID bulbs (the stock ones!) are LESS wattage than stock HID bulbs..


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## NiteQwill (Nov 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_the light housing on my 03' vw gti is not completely melting, but the reflective coating has a "frosted/burn mark" above the bulb & underneath the coating has burned away...

I am having the same problems with my *ecodes*.







Hopefully it has stopped because it was worse when I first put my kit on, now it seems to not be burning much anymore


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## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (NiteQwill)*

i am running hella 35watt ballast & the kit came with 9000k HID bulbs that have a purple tint to the light, dtm autohaus was selling these kits in the summer


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_i am running hella 35watt ballast & the kit came with 9000k HID bulbs that have a purple tint to the light, dtm autohaus was selling these kits in the summer


Well there is the first problem! The "9000k' as this is just a hoax thing!
Whay do I say this? Well because none of the big OEM HID bulb manufacturers Osram, Philips + Japanese ones have never made anything remotely close to that rating so they are either:
A) Cheap imitations of the quality bulbs with who know what "solution" to achieve that color rating (note COLOR rating not light output!)
B) Simply coated bulbs, yes unfort. there are bulbs out there that are coated today even HID ones!
I am not stating anything about the place you bought them it is not there the prob. is but rather in the PRODUCT itself, please people you need to understand there is nothing in HID bulbs that will actully put out more light than the STOCK ones, yes you might get more BLUE light but then again when was BLUE brighter?


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## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (Cullen)*

sorry you misunderstood me, the bulbs are not coated in any way, and i do believe they are phillips d2r bulbs, dtm autohaus sells the repalcements for the kit.... as far as the purple tint, i was refering to the light output, the bulbs are completely clear & have no coating whatsoever....


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## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*

the kit is marketed by SPW Industries, they sell High quality stuff, although mostly for the JDM crowd... this wasn't a cheap kit... & i just double checked dtm autohaus website, they are phillips bulbs.... maybe the 03' vw's are using cheaper headlight housings??? because i had this kit previously installed on my mk3 with mk4 looks made by hella, & no burning @ all....


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## GriffinMoss (Oct 25, 2002)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*

Get the projectors, or it's all crap.
Don't waste your money on reflectors as the light will just bounce off of a reflector it was never designed to be used with. 
Projectors funnel the light further and will give you much better light output than blinding other drivers.
I'm not being mean, i'm just saying if you want to play, you gotta pay.


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## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (GriffinMoss)*

i know the projector gives a better light beam, but i like the "look" of a reflector, i just dont understand why my 03' mk4 lights are burned & the mk3 mk4 looks didnt
trust me, i pay to play all the time, haha


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## GriffinMoss (Oct 25, 2002)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_i know the projector gives a better light beam, but i like the "look" of a reflector, i just dont understand why my 03' mk4 lights are burned & the mk3 mk4 looks didnt
trust me, i pay to play all the time, haha









IIRC the mk4 looks take an H7 bulb. Are yours rebased bulbs?


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_the kit is marketed by SPW Industries, they sell High quality stuff, although mostly for the JDM crowd... this wasn't a cheap kit... & i just double checked dtm autohaus website, they are phillips bulbs.... maybe the 03' vw's are using cheaper headlight housings??? because i had this kit previously installed on my mk3 with mk4 looks made by hella, & no burning @ all....

There is incredibly alot of lies in the HID retrofit market in the North Americas, you said they are Philips bulbs and that they are 9000k well that in itself is not possible as they only make 4100k (oem) and 6000K (for Japanes market exclusively) http://www.hid-online.com/products/bulbs.asp



_Modified by Cullen at 1:48 AM 11-15-2003_


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (GriffinMoss)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GriffinMoss* »_
IIRC the mk4 looks take an H7 bulb. 

Correct!


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_the light housing on my 03' vw gti is not completely melting, but the reflective coating has a "frosted/burn mark" above the bulb & underneath the coating has burned away...



You know what I went back and read this again and I know what happened it is the additional UV light that has essentially BURNED your lights they are not melting, it is the same light as gives you as sunburn. 
Now the early bulbs (and NOTE cheaper or 2nd class disqual. bulbs) did NOT have the extra UV filtering glass and essentially burned out the light housing in a short time...lets see if I can find pics...


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*

This is the Philips Ultinon 
5000K
http://www.lighting.philips.co....html
6000K
http://lighting.philips.co.jp/....html
Now for the OEM European setup there is this available:
http://www.eur.lighting.philip....html
Definition:
What does the P/N on Philips bulbs mean? 
Legend: 
OEM=Original Manufacturer Equipment 
aftermarked=sold as spare bulbs or manufacturer of kit 
Bulb base: P32-d 
85122: D2S. Color is bluer white with slight greenish tone. 
85122+: D2S CM (Plus). 5000K. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85122. Released Q4, 2002. 
85122WX: D2S Ultinon. Aftermarked only. Released Dec 2001. 
85123: D2S. Color is bluer white with slight purple tone. Not officially on Philips product list. Nevertheless, it is found in some BMW OEM HID headlamps. 
85407: D1S. Integrated ignitor. 
85407+: D1S CM (Plus). Integrated ignitor. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85407. Released Q4, 2002. 
85126: D2R. 
85126+: D2R CM (Plus). 5000K. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85126. Released Q4, 2002. 
85126WX: D2R. Ultinon. Aftermarked only. Released Dec 2001. 
85408: D1R. Integrated ignitor. 
85408+: D1R CM (Plus). Integrated ignitor. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85408. Released Q4, 2002. 
"CM" means color match. 
There is a 4 letter date code following, which looks like this: L029, C024 etc. What they mean is probably not very useful unless you do warranty work for Philips. 
INFO from:
http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hl-hid-bulbs.htm
PLEASE READ THE "6000K, 7000K, 15000K HID bulb scam"
at the link above too!!! This info is also linked to in the FAQ sticky!!
A small cut from the info:

_Quote »_Many people said, "oh no, not another blue bulb!", and thought that the blue low quality bulb "scam" finally spread over to hit the real HID market in late 2001. Philips Ultinons made in Germany have equal quality, like the OEM Philips bulb, so you cant really call that product a scam. 
There are other blue HID bulbs made other places in the world that can be scam products. They maybe even have the Philips or Osram name on the box, or the base, but bulbs are made or modified by someone else. Equal bulbs can also be markeded to have different color temperature. Most customers would never know if color temp was was off, as long as they are matched as a pair. Some kit and bulb suppliers advertise with 7000K and higher. This can be suspective because a lower than OEM quality bulb can have been used. No bulb OEM manufacturer makes any versions with more than ~6000K. So either it is 6000K, or the bulb might have been painted. Painting bulbs decreases brightness and in most cases decreases life. So be aware what you are buying. 
As an example, look at table below, and see how blue a 9000K bulb will be! Would you honestly want it to be as blue as the sky? 
Yellow: 
1500 k Candlelight 
2700-2900 k Yellow painted fog halogen bulbs 
------------------------------- 
Yellowish white: 
3200 k Sunrise/sunset 
3200 k Premium H7 non painted halogen bulb 
3400 k 1 hour from dusk/dawn 
------------------------------- 
White: 
4100 k Philips/Osram OEM HID D2S 
5500 k Bright sunny daylight around noon 
---------------- 
Blueish white 
5500-5600 k Electronic photo flash 
6000 k Philips Ultinon HID D2S 
6500-7500 k Overcast sky 
----------------- 
Blue: 
9000-12000 k Blue sky 
----------------- 
Purple: 
28000 Northern sky 
12000-30000 k Ultra Violet light (black light)


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## nater (Apr 10, 2000)

Cullen is right (in everything he's mentioned in this thread).
Philips NEVER MADE (never will) anything higher than 6000K (and as he said, that's for the japanese market only). So, this is a bulb that was made by an asian manufacturer for the aftermarket community exclusively. 
He also said something about how it's not a problem with where you bought them from but the product itself...
This is where I disagree.
You state in your own posts that on their website they advertise the bulbs as Philips. And that they are 9000K.
Well, they have given you misinformation - b/c I'll bet my house on the statement that Philips/Osram/and large OE Manufacturer does not make anything higher than 9000K.
So, that means that you misread their website (ie. they call it a "philips kit") or they are lying about it (not saying that is true either).
But just know that this is a huge market where the higher in kelvin you go the more money these companies get. Doens't make sense to me.
I would be more willing to pay money for an OEM look at 4300K then a totally super blue look at 9000K.
There definitely is something in this bulbs' output which is freaking out your reflector. I wouldn't doubt that it's an IR-type issue here.
Try and get to a lower K bulb and the issue will go away.
I'm sure they'll be willing to help you out if you say that your lamp is being destroyed...they should.
Good luck. Not coming down on you here - but it's just that it gets frustrating when all of these HID retrofit companies literally sell crap and ppl that aren't as informed on it buy it thinking it's the best stuff. I'm not trying to offend you at all - not many ppl know a lot about what is going on in the industry - except a couple of us lighting freaks that have nothing better to do (well...







).
Anyway, Good luck.
HOpe theyhelp you out.
Later,


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: (nater)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_He also said something about how it's not a problem with where you bought them from but the product itself...
This is where I disagree.

My point being alot of times the retailer is not "lying" as he is forwarding info told to him (not always of course) it is a djungle today in the HID world who to trust and what to believe that is why that link I posted is very informative, as it is completely neutral.

_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_So, that means that you misread their website (ie. they call it a "philips kit") or they are lying about it (not saying that is true either).


I didn't even bother to read any of the retailers website I am basing my comments on info from the manufacturing industry itself. Again as I mentioned above (to stay out of any kind of potential wars!) I was trying to point out that many times the website (that actually sell HIDS) are basing their info on info from the manufacturer.

_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_But just know that this is a huge market where the higher in kelvin you go the more money these companies get. Doens't make sense to me.
I would be more willing to pay money for an OEM look at 4300K then a totally super blue look at 9000K.

All started when people putting HID "drop in kits" into NO HID optics would not get the same "blue intesity" which in fact was created at the sharper cutoff line where there is like a rainbow and with more intense light it shows up more and as HID is more WHITE the blueish feeling is stronger than in the Halogen setups, so this "urge for blue" grew out of hand, to the point where even OEM HID equipped car owners are installing overrated K bulbs into their headlights!
It is so funny at times when a car pulls up next to you on the freeway and it looks like it is a emergency vehicle with its flashers ON (not flashing) rather than light blue is by no means brighter!

_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_There definitely is something in this bulbs' output which is freaking out your reflector. I wouldn't doubt that it's an IR-type issue here.
Try and get to a lower K bulb and the issue will go away.
I'm sure they'll be willing to help you out if you say that your lamp is being destroyed...they should.,

UV no doubt, the more I was thinking about this, the more I am convinced this is the issue since :
A) if indeed the bulb is 9000k (in which it is NOT a tur Philips bulb) there is ALOT of spectrum not to be allowed in there both for the safety of others and your headlights!) 
B) If we are looking at a bulb labeled as a Philips which is not there is NO saying what parameters this bulb is meeting if any, I am not trying to say it doesnt work or will burn out I am merly refering to light spectrum!

_Quote, originally posted by *nater* »_Good luck. Not coming down on you here - but it's just that it gets frustrating when all of these HID retrofit companies literally sell crap and ppl that aren't as informed on it buy it thinking it's the best stuff. I'm not trying to offend you at all - not many ppl know a lot about what is going on in the industry - except a couple of us lighting freaks that have nothing better to do (well...








).
Anyway, Good luck.
HOpe theyhelp you out.

100% same here our frustration is with the marketing strategies out there with the result of SO many ppl CONVINCED "to the bone" that what they where "fed" by the retailers is the truth, whereas it is NOT!
Also I was just sorting through all my new & old catalogs (after SEMA and all..) and ran accross the SPW indurties catalog as was mentioned earlier in this thread. They mare merly another retailing company who retails other brands, and on NO NAMES (generic) stuff put the SPW brand.


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## nater (Apr 10, 2000)

*Re: (Cullen)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Nater* »_
So, that means that you misread their website (ie. they call it a "philips kit") or they are lying about it (not saying that is true either).


And Cullens response...

_Quote, originally posted by *Cullen* »_I didn't even bother to read any of the retailers website I am basing my comments on info from the manufacturing industry itself. Again as I mentioned above (to stay out of any kind of potential wars!) I was trying to point out that many times the website (that actually sell HIDS) are basing their info on info from the manufacturer.
.
 
Hey, I hope you weren't taking offense to this...
I wasn't directing that at you, Cullen.
I was just telling the original poster that he could have misread the website or the website had misinformation on it.
Yes,
you are 100% correct in the retailer is just passing along the info. He/she may think they have a Philips product (b/c their supplier is telling them that) when, in fact, they don't.
This is true. Sorry if I didn't quite get that point you were making.
It's all good here.
Later,


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## Gern_Blanston (Dec 12, 2002)

*Re: (nater)*

Hmmm... A retailer that's selling something as '9000k' probably isn't too serious about dotting their 'i's' and crossing their 't's'. I'd be a little suspicious. Yes, it probably is UV damage on your reflector, and No, you generally won't be happy with HID conversion kits. Your reflectors are obviously not happy. Neither will people meeting you at night.


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## thaiteboi (Feb 26, 2003)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*

they say you have to pay to play... i am a true believer in that, but this gusy is good news for me @ least, I personally like the HID look with the Reflectors rather than the Projector beam, light output & visibility is still greater than stock... anyways. 
I installed a set of FK clear E-codes, & bam, no more burning, yes, I am loving it, thanks for all the help & info guys


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_
I installed a set of FK clear E-codes, & bam, no more burning, yes, I am loving it, thanks for all the help & info guys

No problem that is why this forum was started!








I always like it when I can see ppl being helped thanx to this forum!!


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## Cullen (Apr 5, 1999)

*Re: HID's melting my reflector!!! (thaiteboi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thaiteboi* »_I am currently using a HID-Plus conversion kit from SPW Industries.
the kit comes with Hella ballast & what are supposed to be phillips d2r bulbs or d2s, depending on the application...

Would not bet on this being TRUE Hella...as I know the SPW sources...
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1141215


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