Xenon headlights yellow tint?

[motivevelocity]

Hi All, not sure if this is just me but want to see if this is normal It seems my xenons have a slight yellow tint, i thought it should be pure white? I compared with my SUV which is white. Not sure if it has to do with adaptive, or what... See pics. Any ideas? or what are you guys seeing?

The color is pretty accurate on the photos, as you can see the angel eyes and top stripe is pure white.

Thanks in advance.

BMW


VW


Guess looking for some reassurance or i have an issue...

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

Originally Posted by tofuking

Hi All, not sure if this is just me but want to see if this is normal It seems my xenons have a slight yellow tint, i thought it should be pure white? I compared with my SUV which is white. Not sure if it has to do with adaptive, or what... See pics. Any ideas? or what are you guys seeing?

The color is pretty accurate on the photos, as you can see the angel eyes and top stripe is pure white.

Thanks in advance.

BMW


VW


Guess looking for some reassurance or i have an issue...

Xenon burners in an OEM application are 4300k when new, which is slightly yellow. As the age, they will slowly loose lumens and turn more white. If you're comparing them to a vehicle with many more hours on the bulbs, you will notice a much more yellow color on the new ones, but they will be brighter.

Also, you can upgrade the bulbs to a Osram CBI (Cool Blue Intense) bulb, which will run 5000k new and be very bright. They are the king of D2S, D3S and D4S bulbs. Some OEMs use the CBI from the factory. I personally switch all of my Xenon burners out for the Osram CBIs.

[motivevelocity]

Originally Posted by CaryTheLabelGuy

Xenon burners in an OEM application are 4300k when new, which is slightly yellow. As the age, they will slowly loose lumens and turn more white. If you're comparing them to a vehicle with many more hours on the bulbs, you will notice a much more yellow color on the new ones, but they will be brighter.

Also, you can upgrade the bulbs to a Osram CBI (Cool Blue Intense) bulb, which will run 5000k new and be very bright. They are the king of D2S, D3S and D4S bulbs. Some OEMs use the CBI from the factory. I personally switch all of my Xenon burners out for the Osram CBIs.

Learn something new everyday... thank you sir!

[sleepy75]

Originally Posted by CaryTheLabelGuy

Xenon burners in an OEM application are 4300k when new, which is slightly yellow. As the age, they will slowly loose lumens and turn more white. If you're comparing them to a vehicle with many more hours on the bulbs, you will notice a much more yellow color on the new ones, but they will be brighter.

Also, you can upgrade the bulbs to a Osram CBI (Cool Blue Intense) bulb, which will run 5000k new and be very bright. They are the king of D2S, D3S and D4S bulbs. Some OEMs use the CBI from the factory. I personally switch all of my Xenon burners out for the Osram CBIs.

How difficult is it to swap these bulbs out? Owners manual says the dealer must do it.

[bassplayrr]

Originally Posted by CaryTheLabelGuy

Xenon burners in an OEM application are 4300k when new, which is slightly yellow. As the age, they will slowly loose lumens and turn more white. If you're comparing them to a vehicle with many more hours on the bulbs, you will notice a much more yellow color on the new ones, but they will be brighter.

Also, you can upgrade the bulbs to a Osram CBI (Cool Blue Intense) bulb, which will run 5000k new and be very bright. They are the king of D2S, D3S and D4S bulbs. Some OEMs use the CBI from the factory. I personally switch all of my Xenon burners out for the Osram CBIs.

Isn't the color related to the heat (degrees kelvin), with the yellow light being cooler and the whiter light being hotter, not lumens which is a measure of the brightness of a light? I have no real working knowledge of this but intuition would lead me ot believe a newer light would be hotter/brighter and an older light cooler/dimmer, so one would lose degrees kelvin (more yellow) and lumens with time. Interesting phenomenon if the other way around. The worls works in mysterious ways.

[YMB-M3-J2]

My F30 was the same way even up to right before I got rid of it. When I compared them to the LED in my M4 it was even more noticeable. I think it's the bulbs and temp they use on Xenon to get the most light output.

[MKParris]

Originally Posted by bassplayrr

Isn't the color related to the heat (degrees kelvin), with the yellow light being cooler and the whiter light being hotter, not lumens which is a measure of the brightness of a light? I have no real working knowledge of this but intuition would lead me ot believe a newer light would be hotter/brighter and an older light cooler/dimmer, so one would lose degrees kelvin (more yellow) and lumens with time. Interesting phenomenon if the other way around. The worls works in mysterious ways.

blue light is less kelvin, yellow light is more kelvin.

[Vectors2final]

My Golf R/Jetta Xenons were all white from day one.


You really can't compare bulbs of a different temperature/manufacturer. My wife has factory HIDs on her Explorer, and the color varies depending on what angle you're looking at them from. I guess in the same instance, the factory HIDs on my GT 5.0 look nothing like my wife's explorer.

[Vectors2final]

Originally Posted by MKParris

blue light is less kelvin, yellow light is more kelvin.

[MKParris]

Originally Posted by Vectors2final

I probably shouldn't post when I first wake up....

[MineralWhiteF80]

Also keep in mind that the design of the projector/lens itself influences the color of the light output.

Most car companies will use a 4200-4300k bulb for factory applications because it produces the most lumens.