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Headlight questions about bulb replacement costs

R

rutchtkim

Golden Member
how much does it cost to get bulbs put into your headlights?? I just bought xenon plasmas and I coulnt figure out how to put them in my car. American cars for some reason are far more complicated than japanese. My friend talked to his dad's friend and said that the price would be determined on how long it would take.
 
You will pay labor baised on your make/model. What is it, I will look it up for you.
 
Any car I've ever owned you just turned the bulb about 30* & then pulled. Are the Xenon ones installed differently or something?
 


<< You will pay labor baised on your make/model. What is it, I will look it up for you. >>

Its a Pontiac Grand Am GT 2000 4 door.

Thanks

ps... its difficult to install because there is this plastic thing covering the area under the hood and when we finally got that out, there was another iron piece covering the area. the manual says there are 2 clips that i need to pus or pull to release the headlight, but we couldnt figure it out
 
Are these the blue headlights?

Dont put the blue headlights in your car unless it came from the factory with them.
 
cool blues are much cheaper. i think thats what theyre called. =) like fake xenons. 23 bucks for a pair last time i checked. xenons are way overpriced
 
udonoogen is right, xenon is way overprice, you might want to try silverstar from sylvannia .... anyway, since you got to the metal thingy, just move the thing and i think you should see the clips afterward. Dont waste your money at the dealearship.
 
Just don't touch the bulb with your fingers, or they'll burn out real fast. Something about the oils on your hand, I think.
 
remember those cheapie "blue" lights are just painted.. they filter out usable light/wavelengths your eyes more more sensitive to for the sake of looks😛 mostly fake wanna be HID looks😛 if your serious just get ultra bright whites, not blue😛
 


<< how much does it cost to get bulbs put into your headlights?? I just bought xenon plasmas and I coulnt figure out how to put them in my car. American cars for some reason are far more complicated than japanese. My friend talked to his dad's friend and said that the price would be determined on how long it would take. >>



Why on earth would you want to put those sh!t performing bulb that costs through the roof? It is really stupid. The headlights are for illuminating the road the best possible visibility and minimal discomfort for oncoming driver. It's not there as an aesthetic accessory.
 


<< udonoogen is right, xenon is way overprice, you might want to try silverstar from sylvannia .... anyway, since you got to the metal thingy, just move the thing and i think you should see the clips afterward. Dont waste your money at the dealearship. >>



Good luck getting the dealer to install non-street legal accessories.
 


<< Just don't touch the bulb with your fingers, or they'll burn out real fast. Something about the oils on your hand, I think. >>

Halogen bulbs create massive amounts of heat (which is why you should not use over-wattage bulbs in plastic surrounds). If you touch the bulb, oil from your skin gets on the glass and traps heat there when the bulb is on. Since the heat isn't dissipated, it exceeds the amount of heat that the glass is capable of withstanding and the glass will crack, causing the bulb to blow. If you do touch the bulb with your bare hands, clean it thoroughly with isopropyl ("rubbing") alcohol.

ZV

EDIT: Sylvania "XTraVision" bulbs are optimised, non-tinted bulbs that produce more lumens and remain 100% street legal. If you really want better headlights, you are pretty much limited to a set of E-Code (European-spec.) headlights, which would involve replacing the entire lense unit. Most American H4-type headlights don't have a complimentary E-Code part though so you are probably out of luck there unless your car uses sealed-beam units.
 


<<

<< Just don't touch the bulb with your fingers, or they'll burn out real fast. Something about the oils on your hand, I think. >>

Halogen bulbs create massive amounts of heat (which is why you should not use over-wattage bulbs in plastic surrounds). If you touch the bulb, oil from your skin gets on the glass and traps heat there when the bulb is on. Since the heat isn't dissipated, it exceeds the amount of heat that the glass is capable of withstanding and the glass will crack, causing the bulb to blow. If you do touch the bulb with your bare hands, clean it thoroughly with isopropyl ("rubbing") alcohol.

ZV >>



Once you turn it on without cleaning after touching it, its irreversible. Your fingerprint is already cooked on as carbon film and you're bulb will die prematurely. Salt from your finger can even cause the bulb to shatter.
read about it



<<
EDIT: Sylvania "XTraVision" bulbs are optimised, non-tinted bulbs that produce more lumens and remain 100% street legal. If you really want better headlights, you are pretty much limited to a set of E-Code (European-spec.) headlights, which would involve replacing the entire lense unit. Most American H4-type headlights don't have a complimentary E-Code part though so you are probably out of luck there unless your car uses sealed-beam units. >>



Um..... ANYTHING is better than these garbage
 


<< ] Why on earth would you want to put those sh!t performing bulb that costs through the roof? It is really stupid. The headlights are for illuminating the road the best possible visibility and minimal discomfort for oncoming driver. It's not there as an aesthetic accessory. >>



the cheap generic ones are about the same price as regular bulbs. some people are in it for looks. personally i think its stupid too. nothings better than ugly old yellow. =)
 


<< well i got the lights from this place, but y would these lights be illegal??? >>



Because NHTSA or DOT has a regulation for light output and there is a limit to spectrum distribution in order to meet their definition of "white light". Does the lightblub have the little "DOT" stamped on it? All street legal lamps have if I remembered correctly.


White light is created when red, blue and green are equally mixed. Standard light bulbs produce more output in lower range ( lower to higher: IR...red.....green...blue....violet...UV) so it appears yellowish. There is not much you can do to increase the higher range, so they make it whiter by cutting off the lower range using filters, thus dropping the effective light output.


statement from the site:



<< These are High Performance bulbs manufactured and Injected with XENON GAS.
Which is rather common these days.



<< This is a Special type of gas that supercharges the energy in the bulb to accelerate the rate it moves and bounces. >>



BULLSH!T



<<
What this does in brief, is DOUBLES THE BRIGHTNESS, yet,using the same power a factory bulb requires. In addition, the XENON gas when energized gives a slight blue tint that tells everyone your running Plasmas! >>



BULLSH!T. In an incandescent lamp, xenon doesn't give you the characteristic white color that it does when it's used in an arc discharge lamp. You can get more brightness from same wattage by overdriving a filament(such as 8V filament at 12V) but the bulb will burn out significantly sooner than a standard bulb.

 
"i read that these were S.A.E. approved, officer" I dont know what it means though, but oh well. i already bought them
 
You shouldn't need to take the car to the dealer. There might be instructions in the owners manual.

Not advice for the original poster, but for everyone else: Just get something legal and not tinted, like the aforementioned Sylvania Xtra-Vision. GE, Wagner, and others sell similar ?high performance,? normal wattage, legal, white bulbs that will make a difference without the poseur (pull-me-over) look or the danger of melting the housings or wire harnesses. They?re only a few dollars extra per bulb, and they?re often packaged in pairs, for as little as $15/pr. (look at Wally-world), which completely offsets the extra cost of buying them individually.

Save your money and try those first. Any difference they make will be an improvement, and not just a ?difference.?
 


<< You shouldn't need to take the car to the dealer. There might be instructions in the owners manual.

Not advice for the original poster, but for everyone else: Just get something legal and not tinted, like the aforementioned Sylvania Xtra-Vision. GE, Wagner, and others sell similar ?high performance,? normal wattage, legal, white bulbs that will make a difference without the poseur (pull-me-over) look or the danger of melting the housings or wire harnesses. They?re only a few dollars extra per bulb, and they?re often packaged in pairs, for as little as $15/pr. (look at Wally-world), which completely offsets the extra cost of buying them individually.

Save your money and try those first. Any difference they make will be an improvement, and not just a ?difference.? >>




I had a pair of CoolBlue on my car. I bought it to see what the hype was all about and I needed a pair of spares to keep in my glovebox anyway. Coolblue is made to be street legal and it doesn't look whole alot different. It looks SLIGHTLY whiter, maybe by 200 Kelvin. The whole point is anything that makes extravagant difference won't be street legal. I put on my regular bulb and I have those coolblues in my glovebox as a spare.
 
Just so everybody knows, I was not talking about "cool blue." Those bulbs are tinted. Tinting reduces the quantity of light that's available. The bulbs I'm talking about are totally clear, like standard halogens.
 
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