Those bulbs mentioned are NOT HIR's....they're just the same cheap coated bulbs that have been out for quite awhile with a different name. The bulbs on Ebay are the "real" HIR's....Daniel Stern sent me a great primer on HIR's(looonnnggggg):
Dan Stern:They are very expensive bulbs, $34/ea. Shipping depends on how many bulbs are being sent where, and how fast. Full writeup on the bulbs is here:
http://bmwz.org/articles/lighting/0506trick/Me:> I have heard of people "bending' the reflectors on the stock
> housing....Have you ever heard of such a thing?
I've heard of people making all kinds of dumb, ignorant, stupid, hamfisted
modifications to their lighting equipment, ruining it while claiming to
have made huge improvements. This idea fits that category.
> Oh, before I forget....what is your cost for a "bulk" order??
$27.80/ea
Ever seen these?
http://www.morette.com/PRODUCTS/HEADLIGHTS/FORD/Mondeo/Mondeo%201997/hlmondeo97.jpgThey make use of these optics:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/csr.htmlSpendy lamps, but absolutely phenomenal performance. I've put up
isocandela diagrams for you. Sorry, it's a wide page, you'll have to widen
your browser window.
http://dastern.torque.net/Photometry/575.htmlIf you're not familiar with isocandela diagrams, these will look like
random squiggles and lines. Think of it as a topographic or "contour" map
of the correctly-aimed beam pattern. Each differently-colored line
represents the threshold of a particular intensity level, with the color
legend located to the right of the isocandela diagram. The diagram is
plotted on a chart calibrated in degrees. Straight ahead is represented by
(0,0), that is, zero degrees up-down and zero degrees left-right.
To get a mental approximation of the units and amounts under discussion
here:
Parking lamp: About 60 to 100 candela
Front turn signal: About 500 candela
Glaring high-beam Daytime Running Lamps (e.g. Saturn): About 8000 cd.
The parameters to pay attention to are the luminous flux (total amount of
light within the beam), the maximum intensity and its location within the
beam relative to the axial point (H,V) -- the less downward/rightward
offset, the longer the seeing distance -- stray light outside the beam
pattern and effective beam width (contained within the dark-turquoise 500
candela contour)
The top two diagrams are a close approximation of where you're starting
from with the 9005/9006 US standard Contour headlamps. We see the narrow
"tunnel" shaped beam, almost no light on the road surface, very little
lateral spread to pick up pedestrians and animals, and grossly excessive
upward stray light that causes backdazzle in fog and rain. Yuck.
The next two diagrams are the Cibie H4 lamps (available in the quad round
package pictured above). These give a wider and deeper beam pattern than
the sealed beams, but upward stray is still a problem, the peak intensity
is low and located far off to the right (short seeing distance). The Hella
equivalents are similar but with slightly lower total flux, peak intensity
and beam width, and the beam peak ("hot spot") is further over to the
right. (Note that putting a more intense bulb in a lamp does not change
the fundamental beam distribution. There's more light, but the hot spot
stays where the lamp's optics put it. In other words, optically-determined
geometric limits on seeing distance remain. Also, upward stray light
increases markedly especially in lamps without bulb shields. For
reference, replacing the 60/55w bulb in this Cibie H4 lamp would raise the
hot spot intensity from 11,265cd to 16,898cd.)
The last two diagrams are the CSRs (also available in the quad-round
package pictured above). You can see from this diagram comparison:
The CSR lamp's beam contains several hundred more lumens
than that of the H4 (and nearly triple that of the sealed beam)
CSR maximum intensity is nearly three times higher than an H4 with a
60/55w bulb, 26% higher than an H4 with a 100/80w bulb, and 50% higher
than sealed beam
CSR hot spot is well placed for long distance seeing, the beam is super
wide and has nice, even road surface illumination, there's virtually no
stray light to cause backdazzle in bad weather, and there's adequate but
carefully-controlled uplight for seeing overhead road signs.
I trip over headlamps whenever I walk 3 feet from my desk; I can have any
I want. The CSRs are my absolute favorite. I sent a set to a friend who
designs headlamp optics for Bosch. They're his favorite, now, too.
Another very good set of headlamps is the lampset used as factory stock on
the European-market Mondeo:
http://danstern.vrx.net/FDCONTOUR1996-....jpgThere is, however, some concern that the European-market headlamps
(quad-round or factory) may not fit the US cars without modifications. I
am not certain on this point. I have sold five sets of the factory-type
European lamps, one set of which was sold twice (the first recipient said
"These aren't going to fit" and sent them back). Never heard a peep out of
the remaining buyers, so I can't say for sure, but I *assume* they must
have made them work. If the factory-type European lamps fit, then the
quad-round lamps fit, too. They will definitely NOT fit on a Mercury
Mystique.
I don't have any more of the European factory lamps in stock, but I can
order them in. They use much more efficient bulbs and optics and produce
much wider, longer-reaching, lower-glare beam patterns.
DS
I might also look into these 