Moddiction

I'll try the bulb first. If not that I'll let you know. Thanks.
My guess is bulb as of now but we will see.

robotvoice

Bulbs usually go first. OP said they had a lot of miles on them too.

Moddiction

Think I'll pick up a set of those osram 5000k bulbs. Look great. Anyone know if any auto parts stores usually sell them or an online only item?

robotvoice

You won't be able to get them at any store in the US, online only. You'll want to get them either here:

The Retrofit Source

or here

Motive Mods

Get them anywhere else and you will risk getting counterfeits, unfortunately.

These are the BEST HID bulbs you can get right now IMO, unless your eyes do better with more yellow light from regular Philips 85122+ bulbs

DFWs2k

Maybe in a laboratory. I have never seen a bulb go bad on our cars, but have helped over 20 people get ballasts (only with oem build, idk about the chinese ones). Either way, its best to confirm before you start buying stuff you may not need.

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robotvoice

Maybe in a laboratory. I have never seen a bulb go bad on our cars, but have helped over 20 people get ballasts (only with oem build, idk about the chinese ones). Either way, its best to confirm before you start buying stuff you may not need.

Sent using free Tapatalk - Android FTW
[/quote]

I have seen TONS of people on here (and other boards) have their bulbs fail. Ballast failures are somewhat common too but not as common as a bulb simply dying out. I'm not knocking your advice or experience but it's always best to check the bulbs first before even worrying about a dead ballast.

As an HID bulb ages, it requires more and more power from the ballast to remain lit. Once it gets passed a certain power level, the ballast will shut down automatically as a fail safe to keep it from becoming damaged. Once the bulb cools back down the ballast will try to re-ignite the bulb again and the cycle will repeat until the bulb is replaced. You'll notice street lights with old bulbs will cycle like this when they are getting ready to die, same concept. Most of the time (not all the time) when a ballast goes it simply won't power the bulb up at all.

TL/DR: HID bulbs go bad yo

Moddiction

Thanks guys. I figure I need née bulbs anyways as they were not matching colors.

S2k007

Bulbs do go bad, mine did.

A little note though, if buying the Osram CBI 5000ks from the retrofitsource, which I did, just know that there is no warranty on these. They are a 'grey market' item according to them. So you are taking a bit of a risk. Mine turned out fine so far.

Moddiction

Just ordered some from retrofit source. Can't wait! I'm
Sure it will be night and day difference compared to really dimmed hids I've had.

dwight

If you have a camera where you can control exposure and white balance, perhaps you can do before and after pictures.