gingenhagen

I am very quite confused on this whole issue of H4 conversions. How are the H4 bulbs any different from the regular bulbs? Aren't they both 3 contact-plug bulbs? Don't they both output 60/55W? Then I don't see the need for a conversion kit or how it would change anything.

Then, would someone also tell me the visual difference b/w stock lights and H4s? I thought I had stock lights, but then I installed my H6054 to H4 conversion, and they look exactly the same.

Bigretardhead

you can replace just the bulbs, instead of the whole light assembly. also, there are more kinds of bulbs available. so, any other difference would be depending on which kind of bulb you buy, and also which housings you buy (good, or shitty ones).

NZConvertible

Assuming you buy quality gear, H4 bulbs and housings are simply a newer, superior design compared to sealed beams. From the same power consumption you'll get more light and a better pattern of kight ahead of you.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

and you can run higher heat range bulbs, 6000k on up to 12000k for a nice purple light if you feel like spending $300 on them.

StinkyTurbo

just get some Hid's
you can light up a whole city block when you come down the street.

coldfire

iTrader: (1)

from the Mobil 1 website recently:

Lighting The Way
By Kevin Clemens

Almost from their inception, automobiles have been equipped with headlights that help motorists see and be seen while driving at night. At first, light was created by mixing calcium carbide with water and generating acetylene gas, which burns with a bright white flame. By about 1915, however, the inconvenience of an open flame and the mess created by spent carbide had been replaced by the electric light bulb.

Good Enough
Poor roads and less-than-speedy automobiles limited travel speeds, so the feeble glow of these early electric headlights was sufficient. As speeds began to increase, however, something better was needed and additional ?driving lights? were added to throw more light in front of the car when traveling outside of cities and towns. Eventually, headlights were designed to incorporate both high and low beams within a single unit, relegating the use of special driving lights to enthusiasts and fans of high-speed travel at night.

Sealed Beams
By the late 1930s, it had been observed that moisture would often seep past the light bulb and its holder, causing the silvered headlight reflector to tarnish and thus reducing the light output. By the 1950s, to solve this problem, U.S. manufacturers were using sealed-beam headlights, in which the filament, reflector and lens were all sealed together and impervious to moisture and road grime. European manufacturers, on the other hand, were trying to solve the moisture sealing problem while still continuing to use units containing a separate bulb, reflector and lens.

Better Progress
Because the Europeans were working with separate lenses and reflectors, they were able to develop and optimize both of these for better and more controlled light output. Likewise, the development of the quartz-iodine halogen bulb provided dramatically more light for night driving. Although these lights were significantly brighter, careful design of the reflector and the beam pattern produced by computer designed lenses meant they also cut glare for oncoming drivers. By the late 1970s, the traditional U.S. sealed beams, which had seen little or no real development, seemed woefully inadequate. But because U.S. regulations mandated sealed-beam units, the superior European-style headlights were largely unavailable to U.S. motorists.

The Situation Improves
During the 1980s, headlight regulations in the U.S. began to loosen, driven primarily by the need for better aerodynamics and styling considerations. More windswept designs meant better fuel economy, and replacing those round upright glass headlights with carefully shaped plastic lenses resulted in a more integrated approach to vehicle design. Projector headlights were also developed to allow a very small lens which nevertheless sent significant light down the road. Eventually the sealed beam requirement was set aside and U.S. drivers readily accepted the superior lights that they were being offered. Even the lowly sealed-beam headlight received an upgrade, as sealed-beam halogen units became available for use as replacements in older vehicles.

HID
In the last few years, a new type of headlight system has been made available on several high-end automobiles. Called High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights, these headlights do away with a traditional light-bulb filament and instead create a very high-voltage arc of electricity to produce an extremely bright light. This bright blue light is then accurately controlled through the reflector and lens system to produce superior nighttime vision for the driver without adding to the glare for oncoming drivers. HID systems are very effective but frightfully expensive. When available as an option on a new car, they can cost between one and two thousand dollars. They are not really available as an aftermarket system, except as auxiliary driving lights. The repair costs for HID systems can also be very high ? the system could cost several thousand dollars to replace if it is damaged in an accident. Still, HID systems do provide more light than even the best standard halogen headlight systems.

Lighting The Future
Meanwhile, manufacturers are continuing to push forward in the development of headlights. Headlights that emit ultraviolet light can be used to illuminate special paints used on road signs and highway marker lines to make them glow as the vehicle passes. Other headlight systems under study use military night-vision technology to augment the driver?s visual image of the road ahead. Using infrared sensors, a heat image can be projected onto the windshield to indicate when other vehicles, pedestrians or even animals are crossing the road in front of the vehicle. The system is especially effective in heavy fog or on stormy nights when warm living bodies can be easily distinguished from trees and roadside signs.