http://www.kia-newoptima.com

Durableham, Check this out about the headlights. I too would like to know the details. My GTI has bi-xenons and blanks where the washers go on the European cars. I have feeling though they are not bi-xenon because why wouldn't they advertise that fact as a selling point?

 

All NEW OPTIMA

Durableham, Check this out about the headlights. I too would like to know the details. My GTI has bi-xenons and blanks where the washers go on the European cars. I have feeling though they are not bi-xenon because why wouldn't they advertise that fact as a selling point?

I've been all over that microsite, very cool. I had a GLI (06) and it had bi-xenons with halogens for flash to pass. My GLI had headlamp washers though, that was an 06 only thing and were dropped to save money. They were really stupid though.

But I'm guessing that the second projector in each housing is for the static bending lights. I guess its cheaper to have another projector and bulb that points outward that to make the projector housing move.

 

The U.S. owner's manual says the inboard reflector is the high beam. The high beam bulb spec is the same for all listed vehicles. I'm assuming there's not a shutter.

 

The manual for the SX states that?

 

I doubt the new optima sx will have bi-xenon. (it states as HID not bi-xenon on kia website, which if it was bi-xenon they would definitely wrote it down there)
The korean model (only the top trim) has the double projector headlights.
Like sonatas I believe the highbeam will come from the medial housing and lowbeam from the lateral projector housing.

 

If this is the case I will be annoyed and will be forced to retrofit an H.I.D. kit for the high beams, I must have bi-xenon. I have tri-xenons on my truck, I have HID foglights too!

 

In my opinion, bi-xenon is pointless. The time needed for high beam to warm up is way too long to be effective. If you need extra light, you need ti "now", not in 30 seconds...

Besides, often change high/low beam puts so much stress on high beam that they will burn out prematurely.

But again, it is my opinion.

Oh, fogs - there is not housing designed for HID. And I bet you produce too much glare on the road.


I do not think HID is a must have in all lights... I would rather put yellow selective bulbs into fogs to have a REAL help from them when driving in FOG... as for "show off" - it is silly...

 

The blue and purple tints don't do anything for me. I like maximum illumination and in the visible spectrum, that means lower temp (~4300k or yellowish) bulbs.

Bi-Xenons are not necessarily a waste functionally, although I can understand your argument from a financial standpoint. Xenon high beams don't need to be turned 'on/off', but rather their output strength adjusted up and down. See the Cadillac Intellibeam system for instance.

HIDs used in the lower facia are driving lights. They would be counterproductive as 'fog' lights.

Brighter lights CAN be a hassle for OTHER drivers. Make sure they are aimed correctly.

 

Lots of inconsiderate kids out there..........

 

to cpurick - yes, bixenon most of times are designed this way that one lamp works for both, and only movement of the light source or shutter, or the whole projector will adjust light.
In this case though, I doubt the other projector would be equipped with another HID lamp.


Slee_Stack - I had 6000K initially (after recommendation of the seller), and found them too blue (he was wrong, they are not "pure white"). I find ~4300K to be the best option. Although, source of HID lamps is important. I had all together about 3 or 4 pairs of lamps and all of them would put slightly different colors.

Anyway, I ran them in low beam only and now I can say - fogs are useless (I never used them anyway), high beam - just sometimes, when approaching a hill (keep in mind projectors cut light/shadow very drastically).

 

So the conclusion is high beam of optima is not HID.

So if you still going to install high beam HID without the projector and a hid foglights, stay away from me at night !

 

I'm not going to put HIDs in the foglight housing, probably just order some special bulbs so they match the color temp of the headlamps, the silverstar ultra bulbs come pretty close to the color temp of oem HID lamps, honestly I probably won't put HIDs in the high beam housing, just silverstar ultras.

 

Hi, all. Just purchased a 2011 Optima LX for/with my daughter (joint financing, her car) three days ago. Hope to convert the low beam projectors to HID.

I've installed HID kits in all the other cars in my family - 2008 Dodge Avenger (wife), 2006 Mustang GT (me), 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix (son #2), 2000 BMW 328Ci (son #1). Both the Grand Prix and Mustang are Bi-Xenon kits - one bulb which moves forward / backward to change the focus point.

I've used ONLY 5,000 and 6,000K colors (the 6,000K because I couldn't find the right kit in 5,000). Outstanding illumination and color.

In my driving history I always loved to use my fogs for extra illumination - even rewired some of my former cars to have a separate switch so I could use them in conjunction with high beams when appropriate (never did understand that mutual exclusivity). Believe me, with HIDs you will rarely if ever need to use high beams, and almost never need fogs. Plus, IMHO, with HID's any other bulb (high beam or fog) would be lost in the effect.

So... any suggestions about which bulb configuration to use (H11?) on this newest addition to the "fleet" would be appreciated, and if anyone would have a list of the other bulbs used in the car (inside and out so I can convert some to LEDs) I'd be very grateful. Can't find that info on the 'net, and haven't been able to register on the KIA user's website yet because the VIN is not recognized yet. Info in the owners manual appears pretty useless.

Thanks!

 

Check this out. There is lots of help here searching K5 instead of Optima gets you a lot more results.

2011 kia k5 items - Get great deals on eBay Motors, Kia items on eBay.com!

 

Thanks, PLP. I was thinking more along the lines of the interior dome lights, etc. Just don't know what bulbs to use - could pull out the current ones and see what's there...

3314AC - I appreciate the link. Will check it out.

 

H.I.D. Installation

Ok so I got my HID conversion kit in the mail today. so I'm going to post about my experience installing them. I got the 8000k h11 kit from diodedynamics.com for $79.99 plus shipping which was around $12 for 2-3 day shipping. First thing I'm already kicking my self for not ordering the relay harness, which makes the ballast get their power straight from battery instead of the stock wiring because I can detect a very slight flicker (not a complete off and on flicker, just a small barely detectable flicker you really have to stare at the to notice) I'm assuming that it's because the cars voltage regulator is having trouble keeping a constant steady stream of power to the ballast. I'm most like going to order the relay soon. It's $15 separate but $10 i would added with kit. Anyways, On to the installation:

first of all don't plan on removing the entire headlight, it certainly would make the job so much easier. but to accomplish this the entire front bumper must be removed... don't know why Kia designed it this way?? But in the owners manual on how the remove the headlight says to. First i diconnected the neg from the battery then I began by removing the dust cap, then removing to stock halogen bulb. Then there three small screws that hold a metal mounting plate that holds the bulb in place. Remove those screws and pull out the mounting plate. There is a yellow (+) and black(-) wire that lead to the bulb connector that is attached to the plate. I just inserted the (+) and (-) prongs from the hid kit into the perspective slots on the stock connector. (don't know if I should have directly spliced the wires together instead of plugging them into the stock connectors?) Then I inserted the HID bulb and twisted it into place. Then I cut a 28mm hole in the center of the dust cap and fed the kit wire through and inserted the rubber groment that came with the kit and but the dust cap back on. Then I mounted the ballast on the closest flat surface then I plugged in a the wires from the ballast to the bulbs. Then I repeated on the other side, the passenger side was easier because I removed the coolant overflow tank so my big hand could work alot easier. and I was good to go (well except the fact I need the relay harness). They look awesome, now all I need to do is remove KIA badges and replace with Audi or Mercedes lol

Hope this helps someone out, this was my first time installing HIDs and if I did something wrong please comment or ask questions. I will post pictures as soon as I can get some free time.

 

Definitely post pix.

I've always preferred 3-4k temp HIDs, but those who like blue/purple hue have to sacrifice some lumen output for the effect.

How is the visibility compared to your stock halogens?

 

3-4K Temp? why have halogen color lights when you can have something that looks 10x better?

This is the color chart from DiodeDynamics where i bought the kit:

In real Life the 8000K's i got are not all that blue, just a hint of blue
i wanted the 6000k's but the were on back order and i have No patiences
and i'm kinda of glad i got the 8000's they look awesome.

As for the visibility Comparison, There is no comparison the HID are so freakin bright, and with the Projector housings the light is all level not shining in peoples eyes like with my grand am where i know i'm constable pissing people off, lol

 

I'm lazy found these images online

Three Screws

Mounting plate with Bulb connector

 

No need to remove the 3 screws


I'm not quite sure if you have wrong info, or if you did extra work. I have a 2012 with H11B and installed the morimoto 5000K HID Kit. I most definetly did not remove the bumper and I sure did not remove the three small screws. The 11B bulb turns counterclockwise to remove. If you look at the second of your picks the socket has an opening at the top of it for the spade connectors to enter into the holder. It's tight not removing the bumper, but you sure don't need to remove the three screws. I used two 11B conversion HID bulbs. Hope this helps some.
Jim

 

great info
the only thing I could complain here is color temperature of your lights. 8k K is way too blue. You actually will not gain too much as you would have had if you got 4300 K.

And the picture from them (seller) is not true. If they really wanted to show you color of the light, they should have used ISO80 and very short shutter and high aperture.

Do one experiment.
In the night, find a yellow car and see how yellow is yellow in your 8000K HID. You will see it greenish.
Do same with white screen.

And as for the 10x better look. Did you get HID for look or for better visibility? I mean, c'mon, HID is to improve light, not to color your headlights. You could have gotten the same result if you simply used "made in china" "xenon like" halogen bulbs for 5$/pack.

 

I will take some pictures tonight of them, i'll take one using iso80,short shutter and high aperture and if i can find a yellow car i take a pic of that too.
In my opinion they are not that blue, I know some people with 10 and 12k hid's and they ARE very blue compared to these.
And i got the HID for both the improved light and the color, sorry if that doesn't make sense to you but i just like the look of them a lot and the added visibility is nice as well

 

the only thing I am saying is that IF 8000K was the best output (both color wise and light intensity) all manufacturers would have chosen those. In reality they use 4100-4300 (only one went up to 5000K) instead.

I tested several bulbs, from 6000K through 5000 up to 4100K and I did see a huge difference in color and light output.

As for your case - it may be that your 8000K is not true 8... therefore, you feel it is not so blue.


And no, it does not make any sense to me getting blue lights. If you were to compare stock regular halogen to 4300K HID you would see that this is the best improvement you can ever get.

I know one thing for sure though. And this is typical behavior for humans eye.
Humans eyes are more sensitive to blue color than into any other one. It is very typical that blue will seem brighter and will look "better" than white or any other color, even if it's intensity in reality is not even close to white color. I hope it makes sense.


And in the end.
I hope you will enjoy them, but one day you will discover that actually cars with OEM HID put more light... and this will convince you to forget about 8000K temperature...

 

Headlight gurus-I'm assuming that the amp draw of HID's is not a drain on battery life over time-because they're only on when the alt is charging the batt. Am I correct??

 

Color match eith foglights

SnoWhiteLX - how do the foglights matchup?

 

SnoWhiteLX - how do the foglights matchup?

It's a LX - no foglights unfortunately. Only come standard on EX, EX turbo and SX.

 

FWIW... I had 8k bulbs in the factory HID's on my 300C and I loved them. There wasn't that big of a difference in output compared to stock IMO, they lit up the road really well. I liked the slightly bluish tint much better too, it wasn't over the top blue/purple like the 10k and 12k. I'd say go with 6k if you want white and 8k if you want a little blue in there.

I put an aftermarket 8k kit in my fogs that I'm assuming is VERY similar to the kits for the headlights. Here's what those looked like....

 

The ballast spikes can wreak havoc with your electronics. Expensive havoc.

Get them on the isolated circuit ASAP.

 

I understand that the on / off spikes are damaging- but would you answer my question from post #8?:

"-I'm assuming that the amp draw of HID's is not a drain on battery life over time-because they're only on when the alt is charging the batt. Am I correct??"

Sorry if it's a lame question...

 

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with getting higher color temp HIDs as long as one understands they are sacrificing light output for vanity (color). If you are OK with that have at it.

I was a little gross in my previous posts. 4300K is what I replacement bulbs I've put in my prior cars when bulbs go. I do believe they are the 'brightest'. I believe I had 3500k ones at one time too and had no complaints...until they started dying.

 

And here are some pictures of The Led Dome lights i got from Diodedynamics.

 

Do you have a link for these lights?

 

8000k is a no no for me.

I have installed 5000k on my Sonata and its whitest of all.

Anything below is yellow.

To tell the truth even 5000k isnt the best output.

Driving at night where the streets are lid, my lights are absorbed even though on non lid streets it shines like sun.

6000k is ok but anything over that is just screaming aftermarket at night.

Also there is no reason to buy anything more expensive than $50.

I paid $90 for mine because it was H11b and this website sold the H11 modified so I paid that price.

It was xentec and its only $36 on eBay.

After two years its still holding good without any problems.

 

Also there is no reason to buy anything more expensive than $50.

I paid $90 for mine because it was H11b and this website sold the H11 modified so I paid that price.

It was xentec and its only $36 on eBay.

After two years its still holding good without any problems.

I agree. When I had to replace the factory HID bulbs in my 300, the dealer wanted $300 for the pair. I ended up buying a pair on ebay for $70 and they worked perfect for over a year until I sold a couple weeks ago. I also had about 6 months or so on my $30 ebay HID foglight kit with no issues. I have to laugh when I see people spending big bucks on these over priced HID kits.

 

I'm torn on the LED interior lighting shown above. I think it looks OK from the outside, but at the same time, I don't think I'd like to sit inside the car with them. Its a very sterile (hospital like flourescent) feel. I'd definitely opt for a lower color temp LED (if available) in that application.

 

Think it looks good, congrats! Like the dome lights as well

 

Thanks Arctic

 

low beam/fog HID lights

i just got my low beam and fog light HIDs in the mail not gonna change my high beams. i was going to put them in a little while ago but my buddy thats gonna help me, (basically do it for me, because i dont trust myself and hes nice with cars) had to go back to work, were going to continue sunday when i get back from atlantic city hopefully winning money to pay for my car and awesome parts
ill let you guys know what goes on