i have a 2008 santa fe se i wanted to upgrade my headlight and fog light bulbs but i dont want to go the expensive route with the h.i.d upgrade anyone recommend a xenon type for both headlight and fog light?

Have you checked out the HID on E-bay. I got two of mine there (low and high) a few years ago. They are still going.
They are going for $60 a set. I haven't changed any of the bulbs.
I have gone through a few Silver Stars.

joey trust me nothing is better than HID's. I went through a set of Silverstars and a set of X-Treme Power by Phillips. I saved up my money and eventually installed a 4300k kit in my Santa Fe and I will never go back to halogens. It was the best 300 dollars I ever spent.

Some of those fancy "xenon" bulbs cost as much $20 each. Most what they are plain old Halogen bulbs with a blue tint on the glass, which imparts a blue hues to the light produced. That supposedly makes the driver/owner feel like he/she has expensive HID. Actually, the blue tint reduces the overall lumen output of the headlight. In another words, you'd be sacrificing safety just to look cool.

Well, why not buy the real HID kits to begin with? Especially when they are selling now for as little as $40 shipped - for a set of two.

Personally, I'd rather look where I'm going than to look cool. That means 4300K HID kits instead of the higher color temp (blue or even worse purple) HID kits. If you look at the lumens output of the various color temps, 4300K actually puts out the most light - and it is closest to natural sunlight.

This post has been edited by Volfy: Apr 8 2009, 05:51 PM

Make sure you get the 4500K or 5K, nothing higher. I got the 6K by suggestion of some and they are slightly blue. They are my high beams.
The HID kits work great with the projection headlights in the Santa Fe.
The HID high beams are almost 4 years old and were in 2 cars. The low beams are almost 2 years old and I drive a lot at night.

$60? Naw... WITH ballasts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/HID-Xenon-CONVERSION-K...%3A1|240%3A1309

How's the "warm up" time on these? I tried HID on my 300M and found that I had to pay for a better kit or the high beams took too long to come up to speed to be worthwhile.

My oldest HID always take 4 seconds to hit half brightness and 6 for full. That was interesting with my Saturn (where only the high beams stayed on) where I used them as high beams. I hit the highs, the lows would go off and have basically nothing for about 3 seconds. The regular headlight were not projections so I kept halogens.
The Santa Fe keeps both low and high on when you hit the high beams. The highs still take 6 second to go full.
The newer lows come on instantly, but about 5 seconds to go from the low blue to the bright white (5K). Since you always have them on, it's not like the highs.
After being on (staying warm) it only take 2 seconds for the highs to kick back to full. Depends on the weather. Winter will take longer and they will cool a lot faster between clicking ON/OFF the high beams.
Not sure about the speed to full brightness on the newer thin ballast lights.

Yes, prices have really dropped ! The oldest high beams are 4 years old, the new low beams are now 2. I only paid some $90 for the lows on E-bay.
My wife's Tribeca went through a few fancy halogen brands, my Outback through two sets of fancy halogens then put back in the original halogens after they burned out cause I knew I was going to sell it.

I wasted more money on the fancy halogens then on the HID that are still running. There is a big difference in brightness with my SF then my wife's new Veracruz.

Ouch. Rough design, that one. Sounds like something Lucas would have designed on a Britmobile!
That's a bit longer than I'm willing to deal with. Often, when I want high beams, I want them stat. May go back to the more expensive variety.

Can you post a link? Do these lights require ballast? Finally, how does 4300k compare to standard halogens? I really do not care for the blue hue that is so popular.
I think you sold me though on buying these.

MajBach,

Please refer to the color chart in my post. 4300K is visually the same as 4100K. Halogens are approximately 3200K. The light output of the halogen bulbs are also described in this post - approximately 1000-1200 lm.

And yes, all xenon high intensity discharge lights (also referred to as HID lights or xenon lights) require ballasts. Do not worry about overloading the alternator, since HID lights require lower wattage - usually 35W vs. 55W of the halogen bulb. Yet you may need to put a 20A fuse (already included with many HID conversion kits), since the HID lights draw higher currents at startup. If 35W (~3000 lm) is not enough, you can get 50W (~4000 lm) HID bulbs.

Well, the only thing that I cannot advise you on is the street legality of HID lights in Canada (and U.S.). Many EU countries prohibit conversion of halogen lights into xenon lights. The biggest concern is that a longer HID bulb may not be in focus of the light designed for a halogen bulb, therefore changing the light pattern and creating a hazard of blinding other motorists. The laws in most European countries state that all vehicles equipped with HID lights should be also equipped with automatic headlight aiming device and headlight washing system... So I am in the process of installing those to be fully compliant, before I install 50W HID bulbs in low beams and 35W ones in high beams and fog lights.

P.S. I know all about deer hits: I hit one in Iowa and one in Missouri. So I know what you are talking about.

This post has been edited by McLarrick: Apr 18 2009, 12:30 PM

You can get HIDs on E-bay for $80 with shipping. Get the 4.2K to 5K when you order. There is cutting involved with the round back seal on the headlights. I think a quarter is the right size as the wires for the ballast have to come outside the bulb.

I have been using Apexcone 5K 35W on my 07 Santa Fe for almost 1.5 yr. So far so good, the thing is really bright. First turn on the colour was white with a lot of blue. After 1-2 min warm up the blue went away leaves a slight yellow in it. If I stand about 3-5 feet I will detect some yellow but if I walk away about 100 feet it’s really white and sparkling. I believe after 100 hrs of use the colour is getting whiter, almost pure white at a distant.

I think it depend a lot on a quality of the crystal on your projector. I think Hyundai crystals are quite good.

Next time I will try 6K, I think it will be perfect.

You mean the projector lens? I find our '07 Santa Fe low beam projector is definitely not as good as our '06 Sedona. The Sedona has a very broad and even beam pattern and very sharp cutoff line. The Santa Fe beam pattern is mostly good but gets spotty closer to the car. The cutoff line is not quite as sharp and shows a bit of yellow fringing/defraction. Switching to 55w HID on our Santa Fe helps a lot, but may be putting out a bit too much stray light above the cutoff line. I might drop back to 35w ballasts and put the 55w ones on the driving lights when I get them installed.

I paid $70 for my 55w 4300K kit here. Whichever HID kit you end up buying, make sure you get a relay kit to power the ballast directly from the battery posts. Your ballasts will last much longer, and you'll have less trouble with the car's electrical system. I built my own relay harness, so all the cable lengths are exact.

I used a 7/8" forstner bit to punch a hole on the round cups. That was the right size for the seals in my kit. I would think most other kits are similar.

This post has been edited by Volfy: Apr 27 2009, 12:05 PM

I purchased Philips X-Treme Power and have noticed a difference. I am staying away from HID, don't get me wrong those are the best lights, but I am firm believer that you need to change the projector to go with HID. My second car has HID and yes it is amazing, but it came OEM that way.

"HID headlamps – known as high-intensity discharge, which is the technical term for the electric arc that produces light. These lamps are often called xenon headlights because of the xenon gas that is used in the lamps. The xenon gas allows the lamp to produce minimal amounts of light upon startup and speed the warm-up time. Vehicles that are equipped with HID headlights need to have a lens cleaning system and automatic beam leveling control. Both of these are to reduce the tendency for high-output headlights to cause high levels of glare to other vehicles on the road."

If you are interested in these bulb:
Philips X-Treme Power
Reviews are plenty on the web and personally I see a difference.
Review

Best price so far I found is at:
http://www.powerbulbs.com/

There are in the UK, but ship for free around the world and I got a set of license plate lights for free as well.

Thanks.

I found this and it has a lot of information about car lights, including HID, LED, Halogen...
Lights Info

This post has been edited by CndRedCoat: Apr 28 2009, 11:39 AM

If you are interested in the Philips X-treme Power and are in the U.S., it looks like the only source is www.aftermarketbulbsshop.com. Everyone else peddling them seems to be in the UK or elsewhere across a pond. $52.99. No tax outside California as far as I can tell, and $4.95 USPS priority for shipping.

He's also got the Osram/Sylvania NightBreakers if that's what trips your trigger. Personally, I don't like the blue filters on those. Certainly doesn't help with visibility.

I bought the Nightbreakers for my wife's new 08 Vericruze. Noticeable difference... I when with both low and high.

Holy makerel, US$60 for one bulb! This Phillips XtremePower is something else. I just love the advertizing: "Made out of Philips UV quartz glass that provides more light on the road and the highest level of resistance to risks of explosion, vibrations and extremes of temperature." I guess I just didn't realized the potential violent hazard these incadescent bulbs possess. And to think all those years of running 80/100w H4s, I could've been made a crispy critter. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

Volfy, Volfy, calm down. That $60 shipped price is per pair.