Upgrading from sealed beam to H4/9003.

I noticed most of the sealed beam units don't carry a lot of watts. Some are 35/35 and some of 40/55. The wattages on a set of H4 Nighthawks seem to be 67/60. Now, I fail to understand the wattages. These lights do both high beam and low beam. Is the first number for low beam and the second number for high beam? I'll also mention that my headlights are the 4 headlamp system. So the inner lights, which are high beam only, are 50 watts a piece. I'm mainly trying to upgrade my low-beam performance. Would such an upgrade do such a thing? Here's the upgrade thing I want to get.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4656-Head-Lamp-Conversion-Kit_W0QQitemZ8062803281QQihZ019QQcategoryZ33710QQr dZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

I noticed newer cars have this design, almost, and the lights are insanely bright and probably just use standard halogen lights. I plan on using the NightHawks and hope they're good. The thing I noticed about a standard NightHawk sealed beam is that they're only 35 watts. GE also mights a High Output light that's supposed be 40/55 watts. I have a box to a High Output and it says it has a "55 watt Low Beam filament." So I'm guessing the second number is the low beam. It's probably nothing to lose sleep over. Either way, the newer H4 bulbs should be a lot brighter.

What type headlights are you using now? Rectangular or round? You can get round sealed beams up to 250W if you know where to look, and there aren't many H4 12V lamps with that wattage available, AFAIK.

They're the rectangler 4x6 lamps.

After some more research, I decided to order a set of these...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AEOIBSAA%3AUS%3A11&viewitem=&item=290040359427

They have that interesting Halo that hooks up to the parking light circuit. Kinda looks neat. I saw an SUV the other day that had something like that. Looked kinda cool. I hate the blue lights, but the bulbs that come with it are slightly tinted. Can't be any worse than the bulbs I bought for my mom's car a while back and ended up having to take back out. I'm hoping the color temperature isn't over 5,000K. If it bugs me, I'll just get a set of Nighthawk bulbs. Even without the bulbs, that kit is a pretty damn good deal and even WITH the rediculous shipping charge. I surely can't wait to put them in.

I got the new lights installed and they put out a nice pattern. But the blue tint on the cheap bulbs that came with the kit is killing the output. I want to get a good set of bulbs. Just wondering how well PIAAs work. I found some that are 3800K, run at 60/55 watts and put out about 110/100 watts worth of light. I just need some personal recommendations. I don't wanna blow money on bulbs and find out later that they suck. I'm already hearing that Silverstars are a joke. Just about anything with a blue tint, or any tint, is going to kill light output. The yellow actually lights up the road better. Here's how blue the bulbs are that came with the kit.

http://lascelles.hobby-site.com/KC/afuckinglightbulb.jpg

I know the PIAA lights have a blue tint, sorta, and put out a 3800k temperature, but are they really bright?

Ok. After more research, I decided to say fuck any bulb with any tint at all on them. It's common sense. Any tint on any bulb is going to reduce the light output. I found a set of OSRAM 80/85 watt bulbs on eBay and ordered them. I believe OSRAM's the same company as Sylvania. I know they're high wattage, but I completely rewired with 10 gauge and relays almost 2 years ago. I replaced the plugs just the other day when I installed the new lights. The plug pattern for the ground, low, and high on the H4/9003 bulbs is different than the sealed beam 4656s.

As of now, the conversion kit puts out a nice, even light. But it's those damn blue bulbs that are killing it.

Got the OSRAMs installed. Nice to have "yellowish" light again. Kinda makes me wonder "Why do people like those blue bulbs so much?" It's not cool. It's dangerous!! I looked at the blue bulbs that came with the kit. They're starting to turn black.

I decided the housing I bought is a pretty lame design. It's not utilizing the high wattage light well enough. It's better than the blue bulbs, but could be even better. I read about AutoPal lights on eBay. They're based in India, but make really good quality lights. So I decided to get another kit. I know, I'm wasting my money, but I want all the light I can get.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230005075184&rd=1&rd=1

I ordered this kit with the optional "city lights" and it's not including the H4 bulbs since I have those already.

Well, they arrived and I couldn't be happier. These are, indeed, high quality lights. The beam pattern and cutoff is amazing! With my 80/85 watt bulbs, they throw out plenty of light. I took some video and compiled it together. I had to take the city lights from the other units and put them into the new units because of a "space" issue. You'll see what I mean in this video.

http://kc.cognitivelube.com/VanShit/NewAutoPalLights.wmv 48 megs.