Morimoto XB D3S HID bulbs?

[gray2014gt]

Hi has anyone tried the Morimoto XB D3S HID bulbs on an 13-14 mustang? I'm thinking about getting them for my 14 GT but want opinions from others who has/had them before. If they're good what color would y'all recommend? Thanks in advance!

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/d3s-xb-hid-B-D3S?quantity=1

 

[xeninworx]

I didn’t even bother with these when looking for bulbs to replace the dim Osrams. My choices were Osram CBI or CBB which both lean towards blue or the Philips XV2 which is 4800k, so not quite yellow but not quite white. I went with the Philips, much brighter that the oem Osrams and easy on the eyes. The CBB and CBI are slightly brighter than the XV2 but again, more blue, like 6000k. All those bulbs produce more lumens than the Morimoto but they ain’t cheap. Thankfully, I found a vendor on Amazon Canada that was selling the Philips for less than the USA price.

 

[gray2014gt]

I didn’t even bother with these when looking for bulbs to replace the dim Osrams. My choices were Osram CBI or CBB which both lean towards blue or the Philips XV2 which is 4800k, so not quite yellow but not quite white. I went with the Philips, much brighter that the oem Osrams and easy on the eyes. The CBB and CBI are slightly brighter than the XV2 but again, more blue, like 6000k. All those bulbs produce more lumens than the Morimoto but they ain’t cheap. Thankfully, I found a vendor on Amazon Canada that was selling the Philips for less than the USA price.

Only reason I even looked at them is heard good things about there quality when I had my 14 corolla but guess that was just retrofit source itself and not morimoto.

 

[xeninworx]

Don’t get me wrong, Morimoto is very good quality. When I did my S2000 projector retrofit into my 2006 Civic Si headlights I used Morimoto 50w D2S 5000K bulbs and Morimoto 50w ballasts. This was done around 2009-2010. They were still in the car when I sold it in 2019. They never gave me problems in the 9-10 years I had them. And those were the 1st gen bulbs and ballasts.

If you want a colour change then go for the Morimoto. If you want brighter then go Philips XV2 or Osram CBI or CBB. Only way to get the Morimoto brighter would be to change the ballast to 50w but then you have to figure out how to seal the headlight and mount the ballast somewhere.

Not trying to deter anyone from buying Morimoto, but I wanted more output without having to change the ballast to a 50w. Philips bulbs did the trick. Now if only I can do a projector lens swap without baking open the headlights…

 

[gray2014gt]

Are phillips and or osram worth the around $300 price tag? I can see well just wanted an upgrade from factory. I don't like any of the aftermarket headlight assemblies out better than the stock assemblies why I wanted to upgrade the bulbs possibly.

 

[xeninworx]

Yes, they are. I’d suggest looking for a better price, Amazon or EBay.

There are YouTube videos that compare and show how many lumens the bulbs are outputting. No matter which one you choose, Osram or Philips, they’ll be brighter than stock.

 

[gray2014gt]

Was the youtube video your talking about for the mustang specifically or just the d3s bulbs?

 

[xeninworx]

For the bulbs. Most of the videos test D2S but that’s irrelevant. Socket type of the bulb doesn’t makes difference with output.

You’ll want to watch videos on how to change the bulb as you won’t be able to see what you’re doing. You’ll have to do it by touch/feel.

 

[gray2014gt]

After watching a video from headlight revolution I think I'll go with the Osram night breaker laser bulbs they're supposed to be the brightest bulbs.

 

[xeninworx]

I think I looked at those too but I wanted something closer to white which is why I went with the Osram XV2.

 

[gray2014gt]

I think I looked at those too but I wanted something closer to white which is why I went with the Osram XV2.

With factory bulbs and only headlights on no fog lights on I get flashed at least once every night I drive to work like I have my high beams on which I rarely need. I get flashed by almost every vehicle if I have my fog lights on they seem brighter with low beams than high beams.

 

[xeninworx]

You may need to adjust them down then. I know I have to adjust mine slightly up. I like to have mine adjusted in a way that when I’m driving they’re pointing straight and now down.

 

[gray2014gt]

A buddy from work says my headlights are BRIGHT people been flashing me since I got the car in July 2017. So I assumed it was because of the headlights being so bright used to get flashed a lot with the 2014 corolla I traded in for the mustang.

 

[xeninworx]

I’d say point them down a little. Mustang headlights aren’t the brightest things out there. Hell, my S2K headlights were brighter with 50w bulbs and ballasts and very wide. I could light up all 4 lanes on a highway.

What you could do is test the height of the cutoff line. Get a measuring tape and find a dark parking lot next to a building that is level to the parking lot. Park the car about 25ft away from the wall, with the car point to the wall. Measure the height of the cutoff line in front of the car then measure the cutoff line being projected onto the wall. If it’s the same height or higher then the headlights need to point down. They’re supposed to be 2 inches lower at 25ft. But you can fine tune it so that when the car is moving it points straight. See when the car is moving forward, the rear squats down a little causing the headlights to point upwards hence why you adjust them down when the car is parked. If you have a lot of weight in the trunk, the higher the headlights will point upwards.

Here’s what I mean about a cutoff line and projecting onto a wall. In the foggy picture you can see the headlights are pointing down. In the far away shots, the ground wasn’t level to the wall so it looks like they’re higher but I just did that to show how wide the beam pattern was and the clean cutoff line: