Blueish Purplish tint on BMW headlights??

[Avegedme]

I'm sure you all know what i'm referring to.

When you see a BWM coming up from behind and you can see the headlights flicker different colors.

My question is, what causes that exactly?

I have OEM HID Headlights retrofitted with TSX Lenses. Would mine do this as well? I know i've seen TSXs drive up behind me and they do appear to be producing the same flicker.

[Ddragon]

If you have TSX Lenses() then yours should be doing the same as the TSXs you've seen. The flicker is the light bouncing off of the lenses at certain angles. The flicker is caused from the cut of the lenses. TSX lenses are very defined with their cut-off while our regular celica lenses are not.

[386]

In my experience, most HIDs flicker a bit. I don't really know much about them, but I would assume it's because the light produced comes from an arc, so in a way, it moves slightly and the flicker is just the change in angles of reflected light in the housing?

lol

[Kangaruu]

That's their cutoff line from the HID projectors that you're seeing.

[Avegedme]

Originally Posted by Ddragon

If you have TSX Lenses() then yours should be doing the same as the TSXs you've seen. The flicker is the light bouncing off of the lenses at certain angles. The flicker is caused from the cut of the lenses. TSX lenses are very defined with their cut-off while our regular celica lenses are not.

So it's the lens that causes the flicker?

Kangaruu, that's about the same cut-off I have, except it has more color to it.

[Kangaruu]

You swapped in HID projectors in your headlights?

[Ddragon]

The flicker happens when the car and you (viewing the lenses) are both in motion. Depending on the angle the lenses due to the cut-off will cause a kind of flicker but it's just the light reflecting off the cut-off part of the lenses.

[Avegedme]

Originally Posted by Kangaruu

You swapped in HID projectors in your headlights?

I have OEM HIDs with TSX lenses.

[Kangaruu]

I just noticed I didn't finish reading your first post

[Avegedme]

Originally Posted by Kangaruu

I just noticed I didn't finish reading your first post

lol I can tell.

Thanks for the info by the way!

[OneArmPanda]

the lenses help, but I'm betting your cut off is too blurry to have the full effect.

[Zero]

Here's some good info too:
The OEM non-HID Halgoen projector lenses will not give you that strong cut-off color with HID bulbs.

The OEM HID projector lenses should give you similar cutoff to a BMW/Lexus/Acura.

HID projector lenses > Halogen projector lenses.

I've seen a lot of members saying "I went with 7000K or higher HID bulbs so that I can get the same color like BMW's."
Wrong. BMW lights are about in the 4500k area. The lights hitting the ground is white. Your (generally speaking) 7000K or higher crap hitting the ground is blue/purple/red. Not the same.

The projector lenses make most of the difference.

[fathorsejr]

You can get 20 pairs of tsx's projectors and none will give the some color,some will give more or less.

[Avegedme]

I want more.