hid's lights 35 or 50/55 watt? digital?

One of my HID headlights burnt out after 3 years of use so I need a new set. I'm probably just going to get some chinese ones off of ebay but now I see they have 50/55w sets now. Should I get the higher wattage? What does the difference look like over the 35w. And also I see these slim digital ballast kits. Are they worth the extra money? And one more thing, I have projector lens, do they change the color of the HID light? because I feel like they make the light a little more purpleish, I'm trying to decided between 8k or 10k. Thanks

buy it from ddmtuning.com, they have ana amazing track record, and there kits are great quality, I bought on ebay and returned the the seller tried to rip me off, I got the 55w ddmtuning raptor apexcone 9007 hi/lo kit for 70 dollars shipped, now there all on sale too, and it has a lifetime warrentyViper 5902 - Ordered

Kicker Dual CVX 15's - Installed

Kicker ZX 1500.1 Amp - Installed

ddmtuning has good prices, but their ballasts are slimlines. The 55w is just 1\4" larger than their 35w.

Also, you may have legality issues with the 55w brightness where you live.

"Don't blind me bro!"

I think 6k is a tad blueish for my tastes so I'm going to backpeddle and say get 4300k or 4500k if you can.

fist off, long time lurker, first post. Great forums! As far as color goes, in a projector, the color you want is actually coming from the lense bending the light over the shield, and not necessarily the capsule color. Next time you see a car with factory HIDs coming at you, notice how they seem to flicker white to blue/purple. The blue or purple you are seeing is the light at the cutoff, where the white light is actually the light produced by the bulb. your best bet is to stick to something in the 4300-5000k range. once you go much higher than that, the lumens drop off exponentially. Those 10,000k bulbs all over ebay are like 2000lm, which is on par with a decent halogen light, whereas the 4300k bulbs are in the 32-3300lm range. Double that for the pair, and going from 10000k to 4300 is over 2000lm of light gained. On the topic of the ballasts, ive ran 35 and 55watt systems...both are MORE than enough light. the 55watt is going to wash the color out a bit, so if you use 5000k bulbs at 55w, it will be slightly whiter than 5000k bulbs at 35watt. I really think 55 is a bit overkill, which was the reason i went back to 35. at 35w, oe bulbs are putting out almost 7500lm for the pair. You really cant go wrong with the DDM ballasts for 3 reasons...theyr cheap, theyr reliable, and if theyr not reliable, they have a lifetime warranty. Assuming you dont switch to a different setup (d1s) later down the road, theyll be the last ballasts you ever have to buy. As far as the slim ballasts heating up too much, ive never seen that being a problem, and again, even if they do fail, they have a lifetime warranty. The slim ones are great bc they really make mounting a breeze. I have slim ballasts mounted to the underside of my headlights, and they really stay tucked out of the way really well.

I decided to buy a 55w at 4500k from them for a spotlight mod. I ordered Thusday night but no shipping confirmation as of yet.

sadly I have my 55w 8000k hi/lo in a reflector houseing, illegal yes, but cops who care none, I did get flashed really bad before I aimed the, then I aimed them really down and have been fine, they shine out good, and dont glare so bad, people with regular lights blind me just as badViper 5902 - Ordered

Kicker Dual CVX 15's - Installed

Kicker ZX 1500.1 Amp - Installed

aiming them down does nothing for the glare. perfect example...i live on the 4th floor of an apt building, and the other night, my ceiling was lit up bright blue when a guy was at the stoplight in a civic with hids. thats 50 feet above him and still lighting up my ceiling...imagine the glare right at ground level

I got my 55w HID lights today . . .

and IM PI**SSED!

I specifically asked them if there was a metal shield on the bulb. I've asked every reseller " IS there any type of metal shield on the bulb?" If yes, then NO.

These have a friggen metal shield on them. Now I have to dremmel the metal off or deal with their RMA process and mailing crap back.

If I wanted to dremmel off a damned shield, I would have had lights long ago.

I hope they get herpes.