Headlight difference?

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'08 CPW Mazdaspeed 3
Is there a difference in the headlight housing between the sport and the grand touring models? I know the GT has HID's, but does the sport verision have the same headlight housing (meaning, could aftermarket HIDs be easily added in)? That is the only option I really wanted from the GT model...everything else on the Sport is just fine with me minus the Halogen headlights.

Also, unrelated question, but I see the GT model has the "trip computer" and the Sport model does not. Does the sport model still have a tripometer, or does it just have the odometer? The other stuff is not really that necessary to me.
 
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sport version doesnt have the HID, i got mine an aftermarket HID's. mine seem to be just a lil bit difficult, it would not hold it tight, i have to do some work to it to hold it tight.!!!yes sport model does had the tripometer...!!
 
No, the sport does not have the trip computer but can be unlocked on the 2007 models.
 
i think i'd rather pay the extra money to go with the gt version. doesn't the sport version come w led tails?
 
i think i'd rather pay the extra money to go with the gt version. doesn't the sport version come w led tails?
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The only feature I really like on the GT is the HIDs, which can be added for under $500 (aftermarket). Everything else is nice, but to me just not necessary and not worth the extra few thousand dollars. I just wanted to make sure that the headlight unit itself is the same in both, and that the GT just has the HID ballasts and bulbs (not a completely different headlight assembly). Is this true?
 
it would have to be a different unit as well, because the gt HID can be moved up and down. you may have seen an empty spot or two near your instrument panel dimmer thumbwheel, that's where the headlight height adjustment wheel is on the gt

the fact that the gt has HIDs with a motorized mechanism on it makes me feel that there is some kind of difference between the sport and gt headlight housing. and i dont' know if there's just a mirror being motorized or the whole projector part.

if you want to just get some hids it should work fine, and you don't really need the motor. the reason it's there in the first place is in case you have lots of weight in the back, then you adjust the headlights accordingly to simply be "nice" to oncoming traffic at night by angling your headlights down.


ps- gt has HIDs, LED tail lights, and 08.5 has alcantera seats
 
We back to the original question. . I don't think they are the same housings. However, that being said, the halogen headlight housings of the Sport model work extremely well with aftermarket HID kits. The cutoff is excellent.

Infact my Apexcone 55 Watt 6,000k HID kit I got from Xenonexpert.com is brighter than the factory HID in the GT model (factory HID is only 35w and ~4,300K). I did a side-by-side comparison with one at a local meet and the owner of the GT agreed mine were brighter. I highly recommend them. The new DDM kit has slim ballasts and can be had for around $150 a set.

I ended up doing the fogs as well. So I have 55W, 6,000K Apexcone HIDs for the headlights, and the 55W 3,000K kit for the fog lights. Best investment i ever made. Lighting improvement is huge - there's no comparison.
 
yea the gt model can move the projector up and down which is pretty cool. like hapa88 said, the cutoff is nice on the gt projectors.. i got this thing called the washer mod where the cutoff on my projectors is rainbow/purple.
 
yea...sucks that even though the gts have xenons they are still only 4300K...i think that between 5000 and 6000K have the highest output, and anything past 6000K will actually produce less output. gotta love those ppl that want the 12000K cuz it's "brighter" when it actually produces less light than the lowest xenon
 
I read someplace that the stock 4300k hid setup is the brightest and best output and the higher you get away from that, the less output. It said 4300 has 3x the output 5000 through 8000 has 2x the output and anything higher defeats the purpose. Thats only what I've read though. (thumb)
 
xDJ DUBx said:
I read someplace that the stock 4300k hid setup is the brightest and best output and the higher you get away from that, the less output. It said 4300 has 3x the output 5000 through 8000 has 2x the output and anything higher defeats the purpose. Thats only what I've read though. (thumb)
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not necssarily the output. its called LUMENS.

ever notice how normal electric bulbs "while they arent as nice" make things easier to see compared to pure white bulbs?

thats the lumens kicking in (drinks)

hahahaha. although it is true, the farther away from 4300k your HID's are, the worst the visibility.
 
yeah thats it, I couldn't remember the exact word but yeah lumens, not output

thanks bruno
 
Lumens is a measure of perceived brightness of the lights. From Wikipedia:
"The lumen (symbol: lm) is the SI unit of luminous flux, a measure of the perceived power of light. Luminous flux differs from radiant flux, the measure of the total power of light emitted, in that luminous flux is adjusted to reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light."

4300K-4500K is the closest color to natural daylight. This is what the human eye is most sensitive to. The further away you are from 4300K the less sensitive your eye is to that color. That is why the Lumen number decreases the further you get from 4300K (in either direction, like 3000K or 6000k for example).

"Output" of the two HID lights, like 4300K and 6000K will probably be about the same, however your eye is more sensitive to the 4300K one, so it will be perceived as brighter and more usable.
 
hmm...so if our 4300s are the way to go, why does it seem like bimmers, vettes, and a lot of the higher end cars are using something different, that also seems to be brighter. i know i've compaired mine to others while they were right next to me and theirs still seemed brighter.
 
I thought that the 4k, 5k, 6k or what ever you want to put in there is only a number that refers to the color of the beam. the lower the number the brighter the light is. the diference in our lights vs. other cars if the actual factory kit and the projector itself. I know when i have my MX-5 ( 06 ), I did the HID's aftermarket and they were 4K kit ( same temp as the OEM) but the out put was diferent due to the brand of the kit. like i said before i believe that the projector itself and the brand of the HID kit will result in diference in brightness and color.
 
oaklandopen said:
hmm...so if our 4300s are the way to go, why does it seem like bimmers, vettes, and a lot of the higher end cars are using something different, that also seems to be brighter. i know i've compaired mine to others while they were right next to me and theirs still seemed brighter.
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they dont they all have 43-45k.

the reason why their HID's shine blue/white is because their headlight housing is designed to give that diamond effect, and projects the lights in a way thats completely different to how ours projectors project the light..

also, they have more refined lenses

thats why people constantly do the tsx/evo projector lens swap. to get a cleaner, more vibrant light.

but all OEM hid's come 43-45k... the housing/lens determines those funky colors you usually see.(headbang)
 
Does anyone have pictures of the HID beams that come with the MSP3 GT?
 
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