Choosing a D3S Xenon Bulb
Back last winter I wrote that at about 67k miles the left xenon d3s light bulb https://lampsap.com/d3s/ died, which at the same time was already me at the dealer under warranty in the second year at the mileage of 18 thousand.
Strangely enough, the right one has been shining since the factory and the left one is now the third one.
Thinking that the right one is going to die soon, I decided to take a pair of bulbs at once.
When choosing a replacement, I was faced with a variety of different lamps with D3S base.
From the outright crappy and cheap China to the most expensive philips x-treme vision of the second generation, promising up to 150% increase in light.
China and other famous, but not coming from the factory in German cars, I immediately dismissed the choice between different models of Osram and philips, thinking it was easier. But it was not there - even these two firms a whole bunch of different lamps, which differ in price more than twice (from 2000 to 4500₽ per unit), and even the color temperature and with all that is not clear whether it is worth it at all.
After a week of choice, reading blogs, YouTube and tests, finally confused and decided to take the Philips, as bulbs of this company come from the factory to Audi (by the way, the standard osrams are on BMW). In order not to run into a fake, took all the famous xenon shop (not advertising!) Because they are the official distributor of phillips.
Well, not to bother choosing the right one, I took the most senior and most expensive model X-treme Vision gen 2.
You can check if it is not fake by registering the serial number of your product on the holographic sticker on the official website.
There is no point in describing the installation process - it is to do 2 minutes "at the light". There is no need to remove anything, just open the hood, remove the cover from the headlight, take out the old bulb and install the new one.
Before replacing two, I decided to keep the old one and compare it to the new one. And here's the interesting part:
1) there is indeed a difference in the brightness of the light. But it is not +50%. About 20%, no more, and even then if you look closely. If you ask me if these lamps are brighter than the others, yes, but you will not notice it. And I think this difference comes from the fact that one bulb is brand new, and the other is 5 years old and almost 70k miles in ruthless auto mode, turning on the light in every tunnel and parking lot.
2) There is NO difference in color temperature between the new and old bulb! None at all! How? Like this. Apparently the color T has not changed at all in 5 years.
As a result, the new left lamp is the only one left. Right was left the old factory. So far I have driven so, no difference from the outside or the salon is simply not. The second bulb left to lie in reserve, its time will come.
Source: https://lampsap.com