Best HID Headlight and Fog Light Bulbs To Use

[Laxmanryan16]

Hey everyone, I have a 2009 A6 3.0T Premium Plus that came with stock HID headlights and fog lights and was wondering if anyone knew of which were the best and brightest bulbs to replace the stock ones with?

I would like to go the LED route if possible but not sure if the bulbs would fit into the back of the stock housing with the heatsinks most have. But any really good and bright HID bulbs would be great too.

Stock bulb size is D3S and it's a Hi/Low Beam for the headlights and an H11 size for the fog lights.

Also wasn't sure if running LEDs in the fog lights would give an error for the bulb without using the extra wiring harness.

Ideally I'd like to get something that's 6000K for the bright white light and have seen videos and reviews of some Phillips WhiteVision and XtremeVision and some of the Osram bulbs but wasn't sure if anyone had any experience with any LED bulbs that would fit in the stock housing or any really good HID bulbs that would be plug and play without any extra wiring or modification necessary.

I'm pretty sure the stock bulbs and ballast in my A6 are the 35w ones but ideally would like to use a 55w kit but figured short of replacing the stock ballast or getting entirely new housing the 55w route wouldn't work. Unless anyone has had success with doing a 55w kit on the stock 35w ballast?

If anyone has any input on which bulbs would they would recommend to get close to the LED look and brightness for headlights and fog lights I'd really appreciate it! Since there's so many out there and didn't wanna buy some cheap low end ones off eBay.

Thanks!

[C6Avant]

I replaced my stock HID's with Phillips X-TremeVision Gen 2's last year and couldn't be happier. HID's dim as they age, and the Osram stock bulbs in my 09 Avant were definitely the original ones (and quite dim!)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMk...L0839coebIH18w

This YouTube channel is a great resource.

[Laxmanryan16]

Nice that's good to hear! I was debating on those or maybe the WhiteVision bulbs since I kinda wanted to get more of the LED or 6000K color out of them and the whiter light.

Are your bulbs closer to the 4300K color would you say? And do you have any pics of what they look like when they're on?

[C6Avant]

Sorry, I don't have any pics, but I can say they are basically a brighter version of the stock bulb.

I specifically did not want a bright blue/white-ish bulb because they're not as effective in bad weather.

I was more concerned with lumen output over color temperature, and the gen 2's were the brightest at the time.

[Laxmanryan16]

I'd like to be able to put some LEDs in mine but wasn't sure if the heatsink on the bulbs would fit into the stock housing. I wanted the white light or a HID that's 6000K color because on the streets and normal driving the roads are more visible.

[c@@kieMonsta]

I replaced my stock HID's with Phillips X-TremeVision Gen 2's last year and couldn't be happier. HID's dim as they age, and the Osram stock bulbs in my 09 Avant were definitely the original ones (and quite dim!)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMk...L0839coebIH18w

This YouTube channel is a great resource.

Do you have comparison pics showing the old vs the new?

[-=zipp=-]

Ditch the cool look of blue lights with 6kK bulbs. It is not white, it has a significant blue hue, which causes you too see sh*t when driving on wet. If you want white, go for 5kK, for best visibility performance, go 4300K which is white with a bit of yellow hue.
The best D3S bulbs on the market right now are Osram Nighbreaker Laser.

[christianb5s4]

After doing a ton of research, these were the bulbs I chose for my car: D3S - Philips HID X-treme Vision 42403XV2C1 Bulbs (my car is the facelift w/ adaptive headlights). These are significantly brighter than the stock bulbs and are likely the best D3S bulbs on the market right now.

Granted, don't expect miracles because our headlight projectors are not very good at all but these significantly improve things.

[Hugh@EuropaParts]

Ditch the cool look of blue lights with 6kK bulbs. It is not white, it has a significant blue hue, which causes you too see sh*t when driving on wet. If you want white, go for 5kK, for best visibility performance, go 4300K which is white with a bit of yellow hue.
The best D3S bulbs on the market right now are Osram Nighbreaker Laser.

Those are solid bulbs.

[mike@hidconcept]

Generally speaking, people who wanted to have LED lighting color/effect, are happier with 6000K color range but if brightness is as important, you need to go lower Kelvin such as 5000K with increase in brightness such as 'Philips White Vision Gen2'.
If whiter color is more important, Osram Cool Blue Advance is getting quite popular.

You might want to check out our blog page that helps what best HID bulb could be for your needs here.

You can use LED lights with decoders, which we also have.

[Laxmanryan16]

Thanks for posting that with the information about brightness and kelvin rating. I had initially wanted something close to the 6000K but still a white light vs more yellow, like a lot of the new audi models have with the LEDs. I wish I could put straight LEDs in my 2009 A6 but I don't believe it would be a legit plug-and-play. I know the Nightbreaker Laser bulbs are definitely a good choice but aren't they more of a yellow ish color? Or what would be a good option as far as overall brightness and a white color? I was looking into the Xtreme White Gen2 but wasn't sure if that was the best overall option. I live in Colorado and it snows a lot so the more yellow might make more sense but I don't really have an issue when driving in the snow.

[mike@hidconcept]

Thanks for posting that with the information about brightness and kelvin rating. I had initially wanted something close to the 6000K but still a white light vs more yellow, like a lot of the new audi models have with the LEDs. I wish I could put straight LEDs in my 2009 A6 but I don't believe it would be a legit plug-and-play. I know the Nightbreaker Laser bulbs are definitely a good choice but aren't they more of a yellow ish color? Or what would be a good option as far as overall brightness and a white color? I was looking into the Xtreme White Gen2 but wasn't sure if that was the best overall option. I live in Colorado and it snows a lot so the more yellow might make more sense but I don't really have an issue when driving in the snow.

Generally speaking, most people want to have clean whitest color like LED and most light output.
Unfortunately, there isn't such option that satisfies both best visiblity and best coloring.
With that being said, think of what's more important; brightness vs color and go with that option.
Osram Night Breaker Laser is good only if YOU DO NOT care about color as its color is warm yellow stock HID light color but brighter.