GP Thunders not that bright. Help?

[seviay]

Installed the GP Thunder 8500s this weekend, and I'm very underwhelmed with the brightness. They seemed to be easy to install, so I'm not sure how we could have messed up (how could you mess that up, right?).

Has anyone experienced sub-par brightness from these? I'd say they're not even as bright as the stock bulbs that we took out, so I feel like I either got some faulty bulbs or somehow didn't get them installed properly. I'm assuming it's the latter, as what I see on my car pales in comparison to what I've seen in pictures -- both daytime and nighttime.

Any insight would be great. Thanks!

[Stuart@BMRAutowerkes]

They will be brighter with the car on, but yeh they aren't that bright.

Check out LUX or an HID option if you want something bright/very bright.

[seviay]

Certainly they should be brighter than stock though, right? They almost look like headlights do when the battery is dying. It's somewhat depressing

[1-2MANY]

I have the 7500k ones and in the daytime they are not as bright as stock. It's actually almost not visible in direct sunlight.

[M3Newbie88]

Originally Posted by seviay

Certainly they should be brighter than stock though, right? They almost look like headlights do when the battery is dying. It's somewhat depressing

No they are not as bright or brighter then stock.. if they were as bright or brighter then stock then they will be visible at night.. like another member said your best bet is LUX or Alpine but both are significantly more expensive then the GP thunders..

[Riley1524]

I had them for a little while and the inner ring was pretty bright, but like someone else mentioned, make sure to look at them with the engine on. You'd be happier with the LUX kit though

[1speedbike]

GP thunders will be slightly LESS bright than stock. A lower color temperature (like that of the stock bulbs) is going to produce a slightly less intense light for the same amount of power going in. With the engine on, you will see them light up slightly brighter, but for a direct bulb replacement like the GPs, they will be less bright than stock.

Alternatively, if they look much less bright, you could have not screwed the bulb in all the way when placing it into the headlight opening. If it isn't all the way in, the light won't correctly follow the tract of the corona rings, and they won't appear as well lit.

[seviay]

Originally Posted by 1speedbike

GP thunders will be slightly LESS bright than stock. A lower color temperature (like that of the stock bulbs) is going to produce a slightly less intense light for the same amount of power going in. With the engine on, you will see them light up slightly brighter, but for a direct bulb replacement like the GPs, they will be less bright than stock.

Alternatively, if they look much less bright, you could have not screwed the bulb in all the way when placing it into the headlight opening. If it isn't all the way in, the light won't correctly follow the tract of the corona rings, and they won't appear as well lit.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check it out this weekend. They definitely seem quite a bit dimmer than stock, so I suspect we didn't get them properly aligned / screwed in.

[LuxAngelEyes]

Originally Posted by 1speedbike

GP thunders will be slightly LESS bright than stock. A lower color temperature (like that of the stock bulbs) is going to produce a slightly less intense light for the same amount of power going in. With the engine on, you will see them light up slightly brighter, but for a direct bulb replacement like the GPs, they will be less bright than stock.

Alternatively, if they look much less bright, you could have not screwed the bulb in all the way when placing it into the headlight opening. If it isn't all the way in, the light won't correctly follow the tract of the corona rings, and they won't appear as well lit.

Well Yes and no to your reason by why they will be less bright. The reason they are less bright is because they are basically the same filament producing the light. the GPThunder bulbs have a blue coating on the bulb which filters out much of the yellow light leaving you with a cooler color light. The overall amount of is less because a lot of the wavelengths are being blocked

But yes the LUX H8 V3 will be a very good option if you are looking for something better

[icabod7]

Is LUX brighter than stock during the day?

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by LuxAngelEyes

Well Yes and no to your reason by why they will be less bright. The reason they are less bright is because they are basically the same filament producing the light. the GPThunder bulbs have a blue coating on the bulb which filters out much of the yellow light leaving you with a cooler color light. The overall amount of is less because a lot of the wavelengths are being blocked

But yes the LUX H8 V3 will be a very good option if you are looking for something better

Ooo i see. You're right the GPs (and MTECs) have that coating. However, with my HID kit the yellow (lower color temp) is definitely slightly brighter than the blueish 8000K temperature and neither of the bulbs have coatings on them. I figured that's what was going on here too, but thanks for the correction

[HISI808]

or you could go the opposite way and get the brightest yellow bulbs you can. Then they will be brighter than stock. This is what I did. Replaced the stock bulbs with PIAA Plasma Ion Yellow bulbs.