9011 HIR Bulbs Installed w/ Pictures

disclaimer: I'm just providing all necessary information, not promoting someone over another vendor, and no I don't have any cut of profits

 

I picked up a set of HIR bulbs from a guy on E-Bay, named Bill Fox. I ordered them late Thursday night, they were mailed out Friday afternoon by USPS Express Mail, and received them on Saturday. I didn't get around to putting them in until Sunday, but I have pictures of the results.

 

First, a little background - HIR bulbs were developed by GE as a way to produce a higher light output from standard Halogen bulbs. HIR stands for Halogen Infrared Reflecting. Initially these were only used on the Dodge Viper, but are becoming more commonly used as OEM applications including the new Chevy Avalanche. They are currently ONLY manufactured by one company - Toshiba. If you ever find someone selling HIR bulbs and they are not made by Toshiba (clearly stamped on the base), then they are not HIR bulbs. An earlier post from someone said that they had 9006 HIR 10000k bulbs and they thought they sucked - well those weren't HIRs... for a few reasons.

 

HIR bulbs come in two flavors:

9011 HIR1 - these are meant to be used in a high beam application and emit 2350lumens at a very slightly higher color temp 3600K versus 9005s which emit 1700lumens at 3250K. With a slight modification to one of the tabs on the base will fit seemlessly into the 9005 (HB3) high beam housings and have the same focal point as well. Both applications are 65W.

 

9012 HIR2 - similarly, these were designed as a replacement for 9006 (HB4) low beams with similar color temps as the HIR2 and a light output of 1875 lumens versus 1000lumens in the 9006. Both are 55W.

 

I purchased one set of 9011s to replace my high beams. I have a 2005 Legacy GT which uses the following bulbs:

Low : H7

High : 9005

Fog : H3

 

Outbacks have a similar setup

Low : H7

High : 9005

Fog : 9006 <--- this makes things interesting

 

When I purchased my 9011s, the option was offered to have them already pretrimmed to fit in a 9005 housing. I opted for that to make things a bit quicker. Now, I have previously modified 9005 bulbs to fit into a 9006 housing, which leads to the inevitable question:

You can fit:

9011→9005 1700lm→2350lm

9012→9006 1000lm→1875lm

9005→9006 1000lm→1700lm

 

So, what about 9011→9006 2350lm→1000lm It IS possible, and infact, if asked, Bill will modify the 9011 lamps to fit a 9006 housing. This is certainly an interesting point for the Outback owners looking for a little more light. Of course, the 9006 uses 55W and the 9011 use 65W but that type of overwattage shouldn't be anything to worry about. My friend's 2003 C Class freaks out if any bulb goes overwattage and will alert you to such and shut off that lamp, as it did when he tried to use so called 100W H7s (don't ask, I've just finally convinced him to remove the AMG sticker he put on) but we're going to give the 9011s a shot in his 9006 fogs. But I digress.

 

I got the bulbs put in Sunday evening, and went for a ride to test them out, and found a 'white' wall to take some comparison pics.

These pictures were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel (300D) in full manual mode in RAW format at

Shutter Speed 1/8s

Aperture Value 3.5

ISO Speed 400

Lens 18.0 - 55.0mm

Focal Length 21.0mm

 

The White Balance is pretty close to what you see in person, but more importantly is consistent across the shots. In fact, all the settings are consistent across the shots to show the relative changes between bulbs.

 

Subjectively, the output is very noticable when viewed head on comparing 9005 to 9011. When travelling through the twisties on Riverside Drive, there is a noticable difference in lumination. Its not just that I can see slightly farther, but everything that was visible before is much better lit.

 

First Pic is the 'dark field' used for comparison

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/DarkField.jpg

 

Second is OEM H7 LOW BEAMS ONLY

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/OEMH7.jpg

 

Third is OEM H7 LOW BEAMS + OEM H3 FOGS

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/OEMH7+OEMH3.jpg

 

Fourth is OEM H7 LOW BEAMS + OEM 9005 HIGH BEAMS

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/OEMH7+OEM9005.jpg

 

Fifth is OEM H7 LOW BEAMS + HIR 9011 HIGH BEAMS

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/OEMH7+9011HIR.jpg

 

And an animation....

http://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/HIRAnimation.gifhttp://www.ramsites.net/~s2jdepew/LegacyGT/HIRanimation.gif

 

Forgive the crappy animation, as its based on all I could find - can anyone suggest a better Gif Animator? DO SO THROUGH PrivateMessage, DO NOT CLUTTER THE THREAD WITH SUGGESTIONS!

 

I will post a set of pictures of the bulbs with focus on the markings. They are DOT approved and are again, the only ones manufactured, currently by Toshiba.

 

You can view Bill's Ebay Auction here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7951182275&category=33710&sspagename=WDVW

and his website here

http://www.hirheadlights.com/

 

Again, he was very helpful and did not overcharge on shipping which seems to be THE WAY to make money on Ebay. Give him a shout if you're interested in this upgrade. I certainly have found it well worth it.

reserved for second post re: bulb pics

FYI H3 65W HIR's are available.. Claims "130W" performance

http://www.4wdmegastores.com.au/products_ak/driving_lights/ipf

http://www.davesport.com/cgi-bin/davesport/HIR1265WB.html

 

Also H7 HIR's or equivalents may possibly be available:

http://www.highbimmin.com/Ultimate.htm

This guy is offering HIR replacement bulbs for H7 for the R6, however it is not clear whether he is converting the bulb or the housing, someone's gotta ask.

 

Anyway, doesn't seem as if it's very easy to get these bulbs, the markup is huge because there are so few vendors. At almost $50 for an H3 bulb might as well get HID's..

Glad to hear you like them since I have a pair on the way. In fact they should be here today. I just hope they have a decent lifespan.

 

jesse_h

I have seen the same guy advertising on Ebay. The price is not that bad; especially since there are only two places I have found that sells them. I want to change out the low beams (h7), but don't know what to go with. Is there HIR lights for the h7s??

I hope that Bill doesn't mind me posting this, but he actually pointed me to those bulbs with the following warning. I had seen them before too but knew that they are not based on current HIR design technology. Again, only Toshiba holds the rights to that, and these are likely something based loosely on the old GE design.

Here's a place I found recently that might interest you for your fog lights, though there are so many cautions here it might be a non-starter. First, the bulbs are longer than stock by 8-10 mm, so there could be housing fitment issues, and there's no way to figure out where the filament is positioned. Second, it's an H3 in base configuration only. To be an H3, it has to have a transverse filament. To be an HIR, it has to have an axial filament. It is basically one bulb grafted into a different base. These two facts together almost guarantee erratic performance in a reflector housing, since the filament won't be where it was designed to reflect from. Third, I've heard that the manufacturer, I{F, doesn't have a great reputation in the industry. It's possible that they bought the tooling for the old original GE bulbs when GE got out of the HIR biz. If so, it's not at all clear that they are capable of the plasma electrodeposition process for the HIR coating. Also, the GE bulbs as used in the Viper et al had a reputation for fragility, despite the external support wire. Not likely that IPF will have improved on it. Fourth, they're $50 per.

 

All that notwithstanding, if I was going to try them at all it would be in fog housings. They'd likely be a disaster in headlights, but might be OK in fogs. I mean fogs that are decently mounted and aimed, that is. If they're focused out to the sides and down and low, with a wide flat beam, then more light might work and make sense. With badly done fogs, you'd die of backdazzle if you used them in actual fog or snow, assuming they put out the light they claim.

 

Anyway, FWIW, here are some "kind-of" H3 HIRs:

http://www.offroadtuff.com/IPFbulbs.htm

Now, I imagine that it would be possible to implement the current HIR technology (coating, bulb and filament design) into an H7 or H3 style application, but they have yet to be produced yet. Personally, I'm not willing to throw $100 away on these bulbs, when I'm pretty much expecting 150W JDM TypeR Xenon HIR HID 150000K MegaBright UltraPurple Performace out of them. But, that said, caveat emptor.

with the higher output bulbs...does that add stress to the battery or do you require a new fuse? don't know...had to do that with old porsche.

with the higher output bulbs...does that add stress to the battery or do you require a new fuse? don't know...had to do that with old porsche.

The power draw of the new bulbs is the same, 65W. There is no need to upgrade your wiring, fuses, or relays as they do not draw either additional current or amperage. In the case of true 100W bulbs (not those 35W=100W-like output bulbs), then yes, it may be an issue, but i also doubt that these cars were built to meet the bare minimum of power requirements.

FYI H7 HIR http://huaxingjc.en.alibaba.com/product/50090153/50416039/Halogen_Bulbs/Halogen_Bulb.html

That bulb in the pic is an H4 HID bulb.

anybody have a link to the modification that needs to be done to get the 9011 bulbs to fit?

I don't have a link for a complete walkthrough, but I just installed these bulbs in my car.

 

The mod is very simple. Basically, the top tab on the HIR 9011 is slightly larger than the 9005. It is a thin tab so it is easily removed. I originally tried to use a knife but I found it too difficult to try and hold the bulb without touching the glass, etc. So I then resorted to using a dremel tool. This worked extremely well and only took a few minutes. All the plastic shavings were easily dusted off.

 

I included a pic to show what needs to be done. If you want to see a completed bulb just let me know.

thanks! Didn't realize it was so simple.

No problem.