In many HID bulb, there is a “K” marked at the end of the color. “K” represent for Kelvin, it is a unit measure of color temperature. Different number indicates different color style. Which color you get that depends on what light you want to perform on your car. But for driving safety on road, I suggest 4300K-5000K, because it is close to the sunlight (white light) that human eyes perceive.
There are seven “K”s for HID color temperature: 3000K, 4300K, 5000K, 6000K, 8000K, 10000K and 12000K. the lower number with the longest wavelength and the best penetration the light has. The penetration of 3000K and 4300K is the best, comparing to 10000K and 12000K, they are the worst. Color temperature is related to the penetration, it has no business of Lumen. The color temperature high or not won’t influence the brightness of the light. However, in rainy day or foggy day, the visibilty of 3000K and 4300K HID bulb might be better. Contrary to 10000K and 12000K, they will cause a poor visibility. The sunlight is about 5500K, a pure white 5000K imitates to the sunlight, it is comfortable and will not damage the eyes.
3000K emits yellow light output. 4300K and 5000K emits warm white light output (4300K is white light with a little of yellow, 5000K is bright white). 6000K emits pure white light output. 8000K emits medium blue light output. 10000K and 12000K emits bluish light output.
Low beam headlight kit is usually 4300K-5000K. 3000K is used in high beam headlight kit, such as fog light, it has a highest visibility when driving in the rainy day and foggy day, Most top brand, like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, their factory HID bulb is about 4300K, which would not higher than 5000K. For the ECE standard, HID headlight can not be over 6000K, it is illegal to upgrade to 8000K or over 8000K headlight bulb. Because the less useful brightness and lower visibility of 8000K-12000K, it is easy to cause a traffic accident, unsafe for the road driving.
The color temperature effect is shown as below (from 3000K to 12000K):
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