Converting to HID headlights.
 

I bought a new Mazda3 I touring and i was wondering what kind of headlight bulbs does it use. i want to install HID's in it but I am not sure if it will void the warranty. Does anyone know?

Not sure about the warranty but it all depends on how bright you want to go with hids I'm lookin at doing the full hid conversion myself plus I'm not to worried about the warranty aspect of it.im thinking I'm Gonna end with 6000k myself

i was planning to get hids 55w 12000k's but the car is brand new so I'm worried about the warranty.

Way to bright lol

I have the 8000k and they are good, 12000k... is having the sun :)

I have 35w 5000k. They provide an excellent white light. I would stay away from the 55w HIDs. A few people have experienced some issues with the headlight housing getting too hot.

I also have 35w 3000k for my fog lights. They're not bad, but I wouldn't buy them again if I had the chance.

anything you do to the car that isn't an oem replacement is voiding the warranty..

does it only void the warranty on that item such as the headlights only or voids warranty on everything in the car such as the speaker warranty?

As long as the modification you make is not related to whatever problem your cars has then your good. But if you were to install say an intake and you throw a CEL because of your MAF sensor then your warranty is void.

I did 55w ballast with 8000K bulb for low beam. Have not experienced any problems 12000K will be purple dont do it it just looks wrong. I also did 35w 3000K for my fogs and still no problem! you should be fine running a 55w ballast on the headlight

I know this is a little old but I wanted to make a few quick comments.

1) "brightness". The kelvin rating of the lights (i.e. 5,000k, 8,000k, 12,000k, etc.) is not a brightness level. It's the color temperature of the lights themselves, or the color of the light they emit. That said you will get a difference in overall light output depending on which kelvin rating you select. The highest light output will be in the 4,100-4,300k range and that is what all OEM HID systems use. As you increase the kelvin rating the visible light moves progressively towards the blue end of the light spectrum and the actual light output decreases. 4,100k will be the whitest most "daylight" like level. 6,000-8,000k will be decidedly blue, and 12,000k will be blue/violet. On top of that blue light causes eye fatigue faster than white light.

2) legality. Technically in the US any aftermarket HID system is illegal for on road use. That's primarily because people install HID kits in reflector light housings which produce large amounts of glare blinding other drivers. HIDs in projector housings can control the light enough that, with proper aiming, blinding others isn't an issue. The 3's halogen projectors, while not nearly as good as the HID projectors, work well with HID kits. With a few modifications they can look even better.

3) warranty. While technically true that any modification to your car can void your warranty there has to be a clear correlation between what you do and an issue that is caused. If you put a lower system on your car and then part of your steering system began having issues the dealer could probably safely assume the lowering kit impacted the steering. If you put HIDs in and your AC stops working they can't void the warranty on the AC because of it.

As to safety IIRC the OEM halogen H7 lamps use a 55w lamp so the wiring can easily handle that power load. A regular 35w HID kit will pose no problems for the OEM wiring, and a 55w kit shouldn't either. Some people insist that you have to have a relay harness powering the ballasts........ some people disagree.

So the end story, if you want HIDs go for it, but think about it as well. The point of doing HIDs is to get better visible light so stay away from high kelvin rated lamps. If you want true HID fantasticness then invest the money into either OEM HID housings or retrofitting HID projectors into your housings. Either will give a much better result than HIDs in projectors designed for halogen lamps. If you can't drop the money for that then get a kit for your OEM halogen housings. If you can spare a little bit of cash and don't mind disassembling things you can swap in a clear lens from theretrofitsource.com for a better beam/cutoff, space the lens to provide that pretty blue cutoff, and trim off a tab on the shield to reduce glare.

i thought the newer mazda3's uses H11 bulbs

Oops, sorry. Missed the "bought a new Mazda 3" in the OP. The '04-'09 models use H7 lamps in the low beam on the halogen model. I'm not sure what the 10+ use. Still the rest of the post should be accurate.