LED An LED headlight generates around 9,000 to 10,000 lumens, making it the brighter option. On average, you might achieve around 7,000 to 8,000 lumens from an HID. I believe this because voltage and wattage for each of the three bulb types are listed on the housing (D2R, H7, and H1), even though only 2 of them are used in each configuration. HID A typical halogen headlight produces around 1,000 lumens, but an HID headlight produces much more. I believe at least some parts of the housing, maybe the black, back portion are identical for 2003-2005 regardless of which system is in use. The HID system uses the H7 for high beam, and the halogen system uses the H7 for the low beam.Īlso, I don't think you can tell by reading the markings on the housing. It's strange, but both systems use an H7 bulb. If the high beam bulb is an H1, you have a halogen system, and for low beam, your Z uses an H7 bulb.

If you want to confirm, your car will have a ballast. If the high beam bulb is an H7, you have a HID system, and for low beam, your Z uses a D2R bulb. I can tell that my Z has a Philips H7 high beam. The H1 is not fully cylindrical, and has electronics visible within the bulb (at least the bulbs I looked at online). Luckily, they look quite different, with the H7 almost perfectly cylindrical. Your high beam bulb will be either an H7, or an H1. Shine a light on it, and you can see it clearly which bulb it is. The High beam bulbs are visible though, and that's how you can tell which system you have.Īt the bottom, center of the housing, below the projector/reflector, there's a bulb facing forward. On 2003-2005 models, the low and high beam bulbs are separate, with the low beam bulbs located behind a projector/reflector, so they aren't visible without removing them. Although LED headlights currently fall a little short of the brightness achieved by HIDs, they hit maximum brightness within a millionth of a second compared with the half second required by. The housing is different on the 2006+, and there isn't a second bulb for high beam. My understanding is that 2006+ only come with the Bi-Xenon headlamps regardless of model, so both low and high beams are implemented with one D2S bulb.

I found a consistent, and easy way to tell whether a 350z has HID or Halogen low beams on a 2003-2005 without removing the housing.

Halogen vs hid headlights