I wanted to get black headlight housings for my 2003 red monte carlo ss and I found a nice pair for a decent price on K2 motors.

00-05 Chevy Monte Carlo Crystal Headlights - Black

the info says recommended light bulbs are 4200k. However I found some really nice platnium blue headlights from recon

RECON Platinum Blue 5,600 Kelvin Headlight Bulbs
that are 5600k I emailed K2 and they said it might do damage try at my own risk. So then I went back to recons website to see if they had anything lower then 5600K and thye had some nice diamond whites that are 4600K
RECON Diamond White Xenon 4,600 Kelvin Headlight Bulbs
do you still think that is too much and would cause damage? I currently have the OEM headlight housings would those support the higher degree bulbs? What is a soulition I can try to be able to get either of those bulbs, different housings? Or would those bulbs not do any damage at all? Thanks

 

A lot of people that purchased the black housings later reported poor light output and because of it reinstalled their original housings. Just something to think about before making a purchase.

The 56K, 46K, etc. is the frequency (color) of the light output. The wattage the bulbs draw is a bigger concern as far as damaging the housings or wiring goes. No matter what color output you go with I suggest opting for the wiring harness that feeds the lights directly from the battery and utilizes the original wiring as the relay trigger only.

 

I love my black housed headlights! I have 10k HID's high and low with switchback turn signals. I love them. personally i didnt see much difference with light output but then again I dont drive a lot at night. I also put 10k's in my fogs as well :P

 

so your saying the amount of power those lights draw is more then reccommended and would possible cause damage. How would I go about rewiring this to make it work? If I did rewire with harness that would make it safe to use the 46k on those housings?

 

If you get 35 watt bulbs you should be okay as far as the housings go, but I would still opt for a wiring harness. Just don't get the higher wattage 55 watt or 100 watt bulbs. Several companies offer a wiring harness for HID lights. It's constructed from a larger gauge wire so it can handle the initial amperage draw and maintain the circuit without overheating. It's a pretty straight forward installation so it shouldn't be too difficult to do. The harness wires (through a fuse) directly to the battery and powers the relay. From the relay two wires power the ballasts and one wire connects to one of the existing bulb sockets to act as the trigger. You also have a couple ground wires to attach to the frame/body.

When you turn on your headlights it energizes the relay (which completes the circuit between battery and ballasts) and the lights come on. If the ballasts were wired directly to the bulb sockets the amperage demand from the ballasts would be through the original lighting circuit. Since it is not constructed from a large enough gauge wire to handle the demand it can become hot and melt the outer casing. Some people have reported good luck using the original circuit where as others have reported problems. For the price of a harness (even cheaper if you make it) it's (to me) cheap insurance.

 

Like Mike said above - the hotter temperature output of the bulbs isn't going to melt the housings, and a relay would definitely be recommended. Even though 35 watt bulbs (which is what I'd recommended, you don't need 50+ watts) would technically be safe on factory wires I still wouldn't trust it. It's worth the little bit of extra time to avoid melting the factory wiring.

 

I know Mike (chibi) had these headlights on his 2000 but switched back to stock because of the light output. Light output is more of a factor for some than others, and some don't see a difference.

I'm just finishing up a project with some black housed headlights for my 06. There is the possibility of lower light output; I had also been warned about it when I started talking about going with mine. However, I went ahead anyway because I don't drive the Monte that much at night anymore and I love the appearance of the black housing on the car.