Finished another HID retrofit

[wazzelby]

It's hard to answer the question of "what kind" of anything you should get. It really depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of quality you want. I like the TSX projectors because of their size and light output. But some people don't car and just want "HID's"
I say if you're gonna do it, do it right! TSX projectors 4300K lights, etc...

 

[eclipsh]

Nice work! I just picked a set of VW New Beetle headlights out of the junk yard for their projectors ( much cheaper than buying new). They use 50w Halogen bulbs but should still be a nice change over the stock headlights on my Galant. Do you have to do anything special to shield the plastic of the headlight assembly from extra heat or is it not a problem? Are you using silicone for your adhesive?

 

[wazzelby]

Honestly, I've never heard of using the VW projectors but if you say they use halogen lamps then I would say the light output may not be as good as you'd expect. Those halogen projectors don't do a very good job of focusing the light or cutting down on the glare. The extra heat inside your headlights may cause the plastic to discolor also.
If you are going to take the time to retrofit projectors then you should make sure you use a good quality projector housing as that will really make or break the whole thing. Go cheap on those and you'll regret doing all that work when you see the finished product.

Wow, finished another 2GB TSX retro last night. Full plug and play with all wiring, ballasts and everything tucked inside the headlight! Just plug in the headlight like a stock one and go!

 

[eclipsh]

Here are some shots of what the headlights I'm working with put out for light. Both use a 50 watt halogen bulb stock.

This is the VW projector. My wife and I owned a New Beetle and the headlights were great. I never felt like I was out driving them like I do with my stock Mitsu headlights.

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Here is a shot of the light output.

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Here is the stock headlight with the plastic lens.

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You can see that the light isn't dispersed nearly as well as the light from the VW projector. Way more of a hot spot effect.

Here is the VW projector through the stock Galant lens and the stock headlight side by side. You can see it has more even light dispersal and a decent cut-off. Not a whole lot brighter though.

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Here they are with just the VW projector and no plastic Galant lens.

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[wazzelby]

Honestly, I would be a little hesitant to use those because that cutoff line is to soft. That can cause glare to oncoming drivers. It may not look too bad from the drivers side but it's a whole different world from the oncoming traffic side.
I'm not saying you shouldn't use them, in the end it's all up to you. I'm just trying to help you out. I've done side by side comparisons of one of my TSX retrofits and a halogen "retrofit" and the difference was slightly noticeable from the drivers side, but when looking from a distance from the oncoming drivers perspective it was night and day. The halogen projectors had tons of glare and didn't seem nearly as bright.
I have no doubt you'll see better than you do with the stock headlights. I just want to be sure you know as much as possible before tearing into things

 

[the_mork]

I'm actually fairly impressed with that cutoff compared to many other HID retrofits. I think it likely would be fine but I would consider angling it down just a touch to be safe, with the extra light you probably will still make significant visibility gains.

Good job.

 

[Ripley]

So I'd like to talk to you about doing some retrofits for me but I don't seem to be able to PM you. If you want to send me a message that'd be helpful. Or if there's another way to reach you let me know.

 

[EclipticalGS]

I dont know if this has been said because I didnt read through the posts, but IMHO I think the LED's would look much better if they werent so close together..Like if you just took out every other the lights would be spaced out a little better and I think would look better. Also I would like to see some rolling shots from far away in dark or at the end of your driveway with the bumper on at least before I make any more assumptions as I could be wrong.

But that cutoff is decent btw, I hate getting my eyes cooked by oncoming hondas

 

[Blurred Talon]

Not sure if it's been said but HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum - The Buzz has great info for HID retro related stuff.

 

[wazzelby]

I just wanted to update (since I've gotten quite a few PM's recently) that I'm no longer offering these to the general public. I just do not have the time at the moment and it isn't really financially beneficial to try and put these together on a regular basis. I don't really think most people understand how much work is involved in doing a true retrofit.
I'd be glad to offer advice for anyone wanting to do this though.