Improved lighting on a 2001: Halogen , HID or LED

[jayfrem]

Hi There

Have a 1999 LC 100.

Was looking to improve headlight coverage at night....
I red few posts on The forum and seems that LED is not the way to go on a 16 years old headlight housing.

I use my truck to get to the ski slopes where we do hit occasioonal fog.

Am I better off going with improved halogen or HID. ? Would like to have a functional Improvement

Amazon.com: HID Kit by Kensun with Xenon Lights, 9006, 12000K - 2 Year Warranty: Automotive

 

[CharlieS]

Based on what people here tell me (and photos posted here) a bi-xenon HID projector is the way to go.

People say HID/LED without the right lens (or a projector) is not as useful because the reflector just scatters the light (I have a LED on my motorcycle in stock housing and it seems fine...).

Some people like the Depo replacement headlights either with stock bulbs or silverstar ultras.

I got the '06-07 style Depos that fit the early vehicles without modification from another mud member, and they didn't really make me happy because of the light pattern - hotspots, not even brightness - maybe just an aiming issue, but I haven't been able to figure it out.

I'm about to install Morimoto Mini H1 bi-xenon HID projectors in my Depos (nice clear lens). I got the projectors and shrouds yesterday. Unfortunately, they didn't come with bulbs or ballast/igniters...which kind of surprised me when I opened the box. Need to get that stuff now too, so it'll be a few days instead of this weekend... and more money... dang it.

The next question you may have if you got HID is which bulb. I'm going with a 4300K for more usable light. I have similar conditions, driving to the ski slopes 2-3x a week, often in the dark. That 12000K bulk kit you linked to above is going to be super blue and sacrifice usable light.

I wonder if anyone has tried LEDs in a projector? That would be a cool setup if it worked (I love the LED lights on my bike).

 

[TomEf]

I put the OPT-7 LED bulbs in my stock LX projectors on Wednesday. I can't really give good feedback yet since one is flickering and I'm not sure the other is lighting both diodes. It's probably a voltage regulation thing, and they say they'll ship some capacitor job for free but their customer support is backed up from the holidays.

 

[LockedNLoaded]

Good Luck with OPT-7. Their lights are not that great and their customer service is even worse. They always have excuses on why it takes so long to respond and when they do I found they never even address your concerns. I purchased some H3 LED's over the summer, they were dead on arrival and it took them three weeks to even respond and that was in July! Unfortunately, my wife purchased some more for me for Christmas (she didn't know I already purchased them before and returned them). Decided to give them another try for her sake and again they dont work properly at all. I contacted them only for them to respond a couple weeks later giving me instructions on how to install HID's! I dont think they even read the e-mails sent to them. So again they were sent back. I would stay far away from these people. That's my .02

 

[spaber05]

Do it right the first time and get a proper retrofit. The only thing you are doing by plugging in an HID kit is scattering light all over the place and blinding oncoming traffic.

Before some minor adjustments:

LED DRL/turn signal ring arond the high beam housing. Morimoto D2S for the main low/hi beam and Mini H1's for high's only.

I too had these done for the winter anticipating many late night trips up to VT to ski, so I decided to go a little overboard, but it was totally worth it.

Am I a broken record? Probably, but I truly believe that the retrofit is worth the extra expense over a plug and play HID bulb.

Go to How To: HID+Projector Retrofit on a 100 Series. and take a good look around there.

 

[jayfrem]

Thanks a lot for the advise. I guess short cuts are not worth on this one.

Will look into the proper headlight retrofit