Anyone else do projector retrofits?

[Deerhurst]

I'm a headlight nerd. Always gotta run the best I can afford. The best is a HID projector. Tons of light output without blinding everyone on low beam! Best of both worlds! Can see the world without blinding the world!

Anyways, I've done a few. Easiest was a bixenon retrofit into a 99 Nissan Sentra. Drop it in the oven, pull them apart and stuff a projector in there. Boom. Done. Used cheap $23 projectors. Turned out way more awesome than expected! Nice tight flicker line in the cutoff, minimal forelight and a very impressive highbeam. Super impressed with those projectors for the money. Nice clean, sharp cutoff on low and a good flood on high. These were in my "methmobile".

Next most difficult was a 7x6 retrofit with some 3" projectors. Gotta remove half the headlight bowl to fit the projector. Had to do these twice after having a lens crack. Output is awesome but nothing like some of the new projectors. Run these in my personal truck. $200 projectors with hylux 45w ballasts and morimoto bulbs. Baddest aftermarket projectors you could buy back in the day!

Most difficult was the bixenon retrofit I did on my B6 audi. Tried to keep everything stock, blacked out all the chrome and dropped a little bixenon morimoto in place of the factory singles. It's got quad high beams and one hell of a throw on low even though the headlights and the beam is only knee height! Permaseal sucks, BTW. 8-9 hours a housing to open them. Everything works as it should. No bulb out errors and the autolevelling still works!

Between the Audi and the 7x6 in difficulty is the 2006 Altima I just finished. Basic budget retrofit with quad highs. Looking forward to seeing the output of this one! Low beam should throw pretty good with a great cutoff and highs should be impressive!

Not bad for 5hrs of work total including the lunch break!

The goal is to always make the lights better for the driver and increase safety for other drivers too. Don't blind everyone and put light as far away from the car as possible and put it on the road where it needs to be! With a proper projector you will never get that glare you get by the idiots that stuff LEDs in halogen reflector housings and they put out way more light than the LEDs you'll get for headlights. What's not to love?!?!

Anyone else dabble in stuff like this?

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[The Heretic]

I have not done it. I was under the impression that anymore HIDs had to have self-leveling systems - do your retrofits have that?

I might do it for my trucks though. Probably do LED retros for my '92 Toyota 4x4. I would like HIDs for my '97 Dodge - not sure if it will work. I am certainly going to put some additional lighting on my trucks, for "off-road" use only though.

I am a fan of the adaptive HIDs on my X1 - work great here on the mountain curves, especially in the winter, but I would not mind adding some additional lights - deer on the road are a real problem and my old eyes are not getting any better, especially at night.

 

[Deerhurst]

My Audi has auto levelling from the factory. It only adjusts for payload and not the road you are on. It's one of the few factory HID vehicles I've seen with any sort of auto levelling. You won't find auto levelling in most new cars with HIDs. Ford doesn't do it on their pickups. Not does dodge or chevy from my experiences. Havnt found it in the newer toyotas either but I havnt taken apart any of those yet. Mostly it's just luxary vehicles like BMW, Lexus, Audi, Merc from what I've seen.

I think the auto levelling is more of a Euro requirement. US DOT requirements are pretty open allowing manufacturers to decide if they are following the rules or not. The standards are pretty bad too. They allow for a lot of really crappy things to pass. Those new fords and the toyotas that blind the crap out of you, that's DOT legal and it wouldn't be Euro legal. I build everything to meet or exceed Euro spec if I can. Everything is -1.5degrees (Audi uses this), everything has a Euro cutoff pattern which is easier on incoming traffic than DOT as the DOT pattern is the same as a Euro foglight cutoff spec. I prefer sharp, dramatic cutoffs and dislike squirrel finders so while it may make signs harder to read you get less glare to other drivers. I usually like a small flicker line but some projectors just have a huge flicker line. My Morimoto Mini H1 7.0s have a crazy flicker. Big huge blue/purple area. You don't see it until you shine on a wall. Folks have told me they can see it on the road if the road surface is just right. They say it makes the headlight turn deep blue. They say it's not blinding or bright, just very unique. I'm not a fan. I'll probably shim out the flicker line to make it thinner.

If you go LED, Morimoto does make some Bi-LED projectors. They only make about 2/3 the lumens of a HID projector though. LEDs just are not all that bright. those Bi-LEDs are rated at 2800lms. A 35w 4500k HID is 3500lms.

I'm sure a 2.5" projector will fit in the dodge.

I don't like the headlights that turn with the steering wheel. It's just not right. It's a little disorienting to me. Next time you need bulbs for that X1 look at going down a little in kelvin. It probably has a 5000k or 5500k in there from the factory because people think white/slightly blue is brighter. It's isn't. It's harder to focus your eyes in and dimmer. 4500k gets the most raw lumens and is comparable to noon daylight. It's like a slightly warm white. Has a hint of yellow. Yellow is way easier to focus your eyes with. That's why people say yellow fogs penetrate bad weather. They don't any more than anything else, just the warmer color is easier on the eyes so you see better. You can focus easier. I run 2800k halogens in my fogs. Makes everything deep yellow. It's awesome in crappy weather. It can be blizzard on a pass and with those you just see everything. Doesn't bother the eyes with the reflection off the snow or anything. I can turn them off in heavy snow and basically feel blind with 10,000lms out front but those little yellow bulbs maybe making 1000lms each just let me see everything.

I also plan to either do 3000k LED fogs or do a 2500-3000k HID matchbox projector in my fogs. Has to be yellow, has to be adjustable and has to have a sharp cutoff.

 

[The Heretic]

Shih.3 | NHTSA

Mr. Simon S. Shih 4 Teal Irvine, CA 92604 Dear Mr. Shih: This responds to your e-mail, in which you seek clarification regarding the legality of high intensity discharge (HID) headlamp conversion sets, specifically whether it is legal to manufacture or sell sets of HID headlamps to replace...

www.nhtsa.gov

Apparently you are correct about the leveling DOT reqs

My mother's Lexus had autoleveling. IIRC it was a 2007 or so model.

My X1 has autoleveling and it turns with the corners.

 

[The Heretic]

My X1 headlights are not near as objectionable as a lot of HIDs out there and the turning with the wheel keeps the headlights in my lane instead of pointing straight ahead when I am going around a corner - this keeps them from pointing into the eyes of oncoming traffic and lets me see what is around the corner.

LEDs might not be as bright as HIDs, but they are brighter than the halogens in my 20-30 year old trucks.

 

[Deerhurst]

My Audi is an 03 with autolevelling. It's very strange to see it move on the road.

I'm not used to the hotspot moving which is why I don't like the lights that steer with you. It's just strange!

I'm just very biased against LED because most people just shove the ebay special in their rigs and blind everyone and my eyes are a bit more sensitive to blue light at night.