Wronglane

"Wronglane and malmon I'm sure will be able to install the kits w/out any issues what so ever. The kits are plug n play and pretty much fail safe."

BurgBoxstr,don't go jinxing me now! I am going to order the 4300 kit from Steve tonight.Can't wait to install them. I will post some pics when I am done. Thanks to everyone who helped in my decision.

Wronglane

"WrongLane: Yes, I plan to install it myself but I'll wait til I get my 5k miles complimentary first oil change. I don't want to give Lexus an excuse to void my warranty. Found this thread with step-by-step instructions "


I did not realize you had a 2008. I can't believe HID's do not come stock on that year.What is Lexus waiting for??

The G Man

Stay away from those cheap E-bay kits. You should be able to buy something decent for about $150 to $200 now. A cheap ballast can melt components if you dont use a relay and draw power directly from the battery, and most of the cheap Ebay kit dont last too long and have very poor customer support.

BurgBoxstr

x2 to what G Man said

Stick w/ a kit you know works and has good support behind it. Many GX owners here have been down this road before you - no need for you to experiment w/ someone new only to get burned (no pun intended )

gsobol

I have bought and installed the low beam and fog kits from www.kbcarstuff.com. Installation was fairly simple. The kit comes with everything you need, including independent wiring and relays for both left and right sides. I decided to get 4300K kits for both low beam and fogs. I was considering 3000K kit for the fogs, but decided that yellow fogs will look out of place on the GX, and they may be distracting while driving. Also the light output and penetration of the 3000K bulbs is not as good as the 4300K. Here's the link to the kits:
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Xtreme_Dig...ts_p/xt-4k.htm

One comment, if you are thinking about installing a HID kit without relays, one word - DON'T. The low beam wiring harness can probably handle it as there are two different circuits for left and right sides of the vehicle, but the fogs have only one, so you will most likely fry it eventually. The current draw can be as much as 20A peek (!!! for each bulb !!!) while the bulb is warming up. The warmup period can last 15-60 seconds depending on the ambient temperature (average current draw somewhere around 10A with a downward sine curve to settle somewhere around 3-4A) , the peek spike can last even up to 3 seconds. This kind of electrical stress can potentially damage the harness, or connectors on the harness.

Also, one observation I have is, that when I flush my high beams, my fogs don't relight, or only one relights. If I turn them off and wait about 2-3 minutes, and turn them back on, they both relight no problem. My understanding is that that's what happens when the bulbs are warmed up and the ignitor doesn't fire, and ballast doesn't have enough power to relight the bulb. I wonder if there is a way to force the fogs on the GX to stay lit while using high beams. Does anyone know?

BurgBoxstr

Forcing them to stay lit:

Easiest way would be to jump the turn on lead from the lows to the fog relay for you kit. Thus ignoring the fog's OEM plug all together. Since you're running the XD kits w/ relays, there's no risk turning on 2 relays w/ the OEM low beam plug's lead. The draw to turn on 2 relays would still be dramatically lower than running one 55W H11 halogen. You might run into an issue w/ state inspection though. By law fogs are only to turn on w/ lows and off w/ highs. Driving lights are to only turn on w/ high and off w/ low.

I'm sure there are many other ways but I don't have a GX schematic to review.

malmon

Just ordered two sets of H11 extreme xenon from steve, I convinced a friend of mine to go with xenon depot as well. There's a discount of $25 per kit with the coupon code "CL".

Wronglane

Cool,I ordered mine 2 nights ago....cant wait to put them in. Did you go with the 4300 kit?

malmon

Sure did, 4300.

The G Man

Good choice.

cssnms

Alright, I was trying to stay away from reading this post because I knew if I read it I would want an HID kit - it's been the one thing that has bothered me about my GX since I bought it. I just don't understand why Lexus does not offer this feature on the GX model.

My only concern with the 4300k kit is the reported yellowing after it heats up or with age. In the thread posted earlier outlining instructions, Tony seemed very happy with the 6000k kit and they appeared to provide that true HID look found on every other luxury car. I don't have an issue with seeing the road in the rain or at night with my OEM, so I think any improvement in the brightness would be positive. Xdepot has a Volt 6000k kit on sale for $119, which I am considering. Is there as distinct difference between the 6000k kit and the 6500k kit?

cssnms

Did you go with a Volt kit, XD or Phillips?

The G Man

HID bulbs actually gets whiter as they age, if you can affort it, get the philips bulb.

BurgBoxstr

I can't answer your question specifically but I do have one of Steve's 5000K XD kits. Even w/ a 4300K kit, you'll get the true HID look. With my 5000K kit, it definitely falls into the Audi/BMW HID look.

5000K is about as far up the spectrum I personally would go. 6500K would be over the line - at least for where I live and drive (PA, WV, OH, VA & NC). Again, this is for me as I know others have there preferences. My other Lexus, '07 GS, has OEM HIDs and there is a distinct difference between them and the kit on the GX. My vision is 20/15 (thanks to Lasik a few yrs back ), but there are occasions on extremely dark, rainy nights when the 5000K doesn't do the best job. You can see reflections but not necessarily illumination (particularly on newer asphalt or dark concrete which seem to just soak up the "white").

In all sincerity, even with the add'l brightness/illumination provided by the XD kit, it took a bit of time getting used to the color shift. Some due to waiting for the XD lights to burn in to true color but there is definitely a learning curve.

Adding HIDs to the GX is my 2nd favorite mod (#1 was hardwiring my V1, #3 adding the VaisTech SLX XM/iPod kit). They are outstanding and a dream to use but there are occasions when I wish I'd gone w/ a 4500K. Not often mind you but it's there.

If you do a fair amount of nighttime driving in the GX - especially long distance/hwy, you may want to consider going w/ the XD 5000K or 4500K kits instead.

cssnms

Good feedback guys! I am speaking with Steve now about the various kits to include the Volt vs XD's kit with Phillips bulbs. It appears the major downside to the Volt kit is, it does not have two relays.

BurgBoxstr, what do you mean by this.... "5000K is about as far up the spectrum I personally would go. 6500K would be over the line - at least for where I live and drive (PA, WV, OH, VA & NC)." Are saying 6500k would be just to blue in your opinion? And what does that have to do with where you live? I drive in MD, VA, PA and NC at various times during the year.

Can you explain the difference? "My other Lexus, '07 GS, has OEM HIDs and there is a distinct difference between them and the kit on the GX." Are your 5000k lights whiter by comparison?

I do a fare amount of night driving but I have good eyes, so I don't need the brightest kit (4500k) and quite frankly I really don't need HID lights. Yes, I would like to have brighter lights, but I'll be honest, I just like the look of HID headlights on cars and the light they produce while I am driving. According to Steve, the 6k series kits (6000k and 6500k) would defenitely be brighter then OEM (this is just a benefit IMO) and still provide that distinctive blue HID tint. I did ask him about the 5000k kit, but it is good to hear about another users experience first hand.