BTCTexas

Hello everyone,

I have a 2008 GX470 and always wanted to upgrade factory low beams to HID. I am very indecisive and can’t make up my mind which one to go with. I, however, have narrowed them down to the 5 listed below.

Option # 1:

Genuine Philips HID bulbs and Philips ballasts with Relay Cable (4200K/4300K or 6000K)

$239.99 + $15.00 (Relay Cable) - $50.13 (Code “tax5013”) = $204.86 w/ free shipping

- OEM equipments but read that ballast is only semi-waterproof and not sure if it
comes with a Relay Harness/Cable. I haven’t seen anyone post comments about this kit nor about this online store on any forums. I would probably have to go through Philips to get parts replaced under warranty. It’s about the same price with the Xtreme HID kit in option # 2.

http://www.philipshidkits.com/h11-xe...nversion-kits/

Option # 2:

Xtreme HID Kit and Genuine Phillips HID bulbs 4300K (I believe this kit comes with a Relay Cable)

$224.99 - $25.00 (Code “CL”) = $199.99 w/ free shipping

- Ballast is waterproof with Philips HiD bulbs and also read that they have excellent service. Is ballast made in China? Do they charge shipping fees for replacement parts covered by the warranty? TRS does.

http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Xtreme-Dig...-p/xtp-hid.htm

Option # 3:

Xtreme HID Kit and Xenon Depot HID bulbs 5000K (I believe this kit also comes with a Relay Cable)

$169.99 - $25.00 (Code “CL”) = $144.99 w/ free shipping

- Same kit as Option # 2 without the Philips bulbs. Are the Xenon Depot HID bulbs comparable to the Philips bulbs? Or is it “you get what you pay for”?

http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Xtreme-Dig...d.htm?CartID=1

Option # 4:

Morimoto Elite HID System 5000K w/ Relay Harness

$150.00 - $30.00 (Code “TRSAPRIL”) + $14.00 (Shipping) = $134.00

- Really how solid this kit looks. I read Morimoto is made in China but with a really stick quality control. I also read that TRS charges for shipping on warranty replacement parts. Other than those, I read many good things about this store and kit. I also read that their bulbs are comparable to the Philips ones.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...oducts_id=3955

Option # 5:

Kensun Premium Ballast or Slim Ballast 5000K

$71.59 + $6.59 (Shipping) = $78.18

- Almost 4.5 Stars out of 5.0 from over 450 reviews and seems to have a great customer service. This kit for sure is made in China (99.9% aftermarket kits are). The price used to be $69.99 with free shipping because it was fulfilled by Amazon but still cheaper than the above kits. With this option, I could get H11 low beams kit and H3 fog lights for about $150.00.



I apologize for my indecisiveness but like everyone else, I want to get it right the first time. That’s why I’ve been researching like a mad man. The SUV is actually my wife’s ride (and our weekend vehicle) and she will be **** off at me if I spend money to have issues with the lights when the Halogen bulbs were working just fine. She could careless about what kind of lights we have as long as she can see the road at night and the halogens on the GX are bright enough since we drive mostly in the city. The HID of course will be brighter and will make the SUV look better.

Please help and provide any inputs you guys may have!

Thanks in advance!

infinirx

None. Buy Denso retrofitted. About 100% of those you listed are knock offs. "Genuine Philips"? maybe.

Your gonna spend $500 for two pairs + but it's a 5yr warranty and Denso are OEM. http://www.theretrofitsource.com is where you get those from. one out of the two Morimoto did not work out of box. Denso all the way.

Booyah

Number 2 or 3~ I run Xenon depot HID kits for low and Fog for almost 3 years now! 1000% happy and if things go wrong Steve will take care of you immediately. Steve is a forum vendor on here--

BTCTexas

Infinirx/Booyah – thank you for your suggestions and recommendations.

Infinirx –Denso is the OEM for many Toyota/Lexus parts but do you know if Denso ballasts are waterproof or do Toyota/Lexus mount them in a special place/casing? Where did you put yours in the GX? And did you get the Morimoto or Philips bulbs? I saw @ TRS this Philips OEM HID System.

D2S: Philips OEM HID System
$265.00
— Ballasts: Denso (OEM Toyota/Lexus)
— Bulbs: Philips 85122+ D2S (4300K/35w)
— Wire Harness: H11
— Wire Harness Type: Heavy Duty Relay

Booyah – In the past 3 years with the Xtreme Kit, did you have to replace any part(s) of the system? I did read that Steve do takes care of his customers. Also, I really want the 5000K bulbs since it’s supposed to have the purest white in color. The 4300K said to have very little bit of yellow in it but has the higher light output. Steve @ Xenon Depot said that after 100 hours with the Philips 4300K bulb, it will start producing 4700K. Did you notice any color changes with the Xenon Depot 5000K bulbs?

Thanks again guys and sorry for the many questions.

XenonDepot

iTrader: (11)

BTCTexas: I'm obviously biased but I would be more than happy to call you to discuss the XenonDepot Xtreme HID kit. I won't really comment on some of the other kits you have mentioned as I would prefer to sell our kits based on their own merit. I will say that we have been selling HID kits since 2001 and are one of the only original ClubLexus vendors so clearly we must be doing something right =)

Our Xtreme HID kit using Philips bulbs use rebased 85122 bulbs. While many claim that they use genuine Philips components (regardless of what their domain name or website says) how many of them can claim that they are authorized Philips dealers and have a direct link from Philips' own website??

Steve

infinirx

The retrofit source is really good at returning emails. I would ask them the questions you need as I think the Denso are your best option hands down. Just not gonna be cheap. I have been using other brands for seven years and there is always a problem some where at some point and now that I know better I won't go back.

Turn on is practically at full every time. I'm amazing by this. Never happened with any other aftermarket. Why? Cause they are not real HID's and not OEM. Takes a good 10 seconds for a full "on" for any of the others I have had or seen.

Anyways I am not a salesman.

BTCTexas

Hello everyone,

First of all, I didn’t mean for this post to be so long. It somehow got out of hands and became a short story/novel. I will understand if no one wants to read this. I, myself, hate reading articles with overloaded information “Blah, Blah, Blah”. Sorry about that…

Here’s a breakdown what I’ve been doing in regards to my HID decision since the last post.

- I reached out to Philips HID Kits on-line store (as stated in the Option # 1) via email and they recommended the Denso HID ballast kit ($287 after discount – over my budget) instead of the Philips HID Kit. They replace the D2S wires with the H11 wires on the Denso ballasts (only if I had a money tree growing in the backyard, I would have gotten this kit. And maybe an extra ballast and/or bulb as well). PhillipsHIDIKits.com was very helpful with really quick responses.

- I also reached out to the Retrofit Source asking them about the Denso OEM kit that Infinirx has suggested on 04/24. However, they told me that this will not work in my GX because it did not come with the factory xenon, which is odd because Infinirx has them in his GX and PhilipHIDKits.com also recommended Denso (retro wirings). Maybe I provided the incorrect kit or there was a misunderstanding somewhere. Either way, Retrofit also has a great customer service with lighting fast responses. They did recommend the Elite H11 kit (Option # 4), which add another plus to their customer service for not trying to sell me a kit that was more expensive but a kit that will fit and work in my SUV.

- After more researching on 04/25 from 9:00pm to 1:00am, I came really, really close in buying the Morimoto Elite Kit from TRS until I found this thread:

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=81917

This completely changed my mind about the Morimoto Elite Kit.

- I went ahead that night and purchased the Xtreme HID Kit from Xenon Depot (KB Car Stuffs) with the Philip blubs instead.

Here’s my logic on Denso ballasts:

I really wanted the Denso ballasts because I like OEM parts (unlike aftermarket kits, there are strict standards from the auto makers that these companies have to meet. Denso is made in Japan (I think) and has much better quality/control then the ballasts from China (Cost over Quality). However, they were out of my budget and only semi-waterproof (as are the Philips ballasts). As stated on the TRS site on the Denso Slim Ballasts (AMP), the 2 years warranty “excludes moisture damage”.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=19575

After all the researching, I’ve discovered that finding a place for your ballasts is one of the most difficult parts in the installation for an aftermarket HID kit. I guess I could have asked Infinirx as where he placed his Denso ballasts since he never had issues with them.

Another reason why I didn’t go with the Denso ballasts is that even though they’re all been tested before shipped out to customers, it seems that most of the Denso ballasts are either refurbish or used. I do understand this is due to reduce the cost. The dealer will probably charge you over $300 (if not more) just for one new Denso ballast.

Why I didn’t purchased the Morimoto kit:

From the look of it plus all the great reviews on the kit itself and TRS, the Morimoto kit seems to be the perfect choice until what I found out of about their Heavy Relay Harness. I realize that the relay harness is not required for the installation of the HID kit. However, it does give me a piece of mind. I’ll explain just in case no one wanted to read the link I had provided above. The connection between the relay and harness is not waterproof (you guys must think I really hate water) and will corrode after some time (this will probably be more of issue for people up north). Also, if I read correctly, there is only one fuse for both lines of harnesses but I could be wrong about this. The relay harness may or maybe not be a concern of yours. If it wasn’t a concern for me, I would probably have purchased this kit for its quality and price ($134.00 after discount & shipping). One more thing about TRS, I called them about a week ago (can’t remember the person I spoke to) and asked if they were running any specials and he said no, which was somewhat a small lie. There are two codes out there right now. One is for free shipping (Sorry, I don’t know this code) and another one for 20% off (TRSAPRIL), which is a better discount (shipping cost to Texas was about $13.xx whereas the $30 off on the $150 Morimoto H11 Elite Kit. The codes cannot be combined.

Why I went with the Xtreme Kit:

Disclaimer: I am not in any ways associated with Steve and have never communicated with him until today. Matter of fact, I think the some of LEDs listed on KB Car Stuffs are way overpriced (Sorry Steve but I’m being honest). Anyhoo…

After finding out about the issue with Morimoto relay harness, I looked and compared it to the Xtreme kit (FYI – This kit was the 5th choice out of the 5 options stated above a couple of days ago due to the $200 price tag with aftermarket ballasts). The relay harness on the Xtreme kit is sealed and/or weatherproof and each wire has its own fuse. This let me know that they took everything in to consideration when producing this kit and not only concerned with the bulbs and/or ballasts. Along with most aftermarket ballasts such as Morimoto and Kensun, Xtreme ballasts are also waterproof. From KB Car Stuffs site on their Xtreme kit:

“Our HID kit will use a dual harness set up that will provide each ballast its own fuse and relay. Should a fuse/relay ever fail only one side will be effected vs both lights going out.”

It would be horrible if both of the lights went out due to just one side and it would be a pain in the you-know-what if I had to change both sides of the headlights back to halogen bulbs in the dark. Just a thought (actually, I stole it from Markus @ DriveAccord.net forums)…

I wanted the 5000K output due to its purest white but Philips seems more reliable to me. And according to Steve, the Philips 4300K will eventually color shift to 4700K (and lose the yellow), which is not too far from 5000K and also hope that I will not lose that much lumens after the color shift.

BTW, I did also speak with someone (I believe his name was John. Sorry, I’m really bad about remember names) at KB Car Stuffs and he was really helpful as well. He answered many of my questions but did avoid one of them. It was no big deal.

I still have a little bit of concern in regards to the Xtreme ballasts but many here (and on many other forums) seem to have success with them. I’m hoping if I have any issues with the Xtreme ballasts (or anything else in regards to this kit), Steve will take care of me, like he does with all of his other clients.

Again, I apologize for the long and lengthy post. I just wanted to share my experiences and hope to save some research time for others. Believe me, I know. Many threads are either really old and/or never ends with a satisfactory answer/solution (really frustrating especially after reading multiple pages). Sometime, there are just no leads or answers at all. In regards to aftermarket HID kits, it’s really up to you and your requirement, preference, and/or your budget. Many people have had succeed with one of the cheapest kits out there, DDM Tuning while other didn’t. This applies to many other brands like Kensun and Xentec.

For example, my nephew had his mind set with no research what-so-ever and purchased the regular Kensun 6000K (too blue for me but he’s still young) H11 Kit for his IS250 AWD from Amazon about $60 after shipping. But yet, he spent about $120 for the LED DRL kits from iJDMToys. I think he could have gotten the same or similar kits from eBay (this is way I got all of my LEDs and don’t mind the 2 weeks wait) for a cheaper price. I would have preferred to spend more money on my low beams HID kit instead of the DRL kits. As I stated earlier, it’s up to you and whatever floats your boat.

Thank you for reading and I’ll try to check this thread again here and there/now and then to see if anyone else has questions like I did.

Infinirx/Booyah – Again, thank you so much for your help and input.

Steve – thanks as well for your suggestion but I actually purchased your kit before reading your post. Don’t take this the wrong way but hopefully, I don’t have to reach out to you (unless of course I’m happy with my H11 kit and want to purchase the H3 kit for my fog lights ). But if I have to reach out to you, that means either I’m missing something in the kit, got a defective part, and/or having issue making the kit work properly.

(Club Lexus really need to put a characters limit for me, like under 200 words!)

Booyah

At first I bought the Phillips 4300K kit and I loved them. nice and white light for sure but I wanted a bit more ting ob blue so I called Steve at Xenon depot and I bought the 5oooK bulbs and I love them perfect and what I was wanting. Its just a hair more blue than the 4300K kit but TRUST me you will love them. Let us know when you get them installed and what you think.
When you install the kit make sure you put a little dielectric grease around the fuse area holder ok--I had one issue of them one would not fire up and all it was is the fuse was a little nasty inside the holder, cleaned it and good to go

Whats up Steve!!!

XenonDepot

iTrader: (11)

BTCTexas: Thank you so much for taking the time to post such an informative post. I'm glad to hear that you ended up going with the Xtreme HID kit. I'll just touch on a couple of things that you've brought up in your post:

1) You do not have to use a relay harness when using the Xtreme kit as the ballasts are super low draw. They only draw approximately 4.5A on a cold start. I do understand your concern though about wanting to use a relay harness for piece of mind which is why we made sure that the harness that we provide is actually two separate relay harnesses. Each relay harness will be completely independent of the other. Each relay harness will come with a relay that is soldered onto a PCB and then encased in an ABS plastic box which is filled with epoxy to ensure water does not penetrate.

2) Xtreme HID ballasts are literally THE BEST aftermarket ballasts that you will find. We have been selling HID conversion kits since 2001 and have tried dozens of different ballasts (and still do) however we have never found a ballast supplier that makes a better quality aftermarket ballast. In fact, the manufacturing facility that manufactures the Xtreme ballasts also has some OEM customers (cannot mention names).

3) Color Temperature: You are not going to go wrong with 4300k or 5000k as both will have primarily white light output. It's when you start getting into the 6k+ range that the light starts looking bluish meaning you get less light and more of an aftermarket look.

4) Cost: The Xtreme HID kit is regularly priced at $169.99 with free shipping to the Continental USA. ClubLexus members get an additional $25 off meaning that the kit ends up being $144.99 shipped. You do have an option to order the Xtreme HID kit with genuine Philips capsules however that kit ends up being $199.99 shipped due to higher bulb costs. We actually use genuine German made Philips capsules in this kit. I know that there are MANY vendors claiming to use genuine German Philips bulbs (and ballasts) in their kits however very few of them actually use genuine components. In fact, I don't know of one company that uses German made Philips ballasts regardless of what their website says. We have spent years building a relationship with Philips and we have not done so by selling fake components. As a result, we are literally one of the handful online stores that gets a link directly from the USA Philips Automotive site =)


Booyah: Whats up my man?? How are things? Long time no speak!!!

Hope this helps,

Steve

PS Not many vendors can claim that they have been a reliable vendor on clublexus since 2004.... We must be doing something right =)

BTCTexas

Booyah – Man.. , you almost made changed my mind again and wanted to go with the 5000K now. I even called Xenon Depot and asked John a thousand of questions again, but he convinced me to stick with the 4300K. He said I can always buy the 5000K bulbs if I want change the 4300K later since the Xenon Depot bulbs are only $24.99 each (versus the $74.99 Philips bulb).

Thanks for the info in regards to the fuse area. I’ll go grab some dielectric grease soon. I was hoping to get my kit this weekend because I can’t wait to do the installation and changed out those stock halogen bulbs. I just received the shipping confirmation email this morning. So, hopefully it’ll make it here by Friday or Saturday (Fingers crossed).

Steve – Thank you for the additional and very detailed information. With the tip Booyah has provided in the above post about fuse area, the entire kit will bulletproof (unless I somehow screw up the installation but I will take my time).

I will write another post once everything is installed and running.

Thanks again.

BurgBoxstr

I suggest putting dielectric grease on the relay/relay plug too.

Can't go wrong w/ Steve's kits. One of mine went strong for 5 years and well over 100k miles until I removed when I traded in the GX. Sold the light kit to someone here on CL who, as far as I know, is still using w/ original bulbs. Also put a set on a family member's RX and @ 3yrs old still going strong.

Good luck

XenonDepot

iTrader: (11)

BTCTexas: My pleasure. Thank you for your business. I look forward to your feedback once you get it installed.

BurgBoxstr: wow.. it's been a while =) I hope that things are well with you!

Steve

Booyah

LOL you will love the 4300K kit too and like Steve said the Bulbs are cheap to buy and try them. I expect after you get these installed you will be buying another kit for your FOGS! Let me tell you with both Low and Fogs HID--Very nice bright, and still not blinding to traffic as I never had an issue to date.

BTCTexas

BurgBoxstr - Thanks. Wow! 5 years and 100,000 miles! Also, thanks for the tip as well.

Booyah - Yes, I'm ready for the HD fog lights! LOL

Did you have to tilt the fog lights downward a little? I think somone on this forum had to do so. Thanks!

Steve - Thanks!

rmhipo

Hi Steve! Can I contact you directly via email or phone? I have a 2010 RX 350, and am thinking about converting my fogs and daytime running lights to HID's. Thanks!