Aron9000

Looking to upgrade the low beams on my 1992 SC300.

I know there are a few threads on this in the "sticky" at the top of the forum, but they seem to be a bit out of date, threads have dates of 2007, 08, 09, etc.

I really don't want to take apart my headlights, as the car has been garaged and babied its whole life. Needless to say the stock headlights are not clouded over, don't have moisture problems, they look brand new.

So what is my best option while using my stock projectors???

Is it even worth my time to upgrade to HID using stock projectors???

Should I upgrade to a different projector lens???


I know they make pretty basic plug/play kits that work with most any car, this is kind of what I'm looking at, trying to keep the budget between $200-400.

My main thing is will these plug and play kits really throw more light onto the road for me. I know if you want to up the wattage/light output with a conventional type of fillament bulb, you really need to upgrade the gauge of wiring, then the bulb burns too hot, melts plastic, uses more volts than your regular 12 volt alternator can crank out, all kinds of problems. This is mainly experience from the late 90's, installing a 6 Hella bulb light bar in my buddy's 1985 Toyota Pickup. That alternator would not generate enough juice to keep the lights on at idle in that truck.

Really I'm just wondering how an HID kit will throw more light on the road without increasing the juice it draws from the battery and through the wiring.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

I think I have an ebay hid 6000k kit in my car for like 5 years now. I would recommend getting the relay harness as it makes them come on more reliably espeicially with the auto headlight years (had to have a relay kit in rx300 or one sides ballast would burn out in 1 min), but on the SC I just plugged them in no relay and they have not given me any issues yet, haven't lost a bulb or ballast. The relay kit is worth the extra time to install though I need to go back and put on in my sc.

You don't have to upgrade the projector lens it is a projector lens you know.
Its not the clearest for HID's but its better than the stock lights.
I would try that first, and then worry about a projector retrofit later, most do not do the retrofit but thats the ultimate in light ouput because the newer projectors are designed more for HID's

An HID kit will output more light because its not a filament type of light where the juice supplied directly corresponds to the light ouput and energy wasted (heat). its a ballast ignitor type of system that needs a super high charge to start the light, and then it draws the same or less as the regular lights. IF you run the relay, you do not have to worry about the stock wiring, and it comes with larger wires so nothing will melt, they are like $10 on ebay for a HID relay kit, and its triggered on by one of the stock light bulb connectors. These days I don't even bother installing one without the harness it makes it super convenient and runs right off of the battery power.

wirelesstj

iTrader: (1)

i went with ddm tuning. paid $30 for them and even have lifetime warranty

scENFORCER

^ DDM tuning 4500K kit for me, paid $60 but I didnt even need the adaptors or brackets that I ordered. Was a straight plug & play kit.

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

Your best option while using the stock projector is a plug and play HID kit with a relay harness like Ali mentioned.

Personally, I do think it is worth the time to upgrade to HID projectors.

I have a set of TSX projectors in my original headlights, and I bought a new set of headlights after that. I couldn't convince myself to tear them apart to put in projectors at the time, so I went out and got a 6k 35watt DDM hid kit. These were the results:

DDM plug and play:


TSX:


Both:




I know these pictures aren't the best representation of light output, but you can see with the ddm kit the light is uneven and scattered all over the place.

jpw

I used VVME HID's for the low beams. My lenses are mildly clouded over.

The HID I went with were the 4300 K light so it'd look like a real light instead of having a tacky blue ricer tint.

I got the kit and you really should use a relay to not put a lot of stress on the stock wiring. I also went with the digital ballast.

Their (VVME) site is kinda cheesy and I'm sure there are tons of places to buy them, but these have lasted on our Lex about 5 or 6 years with no problems at all.

I'm happy with the beam pattern in the stock projectors.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Restored plastic housings with TSX or similar retrofitted projectors are definitely the best of the best for SC's.

Personally though I went the easier route Ali mentioned above and bought a Phillips 4200k plug-n-play single-beam xenon kit. It's not the clearest or sharpest but it's a tremendous night and day improvement over stock 55W halogen bulbs and gets the job done just fine. Reliable too. I paid around $250 for my kit and ordered it with the optional resistor and a couple of other little things they offered.

Easy to install, can go back to stock (if you wanted to) and required only that the ballasts be given a good location to stay. I tapped a couple of holes in the ducting in front of the radiator and bolted mine in there.

uras300

iTrader: (2)

Honestly, even the high quality plug-and-play HID's (such as Phillips or Morimotos) in our stock projector pales in comparison to today's halogen reflector headlights output; HID conversion is more of an aesthetic upgrade than a functional one if the projectors are not retrofitted.

And DDM is reliable only for the first year or so; the two sets I've installed on different vehicles started to flicker and lost majority of light output after a year. I've been using Morimoto for years without an issue.

And don't just upgrade the projector lenses as it would be a complete waste of money and time; do it right the first time and retrofit a set of good projectors such as TSX, Mini Morimoto, and FX-R.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Uras, respectfully I have to disagree. It may be FAR better to retrofit a modern projector technology into the SC headlight housing but it was a night and day difference between the dangerously dim factory low beams and my PnP Phillips kit. With the factory low beams I found it near impossible to see on roads without overhead street lamps. On desolate mountain roads and even on common highways I found myself flicking on my high beams just to see normally, which would only work for as long as it didn't blind other drivers and I had to turn them off. I had my finger on the high beam stalk constantly at night sometimes.

The PnP kit was not and still is not the absolute best solution but it allowed me to drive my car at night with confidence that I could see where I was going and know that other drivers could see me-- all without blinding them by using my high beams. It gets the job done at a minimum which is more than I can say about the factory 55W bulbs. Silver Star bulbs tend not to last very long as well.

Certainly I'd like to try a true retrofit sometime but it's not at all accurate to say that a PnP HID kit is just an aesthetic choice.

Two things on these cars that I feel always need to be addressed at a minimum for safety:

1) The extremely dim and unsafe factory headlight bulbs --> Any HID system
2) The undersized and unsafe front brakes --> LS400 calipers

bigwes

I think 6000k hids only look good on black cars, other than that stick with 4300 or 5000k

BiGEZ

iTrader: (24)

Check out the Retrofitsourse.com for good quality pnp kits. I have a set a of Morimoto HID kit from them in my GS300 with Infiniti M45 projector and no problem in 3 years. I am abot to do a TSX retrofit in my SC300 in the few weeks. Plan to use the Morimoto kit as well for this. Got the TSX brackets from luxurymods.com.