BenES300

So I have spent several hrs reading almost every headlight/HID/Xenon/Fog thread on this forum and sadly a lot of it is still mush for me. So here's hoping that I can get some clarification on this subject and also ideas from other forum members as to what changes would look nice.

Here are pics of my car. It is a 2003 ES300.

The first 2 show my car with my regular low beams and with my fogs turned on.
I then took 2 pics of my low beam setting and high beam setting. One from a lower angle and one from a higher angle.
Lastly I took a pic of my DRL's. They look nice and bright. But in reality they are not very bright and are yellow.

http://imgur.com/a/2xF58

Here are my questions.

1) What are those yellow lights at the top right hand corner? They are on with both low or high beams. Are they what you guys call parking lights? How can I make these white?

2) I was told that Lexus put stock HID's in for the low beams. But the high beams are halogen (Obvious from the yellow light). If I want to make these white what are my options?

3) Aren't fogs supposed to be yellow? Wouldn't white lights not work well in fog?
If so then what should I use to give my fogs that kick while still keeping it yellow?
If white lights work in fogs too, then how do I go about changing those lights into white lights.

4) This question pertains to all of the previous 3.
My Low beams are stock OEM HID's. Will I be able to put in HIDs or LEDs into a) The yellow parking light b) My high beams c)My fogs.

I was told that HID's require a kit that takes time to install etc but LED's are simple plug and play. Will I be able to plug LEDs into these other lights? If not what do I have to do? (please put it in laymans terms so that I can understand)
If LEDs are not an option due to a lot of mechanical work, what else can I use that would make these yellow lights into white lights?

I am going to post some examples of what I have seen and what I think looks nice.
My main thing is that I do not want to spend too much money. I am a graduate student and am on a budget. In addition to which being a Med Student I do not have a lot of time and so id the DIY is lengthy I will have to pass.

Thank you in advance for your help guys.

BenES300

If fogs in white will still do its job in fog then I love how these.



I do love these fogs too. They still have it yellow, but it is bright as heck.
Would installing the bulbs that they mentioned be a simple unplug and plug deal?


What about these fogs, could I just switch them out by replacing the bulb only?

My last question. I have heard about these aftermarket websites that will sell you a whole headlight for your car. I was looking at one of those because I want those Audi style LED strips in the headlight. Do you know anyone who makes those for a 2003 ES300?

Thank you guys.

PuReChaos

I am going to try and answer these to the best of my ability, though I'm sure there are much more experienced members who will be able to help you better than myself. So heres my opinion with what I've learned so far.

1. Like you, I have absolutely no idea what to call those lights. You can easily make them white by switching them out with a 194 wedge base LED (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on the size). The bulb is a little tricky to get to, however, its a simple switch of the bulbs. I personally couldn't fit my hands in from opening the hood so I waited until I changed my fog lights as it was super easy to reach them from under the car. Theres probably an easier way to reach them that hopefully someone can shed some light on. Bottom line, its a simple switch which should only cost less than $10 for two LEDs off ebay or elsewhere.

2. I would assume you could easily install HIDs if you wanted. However, in my opinion, I've never driven long enough or frequently enough using my high beams to warrant me spending around $100 on HIDs. I'm sure there is also an LED equivalent, however I haven't looked into the area much. The bulb size is 9005 so you could look up from there I suppose what your options might be.

3. As far as I've read, there is no difference in terms of color for fog lights. From my experience, living in fog city (San Francisco), I have had no problem with white fog lights. However, if you wanted to keep your lights yellow while increasing their output, you could still install HIDs. Instead of getting white HIDs (4300k) just get yellow (3000k) HID bulbs.

I'm still going to post up my installation process (hopefully later today) but it basically identical to the first picture you posted up of the Volt Kit for the IS. So hopefully that will also help.

4. Hopefully I'm understanding the question correctly, but yes in all 3 you should be able to install either HIDs or LEDs depending on preference and output desire.

While I have less experience with LEDs I had tried installing them in my tail lights after a few bulbs burnt out and the only issue I ran into was that (to my understanding) LEDs draw less energy than the regular bulbs so your car thinks the bulb isn't functional so it brings up the annoying dash light that your bulb is out. However, you're able to correct for that by installing load resistors which is pretty simple and only requires small wire taps, through either t tap connectors or soldering. I'm not sure how much that applies to the headlights though as I've only tried it with the brake lights. Again hopefully someone can shed more light on this.

Hope any of this information helps!

PuReChaos

Just to address my opinion on the last question. I also looked into possibilities in terms of the headlight as a whole, but the only ones I ever came across that I liked were halo headlights but they don't as good the 4ES as they did on the 3ES. However, thats just my opinion/preference.

Also regarding the Audi style LED strips. I too like the look of them, and I really like all the new 2013 Lexus headlights that have the LED strips. However, I don't believe any one makes them for the 2003 ES 300 and rather its something you'd have to do yourself.

You might wanna consider contacting Megafast13, I believe he has something similar to what you're talking about.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lig...-and-more.html

Chocolate

I have some 5 SMD and 20 SMD 194 bulbs I bought when I was experimenting with changing the license plate lighting. It's definitely very hard to reach these little bulbs from the hood. I did see a how to video here: http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/20...lights/foglamp Would you be able to reach the small parking bulbs as shown by removing the fender liner with the car raised on jack stands?

The stock part for the fog light, H3 55W, seems a strange bulb choice, as it draws 55 watts but puts out very small light output for the wattage. For that wattage we could have had a standard, inexpensive low beam bulb that would put out much more light. Whether I go for a HID kit or just a whiter bulb to match the HIDs better, this is definitely a project for me.

Still want to see this That HID kit is such an improvement over those H3s.

Chocolate

And Ben, what did you use to black out your grille and logo?

PuReChaos

Interesting video, wish I had searched around before embarking on changing those. I didn't do it that way, however, seeing as there was enough room to reach the fog lights I'm sure theres easily just as much room to reach the bottom of those awkward bulbs.

I had installed those when I was doing an oil change once and was already under the car so I removed the liner on the bottom of the engine bay. Thats also another way to reach them, but remembering back, it was a bit of a reach while on my back, so I'd suggest going with the approach shown in the video.

PuReChaos

I still plan on making it! Just got a bit busier than I expected in the last two weeks. Hopefully I'll manage to take the pictures at minimum tomorrow and do the write up by Sunday. *fingers crossed*

UPDATE: Unfortunately with my senior thesis due date drawing near I'm forced to delay it again However, the pictures have been taken! Its just a matter of writing it all up. Sorry for any inconveniences.