manlee

Does anyone know if Lexus uses the same reflector housing for their OEM HID's as they do for their halogens? I'm specifically looking in regards to a '98 ES.

squarehat

The 00-01 ES with HID had different headlamp housings than the 97-01 with halogens. The models with OEM HID have distinctly separate reflector bowls for the low and high beams, instead of a reflector that seems to merge together.

I posted some pics a while back, scroll down and check out my pics of the two 00-01 ES's I compare.:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=xenon

manlee

thanks sqaurehat. I think i'll jsut end up sticking to Philips Bluevision or Osram Silverstars.
I'll spend the money putting more gas into my ES instead

ES3

But what fun is that!? IF you've got a few bucks and plan on keeping the car, you might as well go for true HID! Anyone know of any good online junkyards where you can find Lexus parts!? Otherwise we'll all have to put HID's in our Halogen housings!?

ES3

Do you know if the 00-01 housings will fit in the space of a '97 housing?

LexDiamond

How much of a difference do you think the seperate reflectors make? I mean If your using ONLY low beam I dont think it would be much of a difference. I have 2001 ls430 Ballast and bulbs ready to install.

Manlee wants me to get him a kit but he is a lil nervous. I guess I'll have to just install mine!

squarehat

The true HID reflectors will improve the beam pattern (evenness of the light thrown on the road), and cutoff (where the beam pattern cuts of and to the side). With US DOT-spec headlamps, a prescribed amount of updrift is required above the main cutoff to allow for the lighting of reflective roadside signage. When you throw a HID bulb with 3 times the output into a reflector designed for halogen, 3 or more times extra light drifts up, creating a "halo effect" to oncoming drivers. This is especially bad in cars with scatterglass headlamps (think 90-97 LS400), when compared to cars with free-form headlamps with clear lenses (like the 97-present ES) or projectors (92-96 ES). The crazy glare with older scatterglass lamps is one of the reasons the NHTSA is cracking down on vendors of drop in HID kits after 8/15.

To control updrift, notice that on a car with OEM reflector HID--Lexus LS, ES, IS, GS, Acura TL, last gen Maxima), only the top two thirds of the reflector light up (remember, it comes out upside-down, so the bottom of the reflector controls the top of the beam, and vice versa). If you were to drop a HID bulb into a halogen reflector, the whole bowl would light up, throwing too much light upward. I've seen some clever retrofits where part of the HID bulb was masked to produce the perfect 2/3 reflector beam pattern however.

Finally, to answer the question about how the 92-96 ES projectors differ from the ones found on say, an 03 Audi or BMW: Reference the allowed updrift explanation above, and the optics inside are a bit different to work with the fact that HID has a bit different "hotspot" than a halogen filament bulb. Additionally, these projectors have some diffraction grating to break light at the edge of the beam pattern up. This ends up separating out the blue and violet light--creating color flicker. That's why, dead-on, BMW/Audi lamps look white with a hint of yellow, but two lanes over, look royal purple.

LexDiamond

I'm still gonna install my OEM hid's on my 97 es300 I'll just search of 00+ hid lights later

ES3

LexDiamond,

You're in the exact same boat as me. What's your status on the project? What HID kit did you go with!? Will you post pics when you're done?

ES3

Are you still thinking about upgrading?

manlee

yeah, i will still try to do it.
checking some options here to see if i can find some HID reflector housings.

ES3

If you wouldn't mind, please keep me posted. I've been looking for them too, it sounds like the only immediate solution is buy them from lexus, but that's HUGE cash!

LexDiamond

After all the discussion I am gonna go with Koba H.I.D bulbs they give off such a beautiful blueish/purple for my fogs I decided to get matching headlight bulbs, hey $10 shipped for XENON color why not.

I don't wanna mess with install the Hid's after hearing all these issues

manlee

hey LexDiamond,

Can you post pic's of your KOBA lights when you get them?

LexDiamond

Will do