New to Me ES350. My Questions Thread. Pls Help.
 

Just got this new to me ES 350. See link below.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-surprise.html

Can Experienced Owners please help me with some questions, that would likely help other owners too.

1. So I have a Blk/Blk 2013 ES 350 ULTRA LUXURY PACKAGE car. I read a thread saying you have to have a body shop move the xm antenna on the trunk to install the factory rear trunk spoiler? But.... the ES 300h's have them and the xm antenna without a problem, don't they?

Lexus parts Dealer says they have been having the Lexus Service department installed without moving antenna?

2. I think I have the HID lights? I think? But they don't project down the road as far and bright as I like. Anyone else notice or have this problem? Any suggestions? Changes? Adjustments? Updates?

I have more questions but Ill leave it there, for now. Thanks!

1) have a spoiler on the trunk and get XM satellite radio, so there's definitely a combination of this that works.

2) Make sure you actually have HIDs first. Is there a sort of "warm up" adjustment period where they start down and then go up when you first flip them on? Do they have a bright white look or do they have some yellow in them?

If they just come on instantly and have a yellow color, its probably the standard halogen.

You can also simply pull the bulb and tell also.

To find out if you have HID or not see my post with photos here. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-and-ul-3.html

Thanks. To be clear you have the Lexus Factory spoiler, and Lexus Factory xm antenna that came on the car mounted on the trunk and there was no problems?

Here are 2 threads that confused me, saying you could Not install on the Ultra Lux with xm antenna on trunk.:confused:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...k-spoiler.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...stalled-2.html

Thanks. So I pulled the round waterproof rubber round cap off the back of the headlight housing off my car. It had some clips, and I pulled the braided wire flat cable off. That as far as I wanted to go without knowing exactly how to take the clips off before I broke something. I was kinda sure they were HID' s at that point.

So I cheated call a Lexus dealer parts, gave the VIN# and found out that they are HID's on My ES 350.

Now while under the hood I saw the below pic of d/u and l/r markings in the black plastic cover housing. Guessing that is a adjustment for the headlights l/r, and down and up. I now need to know how and where the adjustment screw or whatever is? I guess you remove the black plastic cover in my pic, and there is a adjustment there. Anyone adjusted theses up or know a thread on how to?

My lights are pointing too far down. Maybe as a result of the bumper headlight repair to my car, something got off, or moved, or maybe never correct from the factory. Lexus dealer said they are 35watt, $179 per bulb. I'm also wondering, if there is a brighter better replacement bulb I could run? They are ok bright, but just short on distance, pointing down the road past the cut off.

(SEE RED CIRLE AT BOTTOM LEFT OF PIC)

See this page https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ment-help.html

So I adjusted the lights. I was beginning to really worry about the short light pattern at night and limited site that I might run into something in the road.

It was very simple and like most Japanese cars. Much better now, but still not as bright as most HID's. Now I just need to work out a few more things. Thanks.

I purchased a set of aftermarket HID 6k bulbs for my 2014 UL ES350 and they have been a great improvement over the factory set of bulbs.

Look into ddmtunning.com

Thanks I was thinking about this too. The Factory Lexus bulbs are $179 each. LOL!

So what is the improvement you noticed? And which ones/model did you get from ddmtunning? They were not Blue were they? I hate Blue Headlights.

Morimoto 55000k XB series...
The IS has D4S bulbs, that may be D2S...
Amazoo $30 ea and no, they don't look blue at all. Just white. May not be the best if snowing tho!

Do NOT touch the glass at all or it will kill the bulb. Wipe with IPA and lint free cotton cloth, let dry then install new bulb. Don't risk that box install w out wipe down, OK...

Thanks. So get the Morimoto 55000k XB series, that fit the ES 350?

What was the improvement you saw at night?

Both distance and clarity. But the main thing is these bulbs start every time time and stay on. Not all bulbs are equal and no clue how long they will last.

Thanks. I've already ordered them. Probably will be some nice bright HID's at the end of the day when I get these upgrades.

Going to get the PIAA 9006 PIAA Xtreme White Bulbs Hi- Beam bulbs also

So my next light issue is those terrible looking yellow fog lights. Saw the $130 upgraded Philips 12834UNIX2 X-tremeVision LED Fog Light Kit. They are $120. Not really feeling $120 and they are not really putting out that much better light down the road from what I read on the reviews.

Amazon

Amazon

Trying to find a Bright pure white H16 Regular Halogen Fog light Bulb? Anyone have a recommendation?

Replacement HID bulbs won't have any impact on distance, the system doesn't work that way. The HID projectors have a cutoff where light is actually physically blocked beyond a certain distance. All the higher color temp bulbs do is change the color of the lights, and higher than the factory 4,100 is actually dimmer. So the Morimoto 5500 bulbs will actually have less light output than the factory 4,100k bulbs. They may look "brighter" and "whiter", but in reality they put out less usable light.

I replaced the factory HID bulbs in my LS with a set of Osram CBI bulbs, they have a 5000k color temp but put out the same lumens as a 4,100k bulb. Very happy with them, but even with them theres really no lighting "improvement", they just look nicer.

Lexus aims their HIDs pretty low from the factory. If you want more distance the only thing you can do is adjust them up. Sounds like you need some more adjustment.

For your fogs, any halogen bulb will look yellow next to the HIDs, especially if you're going to put 5,500k bulbs in. If you want the closest match and best output you need to replace the whole housing with the LED units off the 14-16 ES. I did that on my GS (same lamp housing) and the difference was huge.

Interesting comments. So I went doing some research again. I know this is Lux not Lumens.

And yes I have played around with getting the best adjustment aim, and am still making adjustments................................. but a Brighter light blub would be nice too. The brighter the light the further it can be aimed out down the road.

Here is something I found:

Which D2S HID Bulb is the Brightest? Morimoto, GTR Lighting, Osram CBI or Philips Xtreme?

You Tube