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I live in Canada and all the IS's here come with a single HID light like this:
But I like the dual lights style like this:
AFAIK there's no option to get the dual lights in Canada with the 350 F-sport. I was wondering if anyone knew if the dual lights are swappable with the single light. I tried searching but couldn't find any information about this.
So I checked around and it seems like the LED lights come with an automatic high-beam feature that the HIDs don't have (I think). I'm guessing this makes it impossible for them to be used properly on cars with the HID unit.
Ahh so it might actually be possible. Do you know what the lighting difference is between the HID and LED? I read another thread on here about it, but it basically turned into a general LED lighting discussions. I just want to know how bright they are, what color temperature they are, and just general thoughts about it.
So does yours actually have dual projectors on each side?
No one projector, but looking at illumination in garage, it looks more like LED than HID. We park the NX side by side with the IS and both look the same on the wall. The NX has the triple beam LED headlight.
I live in Canada and all the IS's here come with a single HID light like this:
But I like the dual lights style like this:
AFAIK there's no option to get the dual lights in Canada with the 350 F-sport. I was wondering if anyone knew if the dual lights are swappable with the single light. I tried searching but couldn't find any information about this.
Thanks!
I think it may be possible to swap the single unit HID headlamp with the dual LED headlamp but at a steep cost.
You need the following (has to confirm with the seller if it works with F-Sport but it is highly likely as the fenders and hoods are the same shape for regular and F Sport 3IS)
LEXUS IS300h
LEDヘッドライト - LED headlight (you should pick the full assembly including the CPUs and the cords which are listed for JP¥187800
LEXUS IS300h
LEDヘッドライト用カバー - LED headlight back covers (a set of 4 and you need two sets)
But the total is 187800x2 + 4800x2=JP￥385200 ~= Cdn$3945, according to today's currency conversion by XE.com + shipping costs.
The company is legit and well-known but they only ship locally within Japan and requires email correspondence (i.e., no web store). So you need a friend in Japan to deal with them by emails and and then ship the stuff from Japan to Canada.
Also you should consult with dealership to see the wiring diagram to confirm if the swap works and also considers any technical difference between headlights destined for North America and Japan.
And to compare the HID and LED headlamps used by 3IS, I can say the difference for 2014 IS -- the HID headlamp looks yellowish compared to the LED L-shaped DRL. On the other hand, the LED headlamp matches quite closely with the LED L-shaped DRL. I came across somewhere on the Internet that the LED headlamp by Lexus is around 6000K. And the standard HID is around 4100-4300K (forgot the exact figure). Of course, to stick with HID headlamp, you can also upgrade to higher Kevin temperature. But you need to do a research on higher quality HID. HID with higher quality usually is not too bad in terms of lumens (general rule of thumb is if you increase the Kevin temperature, the lower the lumens (the amount of usable light)
IMO, Lexus Canada probably makes LED headlamp as part of higher package for F-Sport IS in 2016 as they do include the premium LED full headlamps for NX and RC. With a similar price point, it is doable...
@AndyL: Thanks for the info. The USDM version of the LED lights should also work and will be cheaper though (based on quickly looking online).
@Noeh: I like the colour and the look of the LED lights.
Single HID vs. dual lights
