I have been very interested in all the threads regarding upgrades of the stock lights to HID lights. I recently got my IS250 (LOVE IT!!!) and would love to upgrade the lights as well. But I have a few questions that I have not seen answered in any of the threads thus far. Every car that I have seen come from the factory with HID lights pre-installed (BMW, Mercedes, IS 300) has an auto leveling feature, which apparently keep the lights from blinding oncoming traffic when the car is moving. Obviously, the upgrades I have seen done in this forum from Xenon Depot don't have this feature as they are mounted in one static position. What is the potential problem with this setup? Does it create a potentially dangerous situation for oncoming traffic?

Secondly, do the replacement kits offer Bi-Xenon headlights or do they only upgrade the low beams? Is there a way to upgrade both?

Thirdly, does anyone know what the K (4300, 6000?) rating for HID's from Lexus are? Do most manufacturer use the same k rating? I was driving a friends 03 BMW 3 series with the Xenon lights and the difference in visible lit area was much larger side to side versus standard halogens, will the HID upgrade from Xenon depot have a similiarily broader range than the stock halogens?

Sorry for the long questions, new to this forum concept. But read it almost daily now that I have my new IS. Any knowledge this group can drop I am thankful in advance for.

ML

 

hid kits will have glare, but if you position it correctly, it should be pretty reasonable

i believe it's only the low beam. haven't heard of upgrades for both (wouldn't recommend that anyway)

they are color temperatures. the 4300k is stock color. the 6000k, it's a bit whiter and bluer. technicaly less light, but i dont' see the difference

 

hey malopez

welcome to club lexus, you are gonna love this place, it has lotsa info.
i test drove IS recently and loved it too.

okay coming to your questions,

auto leveling shud still function if you replace, coz really you are changing only bulbs,literally speaking.

yes they have bixenon HID kits also, but i think IS has separate
high beam and low beams. I could be wrong. if it has bi xenon setup in your car you can upgrade to a similar kit.

rominl is right about Kelvin and brightness, more K = less lumens(brightness)
but try to stay less than 6000K for good amount of light. you will see significant difference from your halogen lights but don't compare it with your frinds BMW, all OEM xenon have projector headlamps, they are sharp and bright becoz fo the lens optics.
you will see the upgraded HID close (i wud say 60-70%) to OEM. but 100 times better than halogens.

hope this helps

 

uhh, im fairly sure that the non-hid cars don't come with headlight autoleveling.

 

correct, only oem hid equiped cars come with autoleveling