Just wondering if this is the best our headlight housing is going to get?
Ill post pictures up later tonight but I just wanted to tell everyone.. I spent about 500-1000 bucks tryin to make my headlights shoot out a decent amount of light so I can see at night..

I had a 6000k HID PnP in my 97+ updated projectors.. and it gave me horrible output.. i couldnt see anything.. stock halogen still brighter..

I then went and bought X5 Retrofitted projects with AUDI TT blubs and ballast... DELINED the lens... and my lens are crystal clear now no yellow at all.. and @ 4300k HIDs.... a 2008 civic si next to me is still putting more light out on the floor with his stock halogens??? .. sc300 stock halogen still brighter i turned on my high beams to test.. and was much brighter

and my cutoff is perfect clear/sharp/clean.. on my retrofit.. and i aimed my headlights correctly..in a dark ally.. my lights look very bright they show everything.. but driving on the freeway/streets i think it should be brighter than the overhead street lights? and its not..

I also then added 3000k fog lights to help improve the lighting.. and still.. i get a dull green light (white/yellow mixed) i see when im in the drivers seat... fogs are also aimed correctly

my moms Honda Fit with a PnP HID 6000k is brighter than all the new lexus and BMWs.. It looks like daytime with a decent cutoff... and no glare...even my friends GS300 non retrofitted hid ones look 10x brighter than mine.. yes maybe he has no cutoff.. and he glares people... but he can see at night and i cant =(

what gives ? anyone else have this problem?

 

What kit are you using?

 

get some new bulbs. 85122+

 

I've never really looked into X5's.. are they clear lens or fresnel? Even still that shouldn't make a whole big difference. I'd go with Ivory's suggestion and get some 85122+ bulbs. Any clue the hours on the bulbs you have now or if they've colorshifted?

My main concern is that you said halogens usually dominate over your retro'd HIDs, so I'm kind of wondering how the chrome is holding up on the bowls of your projectors.. Maybe post up some pics of output at night?

 

my x5s are cleared lens i took them apart to clean and deline the sc300 lenses they were blackhoused and i repainted them in silver. resealed look brand new now.

i tryed new blubs and differenet kits... i took the same kit and put it on another car.. and tested it.. and it was 10x much brighter.. but i put it back into the sc300 and it much dimmer.. i just think it should be brighter for retrofitted headlights it should outshine the overhead street lights like in all my other cars with HID PnP kits.. and my other cars arent retrofitted

 

you mentioned delined the lens.... i hope you meant the housing lens and not the projector lens... cause that can cause problems.... erm...... it may be your projectors.... did you do a ton of research prior to buying projectors or did you just close your eyes and pick the cheapest ones....

make sure to check the wiring system on your car... fuses... wires... battery.. altenator.. make sure its all in decent usable condition... it could be that something is a bit off cause you to not have as much power going to the headlights as you want.

 

even if you delined the housing. did you repolish it to a shine? that is going to make the majority of the difference over the projector itself. Test by opening the housing and see the output then.

 

picture time... lemme know what you guys think or suggest? these are with brand new 6000k siemens hid kit/blubs

retrofit..





cutoff/output...



looks fine... on the wall but...


pretty dim... whats up with it? ... pnp in other cars without the retrofit.. its 10x brighter..

 

wasn't this for sale just awhile back?

When I first read about this, I thought your standards were too high since my retro is also almost nonexistent in lighted areas. But after seeing those pictures, I agree that something is wrong

here is what it should look like

BEFORE


AFTER




your third picture looks almost like my halogen pic

 

maybe their not getting enough power?

 

yea... it seems as though the light isnt spreading out as well as it should be... check your wiring....fuses.... etc..... it may be that your projectors are just like that. perhaps you were hoping for LS430 projector output?

 

these were the ones i bought off hemogoblin. i had to take them apart strip the black housing, repaint silver, deline them, and reseal them together, when it was apart the projector look fine.. i wish i took pictures with the lens off >_< but yea.. i think something is wrong.. i know i cant expect ls430 lights but if these are X5 projetors and i seen people do this same retrofit with these same projectors and they get better output than me, i expect it to be similar to a bmw that has 6000k that i pull next to at night on the streets, and they are not. ill check power output today.. maybe my standards are too high? but i dont think a non retro should be brigther than retro.. =/

 

change your bulbs first. then open the housing. You're not gonna get anywhere just keep comparing to other cars. Pretty sure your PnP is the culprit.

 

Looks like quite a bit of glare above the cutoff.. is that from the projector itself or rather light being reflected up from the chrome housing?

 

Its the sc lense itself the plastic used to make the lense is way to thick ,I had the same problem with my 1st gen gs.If you take the lense off and look at it you will see it is kinda thick.