CAtoNYcar

I have a 1997 ES300 and I hate the original halogen set up so I've been researching an upgrade to HID bulbs.
The biggest thing I learned is the difference between reflector vs. projector housings and you can't just plop a HID bulb kit into a reflector type housing cause you'll shoot light out everywhere and blind everyone.
But then I heard there are D"*"R type bulbs (the R indicates it's made for reflective housings) that have a shield right on the bulb to limit glare and put a defining horizontal edge of light which to me sounds like a solution to the problem. So here are my questions:

1) Can I drop in a HID light kit in a reflective housing as long as it is a D"*"R type bulb? If so, would that eliminate the blinding of other drivers and provide that crisp definitive edge of light?

2) What year did the ES300 go from reflective to projection light assemblies? Wondering if a first year ES300 projection assembly is similar to my 1997 reflective assembly.

3) A retrofit looks like a pain and I don't like the idea of breaking open a sealed housing. Does anyone know of any good aftermarket projector assemblies made to fit a 1997 ES300?

Organized Garage Status

Technically, (purists) will say you need a projector to do an HID. But as you already know, even OEM Lexus have used HID in reflector housing from time to time in different models. Although it will not provide you the same cutoff as a projector would, neither the blue prism effect some projectors have, it is a matter of choosing the right light temperature and adjusting your headlights aim to not blind oncoming traffic and become that obnoxious guy with blue blinding light.

The correct bulb size for the non-HID headlights is H7. If you decide to do HID in stock headlights, we highly recommend not going any higher than 5000k bulb temperature/color.

There are no aftermarket headlight available for 2nd gen ES300 as far as we know, but we have done a projector retrofit in the past on a 1997 ES300. Projector Retrofit is still the best option for amazing light output in our opinion, and there numerous ways to build it cleanly with performance in mind. Please visit the link for an example of how we did it previously:

https://www.organizedgaragestatus.co...97-lexus-gs300

CAtoNYcar

OGS,
how much did a retrofit like that cost?

Organized Garage Status

That particular setup was $596.