The LS 04-06 have the best projectors and still being retro fitted in newer cars, like the others said just do your research and its a wrap. Now far as them not being as good up front, you guys need to raise them up from the (to low) factory height.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/4991882-post6.html

Trust me once you adjust them upward a few clicks with a ratchet you will be impressed!!!


Last the reason the brights may look crappy is your brights are pulling double duty with DRL and when you need to use them. The bulbs become worn out, if you check them you will see they may be a dark yelloish/brown and it is time to replace them. BTW once you raise your low beams you won't need your brights.

 

Except that the DRL's use the high beam reflectors with increased resistance for the dimming effect (at least on the '04-06). If you reduce the voltage on HIDs, I suspect they won't last very long. Turning any HIDs on and off quickly is also BAD on the ballasts...that's why high beams are still standard halogen reflectors. IIRC, it doesn't take too much voltage to ignite the HIDs initially (after a prolonged period of rest), but if you turn them on, then off, then on again, it takes like 15-20 KV to re-ignite them!

 

What i'm saying is the standard halogen reflectors bulbs that are being used as DRL's wears the bulb out over time, making them almost useless when you need your hi-beams. When i swapped my DRL/Hi-beams bulbs out to LED's they were dark yelloish/brown color which explained why they sucked. Once you change the bulbs your brights will perform like they were intended to function.

 

I don't remember anyone mentioning that the plastic headlight lenses on the 01 LS430 the OP test drove could simply have been worn. It doesn't take much lens wear to restrict light output.

By the time I refinished the plastic headlight lenses on my 2000 LS400 in late summer 2008 at 100,000 miles and almost exactly 8 years from the car's in-service date, its headlight lenses were in horrible, nearly opaque condition and I couldn't see $#!+ at night. 30 minutes with a Crystal View lens refinishing kit seemed to double the light output while making the headlight lenses look like new.

I haven't found roads in the Pacific Northwest, where the OP lives, to be very kind to car headlights. Maybe it's coincidence but the only headlight I've had broken in 44 years of driving (it was on a Mercedes W123 with Euro lights) was from flying debris on a regular highway in the Olympic peninsula.

Washington state -- the only place where I've driven in windblown volcanic ash.