Hi all,

After 12 years, my ‘14 350 has a low-beam headlight that is about to fail me.

I’ve decided to replace them both. The dealership is going to charge me around $800 to do them with OEM bulbs, so my question is…

Does anyone have any recommendations for an after-market bulb that is as close as possible to the OEM factory bulb?

I’m hoping to keep the original look.

Thank you!

 

[QUOTE=Nickyg1478;12015788]Hi all,

After 12 years, my ‘14 350 has a low-beam headlight that is about to fail me.

I’ve decided to replace them both. The dealership is going to charge me around $800 to do them with OEM bulbs, so my question is…

Does anyone have any recommendations for an after-market bulb that is as close as possible to the OEM factory bulb?

I’m hoping to keep the original look.


Thank you!


[/800$ bulb? Something isn’t right weird

 

Could be that much if they are HID lights and ballasts need replacing. Some labor involved on ES350, probably also on RX.

Way too much if not HID lights. Would need only H11 bulbs, about $30 for a pair of good bulbs.

 

Keep in mind that Toyota-Lexus do not make light bulbs, they buy them from the same places as all the other car companies.

If you have HID bulbs, as you have not indicated what kind of light bulbs you have, then you can buy OEM equivalent D4S HID bulbs made by Philips, or Osram or Hitachi from Amazon for a lot less money. There are threads here and videos on YouTube that show how to replace them. It is not difficult. I have done it so many times on Toyota and Lexus vehicles with the HID bulbs I can swap a bulb in 5 minutes if there is nothing stupid in the way of the housing. It is robbery for a dealer to try and charge $800 for this job. If you have the H11 halogen bulbs, then the dealer is even more crooked as they are very cheap and easier to install.

If not a do it yourself person you could probably find a local independent body shop or repair shop to do this job for a lot less. Every shop has experience swapping these headlight bulbs.

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Hi all -

The $800 is inclusive of labor (fully aware that this is highway robbery, hence the post) and yes they’re HID bulbs. I thought the standard bulbs were HID for this vehicle, so I did not specify, sorry!

Thanks!

 

Definitely plan on doing this myself. Thanks for the information. Philips D4S is something I had seen - do you have any recommendation regarding temperature to match stock HID? Have not been able to find via my own research if my stock HIDs are 4200 or 4800, and I see Philips has equivalents for both.

Thanks again.

 

[QUOTE=erapmicks;12015791]
$800, including labor. It’s mindblowing to me as well.

 

I just replaced those about a week ago. Here is some of the posts and pic
headlight bulb turns off randomly - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

I used Osram and replacing the bulbs is very easy.

 

Thanks for this information! Glad it’s easy. I did the fog lights about a year ago and that was a bit annoying lol

 

Swap the bulbs with each other to see if the bad bulb stays bad. If it does’t, it is likely only the ballast for that side is bad, not the bulb.

 

4200 to 4300 is closer to the stock bulb color.
I have Osram bulbs and they have held up very well.
How is the bulb failing? Is it getting dimmer or shutting off?

Regardless, first replace the bulbs and if one of the new ones still shuts off, then you need to replace the ballast.
The HID bulbs get dimmer over time, so new bulbs will be much brighter than what you have now.

 

If you simply need light bulbs, you can get regular Philips ones, as these are the ones installed at the factory.
If you need more light, the best options are OSRAM XENARC NIGHT BREAKER LASER D4S Next Gen and PHILIPS Xenon X-treme Vision gen2 D4S.

 

Thanks!

So it flickers and then will go off completely. Both headlights have never been replaced.

 

Flickering points to a bad ballast. However, a new bulb could solve the issue because the old bulb could be near its end-of-life, producing greater internal resistance. Just be prepared either way.

 

You can get a new HID ballast from Rock Auto for $167.79
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=15962&jsn=691

There are a lot of much cheaper ones on Amazon that are around $30 to $50!
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