I’ve been thinking about buying an SC430 once I sell my old GS300 and free up some space. How are the headlights at night? My LS430’s factory headlights are amazing but both of my GS300’s are horrible to drive at night.

The halogen and HID GS’ headlights don’t have projectors like my SC and LS the SC do. I’ve heard of people retrofitting SC430 headlight projectors on other cars and it got me thinking about this. I’ve never driven an SC430 at night, but I’m hoping they put out more light than my second generation GS’ and third generation ES300’s.

 

stock low beam HID’s are pretty dim. The ride height of the sc430 is nothing compared to modern day cars (its very low) so your beams are going to be basically illuminating a small section in front. However, the halogen high beams scatter light everywhere and does a decent job. If you replace it with an LED bulb it’s blinding (just becareful of melting the housing)

 

Not sure where you get your info, but LEDs give off much less heat than halogens. Why would it melt the housing?

 

That is disappointing to hear. I thought it was weird when I read about people using SC430 projectors in custom headlight retrofits for other cars. They sound like the 2nd generation GS which have terrible low beams but great high beams. I have some cheap LED high beams in my 01 GS300 and they don't generate heat. They are pretty low power compared to the nicer LED's I see now.

 

Go find a local SC430 and drive/ride it at night.

I find them to be fine. Being projectors, they have a distinct cut off. They provide a lot of illumination below the cut off and less above the cut off. I have LED bulbs in the high beams and they are very bright.

LED's produce the least amount of heat of any lighting option.
The height of the car has nothing to do with how far down the road the light is projected. The aiming of the headlights determine that.

 

Not bright, wait till it rains and is dark at night. Even with fogs on it doesn't add much.

 

I put these on my 2003 and it was, quite literally, like day and night. Can see much further, broader and brighter and aiming does not blind on-comers. A little bit of fuss to get to headlights, remove ballast and install but not bad. Not hot. Completely satisfied.

https://www.sc430mods.com/product-pa...-on-the-market

 

^^ how hard is this to install, from what I recall there's little to no space and near impossible to change the fog lights and corner lights. Is the ballast underneath the headlights? Won't it leave a giant hole if you remove it. From what I remember I think all the wiring is inside the headlights, so it's not like traditional halogens, where you plug and play. It's not traditional head light plugs. Cuz power goes to the ballast and it's all wired internally in the headlight.

 

You can buy a LED to HID headlight bulbs and do the conversation yourself. The LED bulbs are much brighter now.

 

Here is a video from SC430 mods I found helpful after getting the headlight assembly out. I took off the bumper to do that. There are a number of posts and videos on that.

 

^^ that looks so fiddly I can do the lights part but taking off the bumper is a huge pain.

 

There is a newer version LED bulb in Amazon that converts hid to LED without any modification. I think that's much easier and also cost less. I will try that this week before my July 4th vacation.

 

I'm trying that same bulb myself. NOVCAPAR Upgraded D2S D2R LED

Hopefully my car is complete next week and I will get to compare them to the old HID.

 

I installed the LEDs from sc430mods recently and really like them. Definitely brighter. Driver side with the LED vs passenger side with the stock HID.

 

I’ll have to try to find one to drive. It was easier when I worked at the dealership and occasionally got SC430’s traded in. If my old job gets one I’ll see if I get a late test drive.

I figured the SC430 would do better with projectors than my GS/ES did with reflectors. That will likely be the route I will go.

That’s my problem with both of my GS’ and it is scary driving on a rainy night. 😞

I will have to try this out once I get an SC430. Does that setup use the factory ballasts or does it remove them completely? I saw something like this on the LS430 and wondered how they worked.

Your post sold me on the LED conversion.