After listing my original OEM 5th gen headlight housings for sale recently, I got a bunch of questions regarding my HID retrofit.

A few weeks ago, I had Lightwerkz in NJ grab a new set of OEM headlights and retrofit Lexus IS250 "side entry" bi-xenon projectors into the factory housings that I got off eBay. The results speak for themselves...

Fantastic output, a very wide, perfect cutoff main beam and dual high-beams as Caesar and crew tied the factory highs to activate with the bi-xenon portion of the new projector. There are a bunch of additional options you can add, but I opted to keep a factory look.

Specs for the retrofit are as follows:

- 2006-2009 Lexus IS250 "side" projectors
(This is the only projector that will fit easily due to the shape of the housing. They seem to be readily available on eBay)
- STI clear lens
- D2S Osram CBI bulbs (5500k with ~3400 lumen output)

I was running a Xenon Depot HID kit previous to this in the factory projector, so I was able to reuse the same ballast.

Pics:

Looks awesome! How much did it cost?

I really want to do this. I have xenon depot HIDs now. It’s great, just not perfect. Could i just buy the IS projectors and reuse the full Xenon Depot kit?


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Look how clean that cut off is. I got major envy now.

You would need to buy some d2s bulbs as that is what the IS projectors need and d2s harness, you reuse the xenon depot ballasts.

Very nice!

I had LightWerkz do my lights a few years ago and have been extremely happy with the results. The cut off line is amazing and there is no glare for on coming vehicles to deal with. I am lucky though in that I did not have to deal with the "side entry" deal.

@Sleeter - pm inboud

@dot_tom - srsrogerissrs is right, you will need D2S bulbs. There is an adapter to use your exists ballasts.

Side entry was unfortunate, as it really limits the projector choices, but could do a lot worse than some factory Lexus projectors.

True, but not all that bad either. I have lux readings from Lightwerkz, and this retrofit has nearly 3X the lux as the stock halogen projector.

If you want to use D2S OEM HID bulbs and the Volt or Xtreme ballasts from our halogen-to-HID conversion kits, you will need some of the D2S/D2R Adaptor Plugs.

~Robert

Bumping this to ask if anyone else has done a proper HID retrofit. Had a scary drive home one night last week in the rain and was reminded how terrible the factory headlights are. Getting ready to jump into my third retrofit (first on the M3, then '15 Tacoma) and will try to take pictures of the process to post here.

What vehicle was this for? If it's for a 5th gen 4runner then you really don't need to do a retrofit as they have projector headlights which will work great with an HID or LED kit upgrade!


Danny

5th gen 4runner. I've dropped rebased HID bulbs in halogen projectors before and was unhappy with the results. I also refuse to be "that person" shooting 4500k-colored light daggers in the eyes of oncoming traffic. For things like this, I'd prefer to take the "Hank Hill approach" and do it right.

I totally understand your concern and I wouldn't have mentioned it if knew it wouldn't work. Based on other forum member reviews and customer feedback the 4runner projector headlights work great with an HID or LED kit.

Here's a great review:

2018 Toyota 4Runner - H11 HID Headlight Install Guide and Review




Danny

I do trust what you're saying and if I didn't have experience or willingness to do projector retrofits, I would at least give rebased bulbs a try. I'm admittedly being a curmudgeon because of how terrible the parts and vendors were who targeted the german car aftermarket 10+ years ago.

Don't worry, I'll still need to source bulbs and ballasts ;)

No problem! At the end of the day, everyone has different needs for their lighting.

Let me know if you had any other questions

Danny