HID beginner help

J

jillianj

New member
Hey,

I just bought a 2006 T4R, and I want to put in HID's. I've tried to do searches and read up as much as I can, but I'm still unclear on a few things, so figured I'd ask.

First off, I want as WHITE a light as possible, no yellow, I'd rather a hint of blue than yellow if I had to pick one. So I'm thinking 5000k, 35w. I don't want to blind people or get tickets (I live in NYC), I just want nice white/bluish headlights. Price is also an issue so I'm looking at DDM.

I'm still unclear: Do I need to order a harness? Canceler/error eliminator? From what I've read, I don't think I need either. But then I just started reading something about projectors? Will that help aim the lights or something?

Any advice on the cheapest yet most user-friendly kit I could buy would be appreciated. I'm like a total newbie to all this but I'm gonna try and put these in myself. I just wanna make sure I buy all the right things! :) Thanks so much
 
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5000k will be purest white, 6000k will be pure white with just a hint of blue. I ordered 6000k and I honestly dont see much blue at all but I think they look awesome. Night and day difference over halogens. You do not need the harness or the error eliminator. Just order the kit for $40 and you'll be fine.

You are correct about the projector part. It is recommended that if you buy HIDs you should have a projector housing. Fortunately if you have a 2006 yours should come with a factory projector housing so you're in good shape. You shouldnt have to aim them down but if you notice people flashing you as you pass them you might want to adjust them a little.

I have them installed in a 2003 reflector housing. I have had them in for 5 days now and havent been flashed once yet. I have not adjusted them at all so far. I figured I'd just plug them in and see how it goes. So far so good I havent had anybody flash me or any trouble with law. You have the factory projectors so you'll have a "cut off line" to help with stray light and glare.
 
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I just put HIDs in my 06 about a month ago. After reading reviews extensively I went with this kit from Xenon Depot. Also I ordered the Phillips bulb (just a higher quality than the generic one).

Xtreme Digital HID Kits

The install is really straight forward which is good because the included directions definitely suck. Luckily, all the plugs will only connect one way. As far as being pure white, I went with 4300K it's actually really white with a tiny tinge of blue in there. I believe 4300K is the whitest, anything less and you'll start to get some yellow. Also, there is the "squirrel finder" mod if you search the forums but I thought it looked like a pain and chose to skip that step. The cutoff line looks pretty good and I haven't gotten flashed or stopped once. I'm also in a city (Washington DC) and people don't seem to notice so I wouldn't worry about being in NYC.

One more helpful tip that I would suggest is connecting your battery to a charger before you disconnect it. I did it and I didn't have to renormalize the windows and reprogram the radio and all that bs.
 
Sonicpilz said:
I have them installed in a 2003 reflector housing. I have had them in for 5 days now and havent been flashed once yet. I have not adjusted them at all so far. I figured I'd just plug them in and see how it goes. So far so good I havent had anybody flash me or any trouble with law. You have the factory projectors so you'll have a "cut off line" to help with stray light and glare.
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean you aren't blinding anyone b/c you are. At least adjust them downward.

To the OP: OEM HIDs are about 4300K which are pretty white. No clues of yellow. Using the 4Runner's projector aren't perfect, but good enough.
 
As stated previously, about 4300K is pure white. Above 4300K you begin to lose useable light; approx. 16% loss from 4000K to 5000K. At 5000K, those with anything but the best of vision will notice problems seeing in the dark when it's raining, foggy, etc.. Useable light continues to drops off as you continue into the cooler colors.

5000K at 35W shouldn't get you flashed or looked at by LEO's.
 
As far as temperature, I LOVE my 4300, its absolutely perfect.. in my opinion, if I see any blue it reminds me of the cheap junk cars that get hids.. for whatever reason, they always opt for higher temps with blue. I like the look of a Mercedes or BMWs temp, just sooo much cleaner.. just my two cents.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
 
A proper retrofit and the bulbs make a difference too. Projects will add a little color to the light. A cheaper bulb will probably put out a different color compared to a higher end bulb like a Philips.
 
To JillianJ: welcome to the forum! Do not waste your time and money on cheap kits. XenonDepot has quality for around $200.

I have the 4300 Philips kit on order for my 2003 Limited. Guys, how much of an issue with glare will I have to deal with? Is it recommended that I adjust them down a bit?
 
I love my setup:
Lexus RX-AFS (e.g. RX-330) Projectors, TSX-R Lens
Phillips 85122 4300K
Denso OEM Lexus/Toyota Ballasts

The Phillips bulbs I have are starting to color-shift naturally towards 5000K, which is the reason I bought these instead of the 85122+. The quality of the projector lens greatly affects the quality of the light, hence my decision to use the TSX-R lens. Also, different types of shields inside projectors change the cutoff. All of the above variables: OEM Ballast, Philips Bulbs, and High-quality projectors w/ clear lens contribute to the best look that you can expect to achieve. White bright light and sharp blue cutoff band.
 
Thanks so much for all the responses! Ok so it seems pretty straightforward and that I'm lucky that my '06 has projector housing.

To sonicpillz: did you use the DDM kit? Was it any good?
I'm worried about going cheap - like someone else said it's not worth it, to go with the xenondepot kit - but the xenon depot kit I'm paying 200 and I don't even need the harnesses :/ So I don't know.

I still have to decide between 4300 and 5000k! But I guess it'll just be a toss up. But thank you for the input everyone!
 
Glock_19 said:
One more helpful tip that I would suggest is connecting your battery to a charger before you disconnect it. I did it and I didn't have to renormalize the windows and reprogram the radio and all that bs.
Click to expand...

Shoot I didn't even think of that, thanks! I'm not sure if I can connect to a charger though - if I can't, where can I get my radio code from? And what do you mean renormalize the windows? :/ thanks
 
I bought the 6000k kit from DDMtuning.com BEFORE I did my research about the whole projector/reflector housing set ups. I had just purchased a new car and talked to some guys at work who had used DDMtuning before and I "wanted what they had" type situation.

Unfortunately I later found out they all had 2006+ model toyotas (with projectors) and mine was only a 2003 with reflectors. So with that in mind I did not INTENTIONALLY have this outcome, but since I had paid the $40 for the set I figured I'd see how they looked anyway.

I do plan on eventually doing a 2006+ housing swap or a retrofit, but for now I dont think they look to awful. They do not look to have too much of a blue look like everybody says to be a 6000k IMO.

Also this pic was taken with a iphone so its far from perfect. I do realize there is some glare in the picture, but none that can be seen with the naked eye.

I have tested the functionality of these HIDs in every way possible to try not to blind fellow drivers on the road. I have driven behind my wife's Maxima, passed her oncoming, passed her stand still, etc and neither of us think that they are too much.

Dont get me wrong, they are bright, but nothing thats going to run somebody off the road. I have NOT adjusted them down yet. I will adjust them down if I start to see people flash me or people start throwing up hands in front of their face as I drive by. But as of right now I have had them in for 7 days and I do 90% driving at night as I work 3rd shift. Not one single person has flashed me yet.

I do realize that the flamers will bash me in every way for not using projectors but IMO its not as bad as everybody says. Im sure it all depends on the height of the car, size of the housing, style, etc that makes some cars just blind the S*#t out of people, but the 4th gen 4runners dont seem to be too bad to me.

Like I stated before I had already spent the $40 on the lights before I learned all the information and Im not a big fan of wasting money. I put these in just for a simple test and honestly think they will be fine, even without adjustment. However if it starts to be a problem I'll adjust them down and eventually move up to projectors.

Edit: I did use the 35w and 6000k kit from DDMtuning.com. As people previously stated you lose usable light as you go up in Kelvin color. So maybe since I have a lower wattage light and a higher temp the glare and stray light is reduced. IDK but I know my lights do not look BLUE or PURPLE.
 

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You can go to almost any HID web page and look at the Kelvin scale charts. Most any place will give you examples as well as descriptions of what each temperature will produce as well as how much usable light you will benefit from. Regardless of color, you're still going to be about 200% brighter than your stock halogens. All of the places I've read reviews on HIDs post this as the description of the temperatures in their charts:

3000k-Yellow light (fog lights)
4300k-White with tinges of yellow
5000k-Pure white
6000k-White with tinges of blue
8000k-Distinct blue
10000k-Blue-green
12000k-Blue-purple

The 4300k is what normally comes standard in OEM factory cars that install HIDs from the factory. Most people who want the purest white light go with 5000k. This is what will give you the most usable light. Anything above 5000k will lose usable light, however as I said before you're still like 200% better than halogens. I am completely happy with my 6000k.

http://www.delonixradar.com.au/hid-xenon/colour-chart.php
 
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