HID or LED Retrofitter in L.A.

[Bkt4runner]

Does anyone on here know of any good HID retrofitters in the Los Angeles area? I tried contacting 818 HID Retrofitter but he has been dragging his feet for 5 months. I need to find a more reliable guy. I need to get Bi-LED projectors with LS430 shrouds.

 

[riceandpho]

i would just send the parts to lightwerkz.net and have them do everything. not sure if your going to find any of those ls430 stuff, what year are you putting them in? 03-05 models will have the room for it. 06-09 will be limited for the low beam, unless you want to cut up the factory shrouds and make it work. the only pic i was able to see with ls430 and 06-09 projector style housings, the shrouds on the headlights was cut up, he made it look pretty decent. now if your truck is lifted, and you have 06-09 model, remember the height adjustment will be limited, the projectors thats being put in will hit the shroud after final adjustment.

03-05 reflector housing have more room to work with.

 

[Bkt4runner]

If you want to be rich start an HID or LED retrofitting business because as you can see there are very few businesses out there that do it and many of them are not reliable.

 

[YOKBB]

I'm guessing there aren't many businesses doing HID retrofits because there isn't enough profit (in other words, anyone skilled enough to do it well can make more money elsewhere). If you disagree, why don't you start your own HID retrofitting business?

You have other options: there are aftermarket HID headlights, the '06+ OEM headlights come with projectors, and you can also get replacement bulbs for your OEM '03-05 headlights that are way brighter than anything that was available 15+ years ago.

 

[Ed_C]

LS430 shrouds?

 

[SilverBullet01]

check out BX built. they are doing led projectors and sell them as completes. Home | BXBuilt

 

[Bkt4runner]

check out BX built. they are doing led projectors and sell them as completes. Home | BXBuilt

I will check them out. Unless they use shrouds that look similar to the LS430 projector shrouds then I am not interested. I have very discerning taste and nothing else will do. I am going to pay a machine shop to make me a custom shroud that is a replica of the LS 430 but with better fitment. WHY? Because they are the most OEM looking shrouds on the market. All of the other shrouds look like an aftermarket part which makes your car look like a ricey tuner car. I am trying to make my car look as OEM as possible.

 

[Bkt4runner]

I'm guessing there aren't many businesses doing HID retrofits because there isn't enough profit (in other words, anyone skilled enough to do it well can make more money elsewhere). If you disagree, why don't you start your own HID retrofitting business?

You have other options: there are aftermarket HID headlights, the '06+ OEM headlights come with projectors, and you can also get replacement bulbs for your OEM '03-05 headlights that are way brighter than anything that was available 15+ years ago.

There's plenty of profit. These dudes who do HID retrofit charge like $150 per hour. It's all labor and that's how they make their money. I would do it myself but I don't have the proper skills for this type of work. Those other options you're telling me to try are ghetto and they are intended for people who want to half ass things. If you want to do it the right way it will cost you more money, but worth it. Usually it will cost $1000 (parts and labor) to get bi-LED projectors installed in your OEM headlight assembly. I want 3.0" bi-LED projectors and I want custom shrouds that look exactly like the ones on the 2005 LS430 HID projectors . The 2006-09 oem halogen projectors are ghetto and they don't perform well because they were designed to be used with only halogen lightbulbs. If you used an HID or LED lightbulb in those 2006-09 4Runner headlights you will generate a lot of glare. Toyota messed up when they did the facelift in the 2006-09. They made the car look too cheesy with all those chrome accents, the fake hood scoop and those corny ass looking halogen projectors.

Here is a pic of the aftermarket shrouds that the guy from 818 Retrofit keeps trying to sell me on but I won’t comply because it doesn’t look very OEM. The second pic is the LS430 HID projectors with its unique shroud.

 

[Ed_C]

Good luck with the shrouds, will definitely have to be one-off since I doubt anyone selling actual LS430 projectors would be willing to sell just the shrouds separately.

PS good thing you didn't hire 818, I've been seeing many bad reviews lately

 

[riceandpho]

just contact lightwerkz, pretty sure they can do something cool. but the ls430 shroud, the bottom reflector cutout is just to help spread the light out more, maybe your lucky to find some outlander version, i think its the same wide spread projector.

 

[Ed_C]

just contact lightwerkz, pretty sure they can do something cool. but the ls430 shroud, the bottom reflector cutout is just to help spread the light out more, maybe your lucky to find some outlander version, i think its the same wide spread projector.

Sounds like OP just wants the look of the LS430 and not necessarily a functional "beam extension" bowl of the projector, and he wants bi-LEDs.

I think Lightwerkz actually did that LS430 retro he posted a pic of.

 

[YOKBB]

There's plenty of profit. These dudes who do HID retrofit charge like $150 per hour.

How much work do they really get, though? $150/hour can't pay the bills if you only get a few hours of work each month. A set of aftermarket housings with halo projectors is only $200, and there are way too many people who will choose the cheapest (and dumbest) option and stick HID/LED bulbs in a non-projector housing. It's fair that you want higher quality than the aftermarket options, but you're in a small minority, especially with a 15-20 year old vehicle.

 

[Bkt4runner]

All I want is the look of the LS430 shrouds cuz they are the most oem looking shrouds out there, but I want the best performing projectors which are bi-LED projectors not halogen projectors that you find on the 2006-09 4Runner.

Yes 818 Retrofit he has been very flakey on me because he has very little competition. It has been 6 months since I gave him a $200 deposit and he still hasn’t done anything yet for me. And he won’t even give you a discount for taking this long.

 

[Bkt4runner]

How much work do they really get, though? $150/hour can't pay the bills if you only get a few hours of work each month. A set of aftermarket housings with halo projectors is only $200, and there are way too many people who will choose the cheapest (and dumbest) option and stick HID/LED bulbs in a non-projector housing. It's fair that you want higher quality than the aftermarket options, but you're in a small minority, especially with a 15-20 year old vehicle.

Yes you are right I represent a very small minority. But I will be using this car as part of a business. I figured 3 ways to make serious money from it so I am seeking perfection when rebuilding it. I am not the prototypical 4Runner owner and my customers aren’t either. You guys don’t sound very enterprising to me at all.

 

[riceandpho]

did you look at the other shrouds from the supplier, theretrofitsource
Shrouds for Retrofitting Projector Headlights | The Retrofit Source

 

[YOKBB]

Yes you are right I represent a very small minority. But I will be using this car as part of a business. I figured 3 ways to make serious money from it so I am seeking perfection when rebuilding it. I am not the prototypical 4Runner owner and my customers aren’t either. You guys don’t sound very enterprising to me at all.

Just curious, how does your expected ROI on those custom projectors compare to modern, high-end H11 and 9005 bulbs in the OEM housing? I hope your business goes well, and I don't have anything against people spending money on things that make them happy, but I don't think you can consider this an investment. Modern bulbs are a lot brighter than they were 15+ years ago, and if you just need more light, you can fit H9 and 9011 bulbs in the OEM housings (link).