HID's

[djmedik91]

Holy hell, I know I'm gonna get some type of criticism from this post(because of the non-conversion).....

To those that want to criticize, please understand that I work 40+ hours a week(not to mention what I do from home), travel for work across the country, and have a personal life...

Moving forward, I recently just installed aftermarket headlight(99-02) assemblies on my 1997. After that I installed some 10K H4 Bi-Xenon HID's.

Install went well. The only thing I have some questions about is the headlight housings and beam patterns.

I have assemblies that look like this..

But with the HID's installed I'm seeing the lower end of the headlight assembly looking like this.. Notice the lack of light output at the bottom.

Now would this be because of the pre installed "casper shield"

or the domed piece in the middle of the headlight housing

Just for s*its and giggles, here is a pic from the inside....

There is a stop sign to the middle right of the picture which is like 9 houses down, which I think is really good light output (granted I need to align the lights better....)

FYI...In the future (when I have time) I am going to do the projector retro fit...

 

[Stick Figure]

remember that the bottom of the light will reflect light upwards, so if you remove the shield on the adapter piece you have, it will provide more upwards glare, and basically only light up trees, and bridges you are driving under.

 

[djmedik91]

remember that the bottom of the light will reflect light upwards, so if you remove the shield on the adapter piece you have, it will provide more upwards glare, and basically only light up trees, and bridges you are driving under.

Hmmmm...With that being said, would "trimming" the interior reflector make any difference on the lower light output....Seems like I am winning a no win battle here with the HID's in regards to beam patters until I do projectors.....

 

[MillerPKA]

Maybe the camera distorted it but that beam pattern looks horrible. Double check the 3 prongs sat into the headlight assembly. They may be able to fit any way but the bulb must be at a certain rotation when you secure it with the clip. Rookie mistake but I did this the first time I changed bulbs

 

[LINY4Runner]

it's probably those glare shields that you have...I don't have them with my HIDs and they work amazing

scroll down in this thread I have pics:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49653

 

[djmedik91]

Actually Liny, when I saw the pics of yours was when I decided to get them.

Now looking at mine, I am a little disappointed. Now I am also starting to think that it may be the headlight assembly. These are not OEM, but aftermarket ones from Headlights Depot...

Does anyone have a pic of their OEM 99-02 headlights up close? I'm thinking that the reflector in the headlight assembly looks to big....

I did check the 3 prongs, and they are good. Actually that is the only way that I can really make sure the lights are in since that glare shield has a twist lock in there to secure the HID bulb....


And no the camera did not distort the pics from the inside. That is actually what they look like.

 

[djmedik91]

Ok, decided to take off one of those shields to see what happened. It did fill in the bottom of the light..

But didn't really affect the beam pattern too much...

Now that I got some better pics, take a look at the reflector in front of the bulb..

See how the top of the reflector extends over the bulb area pretty significantly.

Here is a pic of a set of OEM's with the glass removed...

I'm not certain, but I think this might affect the light output that I am seeing on the road with this pic (terrible beam pattern on road)

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[LINY4Runner]

I would blame the aftermarket housings for the scattered light output. Probably wasn't evident with the halogen bulbs, because of the lower light output, but now with the HIDs it's more radical.

 

[djmedik91]

I would have to agree...I just took out that reflector in the passenger light (it was held in by two screws and clips) flipped it, and this is the result...

Looks like I might need to do the retrofit sooner than I thought.....

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Have you aimed your new headlights? When I got my '99-'02 headlights the beam pattern was terrible, but after aiming was fine.

 

[djmedik91]

Have you aimed your new headlights? When I got my '99-'02 headlights the beam pattern was terrible, but after aiming was fine.

I did a little. Just the vertical aiming. Unfortunately I did not have the right size wrench to get to the horizontal screws and there is no freaking way to get a socket in there. Plus I need to find a wall around here where I won't attract too much attention. The cops out here really don't have anything to do, and would probably give me a tresspassing citation (they aren't the nicest cops in the world either).

I think I'm going to take out the reflectors in both the lights, and use the supplied glare shields that came with the HID's. When I flipped the reflector in the headlight, it looked all crooked. I could just take off the parts in the reflector, but I don't have anything that can really trim metal. I could try wire cutters, as the metal is not that thick... We will see...

 

[KellyJ]

Where in the DC Metro area are you at?

 

[emoshun]

djmedik91, I have been around HID's for a long time, and can tell you that a retrofit is worth the wait.

No matter how you augment your halogen housings, you will not have the desired output, as plugging a xenon bulb into a halogen based unit will never yield the results you want.

Others might say that they get good results, but good results for what? Until you see the drastic difference between a PNP setup, and an OE HID, you won't be happy. Class in session!

Here is a pic of the differences between PNP and OE HID.

I know those pics are hard to believe, but when you attempt to adapt a new technology into an old one, in this case the results will always be negative. Some people only want HID lights for the distinct color, others want the signature flicker that OE HID's give off, that attracts your eyes to them in the first place.

Check out this picture, and you can see where the color/flicker comes from.

It comes from the cutoff, not the light beneath the cutoff. PNP bulbs try to replicate 1 of the colors in the prism of the cutoff with a higher kelvin rating. Unfortunately, the higher you go in the Kelvin scale, the lower in lumens. (actual light output) So when people talk about "Cool blue/purple xenon light" they are only referring to the light they see flicker in the cutoff, not the actual bulbs light, which is yellowish white as seen in the picture above below the cutoff line.

The color of Xenon light is 4300k, slight yellow/whitish, to mimic that of sunlight as not to fatigue your eyes, and the eyes of other drivers during night driving. So to understand this is to realize that although it's nice to have a buffet of high kelvin colored bulbs to choose from, 6k, 8k, 10k, 12k, etc. etc., you are actually cheating yourself from what you originally wanted, which was better light output for night driving.

With a 4300k Philips bulb, and a pair of OE HID projectors, you can greatly improve your night driving experience, and add safety to your off road trips by actually having usable light on the ground, instead of the trees.

"When I look directly at my PNP's, they are brighter than your OE HID projectors, doesn't that mean they are better?"

Let me clear up this common myth, with something called useable light. The design of a halogen reflector/projector is to disperse light across a broad range in height in front of the vehicle due to halogen having such a weak output. When you use PNP bulbs in a halogen application, you get the extra power in lumens from the bulb now thrown all over the place, the sky, the side, anywhere but where you need it, on the ground in front of you. An OE HID projector will provide you with that!

I hope this helps!

 

[KellyJ]

Woah that was an informed reply. Even I learned something from your post :bigok:

 

[djmedik91]

That is a lot of useful info...I did have experience with my Mazda 626 and using projectors. In the USA, they were halogens but in Japan, they had projectors. I ordered a set of the assemblies and used them without HID's and you could certainly tell the difference. Even without using HID's, haloen bulbs looked incredible.

I really just need to find the time and get comfortable with doing the converion. Oh and finding the money would help as well. I guess the only thing that I need to get are some projector housings (hopefully I can find some that use H4 bulbs so that I dont have to change the HID bulbs I just got).

KellyJ---
I haven't updated my profile to reflect where I live now. I use to live in the Fairfax area right by Tysons. Actually, all over Northern VA (Burke, Fairfax, Centreville, Gainesville). Now I reside in what I like to call the Tri-State area. I tell this to people when I am on business trips and vacations. I live in West Va. just outside of the Virginia and Maryland state line....It sucks but it is a helluva lot cheaper than my $1500 a month apartment that was like 40 years old.
Now I have a townhouse for $1200 and it is 2 years old.....And I still get out to the DC area to visit the guys and go to the bars...