I am sure there are many people that have swapped out their stock headlights for HIDs, but I was wondering if anyone had links to pics of where to mount the balasts. I am affraid that on the driver side there isn't going to be a solid place to mount it so it will shake around like crazy. I have a set from a GS300 that I would like to put in. Thanks.

 

before anyone else says it....GLARE GLARE GLARE!!!

 

i mounted my Hella Gen 4 Ballasts directly on the headlight housing. I zip tied it to the bottom in three different places, its not going anywhere......

 

Heh... I almost brought it up but figured it wasn't worth it. No one cares.

Also, he had a specific question, not just "who has HIDs?!"

 

Well I thought about putting on HIDs, but it is illegal to put them on yourself- it needs to be done by the factory to be legal (doing it yourself leads to blinding other people.) The manufacturer has to pass certain test to show they are going to be safe for road use. And Scion doesn't offer this option (although cars like the Mazda3 do) so the cops are going to know it is aftermarket. The last thing anybody coming home from the bar wants is one more reason for the cops to pull you over and harrass you.

So I started a thread in "Dear Scion":
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=66972
asking them to add this as an option. I hope they listen.

 

will cops really know that there not factory though? I have a hard time believing that cops will pull you over for that unless you have them directly aimed up in such a way that it's like spot lights are on the oncoming car. Has anyone had any experiences with being pulled over for HID Conversions?

 

Of course they will, they are very well versed in finding reasons to pull people over and ticket them. When its bar closing time they look for any and all reasons just to pull people over, and HIDs stick out like a sore thumb on the road. Do a google search and you'll find plenty of people who've been pulled over for it:
http://www.google.com/search?q=HIDs+pulled-over
You can go ahead and put them on yourself, but you run the risk of losing them and wasting your money. You might even get youself in more trouble in the process. You drive this vehicle for 10 years with aftermarket HIDs on, the odds are you'll get pulled over at least once for it.

 

very interesting i never thought the housings made such a difference in the way the light is outputted. Are there any plans for full HID conversion kits for the tC ?

 

It cant and wont be made in America, since it is against the law that was passed around summer of 2004. It made it illegal to sell hid kits/conversions.

Just do the retrofit yourself. Go to hidplanet.com for more info.

With regards to being pulled over, it usually happens for a reason. I.e. unusually blue output (using non standard 5000+ kelvin rating bulbs), horrible glare, and so on. If you do a proper retrofit, you most likely wont get pulled over.

Of course there is a risk of being pulled over, but I honestly believe it is a very low risk.

 

if you want a set, holler

 

please, please take your time and read the following.
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3505


and also check out other resources we have available.

 

Everyone on here is clueless when it comes to HID's, all of think that as soon as you take a set and throw them on a car that didnt come from the factory with them, they glare, they are wayyyyy to brite, and they melt your headlight housing. WTF people?

1. There are 2 different types of HID bulbs - ones that require projectors, and ones that require a normal everyday headlight assembly.

2. They only glare and are too brite if you place the wrong type of bulb in the wrong housing.

I have have HID's in my tC for almost a year along with my other vehicles for well over a year, the housings have not melted, and I have not blinded traffic, right now in the tC I have 8000K low beams and 10000K high beams. All bulbs I have are designed for stock headlight housings and they are non-aftermarket. They are from Infinity vehicles.

 

You dont really know your HID either bro...

You are incorrect about your HID bulb types. There are two primary types of bulbs, D2S and D2R. D2S bulbs are for projector housings, i.e. most newer cars that come with HID. D2R is for reflector housings, most oem HID dont use this anymore, since the output isnt as good.

When you say you have "... and ones that require a normal everyday headlight assembly.", you are referring to rebased D2S or D2R bulb. That means someone fitted a bulb designed for a hid projector or reflector onto a regular halogen base (9006 or hb3 or whatever the socket is). You can put the rebased bulb into any regular halogen housing, but dont expect anything near oem HID output.

And you say you have " ... 8000K low beams and 10000K high beams." Whats up with that? You have two sets of HIDs for high and lows? HIDs arent even designed to handle the on/off action that are inherent to high beam usage. A better option would have been to use a bixenon projector or in your case a hi/lo kit with a solenoid and shield. But hey, its your money.

And show us pictures of your output and cutoff.

 

If you really want a HID set for tC - done right... check out www.hidretro.com - they can do a 3-series or 5-series retorfit for a tC. You can even get the angeleyes if you want them. It costs more than your set of bulbs/ballasts, but it's the right way to do it.

 

Thanks everyone for the replys. I am not sure what kind I have the D2S or the D2R. Like I said they came out of a GS300. I will take a picture of them and post it when i get a chance. I can't believe that there is a law that says you can't retrofit a set in but i guess it makes sense for all the people that wouldn't take the time to properly level the lights as to not blind people. I bought the set to put in my Frontier but I sold that last month. I figured that they sould work properly in my tC since they are a Lexus (Toyota) product. but I have only looked around in the engine bay to see if it was possible. Anyway, thanks for the ideas and I'll look more into it this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out if I do it.

AzSciontC

 

they are D2R...(R = reflector) if they came from the 2nd generation GS. the new GS uses projectors, so they utilize D2S bulbs. and D2 bulbs do NOT fit into halogen housings unless they're heavily modded--and i don't recommend doing the modding yourself unless you know what you're doing (which, you probably don't). Even if you modded them correctly, or had someone mod the bulbs to fit into the 9006 housing, you will inevitably have glare and hotspots...because of the way the D2 bulbs are designed. they're longer and thinner than halogen bulbs---which means that they've got a VERY different focal point. even between the same vehicle...a regular halogen reflector is different from the HID reflector found in the same car because of the focal length and other different optics involved with HIDs. D2S/R HID bulbs also reflect light differently--which also poses a problem when placed in a "halogen" environment. your best bet....is to find some projectors pulled from another car, and retrofit them into your current housing. since you've already got the bulbs and the ballasts...you've got most of the hardware you need already.

www.hidplanet.com << we can help you out---and we've even got retrofitters who do it as a service(paid of course) come and read up, see the options you have....don't hack your bulbs and hardware trying to make a D2 bulb fit into a halogen housing.

 

I spent $0 for mine, so im not out anything.

 

[quote="Kamikazi"]
I spent $0 for mine, so im not out anything, and I modded them to fit and to work!

 

Not to mention blinding everyone else on the road. This especially sucks when you are on a motorcycle..

I know we all have our opinions.. but I cant see spending $500 or more for a set of headlights that create more glare and that blind other drivers when the ones that come stock are more than bright enough... just my opinion though

 

Done properly, they don't blind drivers and there is no glare. I'm staying far away from kits, and going with a retrofit. Rebased bulbs are just plain wrong.