Xenon Headlamps - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

YounginDrivein · 01-11-2005, 11:02 AM

Allright, first off, I looked in the FAQs and through most of the posts before I decided to post myself to see if there was an anwser to this question- Is there something im missing, or is it possible to get the xenon headlamps to work correctly by just changing the lightbulb? Ive heard different things such as you have to get an adapter or something of the sort- im just looking for a straight anwser... Thanks

YounginDrivin

P.S. If it makes anydiff- Im drivin a Gen 4

itzsteven · 01-11-2005, 11:10 AM

There's no such thing to have the real xenon headlights without upgrade it to real hid system. There're 2 kind of hid system. One is hid kit (after market from other company), second one is OEM kit (which came from bmw, audi...) There's too much thing I have to explain about these hid, but if you want to learn more before you want to go further, go to www.hidplanet.com/forum . They will help you out. I would recommend you upgrade hid with OEM parts because it will last longer and will give you the best result.

ralfp · 01-11-2005, 11:11 AM

It is techniclally possible, but it's illegal (in the US) and you would have to be an inconsiderate [insert your favorite derogatory noun here] to do it. The optics on standard (halogen) headlight assemblies are not designed for HID bulbs. You would produce tremendous glare and blind other drivers. You might as well drive around with your high beams on.

If you want to get HIDs, you have to get the correct optics (and aiming) to go with them. We're talking >$500.

A cheap ($5) way to improve your lighting is buy some plastic polish (Mother's, etc.) and polish your headlights' plastic covers. This helps a lot on older cars. Also look into the 9006 -> 9005 conversion; just make sure you correctly aim the headlights afterwards.

Edit: FYI, the 9006 -> 9005 conversion is also illegal (AFAIK) in the US.

YounginDrivein · 01-11-2005, 11:11 AM

Thanks a bunch, it will definatly help!

itzsteven · 01-11-2005, 11:17 AM

the best way to have hid will be upgrade to projectors, with reflector it will be a no no

but you can use HIR bulb, result will better than silver star....

TheMajesticking · 01-11-2005, 11:50 AM

Yeah the 9006 > 9005 conversion works miracles. Along with the polish. I have 65w 9005 white lights that i paid $8 for on ebay and they are great. When it comes to certain things you either have to be cheap or go all the way and spend some real dough.

POOH71580 · 01-11-2005, 01:57 PM

HIDS ARE THE BOMB. I HAD A 00 TUNDRA, AN 02 4RUNNER, AND NOW AN 05 CAMRY ALL WITH "REAL" HID SYSTEMS THAT I PAID AT MOST $250. WITH THE TUNDRA AND THE 4RUNNER YOU HAD TO TAKE A COKE CAN AND MAKE YOU A HALF CYLINDER THINGY AND SUPER GLUE IT ON. NO GLARE WHATSOEVER.

NOW, WITH THE 2005 CAMRY, SINCE THE LOW BEAMS AND HIGH BEAMS ARE SEPERATED ITS NO PROB TO CONVERT TO HID LIGHTING. SIMPLY PLUG AND PLAY AND IN A MATTER OF ABOUT 10 MIN. YOUR CAR SHINES LIKE A LEXUS.

MY DAD HAS A LEXUS LS430 WITH THE HID LIGHTS. WE PARKED THEM SIDE BY SIDE DURING THE EVENING WITH LIGHTS ON AND THEY LOOKED IDENTICAL. ACTUALLY THE LEXUS HAD MORE GLARE THAN THE CAMRY.

ALSO, IT IS LEGAL IF YOU HAVE A SEPERATED LOW AND HIGH BEAM AND THE LIGHT OUTPUT IS THAT COMPARABLE TO THE LEXUS, AUDI......EITHER WHITE OR A LIGHT BLUE. I HAVE BEEN RUNNING THE LIGHTS SINCE 2000 AND NEVER HAVE I BEEN PULLED OVER OR QUESTIOINED FOR THAT MATTER ABOUT MY LIGHTS.

MY SUGGESTION IS TO GO ON EBAY AND GET A SET. MY CAMRY ONES HAVE A 2 YEAR WARRANTY ON THE COMPLETE SYSTEM. $250.00.

ANY QUESTIONS....................ASK

jhbhatia · 01-11-2005, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POOH71580

ANY QUESTIONS....................ASK

Nice first post, we don't do CAPS here, its called shouting!

HID's are illegal if you mate them to halogen housings. No matter how you look at it...by seperating hi and low you make legal! They are illegal cus ricers started popping lexus ballasts and bulbs into their cars and the glare was unbelivable. Yes you can use shields and coke cans (like mentioned) to reduce glare...
If your that confident, have your father and your camry take head to head shots and then head to head on a wall, You will see what i mean glare then!

POOH71580 · 01-12-2005, 07:59 AM

This morning i did a little research on the hid lighting laws and here is what i found if you have time to read it.

Sorry about the all caps thingy, i wasnt shouting.

The only thing i was able to find in the time that i had was all this and all it pretty much says is that the DOT is currently investigating and taking comments on auxiliary lighting which includes and is not limited to fog lamps, hid look-a-like bulbs, hid systems, and high mounted lighting. And from what i get from it is that there currently is no law concerning the use of hid systems only that of fog lights stating that you can only have one set of additional lights in the front of the vehicle which makes a total of four lights on the front of the vehicle. After asking around at a few web sites, these aftermarket bulbs and systems will sell whether approved or not from the dot and many manufacturers dont take the time to send them in to be approved. One company by the name of "NOKYA" replied to my message stating that there are so many approved and nonapproved blub manufacturers out there and so many people with them installed on the car that there is no way that local law enforcement could get a grasp on the situation. The only way they could is if the light output is that other than white; such as green, purple, red etc........

Here is the only document that i was able to find regarding this:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html

jhbhatia · 01-12-2005, 10:55 AM

^^ dude, not wanting to burst any bubbles, read this:

(specifically, go read under Legality of alternative headlights - extracted from the article)

Quote:

It is illegal to use on public roads homebrew headlights or headlights using a bulb other than what they were DOT-approved to use. For example, a headlight that is DOT approved and normally uses a 9005 halogen bulb is almost certainly not DOT approved for anything else - especially not a D2S for example.

http://members.misty.com/don/d2.html

POOH71580 · 01-12-2005, 11:20 AM

Obviously people want to spend all this time to see if it is legal or not.....

WHO CARES!!!!!!

chances are you will never get caught and if you do all they will do is write you a 72 hour warning to take them off. That is what they did with my mufflers, or therefore the lack of, on my tundra. i had 72 hours to put a muffler on.

BIG WHOOP....

and from a quote in that same article:

As for what can happen if you use illegal headlights?

1. Often enough, nothing. This depends on location. In some USA cities, law enforcement of traffic regualtions in general is lax. Police are generally not equipped to do headlight photometry anyway.

I've been running them since 2000 and have driven to the Florida Keys and all the way up to New York and never even been questioned about them while getting a few tickets for speeding along the way.

my advice is take the chance as most kids and young adults do. Too bad for these others who get a kick out of the plain $40 set of silverstars or spend $80 on a set of piaa's.

you've got to play the game and keep it real but KNOW YOUR LIMITS!!!!

Have fun while your young and enjoy these things if you can afford them but realize that at any given moment you can be pulled over and given a ticket..

jhbhatia · 01-12-2005, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POOH71580

Obviously people want to spend all this time to see if it is legal or not.....

I just want people to know who do buy it, thats it is illegal! Thats it, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not preaching against it, heck my muffler, coners and most lights are illegal, but at the same time, i'm not claiming them to be legal!!

99camryLE · 01-12-2005, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POOH71580

Obviously people want to spend all this time to see if it is legal or not.....

WHO CARES!!!!!!

chances are you will never get caught and if you do all they will do is write you a 72 hour warning to take them off. That is what they did with my mufflers, or therefore the lack of, on my tundra. i had 72 hours to put a muffler on.

BIG WHOOP....

I completely agree.

BTW, are these illegal HID bulbs those "Xenon" bulbs that go for $5 on eBay or am I completly off?

POOH71580 · 01-13-2005, 11:48 AM

yes they probably are....my suggestion is to get the $40 silverstars if you want something legal.....

if not, get a jc whitney magazine or go online and order their xenon bulbs with high wattage (ex: 100w or 150w). those are the closest to hid i have ever had or seen. the only problem is that they last for about 6 months if you dont touch the glass.

people will post and tell you that if you do that it will fry the wiring harness....dont listen to them.

over a long period of time and bulb replacements i just spent $250 and got the real system.

all i can say is try them out???!!!!!

TheMajesticking · 01-13-2005, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POOH71580

yes they probably are....my suggestion is to get the $40 silverstars if you want something legal.....

if not, get a jc whitney magazine or go online and order their xenon bulbs with high wattage (ex: 100w or 150w). those are the closest to hid i have ever had or seen. the only problem is that they last for about 6 months if you dont touch the glass.

people will post and tell you that if you do that it will fry the wiring harness....dont listen to them.

over a long period of time and bulb replacements i just spent $250 and got the real system.

all i can say is try them out???!!!!!

Hey hey hey. I fried 3 wire harnesses fooling around with those 100 and 150watt bulbs just because I didn't believe what people were saying. I have 65watt bulbs in there now that I only spent like $8 for and they are equal or better than those POS's I had that fried the harness. But yeah I would just get silverstars if you don't want to deal with all that crap.