You need to be careful not to overheat the lens and wiring system with "hot" bulbs. I wouldn't bother.

 

You'd be better off with better bulbs. Sylvania silverstar ultras aren't that great.

They're have a color coating on the bulb that reduces the light output. They have a whiter color that gives the illusion of brighter light. You want an uncoated bulb like the Philips Xtreme Vision.

 

You'd be better off with better bulbs. Sylvania silverstar ultras aren't that great.

They're have a color coating on the bulb that reduces the light output. They have a whiter color that gives the illusion of brighter light. You want an uncoated bulb like the Philips Xtreme Vision.

Ditto. Philips Extreme. About $22 a pair on A-Z.

 

Removing the haze on the lens and upgrading to HIR bulbs helps. Check out the candle power forum for info on the relay setup. From reading a lot of info over there, it does appear that the relay and wire upgrades do work, but it requires more effort than I want to do.

 

just spend a few minutes looking at my 04 corolla s headlamp wiring. Here are a few observations i made.
1. The wiring for the headlights on the far side of the battery has to run from the relays that are located on the drivers side right next to the battery all the way by the firewall, across to the other side, all the way to the front to the headlights. So there is definitely room for shorting the distance between power source and destination.
2. The high beam light bulbs are brighter (the stock ones that the car came with)
3. The power cables that go to the low beam bulbs are alot thicker than the high beams.
4. The main power cables that attach to the battery terminals are freaking tinny (half the size of my BMW 318i and Jeep grand Cherokee)
5. I took the high beam bulb and put it on the low-beam housing and it was alot brighter (it was still attached to the high-beam power supply)

If i decide to not go with the extra relay way, can i just buy the connectors that the high-beams use and install high beam light bulbs? Would that be too much heat for the headlight housing?
I forgot to previously mention that i have disabled the DRL so the headlights will only come on at night.

Also this is what i used to get info on the relay system:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

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I use regular 60W 9005 (high beam) bulbs in my low beams, instead of the 51W 9006. I just have to burn off the two plastic tongues in the bulb's plug-in with a soldering iron, to fit in the low beam sockets. Works great.

Hella's 100W 9005 are good for the high beams.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-HLA-H83165271-9005-100W-Halogen/dp/B000COBLOI[/ame]

 

I use regular 60W 9005 (high beam) bulbs in my low beams, instead of the 51W 9006. I just have to burn off the two plastic tongues in the bulb's plug-in with a soldering iron, to fit in the low beam sockets. Works great.

Hella's 100W 9005 are good for the high beams.

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-HLA-H83165271-9005-100W-Halogen/dp/B000COBLOI

What you could also do if you don't want to get HID's would be to get some 9005 bulbs (high beams) and file down the sides where fits into the low beam slot.

I did the filling last night and put the highbeam bulb in the lowbeam housing. It was a bit brighter. I ended up putting it back to the way it was stock cause i couldnt find the extra pair of highbeam bulbs that i had laying around. I guess i'll wait until one of the bulbs burns out and get some better ones. I will do the relay-direct-to-battery thing then too.

Honestly I think your best bet is to switch out the headlight housings and put in aftermarket HID headlights.

I've compromised and gotten the Sylvania Xtravision for mine. They are brighter than the dim OE ones but uncoated so they last almost as long, too. The Ultravision are the same thing but even brighter, and coated. They only last about 6 months before dying as a result. Keep that in mind.

I will see how the prices look at the time i will need to replace the bulbs. Within the next 2 years i will either sell my 00 jeep grand cherokee or my 05 corolla s, until then i want to DIY stuff to the cars but keep the cost down since i dont know which car i'll end up keeping.

Please update with info/pics and links if any of you go through with any mods or replacements mention in this thread. that way it help the next person. Thank you much gentlemen!

 

HIR (Halogen Infrared Reflective) 9011 (9006) and 9012 (9005) bulbs.

http://store.candlepower.com/hirlighting.html

 

Honestly I think your best bet is to switch out the headlight housings and put in aftermarket HID headlights.

I've compromised and gotten the Sylvania Xtravision for mine. They are brighter than the dim OE ones but uncoated so they last almost as long, too. The Ultravision are the same thing but even brighter, and coated. They only last about 6 months before dying as a result. Keep that in mind.

 

^ Or just get aftermarket projectors.

 

What you could also do if you don't want to get HID's would be to get some 9005 bulbs (high beams) and file down the sides where fits into the low beam slot.

 

I would not change anything about the stock headlight bulbs as you are asking for trouble by putting a higher output bulb in there. Over time you will damage the headlight housing.

With the cost of extra switches and relay and wiring, plus all of the time it takes to put together. Your time and money would be better spent on a simple HID conversion kit.

I am not talking about new housings etc, Just the HID bulbs that fit in the stock housings. There is plenty of room to install the ballasts. Install takes about 20 minutes start to finish.

If you do go the HID bulb route, Get a lower color temperature such as 4000K to 5000K Stay away from the blue and purple ones as they have reduced light output. The ones i mentioned above will be over 2x brighter than what you have.

I just dont think it is necessary to rewire the stock lights and complicate things.

 

Alright, so i was being a little impatient child last night and i order this

it seems like a good solid product to me. Seen as i have never played around with HIDs before, do you think it will cause any issues with the factory harness like overheating the cables and such?





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http://kensun.com/index.htmhttp://kensun.com/index.htmhttp://kensun.com/index.htm

http://www.headlightreviews.com/kensun-hid-kit-installaion/

These are interesting too for the price, and are also made in China.

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-f...allast-HID-xenon-Conversion-slim-kit-headlight-4300k-to-12000k-wholesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-f...ipping-cheap-price-car-light-hid-kit-H1-H3-H4-H7-H8-H9-H10-H11-wholesalers.html

 

Yeah hose suitcase looking things are funny and a lot of kits seem to come in them. Replace the foam and they make a good gun case hehe.

You are somewhat correct. Some of the lower quality ballasts are really designed to accept 12V and not the full 13.5-14.5V output when the engine is running. This can lead to extra heat on the ballasts, but if you mount them in an area that has access to good airflow and keep them away from the engine, they should be fine.

*****make sure you disable your daytime running lights before installing these****

If you dont they will flicker during the daytime and burn up quickly. THere is a yellow wire that comes out of the DRL control module that you cut and run to ground. It has been almost 9 years so i dont remember exactly , but it takes all of about 5 minutes.

as long as you do all of the above they should last you for many years. I put my HIDs in back in 2007 and have had no problems since.

Good luck!

 

You are correct about the yellow wire. I disabled my day-time running lights a few months back.
I will wait and see how long the cables are so i can mount the ballasts as far away from heat as possible. Im thinking somewhere behind the turn signal bulb. What HIDs did you get? Can you please post a link or something. Thanks.





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Right, I meant to say "watts" (35 xenon HID, 55 OEM). Can you send me a link to study up on this thanks.

 

Right, I meant to say "watts" (35 xenon HID, 55 OEM). There are also 55 watt HID's curious what that means as far as ballast. Can you send me a link to study up on this thanks.

 

From what I've read on quite a few websites the last few days there are many sizes of ballasts for HID lights. Some go up to 100+ watts. Of course you will need the right wattage bulbs to go along with them. And the right housing to be able to take the heat. Above 35 watts (HID) the ballasts require direct connection to the battery to prevent melting of factory harnes. Also anything above 35watts HID and 55 watts conventional is considered illegal for driving lights (i couldn't find specifics on which states if not all).


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HID ballasts draw a lot of power until the bulb gets warmed up. 35w ballasts and bulbs should be more than enough though.

I got mine from Distant Extremes... i think the actual brand was something like moonlight electronic.

i mounted the ballasts inside the front clip in front of the radiator on each side and they get good airflow. not blocking the radiator as that would be bad for other reasons. the wires should be long enough without modification.

 

Good luck with the HID's in stock housings, as you're going to annoy the crap out of anyone you follow on the road or oncoming traffic with the glare you'll get.

 

It's also worth noting that this illegal in some states. That's why I recommend changing out the whole housing for a proper projector housing designed to accept HID's.

 

Did the same thing and it worked out fine. Had to aim them a little lower than stock. I get no complaints from other drivers on the road.

 

No complaints here either...just aim them down.

Just a note 35w 6000k HID will look a little blue. The same Kelvin with a 55w ballast will look more white. The lower the kelvin, the whiter the light (5000k is pure white) the higher the kelvin, the light output starts to suck and is more for show, not to mention unsafe. The higher the wattage and it will wash out the color. 35w is plenty of power.
Luminis HID kits on eBay are cheap ($37 shipped) and work awesome. Had them in for quite some time with zero issues. I mounted the ballasts for the lows on the passenger side strut tower and the other one underneath the battery tray. For my fogs, I ziptied the ballasts to a bar behind the front bumper.

 

OK, so i installed them and man, i'm loving them. I can see so much better. Not only brighter but further and wider. Below is a pic of before and after shots. I recorded a video with the old lights, then i recorder the same route with the HIDs and i captured the same screenshots on both videos.

 

OK, so i installed them and man, i'm loving them. I can see so much better. Not only brighter but further and wider. Below is a pic of before and after shots. I recorded a video with the old lights, then i recorder the same route with the HIDs and i captured the same screenshots on both videos.

See if you can hide the ballasts behind the bumper struts more (ie. rotate them further towards the outside of the car). They're going to get wet everytime it rains where they currently are, and I don't trust the weather sealing on them.

In a few weeks when I have the bumper off the car while I redo my HID retrofit (one of my custom brackets inside the housing has sheared... serves me right for using thin material), I'll get pictures of how I mounted my ballasts.