Cayenbob

Has anyone installed after market HID head lights on Cayman?

I just picked up my new 2012 Cayman with standard Halogen lights; and am quite disappointed with them. My dealer suggested an upgrade to Xenon ones at $ 2,000 per light. I think NOT.

P.S. I am new to this forum, so if this topic was answered/covered earlier … my apologies. But, and most importantly, I am absolutely nuts about this car! I had before 300ZX, WV GTI VR6, and none, or better yet, nothing, NOTHING, comes even close to this baby.
Signed … ecstatic new Porsche owner.

2slow2speed

Relatively straightforward mod, there are threads at 6speed as well as planet-9 that cover the details of how to remove the headlight housing as well as recommendations regarding the placement of the ballasts for the HID's.


http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/b...ll-photos.html


http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxst...an-anyone.html

CW-VIESOCK

Go factory if you need/want the extra light/safety you are looking for. These non-OEM HID kits are often sold as made by major manufactures but they are not and they are junk. The links provided from other forums are from vendors trying to legitimize their junk. Read the threads all the way through and you will see the holes in their stories.

Your best and in my opinion, the only option is to purchase new OEM or used OEM units. PM me if you want the truth about the HID garbage for sale all over the web.

HID dose not necessarily mean Projection. Projection is what you want.

Cayenbob

Hi Charles, thanx for the comments! The OEM you sugested would cost me close to $ 5,000, so what are the problems with after-market stuff? Some folks indicate that it takes 30 min. to install the HID's and abs. no issues with performance.
PS Still don't know how to PM-you on this forum ... sorry!

CW-VIESOCK

Unless you have a projection housing for HID, you get no benefit other than blinding the drivers coming towards you. Non-projector HID's are illegal for public road use for a reason. Check e-bay, there are used OEM units offered for less than $1500. Going used, as apposed to factory upgrade, you have to integrate the lights into the sub-systems yourself.

2slow2speed

FWIW: The headlight housing on the 987.2 halogen headlights (low beams) are projector housings.

Even if the OP was able to purchase the factory Xenon's the OP would not have either the self leveling feature nor the adaptive nature of the 987.2 Cayman's from the factory behavior. On top of that the headaches trying to adapt the harness would make the job less than desirable, this is according to some service departments at some dealerships.

So in theory there is no benefit of going OEM vs aftermarket HID's at that point once you take the reliability factor of the kit themselves out of the equation.

Anyways, I have no horse on this race, a question was asked and I just pointed the OP to some threads that might prove to be useful.

Cayenbob

Is it not possible to puchase new Halogen bulb rated at higher Wattage? Say, low beam at 85 W instead of original at 55 W. Wouldn't this address the issues of legality, and projection?

2slow2speed

Going with higher wattage halogen will more than likely overheat the wires that lead to the headlight housing or blow the fuse due to it consuming more current, not recommended for most applications.

You can find lightbulbs that have a different hue from the OEM Halogen headlights that can appear to be lighter to the naked eye (Sylvania Cool Blue for example), but the light output is just shifted around the spectrum.

Cayenbob

Thanx for your great answers ... unfortunatelly you confirmed my thoughts/fears. I think, I'll mull over the HID after-market concept for a couple of weeks. Since the cost is not that prohibitive, I may try them. Afterall, I can always go back to Halogen-s.

Cayenbob

I installed the kit from TRS ... H7 Elite! Installation ... No problems! Performance ... well, that is another issue. The lights are OK if engine is off. Once the engine is ON, the passenger side goes into a strobe mode ... flickers. Spoke to TRS, and they told me to reprogram on-board computer? Am talking to my Porsche dealer, today, and will let you know what the final word is, but they suspect it's the ballast.

Cayenbob

After some discussions with service folks in the shop, at my Porsche dealer, they suggested that I re-assemble the harness and wiggle the contacts to attain better connections. Well, the lights are now working!!! No strobe effects or flicker. Now, the question is reliability of the Morimoto kit, so just in case, I will keep the old Halogens in the glove comp.