The best headlight upgrade
08-31-2015, 02:48 PM
#16
Rocky Mountain High
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Ive done several cars with new bulbs and converted some to hid. I dont see alot of difference driving, its alittle brighter and bluer. My recommendation is to buy a hid conversion kit (cheap, $50-75) and put them in a non hid housing, or put brighter bulbs (8000k) in a exhisting hid housing. See how you like it. Its cheap, look on ebay. If you like the lows, then but another kit and convert the hi beams.
yes, the new bulb will be bright blue then settle down in a couple weeks so dont judge the color first day
yes, the new bulb will be bright blue then settle down in a couple weeks so dont judge the color first day
You also need to be careful with putting HID lights into a reflector housing designed for halogens. They frequently cause odd light patterns on the road with hot spots and reflections. You'd get much better visibility with good quality halogen bulbs.
08-31-2015, 03:00 PM
#17
8,000K bulbs aren't brighter. They are a different color temperature, much more in the blue to purple part of the spectrum. They will perform very poorly. I would hate to be out on a dark, rainy night with those headlights.
You also need to be careful with putting HID lights into a reflector housing designed for halogens. They frequently cause odd light patterns on the road with hot spots and reflections. You'd get much better visibility with good quality halogen bulbs.
You also need to be careful with putting HID lights into a reflector housing designed for halogens. They frequently cause odd light patterns on the road with hot spots and reflections. You'd get much better visibility with good quality halogen bulbs.
I want to clarify that when I said Litronics suck compared to other OEM's, I was referring to the mk1('98-'01) NB models so any newbie mk2 owner reading this doesn't get confused.
04-10-2017, 08:15 PM
#18
4th Gear
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99 - 996 swapping OEM halogen with OE HID?
Guys
Sorry if this has already been covered but wanted to ask, is the swap out of OE 996 Halogen assemblies with the OE MK1 HID assemblies plug and play?
From what I gather reading various threads, the OE HIDs are not as good as newer versions and if I do make this swap I will not get the auto-leveling feature if the car did not already have the sensors, mine does not.
But I have the chance to replace the headlights and front bumper and left fender thanks to a guy that turned right in front of me, so I thought to replace the original headlights with something better.
Any/all advice or links would be much appreciated!
Sorry if this has already been covered but wanted to ask, is the swap out of OE 996 Halogen assemblies with the OE MK1 HID assemblies plug and play?
From what I gather reading various threads, the OE HIDs are not as good as newer versions and if I do make this swap I will not get the auto-leveling feature if the car did not already have the sensors, mine does not.
But I have the chance to replace the headlights and front bumper and left fender thanks to a guy that turned right in front of me, so I thought to replace the original headlights with something better.
Any/all advice or links would be much appreciated!
04-10-2017, 08:27 PM
#19
Correct, you will not get the auto leveling without being factory, but there is an OEM kit that you can get that adjusts the low beam up a few degrees when you put on the high beams. Almost as good.
But yes, you can just buy the lights and plug and play. The ballasts are included on the back of the new lights.
But yes, you can just buy the lights and plug and play. The ballasts are included on the back of the new lights.
04-10-2017, 08:37 PM
#20
Race Director
Along those lines - the factory Litronics are also stupidly complex. Since the self-leveling functionality isn't available for cars that originally came with conventional (incandescent) headlights, there's even less reason to "upgrade" to Litronics over aftermarket/third-party HIDs.
04-10-2017, 08:44 PM
#21
Rennlist Member
Don't forget about the wiring harness if converting from halogen to Litronics...